Getting the Show On the Road

It is all well and good making these lovely plans isn’t it. Finding time to pull it all together is another story.

The sistech system is good while it is running. I have used it only once. There were issues with the computer in the classroom and it didn’t run as well as I had hoped. The I T department has now sorted these issues so I am ready for another crack at it next year. I have one set of cards (40 novice level) made up already and from there  it should be a mornings work to pull together another set (intermediate). Revisiting the activity later in the year.

There may well be an issue with the computer systems at block course venues not being up to scratch. Perhaps we could bring a laptop to block course. But how much stuff fits in the block course box?  The game could work with out the clickers; however the students do seem to enjoy the interaction the technology allows.

Getting the Moodle Course up and running would not be too laborious, most of the resources are there already, just a matter of putting them all in one place and writing the multi choice tests.

The word of the week would depend a fair bit on me keeping the momentum going. There has been much talk about encouraging group interaction on the forums. I think those students who do enjoy the format would contribute, hopefully taking some of the work. Those who just read will just read. They will be familiar with 40 more words by the end of the year.

The way for me to manage it would be too put a weekly alert on my computer. 5 minutes once a week is manageable

Activities

As it Stands

Distance Learners

The distance CVN students have completed a Cert in Animal Care part time the previous year. They have had more of an introduction to terminology through A&P. They have participated in a block course terminology activity at block course one.

These learners are mostly out in practice at least two days a week, some fulltime trainee VN’s. These students are at a great advantage in this respect. It is the students that lack a reasonable quantity of good quality work experience that require the support with this subject. 

Distance learners do have problems with pronunciation.

Fulltime Class

The fulltime class do lack quantity of work placement hours and come to do the Cert of Animal Care with the A&P component followed by the VN units. They have the advantage of the classroom being a safe (hopefully) place to test the language.

There is currently one lesson formally dedicated to terminology which involves a powerpoint. It is very technical and not much fun.

Proposed Learning Activities

Terminology Game

Using the sistech clicker (who wants to be a millionaire) equipment, a terminology game for use in the classroom and at block course one (and possibly two). Every student gets a clicker on which they can choose an answer.  

Distribute cards with a word on one side, and three possible answers (A,B & C) on the other side. One true, one humorous and one possible but not true.  

Each student says their word (pronunciation website free dictionary to assist  over the speaker system if they request) and the whole class is encouraged to say the word together.

The student reads out the answers and the class chooses their answer with the clickers.

The result is shown on the board along with the % of each answer chosen by the class.

Open Access Moodle Resources & MCQ Tests

A brief powerpoint and written notes on the logistics of the language.

Printable flashcards.

Links to relevant youtube songs and lessons

Links to relevant ipad apps.

Visual guides to anatomical directions (from A&P notes)

MCQ test for self assessment

Word of the Week

In the classroom weekly for the full timers  and on the moodle forum once a week for the distance students. Encourage the groups to come up with a word of the week to share. Interesting, technical, unusual or funny the word and its definition.  Perhaps publish the fulltime word on the distance forum and vice versa encouraging interaction between the groups.

learning the lingo...

So, how to get the distance student engaged with this. To encourage confidence to use this language in practice. A language is built over years, there is no expectation that the CVN students would come out after one year of study and have fully functional understanding and use. A student can effectively pass this course and go out into practice and be reasonably functional as a technician with a very basic knowledge of terminology. As I say it is picked up along the way. However, to provide high levels of care as a veterinary nurse it is essential to fully understand what is going on with our patients.  To know this we must know the language of our game.

Talking with the fulltime students,  it is something they have identified as lacking. What they said was that they wanted some more specific guidance on terminology. Although it is peppered throughout the course, the only resource for terminology is an arduous wordy power point and the one activity limited to anatomical direction at the block course (for distance students only).

What I am trying to do here I suppose is to encourage deep learning, the information is there, its freely available in a number of formats. The trick is to want to know it enough to spend a few minutes looking it up. The eternal question, how to inspire a passion for the subject. With Veterinary Nursing this is where the distance students are at an advantage, they are out in practice, they are linking their theory with the practical on a daily basis. The passion for this job lies at the kennel side, caring for our patients. It is convincing the students that a sound understanding of the theory is linked to this place.

