Author: Kay Aitchison, kay.aitchison@ed.ac.uk
Author: Michael Begg, michael.begg@ed.ac.uk
Author: David Dewhurst, d.dewhurst@ed.ac.uk
Author: Susan Rhind, susan.rhind@ed.ac.uk
JISC e-Learning Activity Area: Technology-enhanced Learning Environments
Higher Education Academy Subject Centre: Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine
This case study illustrates...use of specialist software, an effect on learning, an effect on student personal development, student satisfaction with e-learning, innovation in learning and teaching, an influence on educational research, staff satisfaction with e-learning, a positive effect on recruitment, an influence on policy, use of resources, modifications to learning spaces, management of learning assets
Technology Used
What technologies and/or e-tools were available to you?
The virtual farm is a discrete project which has been developed and made available through the established virtual learning environment 'EEVeC' Edinburgh Electronic Veterinary Curriculum, a bespoke virtual learning environment.
In addition to specifically designed areas within EEVeC containing discussion boards, general information and webcams providing 24h surveillance of specific locations on the farms, the project has involved integration and embedding of 3 electronic farm management systems (Uniform-Agri Dairy Manager, Denkavit Automatic Calf Feeding System, Shearwell Sheep Management System). Information and reports from these programs can be captured in PDF or Excel format and made available to the students via EEVeC either for general interest or for specific teaching purposes. Data is also obtained from the herd management software and delivered into the EEVeC database as personalised returns to the students' "adopted animals" page. The dairy and sheep programs will also be available on all vet student lab PCs to enable students to access the 'live' data. Not only does this give them direct access to the records from the University farms but also enables them to become familiar with the types of programs which their future clients are likely to be using.
Additional tools which have become central to the developments as the project has evolved are wikis and blogs.
