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Enhancing food-safety education through shared teaching resources.
1Technology for Learning Center, University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, Madison, WI 53706, USA. mcdonald7@wisc.edu
Journal of Veterinary Medical Education
|August 30, 2008
Summary
A new USDA-funded project created a repository of "learning objects" for veterinary food safety education. This resource supports teaching food safety from farm to fork, enhancing preparedness for outbreaks and bioterrorism.
Area of Science:
- Veterinary Public Health
- Food Safety Education
Background:
- Public concern over food safety and bioterrorism highlights a need for better preparedness.
- Veterinary medicine is crucial for ensuring national food supply safety.
- Existing educational materials for food safety are often difficult to locate or create.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a new resource for food safety educational materials for veterinary and public health educators.
- To describe an integrative, collaborative approach for creating and disseminating food safety teaching resources.
- To encourage veterinary faculty to utilize and pilot these new educational materials.
Main Methods:
- Development of a USDA-funded project: Design to Dissemination: Developing Materials and Repository for Integrative Veterinary Food Safety Education.
- Creation of educational materials as "learning objects" (LOs) focused on individual learning objectives.
- Establishment of the Veterinary Food Safety Education Learning Object Repository for cataloging, storage, and accessibility of LOs.
Main Results:
- The project created a repository of reusable "learning objects" for veterinary food safety education.
- Faculty can search, evaluate, and download clinically relevant teaching resources covering the 'farm to fork' continuum.
- The repository facilitates easy sharing, reuse, and repurposing of educational content.
Conclusions:
- The Veterinary Food Safety Education Learning Object Repository offers a valuable, accessible resource for educators.
- This initiative aims to enhance food safety education and preparedness within veterinary and public health programs.
- Encouraging faculty participation is key to the repository's success and the advancement of food safety training.
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