So, how to get the distance student engaged with this. To encourage confidence to use this language in practice. A language is built over years, there is no expectation that the CVN students would come out after one year of study and have fully functional understanding and use. A student can effectively pass this course and go out into practice and be reasonably functional as a technician with a very basic knowledge of terminology. As I say it is picked up along the way. However, to provide high levels of care as a veterinary nurse it is essential to fully understand what is going on with our patients.  To know this we must know the language of our game.

Talking with the fulltime students,  it is something they have identified as lacking. What they said was that they wanted some more specific guidance on terminology. Although it is peppered throughout the course, the only resource for terminology is an arduous wordy power point and the one activity limited to anatomical direction at the block course (for distance students only).

What I am trying to do here I suppose is to encourage deep learning, the information is there, its freely available in a number of formats. The trick is to want to know it enough to spend a few minutes looking it up. The eternal question, how to inspire a passion for the subject. With Veterinary Nursing this is where the distance students are at an advantage, they are out in practice, they are linking their theory with the practical on a daily basis. The passion for this job lies at the kennel side, caring for our patients. It is convincing the students that a sound understanding of the theory is linked to this place.

As it Stands

Distance Learners

The distance CVN students have completed a Cert in Animal Care part time the previous year. They have had more of an introduction to terminology through A&P. These learners are mostly out in practice at least two days a week, some fulltime trainee VN’s. These students are at a great advantage in this respect. It is the students that lack a reasonable quantity of good quality work experience that require the support with this subject. 

Distance learners do have problems with pronunciation.

Fulltime Class

The fulltime class do lack quantity of work placement hours and come to do the Cert of Animal Care with the A&P component followed by the VN units. They have the advantage of the classroom being a safe (hopefully) place to test the language.

Constructing Courses Blog

Hello, welcome to my Constructing courses blog…

I am trying to inspire veterinary terminology joy. A hard task I know, it can seem a pretty dull subject. Some of my plan hinges on finding the funny side of the words. Epiploon and gubernaculum spring to mind as examples that can usually crack a smirk. Other parts of the plan…. Making the connection that many of the terms and parts of words are already known it’s a matter of breaking the words down and working it out. Listening to the language out in practice and finding out the meanings. That’s the hard part I think because it’s about having the confidence to ask…

FlexibleLearning Plan Presentation

Flexible Learning Plan Presentation

Activity 12

The flexible learning plan I have put together fits with the Otago Polytechnic Strategy through the humanistic vision statement,

‘Our personalised approach to vocational learning motivates students and

staff to reach their full potential, and to master new skills and knowledge’

(OP 2008-2012)

The organisation promotes learner centered learning and with this approach aims to ‘inspire capability’.

Otago Polytech (2008 – 2012) aims to ‘respect the knowledge that learners bring.’

With the diverse range of learners on the Certificate in Veterinary Nursing course a key element of my plan is to encourage the more experienced class members to share their knowledge and build on it as a group.

The statement in the strategy document that is most important to me is that,

‘Our graduates are sought after/preferred by employers’

For me, the aim of developing the flexible learning plan is to provide a suitably varied and engaging learning environment where it is possible for OP VN students, in all their glorious diversity, can be inspired and motivated to become a Veterinary Nurse. A professional in the industry with best practice standards and a dedication to life long learning. These are the graduates the industry requires.

Otago Polytechnic Strategy 2008 – 2012.

                         

                                     Downloaded from www.careers.govt.nz, Careers New Zealand, 2012

Dr Mason Durie developed the Te whare tapa wha model in 1982. The wholistc model for health and wellbeing may also be applied as approach to education.

The four foundations of well-being in relation to education are:

• Te Wairua -  the spiritual aspects of undertaking study
• Te Hinengaro - the mental aspects of undertaking study
• Te Tenana -  the physical aspects of undertaking study
• Te Whanau - the social aspects of undertaking study

As Maslow’s hierarchy of needs similarly illustrates, in order for an individual student to realise potential, the foundations of well-being are important.

