the honors program faculty of veterinary medicine presentations/swildens... · the honors program...

The honors program Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

Unique student characteristics?

Bachelor honors program

(Phase I – Spring 2015)

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

Bas Swildens Ada Kool

Where are we…. Utrecht University

The Utrecht University


The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine


EHC Acting Board, June 2016. Left to right: Astrid Fritz, Christian Fischer, Ron Weerheijm, Pieter Veenstra, Marca Wolfensberger, Nils O. Andersen, Marleen Eyckmans, Maarten Hogenstijn. Not on picture: Vivian van Gerven, Victor Müller-Oppliger

EHC Acting Board, June 2016. Left to right: Astrid Fritz, Christian Fischer, Ron Weerheijm, Pieter Veenstra, Marca Wolfensberger, Nils O. Andersen, Marleen Eyckmans, Maarten Hogenstijn. Not on picture: Vivian van Gerven, Victor Müller-Oppliger


• The veterinary study program consists of a three-year Bachelor’s study program

and a three-year Master’s program.

• The Master’s program has three specialisms: Companion Animal Health, Farm Animal Health/Veterinary Public Health and Equine Health.

• Every year we welcome 225 students


Bachelor Honors Veterinary Medicine


1. A 10 week clinical rotation, in addition to the regular program (15 EC);

2. The honors thesis (15 EC) consisting of an individual research project (7,5 EC) in combination with a theoretical part (7,5 EC) at honors level.

3. Multidisciplinary courses at other UU faculties and a special interdisciplinary elective course. (15 EC)

4. Self-organized international experience, for example through summer school, a study trip or an international conference.

The Veterinary Student Community

A community that connects all vet-students

With their own rituals

Rough and direct, however big hearted


The Veterinary Student Community

DSK, Diergeneeskundige Studenten Kring

-Veterinary student society-


DSKonline

Choral society ‘The Golden Trachea’ Veterinary students music ensemble ‘Syrinx’ Veterinary cycling club ‘Spoke in Study’ Veterinary hockeyclub ‘Poesh’ Veterinary students Rugby Club ‘Archaeopteryx’ focused on birds and exotic animals Foundation Day of the harness horse Veterinary Student Riding Association ‘De Solleysel’ Veterinary development co-operation ‘DIO’ ‘Hygieia’ student society in the field of public health and animal welfare. ‘VHiVer’ student society focused on horse health. Veterinary Livestock Breeders Club ‘De Uithof’

http://www.dskonline.nl/

Introduction, research questions

The embedding of the honors course in the regular veterinary bachelor is a new concept designed on literature (Renzulli (1968, 2003), Sternberg (2003)) What are the talent characteristics of the veterinary honors student?

• Karin Scager et al. (2011) showed differences in talent characteristics between honors and non-honors students • However there is diversity among the honors students of seven different bachelor programs

What are possible improvements in the veterinary honors course?

• Ada kool et al. (2015 submitted) adds more personality traits that can help design a balanced veterinary honors program


Presenter

Presentation Notes

The participants were undergraduate students (41% 1st year students, 37% 2nd year students, and 22% 3rd year students) of seven different bachelor programs: Law, Humanities, Mathematics, Physics, Earth Sciences, Innovation & Environmental Sciences, and Liberal Arts and Sciences (LA&S). High Educ (2012) 64:19–39 25 123 The strongest distinguishing factors for honors and non-honors students appeared to be the desire to learn, the drive to excel and creative thinking, while intelligence and persistence did not differentiate groups very much. While Law and Humanities honors students differed from their non-honors peers in terms of their drive to excel, Physics honors students were primarily more eager to learn than their non-honors peers were, while the LA&S honors group distinguished themselves predominantly in terms of creative thinking. The variation in results between the study programs could be explained firstly by the differences in selection procedures used in the various programs.

