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Comparative animal welfare and practical assessment (EMU Distance learning part; 10th April – 15th April, 2023, Meeting in person April 17th – April 21st, 2023)

1. Distance learning part; 10th April – 15th April, 2023

2. Meeting in person April 17th – April 21st, 2023

Students of animal science and veterinary science, in particular, must have, and be able to demonstrate, a sound understanding and competence in the evaluation of the welfare of animals, especially if they seek work opportunities in the rest of Europe. This course will provide students with comparative understanding of a range of welfare issues in the keeping of a number of animal species in a variety of contexts. Expertise from animal welfare lecturers and practitioners will supply such knowledge and competence. The course is innovative in its three-way learning and contextualisation strategy: assessing the student’s conceptions of welfare prior to the course, presenting all ideologies and concepts practically and theoretically during the course and ensuring that the students demonstrate original thought and competence in the evaluation of animal welfare on selected species in a named keeping context.

The course consists of a pre-course individual self-assessment of conceptual knowledge and understanding, and on-site literature studies, lectures, discussions, group work and group presentations, a study tour and individual reports.

The intensive course will consist of three parts: distance learning, meeting in person and the synthesis and presentation of a self-prepared welfare evaluation. In the pre-course distance learning part, students are required to study and to prepare a short report on the welfare of a chosen species in their local context. The individual reports will be used to assess the individual achievements and performances in the distance learning part and provide inputs for the subsequent session of interactive teaching.

In the meeting in person part, lectures, discussions, practical exercises and case studies will be used to introduce and evaluate understanding of theoretical concepts and practical assessment. The field trip and group work will be used to demonstrate knowledge and practical expertise. Group presentations will be used to evaluate student achievement.

Final individual student performance will be evaluated based on achievements from both the pre- course and within-course learning.

After the course, and based on the evaluation results, students will be awarded with 3 ECTS.

Course venue: Estonian University of Life Sciences

Course leader: David Arney, Professor, david.arney@emu.ee

Minimum number of participants: 12

Maximum number of participants: 20

Course programme

Register here: BOVA registration form

 

Submitted on: Thu, 03/09/2023 - 15:46