Maori and Pacific students are underrepresented in the veterinary nursing and animal care courses, Mason Durie’s vision for Māori, ‘To enjoy good health and a high standard of living’ in reality, is less likely to be true for our indigenous students than for the majority. The hangover of colonization means over representation in the statistics relating to poor health and low standards of living. (Ministry of Social Development 2010).  

So, what can I do to support indigenous students, to level the playing field. True to humanistic philosophy I can treat all students with empathy, acceptance, and unconditional positive regard. (Sanders, 2002) This works to enable a safe space to learn. To encourage a culturally inclusive learning environment we welcome all students at the start of the year and to block course.  We share food. Ground rules around eating and working and sitting on tables are made known and adhered to by staff. Referring Maori and Pacific students to the appropriate student support services and L&N.

My personal experience of supporting individuals is limited being relatively new to this game. I was involved on the periphery of the case last year that Helen blogs about. One thing that struck me about it was a comment made the other day by one of the lecturers who provided a great deal of extra academic support to this girl. She said “As soon as this student realized that we actually cared about her success, that we really wanted her to achieve, it made a huge difference’. She ended up getting 99% in the most difficult exam on the whole course.

The theory that there is unlimited potential in any student given the right learning conditions is illustrated here.

Ministry of Social Development.  2012 The Social Report :Available at:

http://www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz/summary/summary-indicators.html

Accessed on 20.6.12.

Timms‐Dean K. 2011 Indigenous Learners and Flexible Learning. :Otago Polytech

Activity Ten

‘Implementing sustainable practice both operationally and in the curriculum undoubtedly poses challenges for any school or department within the Polytechnic’ (Mann & Elwood)

For me the challenge of implementing sustainability is the fact that sustainability means different things to different people and  in various contexts.  A more sustainable practitioner in terms of lecturing veterinary nurses involves two key aspects:

1.       Managing workload, ie: working smarter, making what I do count across courses and across years.

• Using the TED ed resource as a formative assessment in sustainable in terms of workload, once I have set it up (using someone else’s high quality animation of wound healing stages) it can be rolled out in future courses. It may well be a relevant addition to the equine element of the RAT course.
• Adobe sessions reach a high number of students at the time and can be recorded for the rest and perhaps for future years.
• Forums reach many students but can be monitored as a once daily email digest.

 Lockwood (2005) warns against generating over long courses, the problem is one I struggle with. Currently, Veterinary Nurses in NZ are permitted to practice with a Certificate in Veterinary Nursing (one year).  Internationally Veterinary Nursing is a two or three year course. This is a problem with the course design of the National Certificate.  I have had the tendency to try to cram in Diploma level material to the Certificate course, this is of course a mistake and causes students to feel overwhelmed and disengage. Being aware of this and leaving out more advanced material will certainly improve sustainability of workload for both myself and students.

2.       Working with students to understand and introduce sustainable ideas around veterinary practice.  

• Health promotion and preventative healthcare, nutrition, parasite control, weight management, exercise.
• Reduce reuse and recycle.
• Educate about the preventable health problems bred into pedigree dogs.

Lockwood, F. (2005)  ‘Estimating student workload, readability and implications for student learning and progression.’ Manchester Metropolitan University. Available at:

http://wikieducator.org/images/5/5a/Odlaa2005Lockwoodestimating_student_workload.pdf

Accessed on 19.6.12

Mann & Elwood (No Date) A Simple Pledge. Available at:

http://www.otagopolytechnic.ac.nz/fileadmin/DepartmentalResources/Marketing/Simple_Pledge_Book_lastest_version_emailable.pdf

Accessed on 15.6.12

Activity Nine

The reality of today’s fast changing world is that,

‘People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to’. (NMC.2012, p4)

As education providers we are challenged to keep one step ahead of the game. The School of Veterinary Nursing has been pro- active on this and as a result is well placed for the next round, the move towards mobile learning.

