When Christopher Brown, dean of Michigan State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, began his teaching career in 1972, creating a basic slide presentation was an all-consuming effort. "You had to physically mount each slide," Brown says."If you wanted to make 60 of them, it would take two days. That task now takes a fraction of the time with PowerPoint. And PowerPoint was just one tiny change. Each day brings new technologies and new understandings about teaching. These changes really fuel an excitement about teaching and about learning."

Indeed, teaching tools and methods have evolved dramatically in recent decades. Today's veterinary medicine professors were likely taught with very different technologies and pedagogical methods—even if they are recent graduates. Even when the information being taught has remained unchanged, faculty and students have access to continually evolving technologies.

"Anatomy, physiology, and the pathophysiology of disease aren't going to change," says Susan Holcombe, professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences. "The GI tract of the horse isn't going to change. The way we teach students these things does change, though, and it’s based on how people learn to learn."

"I grew up reading books, drawing on chalkboards and taking notes on notebook paper," she adds. "Students today grow up with a computer—while children are learning to walk they are learning to press keys on a keyboard. They learn to model in 3D. We have to teach people in the ways they learn to learn from a very young age."

Keeping Change Simple

INCORPORATING NEW TECHNOLOGIES—including 3D imaging—not only responds to the ways in which students learn, but allows instructors to make learning more tangible, whether the topic is physiology or disease pathways.

Some changes to teaching are as simple as posting recordings of lectures online so that students can revisit the material later. Other technology, such as clickers and LectureTools, allows professors to make lectures interactive in the classroom.

"Even though anatomy is anatomy, simple advances like video have allowed us to extend teaching—and learning—beyond the classroom. We record dissections so students can download them to preview, study, and review whenever they wish," Brown says. "It’s a very simple advance, and you're no longer tied to the laboratory. With the development of CT scans and MRIs, students will become able to do three-dimensional dissections to show relationships. So even in traditional and established disciplines, there are opportunities to use these modalities to enhance learning."

A New View of Anatomy

Ioana Sonea, associate professor in Pathology and Diagnostic Investigations, includes CT scans in her anatomy classes.

"We still use dissection and prosection—those have been used since anyone has ever taught anatomy," Sonea says. "But we've changed the delivery of some of the information. We can show CT scans as a sequence, kind of like a movie. We're moving down a dog's body, and, oh, here comes the liver. Students love it. It gives them a better appreciation for how anatomy is organized. In the past they would have just dissected losing the relationship between the different organs."

Sonea also has recorded dissections that students review before they conduct the procedure themselves. This preview lets them know what they're going to encounter, which makes dissection more efficient.

The continuing emergence of educational technologies is one of the drivers of the changes in the teaching of veterinary medicine.MSU now has a dedicated Center for Academic Technology to develop, implement, and assess new technological tools.

Learners Driving Change

BEYOND INCORPORATING TECHNOLOGY in teaching, students are pushing aggressively for pedagogical changes, says Coretta Patterson, associate dean for Professional Academic Programs and Student Success.

"All of us have to acknowledge that our learners are changing," she says. "Our learners are telling us that very loudly and very clearly and very regularly. It's no longer acceptable for someone to read their PowerPoint for 50 minutes. Communication methods evolve and our teaching practices have to evolve, too."

Holcombe agrees. "Our students are our best critics, and they're kind about it," she says. "If you blow a lecture, or even 15 minutes of a lecture, you’re going to hear about it from them. Just because a person is an excellent surgeon doesn't mean that person is going to be a good teacher."

Indeed, veterinary professors traditionally are not formally trained as teachers. They learn on the job. This is a key area that needs to be addressed, Patterson says. She, along with CVM faculty members Amy Koenigshof, Laurent Guiot, and Ann Rashmir-Raven, are enrolled in the Distance Learning Program in Veterinary Medicine Education at the Royal Veterinary College in London.

"Teaching is a discipline in itself and we need to provide development for our teachers," she says. "The faculty members enrolled in the veterinary medicine education program will be ambassadors for new ways of teaching. We're in the process of developing a training program so that we can share with the faculty what we're learning."

Meeting students’ Demands

“We teach the way we were taught, and that’s often not the best way to teach,” Holcombe says. “Very few of us have any formal training in education. We learn to lecture based on watching lectures we think are effective.”

“It’s improved—we now interact much more with places on campus that help us critique our teaching,” she adds. “But there are some challenges. There’s a gap between techno-savvy students and the teachers that aren’t aware of or comfortable with these changes. Teaching needs to move away from sitting in a classroom and looking at a screen for 50-minute blocks, when we know no one can intently focus for more than 15 or 20 minutes. People can read and write on their own. But then we need to gather them together and make sure they have a minimum competency. Then, within a small group we can advance that knowledge and learn how to solve problems.”

Will the Future Be More Flexible?

Student demand, technological advances, and the growing cost of education will continue to drive change in the ways we deliver education. “It may ultimately lead to part of the program being available virtually,” Brown says. “Students could participate in remote lectures or watch lectures online, for example, then come to school for labs or clinics or group work, offering increased flexibility.”

“If you can allay some of the costs of education with more flexible delivery of material, it may become more accessible,” Brown says.

No matter the technology or teaching style, what remains at the core of the educational experience is the relationship between teachers and students.

“I think every interaction you have with a student is meaningful, and we have to be so aware of that,” Holcombe says. “I know when I was a student, those small interactions with faculty, when they were positive, they were empowering. That one positive smile, comment, engagement, can improve someone’s scholastic career or might dampen it. That for me is important in teaching all the time.”

“The College understands that an educated student isn’t only a student who’s learned specific information,” says Patterson. “An educated student has learned how to learn and how to relearn. We want to encourage curiosity and a passion for knowledge. That’s the key.”

Posted: October 2012