Educational realities for veterinary schools have evolved very rapidly over the last few weeks of the expanding COVID-19 pandemic. Assuming that you have the luxury of seeing beyond life's current realities, I thought we might all be looking for a silver linings  out there.  Here is my two-part attempt to find some for veterinary education.

We are certainly in challenging times with the spread of the coronavirus.  Many universities are closing and encouraging students to remain home after Spring break in North America.  The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) just announced that “March Madness,” the college basketball tournament in the U.S., will not be played in front of crowds. 

In past blog posts, I’ve addressed the ideals of active learning and of encouraging critical clinical thinking for the burgeoning veterinary medical professional. I’ve also talked about information overload but have never discussed the toll that this reality might be taking on our students. Basically, medical information is now doubling every 4 months, compared to 7 years 40 years ago!  

Any instructor, particularly those in content-rich medical curricula, has seen the rapid decay of recall of information that has been the focus of prior study AND examination.  Having taught pharmacology in a curricula with short (1 week) practical clinically focused rotations that immediately followed an 8-week didactic lecture-base course in pharmacology, I’ve heard students claim ignorance about a topic they were examined on only a couple of weeks earlier!  

Anyone who is interested in a body of work on the future of education should follow the work of Professors Mary Kalantzis and Bill Cope at the University of Illinois College of Education. They have just released their new website which summarizes their expansive and groundbreaking efforts: