Browsing by Author "Root Kustritz, Margaret V"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Comparison of Veterinary Student Self-Perception of Comfort and Abilities in Independent Learning with Quality of Online/ Virtual Course and Student Performance
    (Education in the Health Professions, 2023) Root Kustritz, Margaret V; Lashbaugh, Kristy D; Rendahl, Aaron K; Malone, Erin D; Larsen, Roxanne J; Burton, Erin N; Gordon-Evans, Wanda J
    Background: Students expressed concern about having been forced to move toward more online or virtual learning starting in March 2020 with the coronavirus disease pandemic. Our hypotheses were the following: if a course is well designed, success in the course is not dependent on student comfort level. If a course is not well designed, student comfort level is a significant factor, and those students who are more comfortable with independent learning may outperform students who are less comfortable in courses offered virtually. Materials and Methods: Student performance, as demonstrated by examination scores, was compared with their comfort as independent learners and with the quality of online/virtual course offerings. Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics and a linear mixed model. Results: Student performance was directly associated with comfort level, with those students who were less comfortable performing less well. Student discomfort with independent learning of online/virtual coursework could not be mitigated by increasing course quality in this study. Conclusions: Students may benefit from understanding what about independent learning makes them uncomfortable and directly addressing it. Instructors can do much to improve the learning experience in online courses by following published best practices. It may well be that many of the reported negatives of online learning will ease with time as students and instructors become more accustomed to independent learning paradigms.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Curriculum Review and Revision at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine
    (Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, 2017) Root Kustritz, Margaret V; Molgaard, Laura K; Malone, Erin
    Curriculum review is an essential part of ongoing curriculum development, and is a mandate of the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education (AVMA COE), the accrediting body of all North American schools and colleges of veterinary medicine. This article describes the steps in curriculum review undertaken by the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine (UMN CVM) in response to this mandate from the COE and to a recommendation from a recent collegiate review that was part of a larger university-level strategic planning effort. The challenges of reviewing and revising the curriculum within a short time frame were met by appointing a dedicated curriculum review board and by engaging students and faculty groups, both as focus groups and as specific faculty work sections within disciplines. Faculty voting on the process was very valuable as it permitted the curriculum review board and faculty groups to move ahead knowing there was a process in place for reassessment if most faculty did not agree with recommendations. Consistent support from the dean of the college and other administrators was vital in helping maintain momentum for curriculum review.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Identification of Student Lifestyle Characteristics Associated with Training Choices to Drive Targeted Admissions in Veterinary Medicine
    (Education in the Health Professions, 2020) Root Kustritz, Margaret V; Malone, Erin; Rendahl, Aaron
    Background: There is an identified need for practicing veterinarians with a focus on food animal work in the United States. Students at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine track by species (food animal, equine, mixed, and small animal) or discipline (research) in the latter part of their training. Identification of life experiences that are associated with students choosing the food animal track would permit the college to better target admissions to meet societal needs. Aims and Objectives: To identify lifestyle characteristics and activities associated with choice of the food animal track and to evaluate how student choice of track varies across their training. Materials and Methods: Students from three consecutive classes were surveyed to identify factors influencing track choice. Fisher’s test was used to compare data and Clopper–Pearson “exact” confidence intervals computed. Results: Students who declared interest in the 1st year in small animal, equine, or food animal as a track were highly likely to choose that at their final track later in the curriculum. Eightyfive percent of students in a food animalfocused early admission track chose the food animal track; the remainder chose the mixed track with cattle as one of their species of interest. Students were more likely to choose the food animal track if their undergraduate major was animal science, if they grew up in a rural area, lived on a farm, were in 4H or were in Future Farmers of America, or had shown or worked horses or cattle, or shadowed a large animal veterinarian. Students valued mentoring from within the college and from outside veterinarians. Conclusions: Knowledge of how students choose their tracks will permit the college better to promote admissions of students who are more likely to track food animal and to plan for adequate clinical year experiences for all students.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Monitoring the Curriculum through the Student Perspective
    (Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, 2020) Malone, Erin D; Root Kustritz, Margaret V; Rendahl, Aaron; Molgaard, Laura K
    Student input was deliberately included as part of the curriculum implementation and assessment plan at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. The new curriculum included design features to encourage deeper learning such as a spiral curriculum with cross-course integration, increased open time, and more active learning. Student well-being was seen as a simultaneous need. To gather overall perceptions of workload and well-being, student volunteers from each cohort were surveyed weekly starting in 2013. Survey questions asked about out-of-class work time, level of integration, extracurricular activities, student well-being habits, paid employment, and other factors. Survey questions were combined with course data to get a full picture of week quality, total course work time, extracurricular activities, and the effects of integration. Many of our hypotheses about curricular and extracurricular impacts on week quality were disproven. Week quality was most positively affected by student factors of sleep and exercise, whereas the curricular factors of out-of-class work time, total course work time, and examination hours had the strongest negative effects. A surprising finding was that open time, in-class hours, and paid employment hours had a minimal effect on week quality. Students identified excessively heavy semesters and uneven semester workloads that resulted in early revisions to the new curriculum. Student feedback provided a view of the curriculum that was not otherwise available and resulted in early and significant impacts on the new curriculum, and they provided insight into whether planned changes had occurred and how effective various factors were in reaching the curricular goals.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Using a model board examination and a case study assessing clinical reasoning to evaluate curricular change
    (Education in the Health Professions, 2018) Root Kustritz, Margaret V; Rendahl, Aaron; Molgaard, Laura K; Malone, Erin
    Background: This study compared student ability to integrate basic science and clinical information before and after implementing a curriculum revision that introduced a problem‑oriented case approach as required coursework. Materials and Methods: Student knowledge and competence were assessed just before entry into clinical training by completion of 100 multiple‑choice questions mirroring the breadth and type of questions on the national licensing examination (Part I) and by completion of 10 cases to discern clinical decision‑making (Part II). Scores from students from the classes of 2015 and 2016 (previous curriculum) were compared to those from students from the classes of 2017 and 2018 (current curriculum). Results: Part I scores were not significantly different between any classes in the previous and current curriculum. Part II scores for 3rd‑year students in the current curriculum were higher than those for comparable students in the past 2 years of the previous curriculum. Mean scores for the class of 2016, the last year of the previous curriculum, were significantly lower than all other classes. Conclusion: Students benefit from measured and repetitive practice in clinical reasoning.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Using a model board examination and a case study assessing clinical reasoning to evaluate curricular change
    (Education in the Health Professions, 2018) Root Kustritz, Margaret V; Rendahl, Aaron; Molgaard, Laura; Malone, Erin
    Background: This study compared student ability to integrate basic science and clinical information before and after implementing a curriculum revision that introduced a problem-oriented case approach as required coursework. Materials and Methods: Student knowledge and competence were assessed just before entry into clinical training by completion of 100 multiple-choice questions mirroring the breadth and type of questions on the national licensing examination (Part I) and by completion of 10 cases to discern clinical decision-making (Part II). Scores from students from the classes of 2015 and 2016 (previous curriculum) were compared to those from students from the classes of 2017 and 2018 (current curriculum). Results: Part I scores were not significantly different between any classes in the previous and current curriculum. Part II scores for 3rd-year students in the current curriculum were higher than those for comparable students in the past 2 years of the previous curriculum. Mean scores for the class of 2016, the last year of the previous curriculum, were significantly lower than all other classes. Conclusion: Students benefit from measured and repetitive practice in clinical reasoning.