Theoretical background


Creativity Cognition (intelligence)

‘Desire to learn’

‘Drive to excel’

‘Persistence’

‘Openness to experience’

‘Extraversion’

Motivation

Giftedness

Prof. Dr. Joseph S. Renzulli Professor of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut

Robert Jeffrey Sternberg Psychologist and psychometrician Oklahoma State University






‘Persistence’


‘Extraversion’

Motivation

Giftedness

‘Need for structure’

‘Self-confidence’

‘Enjoying learning’

‘Nervousness, anxiety’

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The participants were undergraduate students (41% 1st year students, 37% 2nd year students, and 22% 3rd year students) of seven different bachelor programs: Law, Humanities, Mathematics, Physics, Earth Sciences, Innovation & Environmental Sciences, and Liberal Arts and Sciences (LA&S). High Educ (2012) 64:19–39 25 123 The strongest distinguishing factors for honors and non-honors students appeared to be the desire to learn, the drive to excel and creative thinking, while intelligence and persistence did not differentiate groups very much. While Law and Humanities honors students differed from their non-honors peers in terms of their drive to excel, Physics honors students were primarily more eager to learn than their non-honors peers were, while the LA&S honors group distinguished themselves predominantly in terms of creative thinking. The variation in results between the study programs could be explained firstly by the differences in selection procedures used in the various programs.

Design


Online questionnaire among 1st-year veterinary students Response 36% (N = 116) for regular students and 91% (20/22) honors students

Based on the outcomes of 3 groups of veterinary students:

(1) honors students (N = 20) (2) 15% best students (N = 20) (3) Regular students (N = 96)

Compared with a large, UU-wide data set (Kool, 2015)

(674 honors, 1575 top 15% students and 8796 regular students; no veterinary students) ANOVA test are used to test differences between the groups on the talent characteristics.

Research population


Group Veterinary GPA Standard deviation Range Honors (n = 20) 7,8 0,3 7,2-8,5 Best 15% (n = 20) 7,5 0,3 7,3-8,4 Regular (n = 96) 6,7 0,2 6,3-7,2 Group University GPA Standard deviation Range Honors (n = 674) 7,7 0,5 6,0-9,5 Best 15% (n = 1575) 7,9 0,4 7,5-9,6 Regular (n = 8796) 6,8 0,3 5,8-7,5

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The participants were undergraduate students (41% 1st year students, 37% 2nd year students, and 22% 3rd year students) of seven different bachelor programs: Law, Humanities, Mathematics, Physics, Earth Sciences, Innovation & Environmental Sciences, and Liberal Arts and High Educ (2012) 64:19–39 25 123 Sciences (LA&S)

‘Openness to new experience’


Within Veterinary groups: p = 0,23

Between Veterinary and UU: p = 0,92

No significant differences were found between veterinary honors students, the best 15% and regular students to be open to new experiences.

No significant differences were found between veterinary students and the broad Utrecht student population in openness to new experiences.

‘Openness to new experiences’ reflects the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity and a taste for innovation and variety

Presenter

Presentation Notes

"Openness to new experiences" reflects the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity and a taste for innovation and variety. You can think of valuing adventure, unusual ideas, ingenuity and a variety of accumulated experience. No differences were found between honors students, the best 15% and regular students to be open to new experiences. If we compare the veterinary students to the broad student population, we don’t see a significant differences in openness to new experiences

‘Extraversion’




No significant differences were found between groups of veterinary students on extraversion.

Veterinary students consider themselves less extraverted than students from other studies.

Extraversion reflects energy, positive emotions, assertiveness, sociability, a tendency to seek the company of others and tend to talk a lot.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Extraversion reflects energy, positive emotions, assertiveness, sociability, a tendency to seek the company of others and tend to talk a lot. On extraversion no differences between the three groups of veterinary students are found. Veterinary students scoring themselves average or less extroverted than students from other studies





honors students score significantly higher on learning motivation than both regular students and the top 15% of students.

On average, there are no differences between the veterinary students and UU-wide group.

‘Desire to learn’ involves the enjoyment of learning, characterized by an orientation towards mastery, curiosity, and the learning of challenging, difficult, and novel tasks.