Most of our students use either laptops or iphones in class. There are positive and negatives of this. They can sign in to moodle, and follow the course notes, they regularly google answers to curly questions that come up and find you tube videos to share. The disadvantage I notice mostly is the capacity for the disengaged to distract those around them and I have had class members asking others to turn it off as they can’t concentrate.

With so much information at our fingertips now the real skill in using it is the ability to sift and rate information.

‘Sense-making and the ability to assess the credibility of information are paramount.’ (NMC.2012)

 The Y generation are much more media savvy than my own generation, but still require guidance through the maze of veterinary information out there. Drug companies pushing, internet forums offering questionable advice, facebook friends answering questions, it is all available and accessed by our students. 

A current trend technology to work with this freely available and often excellent information is TED ed. This is a new platform through which teachers can build short lessons around short videos. After, or while watching the videos on TED Ed students answer multiple choice and short answer questions about what they're seeing and hearing, they get instant feedback on the multi choice questions.

This site allows me to hand pick use the fantastic resources that are available on youtube, I could even make and use my own videos (workload allowing) and structure an appropriate lesson around it. The format is fairly simple and it has been criticized for this. I see joy in its simplicity.

Take the tour @

http://ed.ted.com/

The New Media Consortium. 2012The Horizon Report. Available at:

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2012.pdf

Accessed on 18.6.12.

Activity Eight

The learning theory that sits well with me personally is humanism. The humanist educator believes there is unlimited potential for human growth given the right circumstances,  encouraging self actualization and autonomy lies at the heart of the theory.

Veterinary Nursing is what they would call in Northern Ireland (where I have lived for most of my adult life) a vocation, a calling. The profession is notoriously poorly paid, the hours are terrible (many VN’s are allow themselves to be on call un-paid) it is not a glamorous job, eau de tomcat being a familiar scent on the VN’s uniform. We do it for the good of the animals. So the humanist assumption that , “people are inherently good and strive for a better world’ (Merriam & Cafella, 1991, p 132.). Seems apt to VN education.

Introducing students to reflective tools can open up a whole new aspect of practice. Traditionally, Veterinary Nurses have been taught the skills, and the theory of the job and been left to their own devices to work out the rest along the way. This is not an ideal situation, Veterinary Nursing practice can be highly emotionally charged, we nurse welfare cases involving neglect and cruelty, we routinely assist with euthanasia, intensive farming is facilitated by the veterinary profession, we may be involved in the care of laboratory animals, the list of issues is long……  In order to offer high standards of care to patients and their owners, a nurse requires a sound understanding of her own ethical stance and emotions. A VN must be equipped with coping strategies. Reflective practice is a core nursing skill that adapts to many aspects of practice. An ability to assess, reflect and improve contributes to wellbeing and encourages self development.  Nursing theory and models of nursing practice adapted from human nursing are relatively new ideas in Veterinary Nursing, it is only just coming to the fore overseas with the advent of VN degrees in the last decade.

Wound management is an ideal subject to introduce reflective tools. It is an ongoing process and the VN’s involvement in the process involves a clear requirement to assess, analyze, reflect, plan, act and  reassess…

So the humanist idea of working to facilitate development of the whole person is the idea, creating a ‘safe space’ to learn and develop through reflective practice is my goal. My flexible learning plan aims to increase my ability to connect with the distance students. This is the real challenge. I hope the increase in online contact through adobe and forum activity if managed carefully may improve the chances of achieving genuine connections with students as individuals.  

‘it’s not just enthusiasm for our subject that matters. Learners are quick to pick up the vibrations of our enthusiasm for themselves as people. Lecturers who come across as really liking learners- and respecting them and treating them accordingly- do much to inspire learners to learn’.

(Race 2010: p132)

Chapman, A. 2005 Kolbs Learning Styles. Available at:

http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm

Accessed on 16.6.12.

Merriam, S.B. & Caffarella, R.S. (1991). Learning in adulthood. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Race, P. 2010 Making Learning Happen. 2^nd Edition. Los Angeles: Sage

Pollard,A. (2005) Reflective Teaching 2^nd Ed. New York: Continuum

Activity Six

Wound management is an advanced nursing skill, both an art and a science. In my opinion this assessment would be better placed in the diploma course. There are more relevant rudimentary wound management topics that would be more suited to the certificate course, recognising complications for example, removing sutures, advising owners about wound care, the physiology of wound healing, and the appropriate use of dressings.  None of this is assessed as far as I know and all of this is essential at this level.

