I said yesterday that the assessment method that my American colleagues (at the least, since I'm not too knowledgeable about Canadian education methods) may have the greatest difficulty adjusting to is the viva, or oral exam. Now, I'm excepting those who have defended a PhD or MA/MS thesis, since those often involve an extensive oral defense. However, for most undergraduates in the USA, the experience with oral assessment is limited to the speech/debate class that you *may* have taken back in high school, or else an occasional presentation given in a freshman seminar or an upper division class. This is quite different.
The name actually describes the test in total. ISF stands for Integrated Structure and Function, and as that implies, is designed to test understanding of the entire organism. However, unlike a presentation where you have time to read the paper, digest the contents, figure out the salient points, and write a presentation script; the ISF literally requries you to do all of those things in a fifteen minute window. Your examiner will start by giving you a "level 1" question, such as "Please identify the scapula." You may be looking at a live animal, a fresh dissection, and skeleton, or an image; and you may be looking at any species of animal. To begin with, you need to know what the scapula is. Assuming that you don't confuse it with the patella, you get to move on. If you can't identify the scapula, you get a backup opening gambit - but those "byes" are limited. So, if you identify the scapula correctly, you'll move on to "level 2" questions, which may ask details about the different aspects of the scapula, its structure and function, how it interacts with its environment, etc. These questions are designed to probe your depth of knowledge about the particular subject, and the follow up questions will be based on the answers you give, and the examiners' perception of your understanding. Assuming that you successfully enter into a dialogue with the examiners and pass the second level, you'll get "level 3" questions, which test your extended knowledge about the minutae of the subject.
(Note: by the time you reach level 3, you're doing quite well on the exam, and can actually relax and enjoy the experience of having a mature scientific discussion with professional colleagues.)
We get about two weeks at the end of the year (after the first four final exams are completed) to study for this ISF viva, which is important, since there are approximately 13 pages of "level 1" questions that they draw from (provided in advance), but each of those questions likely has 12-15 followup questions that might be asked, and those are NOT known until you hear them. It's a massive body of knowledge, and any/all of it is fair game for the exams. This is why I might classify the ISF exams as the hardest ones you'll sit in your time at the RVC. And I say that without ever actually having taken one. :-)
The tutorial I had yesterday focused on the gastrointestinal tract of Misty, one of the Camden Campus' two resident cows. A second year student took myself and one other first year from the front to the back, asking us questions in the ISF style (e.g., "what is this structure?"), and then asking us to elaborate. Unlike the actual exam, he did give us the correct answers when we made errors. This is one of the things about RVC that I find most gratifying, namely that the upper classes take a very active interest in the success of ther junior colleagues. This is so vital in a professional training program, since those who follow you will be the ones working with you for a long period of time. It therefore behooves (my mom's word, I hate it, but it's appropriate here) each class to actively involve themselves in the school's academic program, help refine it, and prepare future students for meeting its challenges.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Just over halfway . . .
Well. The first year is just over halfway done, so a few thoughts on the end of the first term and the beginning of the second. The pace picked up incredibly over the last four weeks of the first term, and it hasn't really let up since then. We went from the nice easy "overview" of each system, to the alimentary system, which definitely stepped things up a notch, both in quantity and detail of information. I guess I can understand that - the majority of this second term is focusing on ingestion, digestion, and the development of the associated organs.
One of the really nice things that happens here at the RVC, which I touched on very briefly in my introduction, is the integration of core concepts into practice. For example, as part of this second term (the Alimentary Strand), we've had two lectures over the past two weeks that were very clinical in nature. The first was on a condition called Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI), and tied in nicely with the lectures on digestion and absorption of nutrients (since EPI is primarily a disorder of absorption); while the second should be instantly familiar to anyone who has worked at a vet practice: diarrhea (or, as they spell it here, diarrhoea). So not only are we getting the basic sciences, but we see instantly how they will apply in our future practice, which really underscores the importance of solid understanding.