The top 15% of students scored lower than the honors students, but significantly higher than the regular students.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

‘Desire to learn’ involves the enjoyment of learning, characterized by an orientation towards mastery, curiosity, and the learning of challenging, difficult, and novel tasks. honors students score significantly higher on learning motivation than both regular students and the top 15% of students. The top 15% of students scored lower than the true honors students, but significantly higher than the regular students. On average, there are no differences between the veterinary students and UU-wide group





honors students and the 15% best students score higher than the regular students.

On average, there are no differences between the veterinary students and UU-wide group.

‘the drive to excel’, refers to the desire to perform well (to get high grades) and / or to positively differentiate from other students.

This is de largest difference of all the talent characteristics.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

‘the drive to excel’, refers to the desire to perform well (to get high grades) and / or to positively differentiate from other students. honors students and the 15% best students score higher than the regular students on ‘the drive to excel’. This is de largest difference of all the talent characteristics, . On average, there are no differences between veterinary students and UU-wide group

‘Persistence’




honors students and the 15% best students score higher than the regular students on persistence.

On average veterinary students score significantly higher than the UU-wide group of students.

‘Persistence’, comprises traits like task commitment, diligence, determination, or perseverance regardless of setbacks and difficulties.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

‘Persistence’, comprises traits like task commitment, diligence, determination, or perseverance regardless of setbacks and difficulties. 'Doorzettingsvermogen', omvat karaktereigenschappen zoals taak commitment, toewijding, doorzettingsvermogen of volharding ongeacht de tegenslagen en moeilijkheden. Students who score high on it's up to finish what they start and never give up in adversity. honors students and the 15% best students score higher than the regular students in persistence. On average score veterinary students significantly higher tenacity than the UU-wide group of students




No significant differences were found between veterinary honors students, the best 15% and regular students.

The need of structure is only tested in the veterinary students groups.

‘Need for structure’ reflects the need for clarity and certainty.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Need for structure Students who score high here have a great need for clarity and certainty. They like to know where they stand and do not like unexpected situations. Based on the literature, it is expected that honors students need autonomy and perform better at situations with little structure (Scager et al., 2014). Insight into possible differences between honors and non-honors students on this trait can provide tools for education and teaching in the veterinary honors program. This feature was considered essential for DGK honors context, but was not in the previous UU-wide questionnaire. Between the groups no significant differences were found





Veterinary honors students score significantly higher on self-confidence the regular students. No difference with top 15%

Compared with the UU-wide group of veterinary students scored lower on self-confidence.

Great confidence in your own abilities affects learning behavior and the choices made as to whether or not to follow an honors program.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Great confidence in your own abilities affects learning behavior and the choices made as to whether or not to follow an honors program. The honors students score higher than the regular students on self-confidence. With the 15% best students, there is no significant difference. Compared with the UU-wide group of veterinary students scored lower on self-confidence Overlap with both task-commitment (motivation) as intelligence





honors students score significantly higher than both regular students and the top 15% of students.

Veterinary medicine students score generally higher than students from other UU-courses.

‘Enjoying learning’ indicates to what extent the students consider the courses and studying as pleasant or satisfying

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Enjoying learning indicates to what extent the students consider the courses and studying as pleasant or satisfying. The honors students score higher here than the top 15% of students and regular students. Also veterinary medicine students scoring generally higher than students from other courses

‘Study related nervousness, anxiety’




honors students score lower than the regular students.

On average, veterinary students score slightly higher on study-related anxiety than the UU-wide group.

The extent to which students experience studying and examinations as stressful and feel that they can only just manage their study.

