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A Meristemic Approach to the Design of Small Ruminant Modules in Veterinary Education
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A Meristemic Approach to the Design of Small Ruminant Modules in Veterinary Education
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Dissertation
A Meristemic Approach to the Design of Small Ruminant Modules in Veterinary Education
2020
Overview
The word “meristem” is applied to plants as a region of growth. In this study, a veterinary curriculum in small stock is assessed from a meristemic approach, as a form of biomimicry applied to education. The word meristemic is a novel portmanteau (or blended word) derived from “meristematic” (a region of actively dividing cells) and “epistemic” (relating to knowledge). A curriculum needs to allow for areas of growth and acknowledge that students cannot carry all the necessary information with them throughout their studies and future career. This means that throughout their studies, students can learn only the necessary and relevant information and can build on such knowledge depending on what fields they chose. Thus, it is important to follow an approach based on meristems to curriculum design. This will allow students opportunities to increase knowledge and practical experience in the correct sequence during the degree and then also later in the workplace. This thesis provides a method for including meristems in a curriculum and for this purpose focusses on the small ruminant modules of the BVSc degree at the University of Pretoria.Meristemic is therefore defined as allowing areas of growth specifically related to knowledge or skills. A meristemic approach is defined as an approach using meristems as a basis for growth and is referred to in this thesis as the approach used for refining curriculum design. In this study, the method for applying a meristemic approach has been set out as a guide for use in refining curriculum design.In conceptualising the meristemic approach, a number of existing curriculum design models were evaluated. The backward design was found to be the best fit for the veterinary science degree. Other models such as ADDIE are also useful in curriculum design. However, none of the models met the requirements of the researcher to be able to refine the curriculum once designed. As a curriculum is constantly reviewed to ensure that specific requirements are met, the researcher wanted to find an approach that could be used to refine a curriculum without having to completely redesign it. The meristemic approach begins with the development of the module using the backwards design of meeting day one competencies (DOCs) of a new graduate in veterinary science. Once the curriculum is in place, aspects of the ADDIE design model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation) are used to refine this curriculum. These aspects include “Analysis” of the current curriculum (Step 1), “Implementation” which is divided into two steps in the meristemic approach (Step 2 where assessment is critically evaluated to determine whether the DOCs are being met, and Step 3 to determine whether practical content can be beneficial to the student within a particular module) and “Evaluation” where the mode of delivery of content is evaluated to determine whether face-to-face, online or a blended approach is best for specific modules (Step 4). Once these steps have been followed, nodes (meristems) can be identified within the modules. These modules are then pruned back to the nodes that were identified in order to allow for growth within the module. Once this has been done, the process may be repeated at any time without having to redesign the entire curriculum and each module within the curriculum can be refined at a time that is convenient for the staff members involved in that module and not at a predetermined time as would be the case in redesigning of an entire curriculum. With each use of the meristemic approach, new nodes will be identified as new information or techniques are presented within each discipline.