Currently the way the assessment for wound care is conducted is as a task out on its own. The students have to either provide video evidence or be assessed in person choosing and gathering the right equipment setting it up and flushing a wound or simulated wound. There is no requirement for them to prove that they understand the rationale, how often it is recommended a wound be flushed,  what types of wounds would require flushing or what type of dressing would be recommended to promote healing.

This promotes surface learning, “the intention to get the task out of the way with minimum trouble while appearing to meet course requirements” (Biggs 2003 p14).

The students know exactly what they are being assessed on and study only that. The unit standard system encouraging and rewarding mediocrity. This coupled with some students in work placement of questionable value, and most students in placement for a very short amount of time means that the likelihood of students gaining valid real life experience in this area is limited.  

Reflect on the strengths of your plan so far.

With a quality work placement a student would witness real wound management cases and this background knowledge would be picked up from senior nurses and interest stimulated for the student to engage in deep learning. This would happen in some cases and many of our students would employ deep learning on the subject. The aim with activity on the moodle forum would be to encourage these students to share their experiences with the rest of the group, with the use of photos and case studies. Hopefully some passion for the subject would come across.

Where are the gaps in your plan?

The main concern have is finding time in my own schedule to set this up and monitor the forum, additional adobe sessions mean evenings at work, finding valid case photographs. Concerns about student’s permission to photograph patients.

The crux of wound management in practice and the core nursing skill I promote across all subjects I teach is the ability to assess, reflect, plan and apply evidence based nursing interventions.

Although there are excellent youtube videos to use on TED ed for the underpinning knowledge of wound physiology and stages of healing, applying the basic skills of reflective and evidence based practice are not prominent in my plan. Yet….

Set some goals for what you still need to do to develop your plan.

A guest speaker adobe session from one of the big dressing companies might be a valuable addition.

Look at a strategy to connect the basics of the nursing a hospitalised patient unit and tie it in here.

Look out for appropriate case photos.

Biggs, J. (2003) Teaching for quality learning at University 2nd ed. London: The Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.

Activity Seven

As a veterinary nurse in practice my motivation for maintaining high standards was for the good of the animals I directly cared for. As a veterinary nurse educator my driving force to promote best practice is still the ability to affect, admittedly indirectly, the level of care of the animals our students will be responsible for. Following on from this idea I see open education resources in veterinary nursing as having the potential to improve animal welfare standards.  People in the developing world are in need of the basic animal husbandry information that we have.   For what reason should we keep the information of how to care for an animal’s health privileged knowledge?

 I have travelled in the third world and witnessed first hand the misuse of animals, especially horses, mules and donkeys. The people caring for these animals income and lives depend on them.  Their poor husbandry practices are due to a lack of evidence based information and resources,  not ill will.  Could free and open information about animal husbandry and health have a positive effect on these peoples lives and on the lives of their animals. How about prevention of infection, or how  to trim a hoof, how to treat a hoof abscess or care for a wound, perhaps  the first signs of dehydration. It is all written in our notes.

Reading back over it all sounds a bit pie in the sky but how many of us use Wikipedia? And who had heard of it ten years, or even five or six years ago.

The benefit we may gain from collaboration with international veterinary nurse and veterinary technician educators would be to encourage the professional veterinary nurses in New Zealand to stand up,  raise their game and match or exceed the standards set for the profession in the USA and Europe.

Activity 5 Flexible Learning Strategies

Hello TED-ed..........Love it.
and heres the link to the document.

Flexible Learning Strategy

Activity 4

Of course there is more work to be done, onward and upward…..

I had a small group of our fulltime on site class for an informal group discussion at the café this week. The outcome of the group’s conversation and Ron’s bush-cam video got me thinking about this idea of access and equity specifically in the area of pronunciation and comprehension of the language of veterinary science. I remember on the first block course of my own VN training a lecturer saying that by the end of the course we will have learned 3000 new words and that if we had 3000 words of a new language  Italian or French for example, we would be pretty much fluent.  

