These Perspectives are drawn from the weekly updates provided by Dean Lairmore to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine community during the coronavirus crisis.
April 6
Practicing new physical distancing
As we enter another week, I want to thank you for your continued flexibility and patience. The disruptions and tragic consequences of the pandemic to our society and the global community are unprecedented. We are learning daily how to interact and perform our jobs in new ways to protect our safety, yet continue to move forward.
I am inspired by how the academic transition is happening. We are adjusting our educational delivery to meet the requirements of our students to become trained veterinary professionals. In the past week, we saw 30 different hands-on clinical rotations reimagined into distance learning ‘virtual’ training experiences. In addition, our staff have completed 149 clinical skills training kits for our third-year students to use at home, and supported new lecture and exam delivery options.
Our Office of Research and Graduate Studies is proactively assisting graduate students and their advisors to safety complete our student’s research projects and fulfill their educational degree requirements.
These quick adjustments are a testament to our faculty, who have worked hard to maintain quality while shifting formats, our staff, who are dedicated to making it happen, and our students, who have remained positive and engaged.
We will never think the same way again about how we teach and learn, and once we return to normal, we will undoubtedly take lessons from this experience to make our curriculum and methodologies even stronger.