Create 2-3 intended learning outcomes for an area of knowledge or skill within your area of expertise or training.
- Sustain partnerships and communication with your program team.
- Maintain relationships with fellow learners through group discussions and collaborative activities.
Then create a learning activity (or two) aligned to one or more of those intended learning outcomes.
Engaging with Your Team
In any educational journey, yours included, it becomes obvious that we can’t do an endeavour of this magnitude on our own. We need a team—a team of experts, facilitators, mentors, and other support—in order to actualize what we need to learn and where we want to go. These are the “stakeholders” of your learning experience—those that are invested, in one form or another, to varying degrees, that will help influence and guide you along the way.
In this program, these key stakeholders could be identified, in no particular order of importance, as:
Yourself
Your fellow learners
Your Open Learning Faculty Members
Your patients—the animals you work with
Your clients—the animal’s owners
Your clinical mentors
Your DVMs
Each group, or person, plays their own significant role in your learning path and where it will lead.
This topic is focused on the first two stakeholders listed, you and your fellow learners, as you explore your initial impressions from last term and how you are all building towards a common goal.
In the upcoming terms of the Veterinary Technology program, the other relationships will be highlighted, as your professional development and understanding deepens.
Providing Team Support
For this activity, you are asked to participate in a synchronous Big Blue Button (BBB) session with your Open Learning Faculty Member, and your fellow learners. This activity will focus on building your relationships by providing an opportunity for everyone to meet in the same place, and at the same time.
You are in a unique program where you will have the opportunity to come together as a class in the last term of year 3 during your wet labs. Between now and then, these relationships you build will be very influential and, for some, lifelong. This activity will facilitate the beginning of the camaraderie and support that will be so important, not only for your overall experience of the program, but ultimately for your success. One of the most common comments heard during the onsite wet labs is: “I wish I could have had the chance to get to know you earlier!”
After the BBB session, you are then asked to participate in an activity using Jamboard, a free, web-based space that does not require a login.
Please make every effort to attend the BBB synchronous session by planning ahead and reserving the date and time in your calendars. Opportunities to meet with your Open Learning Faculty Member as well as your classmates, in a synchronous way, should not be missed. Full participation in activities such as this one lends to a rich and meaningful experience for all. You will also gain valuable exposure to the BBB feature in Moodle, which will be useful throughout all of your upcoming courses. However, if you are unable to attend the BBB session, notify your Open Learning Faculty Member, who will message instructions on how to fulfil the requirements for this activity.