Activity 3

Who are my students?

 

Veterinary Nursing as a profession is a predominately female based career; however the courses are open to both genders. At Otago Polytechnic we tend to have on average an annual enrolment of 3% of males into the Veterinary Nursing Certificate. Many of this 3% will often carry through to a rural animal technician’s course after completion, rather than going out into the work force as a Veterinary Nurse in clinical practise. Age range is from school leavers through to mature students who have a varying range of not only knowledge and experience, but also varying backgrounds and beliefs; however all the students have the same want and passion which is working with animals.

 

How is flexibility integrated?

 

I have decided to investigate flexibility within two examples of a Certificate in Veterinary Nursing. One provided within the Veterinary Nursing School at Otago Polytechnic and the other being provided through the Southern Institute of Technology.

I have broken both courses down into the five dimensions of flexibility by utilising the flexibility gird by Casey and Wilson (2005)

 

Certificate in Veterinary Nursing Otago Polytechnic

                                FIXED                                                        FLEXIBLE

Time	X
Content of the course	X
Entry requirements	X
Instructional approaches and resources	X
Delivery and logistics	X

Certificate in Veterinary Nursing SIT (Southern Institute of Technology)

                                     FIXED                                                         FLEXIBLE

Time	X
Content of the course	X
Entry requirements	X
Instructional approaches and resources (UNKOWN)
Delivery and logistics	X

I found this quite an interesting exercise however I was limited to my investigation through the Southern Institute so was unable to provide a result for their current instructional approaches and resources as this was not made available through their webpage.

Summary of my findings:

 

TIME: This was interesting as I could really see that Otago provides more flexibility here through offering students options on how they would like to complete their studies. This could be through the one year full time programme in Dunedin or a two year distance part time programme. SIT on the other hand only currently offer a one year full time option (however this is a no fees course). Start and finish dates however are fixed for both institutions if the learner wants to graduate within these timeframes.

 

CONTENT OF THE COURSE: Both qualifications are rather restricted to what can be assessed due to being governed by Unit Standards. I do however think both institutions would have some flexibility here in that the choice could be made to provide/ teach more than what is required.

 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS: Both qualifications have the same entry requirements of 60 NCEA level 2 credits which are set by the institutions. However there is some flexibility here on an individual case by case basis or if a student has an equivalent entry level of qualification. A bridging study option may also be offered for either programme.

 

INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACHES AND RESOURCES: This was a little limiting with my investigation so can really only comment on what we do at the Veterinary Nursing school. I believe this is an area that can be very flexible. Each year we do review our resources and try to refine our approach. We use a variety of methods such as video demonstrations, written online course notes, power-point presentations, adobe tutorials and face to face block courses and in clinic practical training. The fulltime programme offers a more traditional approach of lectures merged with the above methods and the ability to provide practical skills training through a functioning Vet Clinic on campus.

 

DELIVERY AND LOGISTICS: Again not a lot of detail available from the SIT website however due to the fact that they are a fulltime course potentially restricts the learner’s options. I am unsure of the use of an online delivery option of course materials however SIT do offer other distance programmes using Blackboard as their delivery mode.

Otago provides the learner the choice on how and where they would like to learn this programme through the use of the online system Moodle. There are fixed times when students are required to attend block courses and in clinic practical sessions as these are part of the structure of the programme. Delivery channels are all online or if the student chooses they can print of course materials (however as a school we try to deter this method due to our stance on sustainability, so encourage the download of materials as they are not an open access resource) Technology is obviously a big key here so this may be an issue with some students.

 

 Through this exercise I can see that Otago Polytechnic School of Veterinary Nursing is on the right path with providing students with choice. I can also see areas where we can extend on our flexibility particularly with the instructional approaches and most definitely with the resources we are providing the students. I look forward to investigating this further as I progress through this course.

References:

Casey, J. and Wilson, P. (2005). A practical guide to providing flexible learning in further and higher education

Southern Institute of Technology (2013) Certificate in Veterinary Nursing (2013, May 20). Retrieved from

http://www.sit.ac.nz/Courses/Invercargill/Certificate_in_Veterinary_Nursing_4676_FullDetails