The top 15% is exactly between the other two groups, and not significantly different with the honors group or the group of regular students.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Students that score high on this trait experience studying and examinations as stressful and feel that they can only just manage their study. This may affect the choice of whether or not to follow an honors program. honors students score lower here than the regular students. The top 15% is exactly between the other two groups, and not significantly different with the honors group or the group of regular students. On average veterinary students score slightly higher on study-related anxiety than the average UU

Round up


honors students score significantly higher than both regular students and the top 15% of students in:

Veterinary honors students are unique within the veterinary community ………

Desire to learn Study related happiness

honors students and the 15% best students score higher than the regular students on:

honors students and the 15% best students score lower than the regular students in:

Persistence Self-confidence Need to excel

Study related anxiety

However: these traits seem to be associated with high performances in general

Round up


Veterinary students are unique in Utrecht University………

Extraversion Self-confidence

Veterinary students score themselves lower than students from other studies in:


Veterinary students score themselves higher than students from other studies in:

Persistence Study related hapiness

Veterinary students score themselves higher than students from other studies in:



‘Persistence’


‘Extraversion’

Motivation




Giftedness




‘Nervousness, anxiety’

Interpretation and implication


What to do with this exclusive species………

Creativity

Students that score high on desire to learn are known to work more autonomous. The current course has attracted these students.

Veterinary students including the honors subpopulation score relatively low in the domain of

Desire to learn Study related happiness

Presenter

Presentation Notes

1, That honors students are more motivated to learn and understand is in line with what is found in other studies (Kaczvinsky, 2007; Scager et al, 2012.). Students scoring high in learning motivation are expected to be more autonomous (Ryan & Deci, 2000). This would imply that more freedom can be given to the students in the honors program than in the regular program. The honors program has thus attracted and selected students who score high on learning motivation and happiness in the study, which is very positive. 2: This differs from earlier research by Scager et al. (2012) among UU students in which it was found that honors students scored higher on 'openness to new experiences (extraversion was not investigated). However, to address complex, multidisciplinary, social problems, there is a need for individuals that can use the combination of reasoning, knowledge and skills in an innovative way. An important task of honors programs is also in the area of creativity.

Interpretation and implication


What to do with the hidden potential honors program candidate………

In line with other research the veterinary honors students and the 15% best students score higher than the regular students on: and lower on:

Within the 15% best students are potential honors students.

Persistence Self-confidence Need to excel


In phase 2 this will be investigated through a specific questionnaire.

What was your main reason not to sign up for the HP? (Free text) What other reasons played a part? (Free text) What would have to change to make you join in? (Free text) What aspects of the HP did attract you? (Free text)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

gemiddeld cijfer van een 7,5 of hoger 20 studenten de vragenlijst ingevuld. Deze studenten waren allen in 2016 uitgenodigd voor het HP, maar hebben besloten niet deel te nemen. Wat was je voornaamste reden niet voor het HP te kiezen? Studenten geven verschillende redenen op waarom ze niet voor het HP hebben gekozen. Voor de meeste studenten geldt dat de inhoud ze niet aanspreekt (5 studenten) of dat ze nog veel dingen naast hun studie doen die ook veel tijd kosten (5 studenten). Welke andere redenen speelden mee? de inhoud van het programma de voornaamste rol in de afweging. “Er waren te weinig keuzemogelijkheden” en een ander “de onderwerpen en het keuzevak van het tweede jaar dat erbij hoorde spraken me niet helemaal genoeg aan (niet genoeg om er weer andere dingen voor te moeten laten)” Wat zou er moeten veranderen om je wel te laten meedoen? Op deze vraag wordt het meest verwezen naar de introductie/promotie van het HP (5x). Welke aspecten aan het HP trokken je wel aan? Op de vraag wat wel aansprak aan het HP waren de meeste studenten het eens, de casussen en het extra lijnonderwijs (12x). Ook de extra uitdaging en de verdieping sprak studenten aan (5x). Overige opmerkingen De opmerkingen hier variëren. Twee studenten geven nogmaals aan dat tijd de belangrijkste factor

The veterinary (honors) student With their own rituals

Rough and direct, however big hearted


Strong in Persistence and Happy to learn Could do with some more Self-confidence Need room for Creativity in the courses

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