 I am wondering if I may be able to do more support inclusivity across the range of courses (distance and fulltime) we offer at the certificate level. I suppose where I see inequity here is in the opportunity for clinical work experience where this language is imbibed along with the essential skills of the profession. There is a wide variation in the quantity and quality of practical experience for our students in  veterinary clinics. A few have been in a clinic for a number of years and many are complete novices. As it stands there is no requirement for a clinic work placement  to be secured before starting the distance cvn course, consequently some students are now at a major disadvantage still not having been able to secure a placement 4 months in. I was teaching a block course in Auckland to this group and there were 4 or 5 students in the room who had never set foot in a veterinary prep room,  The level of the course content we were delivering depended on some background knowledge, we were effectively speaking a foreign language ‘the needs of the broadest possible range of users’ has not been well enough considered in this instance. We found ourselves attempting to retrofit the fundamental content (including terminology) that has no place at a 4 day block course for 40 students. Ugly indeed.

 So love the idea of the Universal Design for Learning, yes. It all sounds fantastic. The existence of academic achievement gaps, or indeed fundamental knowledge gaps could be reduced on this particular course by becoming less flexible with our entry requirements and stipulating that a student secures x amount of hours per week in a veterinary clinic. Standards of practice in these clinics…. Now there’s a can of worms.

So I have got off the subject of language and pronunciation and things I can feasibly take positive action on, which is where the fulltimers have said they struggle and I have heard the distance students go astray. Having learned anatomy and physiology by correspondence as a 17 year old and suffering as I do from brachygnathia I understand the difficulty of pronouncing choledochus, perhaps it has something to do with my frenulum or my hypertrophic rugae, although I do suspect that my problem lies closer to the hippocampus region, maybe there is a foramen in my ependyma where all that stuff I used to know is escaping from…..

http://www.slideshare.net/derosac/universal-design-for-learning-4833805?src=related_normal&rel=3210361

Working within the realms of possibility

The lissom ladies in N block are down with flexible learning. The infrastructure of flexible learning is in place and veterinary nursing as a department is limber. Our arms and legs are truly akimbo. We work supplely within the constraints of the unyielding unit standard assessment system of assessing this important thing and assessing  that irrelevant thing and missing that other very important thing over there. A little like jumping through hoops. Perhaps that is how the lithe ladies in the veterinary nursing department became such sprightly and responsive creatures.

Examples of flexibility in teaching and learning of animal care and veterinary nursing appear all over N block, in fact all over NZ. We got face to face, blended, online, our place, your place, block course, work placement hours, part time, fulltime, any level, anywhere. Need an extension- no problem. Show us your practical, written, video, moodle test, audio photograph assessment or industry verification book, you want that in te reo- kaore raruraru. Hand it in pen and paper and snail mail, we don’t mind a bit…really, it’s true. pen drive, CD upload to moodle, youtube, what ever is your thing. Got a mobile phone we will text you assessment due dates, Smart phone? gotta radiography app for you, Ipad? hell yes, we are on it, we are all over it. Need social interaction? talk to your class rep, tutor, lecturer,  course co-ordinator programme manager, work placement supervisor, head of school.  Pick up the phone, come on in in person, email or skype, video conference, adobe connect, facebook us or post on moodle forum, sustainability blog, we got lists of people can help you, we have meetings about how we can be more accommodating. We are here for you. Need to know how to monitor anaesthesia, got a cat spay dog neuter clinical exam do it here or at work, pregnant bitch? litter of puppies? Bring them it to class, we love it. Sell some dog food out of reception, industry rep come talk to us here…Tell us all about it…. Want to have a pub quiz, want to dance? class quiz, make clinical resources for the future? Small group, large group work alone. Raise money for the SPCA organise and run doggie day out. Voluntary service abroad in animal clinic Pacific Islands we can put you in touch with our man in Avarua. Our finger is on the pulse. How about drawing kidney anatomy in chalk on the ground outside? Keep a menagerie of small furries in the art department garden? Perhaps it is a pony you need to practice your skills, we understand we will bring one here, for you. That’s the kind of people we are.

