The 'Virtual Farm' project aims to provide e-learning resources to optimise the use of the real-life educational farm resources (animals, agricultural practice and records).
The Virtual Farm is embedded in 'The Virtual Veterinary Practice' a bespoke VLE to support students doing a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at the University of Edinburgh.
The Virtual Farm is embedded in 'The Virtual Veterinary Practice' a bespoke VLE to support students doing a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at the University of Edinburgh.
The program connects the resources on the real farm by employing a multitude of media and data systems. There are data collecting systems, video and webcam, blogs and wikis. Discussion forums connect with the farm workers and other students. The animal adoption provides a more emotional connection. All those information augment the courses in the university. Additionally, students have insight in the systems their future clients use. Through the newsletter and other input, they follow farm life over the year. Students learn how to handle IT and use statistics.
The project is widely appreciated and supported. The author of the report sees a significant increase in quality of education. Spin-off projects and plans for connection to direct physical/ professional practice are evidence for the success of the approach. Drawbacks seem manageable. A certain amount of time, motivation and money is needed to keep the Virtual Farm running. Some technical problems and privacy related concerns needed to be addressed.
My view:The Virtual Farm appears to be a creative and truly innovative approach. In this blended approach I see a great catering for the distance problem and the lack of having “the real” experience. But there is even more in it as it reveals more opportunities for learning and research in the veterinary medicine.
It sounds like it really does bring the theory closer to the practice - setting up a whole virtual environment! It reminds me of Farmville on Facebook (well, the name does, I've never actually played Farmville on Facebook :-)
ReplyDeleteI also looked at this case study and I agree that it is an innovative application of elearning, as it solves a problem of students not having enough time to properly utilise the real farm environments. It appears that it has also spread further than solving that problem and has now enhanced the experience of the students by giving them a broader scope of learning that the course previously offered.
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