Student experiences of a collaborative learning project in Veterinary Physiology

Veterinary science students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) are selected on the basis of a rural background, high academic achievement and an interview selection process. In this respect, entry to the veterinary course at CSU is different to entry to other veterinary schools in Australia, which is based largely on academic merit. Clinical case based learning has been used in teaching veterinary physiology to Second Year veterinary students at both CSU and Murdoch University to allow students to:

engage in collaborative work;
develop skills in self and peer assessment;
engage in self directed learning and problem solving;
relate pre-clinical subjects to veterinary cases and foster intrinsic motivation for learning.
The scholarly evaluation of student engagement with this learning activity at both universities allows us to evaluate a number of important questions which may increase our understanding of teaching and learning, and hence help us to better facilitate student development and the transition to clinical practice. By virtue of the continuing collaboration between physiology and education staff at CSU and MU, comparison of the responses of students at each campus will permit us to ascertain whether there are differences in approach to learning, motivation or learning outcomes during this activity, which will be delivered simultaneously on both campuses. This presentation will present preliminary findings from these studies, specifically:
The nature and quality of student engagement with this activity;
Differences between students at CSU and MU prior to or after completion of this activity.
The results of this study will be integrated with ongoing observation, reflection and evaluation of these students as they move into subsequent years of the veterinary programme on each campus and subsequently into practice.