The Practice of Teaching
The Practice of Learning
Jan. 04, 2013
Life-saving veterinarians and world-changing researchers graduate each year from the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM). Graduates follow career paths including private practice, public health or policy, research, and education. They bring with them the latest knowledge of practices and research in veterinary medicine. The CVM is expanding methods to ensure they also are equipped with practices of learning and practices of teaching that will support them throughout their careers—whichever path they follow.
Four faculty members from the College are now students of veterinary medicine education in the new Distance Learning Program in Veterinary Medicine Education program offered by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London. The program at the RVC is the first of its kind and offers a postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma, and master’s in veterinary education.
“Teaching is its own discipline,” says Coretta Patterson, DVM, assistant professor of internal medicine in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, and associate dean for Professional Academic Programs and Student Success. “We want to develop strategies to provide all of our teaching faculty members with the tools to be the best educators they can be. Across the country, colleges of veterinary medicine are revisiting methods of teaching, and we want MSU to be a leader in the professionalization of teaching in veterinary medicine.”
Joining Patterson in the RVC program are Ann Rashmir-Raven, DVM, MS, DACVS, from the Department of Large Animal Clinical Science and Laurent Guiot, DVM, (orthopedic surgery) and Amy Koenigshof, DVM, (emergency and critical care medicine) from the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences.
Faculty members at the College are some of the most talented in their fields. “Being trained in educational theory and practice will benefit those of us enrolled in the program, but it will have a more widespread effect,” says Rashmir-Raven. “We’ll be sharing what we learn with our colleagues as well as putting our knowledge into practice in the classroom.”
“Teaching is contagious,” says Patterson. “Participants in the RVC program will become ambassadors, or conduits, and will help energize their sections when it comes to teaching. And as relatively new faculty members, their influence and the effects of their participation in the program will be felt for years to come. We have such great talent in the College, and we want to make sure we’re sharing our knowledge as effectively as we can.”
The focus on education as a discipline is twofold. Patterson explains, “We want to make sure faculty members are the best educators possible, and we want to make sure we are effectively training students to be educators.”
January 4, 2013