I think that the part of this course which might be the hardest to get your mind around, as a North American student, is the assessment system. I come from a similar background to most of you: four or five classes a term, three to five exams per class, regular quizzes, maybe a paper or two; plus associated laboratory grades. From stories you've no doubt heard from your friends at vet school in the US/Canada, things aren't much different. Nope. Not at RVC. Our entire first term (remember, that's 11 weeks and 6 subjects) was assessed on the basis of 30 multiple choice questions (MCQ). To call this surprising would be a major understatement. To call it easy would be a major mistake. However, on the whole, the system is terribly fair (e.g., the term one exam was only worth 5% of our year end grade, the term 2 exam is shorter, and only worth 2.5% - the bulk of our year grade, 85%, comes from the exams in June/July).
We're assessed based on five methods: MCQ, problem solving, essay, SPOT, and ISF. The first three are probably second nature to most of us. MCQ is just like back home - although the questions tend more towards the generalities, and you might be presented with something you've never seen before -they want to see if you can work it out based on the knowledge that you do have; so the key is to parse out the key phrases and concepts that you know - the answer will almost always be discernable based on that. Problem solving is an extended short answer question, based on an image or a chart or something related. You'll need to identify the key to the problem, and then answer five to seven questions based on that identification, demonstrating that you've grasped the key associated concepts. Essay - it's an essay, although you do need to cram a lot of detail into a short amount of time. The SPOT is just like a lab practical back home - 30 stations, 2-3 minutes at each station, identify the specimen and answer a few questions about it. Each of these exams is worth a percentage of the year end grade, and if you're comfortable with the material, are challenging but not impossible. The one that is probably the hardest for most North American students is the viva, or oral exam. I'll talk about that next time - I've got a tutorial session on it tomorrow.
One of the really nice things that happens here at the RVC, which I touched on very briefly in my introduction, is the integration of core concepts into practice. For example, as part of this second term (the Alimentary Strand), we've had two lectures over the past two weeks that were very clinical in nature. The first was on a condition called Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI), and tied in nicely with the lectures on digestion and absorption of nutrients (since EPI is primarily a disorder of absorption); while the second should be instantly familiar to anyone who has worked at a vet practice: diarrhea (or, as they spell it here, diarrhoea). So not only are we getting the basic sciences, but we see instantly how they will apply in our future practice, which really underscores the importance of solid understanding.
I think that the part of this course which might be the hardest to get your mind around, as a North American student, is the assessment system. I come from a similar background to most of you: four or five classes a term, three to five exams per class, regular quizzes, maybe a paper or two; plus associated laboratory grades. From stories you've no doubt heard from your friends at vet school in the US/Canada, things aren't much different. Nope. Not at RVC. Our entire first term (remember, that's 11 weeks and 6 subjects) was assessed on the basis of 30 multiple choice questions (MCQ). To call this surprising would be a major understatement. To call it easy would be a major mistake. However, on the whole, the system is terribly fair (e.g., the term one exam was only worth 5% of our year end grade, the term 2 exam is shorter, and only worth 2.5% - the bulk of our year grade, 85%, comes from the exams in June/July).
We're assessed based on five methods: MCQ, problem solving, essay, SPOT, and ISF. The first three are probably second nature to most of us. MCQ is just like back home - although the questions tend more towards the generalities, and you might be presented with something you've never seen before -they want to see if you can work it out based on the knowledge that you do have; so the key is to parse out the key phrases and concepts that you know - the answer will almost always be discernable based on that. Problem solving is an extended short answer question, based on an image or a chart or something related. You'll need to identify the key to the problem, and then answer five to seven questions based on that identification, demonstrating that you've grasped the key associated concepts. Essay - it's an essay, although you do need to cram a lot of detail into a short amount of time. The SPOT is just like a lab practical back home - 30 stations, 2-3 minutes at each station, identify the specimen and answer a few questions about it. Each of these exams is worth a percentage of the year end grade, and if you're comfortable with the material, are challenging but not impossible. The one that is probably the hardest for most North American students is the viva, or oral exam. I'll talk about that next time - I've got a tutorial session on it tomorrow.
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