Abstract:

The education of Veterinary Medicine must be object of revisions in all Schools and Faculties of the world, in order to update the contents of its subjets based in the necessities of current labor markets and the incessant advances of science and the technology. The alternative ways of teaching have evolved; however, in Mexico the use of technological tools for education has not reached the levels of implementation and refinement compared with the education provided in the classroom. The acquisition of practical skills in swine production has now and rising, serious limitations of accessibility, for example, the visit of groups of students, practitioners or other farmers to technified producing farms, food plants, among others, is prohibited by the protocols and the high levels policies of the biosecurity programs. At this scenario, the project aims to provide new tools for learning, involving the application of new technologies to the acquisition of skills and to help mitigate the number of constraints outlined above. For it, during the period understood 2006 to the 2010 one worked in the compilation of the photographic material and video, design of three-dimensional and elaboration of written and narrated scripts for the development of a material multimedia. The collection of photographic and video material was made directly on farms in the main hog areas of Mexico: Sonora, Yucatan and the Bajío. This allows during the virtual tour view images of productions with different kinds of facilities, size, husbandry, feeding systems, among others. The final product, interactive CD-ROM “Virtual Visit to a Pig Farm”, provides a panorama through 3D images, photos, videos, technical and narrative, the main production areas of a pig farm complete cycle, as are weaning, growth, feedlot, feed mill, office and bathrooms, as well as waste management and treatment. The CD "Virtual Visit to a Pig Farm" allows students from schools and colleges of veterinary medicine, field veterinarians and producers in the industry know the type of facilities, handling and characteristics of farms that currently exist in Mexico. In order to evaluate pedagogically the CD-ROM includes a glossary and self-evaluation so that users can measure their level of learning to use the CD to take a virtual tour.

Keywords:

Virtual Tour, Swine, Veterinary, Multimedia.