Animal Behaviour and Welfare MOOC - Now On Demand

We are really excited to announce that the Animal Behaviour and Welfare MOOC from Coursera is now live and on demand.

You can join the course by clicking on this link and signing in or registering with Coursera.

Nat, Fanta and our cameraman Tim preparing a lecture

What is an on-demand course? 
On-Demand courses can be accessed at any time, and you can take as long as you need to finish the materials and earn your certificate. This means that you'll be able to view the lectures and engage with your fellow students forever.

Could I used the materials to teach with?
Yes! We would be more than happy for you to point your students towards the course or to download the videos and use them yourself to teach animal welfare. All we ask is that you don't change the materials (so don't edit the videos or take our name off them).

Can I still get a certificate?
The On-Demand courses only offer the Verified Certificate, which is a paid certificate. When you start a quiz, Coursera will ask you to verify your identity using a webcam and your typing speed. If you want to earn a certificate, you will need to verify your identity at the start of each quiz.

Why did you do away with the free certificate?
Unfortunately this was Coursera's decision. There  is financial aid available through Coursera for the Verified Certificates.

Will you still be on the forums and run Hangouts?
We have a number of postgraduate students helping us out on the forums and we'll be there too, but on-demand courses are designed to be more independent. We are planning on running Hangouts when there is a demand for them.

How successful was the old session-based course?
We were absolutely delighted with the session-based courses. Over the two sessions we ran over 50,000 people signed up with 37,279 students watching at least some of the lectures. We awarded 9029 certificates of completion. Over 27% of our students came from emerging economies and 66% held an undergraduate degree or higher


So come along and join in, you can tweet us @JMICAWE or use the #EdAniWelf hashtag.

We'll see you there!

Veterinary Care for Working Equids: A Talk by Polly Compston

The Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education is excited to announce that the Senior Veterinary Adviser at The Brooke, Polly Compston, has agreed to speak at the New Dick Vet School as a part of the special lecture series it runs each year. 

 

 

Polly will be coming to Easter Bush Campus from The Brooke to give a talk on working horses, donkeys and mules in low-income countries on Friday, June 5th.
                                   
Polly graduated from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in 2007 and started her career in mixed general practice. After a period of time working as a veterinary volunteer overseas she completed a residency in Clinical Research at Rossdales Equine Hospital in Newmarket alongside an MSc from the RVC in Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health.  She moved to The Brooke, an international animal welfare NGO in November 2013, where she is currently the Senior Veterinary Adviser.

The Brooke is an international organisation that works globally dedicated to improving the lives of working horses, donkeys and mules, and their owners, in some of the world's poorest communities. You can find out more about it here: http://www.thebrooke.org/         

 

There are three main ways in which they work: by strengthening service provision systems; through engagement with communities to identify and solve their animal health and welfare problems; and advocacy at national and international levels. This talk will give an overview of the problems that working equids face and how organisations like The Brooke can have an impact on their health and welfare.

We are really excited that Polly has agreed to come and present this talk to us – we have no doubt that it will be very informative and not to be missed! We look forward to welcoming her on June 5th and keep an eye on our blog for a post about the talk!