You want fries with that?

Activity 2

Finally getting around to the blog after all my fine intentions of catching up over the holidays went unfulfilled. So here it is week 2 activity. I managed to have a chat with Cheryl before the holidays about what flexible learning means to us.

What does flexible learning mean to me??

I have taken a few different courses of study since leaving school in varied formats; none of these courses were the conventional face to face lecture hall arrangement.

 I took a Naturopathy course straight out of school a roll on roll off ‘correspondence course’ as it was known in those days. Very flexible at the time. The only entry requirement on the brochure advertising the course was that entrants must be 21 years of age. I contacted the school and this requirement was waived in a phone conversation. As a private college in its early days I suspect that the only requirement really was an ability to pay the fees.  Reams of paper in the post, self managed study, twice yearly residential block courses and work experience hours to be filled. As a 17 year old it was difficult to stay motivated and on track, especially as the years wore on. A big cramming session to pass the exams each year and a lot of partying as I recall The final research project sat on my back burner for a number of years. The most value I got from the course was out of a fantastic work placement. I was fortunate to meet a remarkable mentor who has remained a great source of learning for me in many fields.

I trained as a Veterinary Nurse in the UK. Although the course was not  conventional face to face learning it could not be described as highly flexible. Strict entry requirements in English maths and biology from school, although if these were not met a one year pre nursing  course was an option. We trained in practice, old school as human nurses used to be trained.  There was a requirement that a certain number of hours (from memory 2000) were completed in a veterinary practice that met standards dictated by the awarding body. A full time job in a training practice was required. These were like hens teeth.   We attended residential block courses on set dates three times a year, completed a (large) portfolio of evidence in practice, we were mentored and assessed by a senior nurse at work. At the end of each year scary external examinations, theory and practical. Although this course was not big on flexibility I would describe it as effective. It produced a high standard of graduate, not only work ready but with jobs already. Starting was the most difficult part, later as a head nurse I advertised for a student VN and got 57 replies.

More recently I studied Breastfeeding Counselling with the National Childbirth Trust (parenting charity in the UK)  and University of Bedfordshire. The aim of this course was to train counsellors for the NCT national breastfeeding helpline This course has been set up to suit mothers of young children and was highly flexible. The only entry requirement was to have breastfed a baby for 6 months. It was roll on roll off with capacity for taking breaks around newborns and family dramas. Self paced study with optional Sunday workshops once a month (babies welcomed). The only real requirement was 2 weekend workshops held in England (a hassle for the Northern Irish contingent with young children although we were able to take our babies along with a caregiver) but they were looking at running these locally. Staying motivated was the main issue for most of the women on the course, busy with young families and whatever else. The Sunday workshops did help to keep the group focused. There was an internet forum for those inclined to post on internet, tutors available anytime by email or phone and numerous coffee groups and meetings, social events and the like. Although many women took five years or more to finish we were kept on track by our peers and tutors and enabled to find our own learning situation within the course.

These courses were each flexible in different ways, some more so some less. My response to all of them was the same.  Theory in short bursts of intense activity late at night, text book and in front of a computer, or with text book and pen and paper for the first one (yes it was that long ago). Practical by doing, on the job. I have my way of learning, it is old school, it works for me and I make it fit whatever way the course is set up. Flexible learning is about providing choice, not only for the reader writers like myself whom the old school education system embraces but for everyone.

Flexible Start Time

Hello All,
I am Cat, I have been at Otago Polytech for a little over a year. Having moved home last year after many years overseas and come straight out of practicing as a RVN in the UK(NI) to working with NZ student VN's it has been a fantastic change and a steep learning curve. I have a happy wee family, husband and 2 sons,and have started feeding one old straggly black stray cat. Bat Cat. (named by sons obviously).

At the School of Veterinary Nursing I am mainly involved with the fulltime certificate class and the diploma distance students. I am keen to learn how I can improve by adopting a flexible approach.

Feeling pleased I  have finally made a start and worked out how to blog.