Approaches to Teaching Biometry and Epidemiology at Two Veterinary Schools in Germany.

In a thematically broad and highly condensed curriculum like veterinary medicine, it is essential to pay close attention to the didactic and methodical approaches used to deliver that content. The course topics ideally should be selected for their relevance but also for the target audience and their previous knowledge. The overall objective is to improve the long-term availability of what has been learned. For this reason, an evaluation among lecturers of German-speaking veterinary schools was carried out in 2012 to consider which topics in biometry and epidemiology they found relevant to other subject areas. Based on this survey, two veterinary schools (Berlin and Hannover) developed a structured approach for the introductory course in biometry and epidemiology. By means of an appropriate choice of topics and the use of adequate teaching methods, the quality of the lecture course could be significantly increased. Appropriately communicated learning objectives as well as a high rate of student activity resulted in increased student satisfaction. A certain degree of standardization of teaching approaches and material resulted in a comparison between the study sites and reduced variability in the content delivered at different schools. Part of this was confirmed by the high consistency in the multiple-choice examination results between the study sites. The results highlight the extent to which didactic and methodical restructuring of teaching affects the learning success and satisfaction of students. It can be of interest for other courses in veterinary medicine, human medicine, and biology.

Teaching biostatistics and epidemiology in the veterinary curriculum: what do our fellow lecturers expect?

Given veterinary students' varying mathematical knowledge and interest in statistics, teaching statistical concepts to them is often seen as a challenge. Consequently, there is an ongoing debate among lecturers about the best time to introduce the material into the curriculum, and the best thematic content and conceptual approach to teaching in basic biostatistics classes. During a workshop meeting of epidemiology and biostatistics lecturers of Austrian, German, and Swiss veterinary schools, the question was raised as to whether the topics taught in epidemiology and statistics classes are of sufficient relevance to our lecturing colleagues in other fields of veterinary education (i.e., whether our colleagues have certain expectations as to what the students should know about biostatistics before taking their classes). In 2012, an online survey was compiled and carried out at all eight German-speaking veterinary schools to address this issue. There were 266 respondents out of approximately 800 contacted lecturers from all schools and disciplines. Almost 50% responded that the basic biostatistics class should be taught early on (in the second or third year), while only 26% indicated that basic epidemiology should commence before the third year of the veterinary curriculum. There were clear differences in perceived relevance of the 44 epidemiological and biostatistical topics presented in the survey, assessed on a Likert scale from 0 (no relevance) to 4 (very high relevance). The results provide important information about how to revise the content of epidemiology and biostatistics classes, and the approach could also be used for other courses within the veterinary curriculum with a natural science focus.