Abstract:

In the 1990s, six veterinary schools collaborated on the creation of computer aided learning materials through the Computer Learning in Veterinary Education (CLIVE). This innovative consortium shared digital learning objects as open resources (OER) prior to the advent of the internet, distributing them on CD-ROM. Over 100 of these programs were produced ranging from “ageing horses” to “a description of the urinary system”.

The use of open content is now central to the way veterinary students study. The majority of students state that they access open content such as Wikipedia, WikiVet or YouTube on a regular basis and find it invaluable to their studies. Faculty now have to ensure that their digital literacy competencies keep abreast of their students’ information needs if they are to best prepare them for their future careers. As part of this increasing engagement in digital content, staff will be encouraged to play a more active role in sharing their own teaching material.

One example of a new veterinary OER is the WikiVet project, a non-profit making collaborative resource which aims to support and enhance veterinary education worldwide using web based technologies. It provides an innovative and dynamic framework integrating an expanding veterinary encyclopaedia with related learning materials. WikiVet aims to become the most respected and largest online educational resource for the international veterinary community.

The original vision of the institutions and individuals that created veterinary OERs was that their free use would help to ensure global access to some of the best teaching resources. Clearly this has major potential for the less developed countries of the world which do not have the resources to create material and do not want to “reinvent the wheel”. Now, only time will tell if these exciting opportunities to share our global education resources will come to fruition.

Keywords:

OER, veterinary, WikiVet.