Jeanne Marchig Animal Behaviour and Welfare MOOC - Always Online

 

We have some exciting news about our Animal Behaviour and Welfare MOOC on Coursera.

Coursera have started to offer On-Demand courses, where the material is always available and students can sign up at any time. The University of Edinburgh’s EdiVet course is already offered in the On-Demand format, so if you haven’t explored that course yet, you no longer have to wait for a session to be run.

The Jeanne Marchig team has been working hard behind the scenes to convert Animal Behaviour and Welfare to the On-Demand version, and we will launch the course on the 12^th October, 2015!

What does this mean for you?

The Animal Behaviour and Welfare materials will always be available to students of the On-Demand course.

Students will be able to sign up at any time and complete the course in their own time.

Statements of Achievement (free) and Course Certificates (paid) will still be available for students who complete the course.

We’re really excited about this development and the innovations Coursera are bringing to the MOOC format.

You can’t sign up to the course until it goes live, so remember to follow us @JMICAWE, follow our blog, and put a note in your diary to come to the course on the 12^th October!

You can still use the #EdAniWelf  hashtag to tell us what you think about the new On-Demand system.

And just for our blog readers we have a behind the scenes preview of what the On-Demand course will look like:



The Animal Behaviour and Welfare Front Page

 
 

The New Course Introduction

 

New Video Format





 

 

The Use of Online Learning as CPD within Animal Welfare Organisations

We are very proud of one of our MSc in International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law (IAWEL) students Lee Read, who recently presented preliminary results of his MSc dissertation project at the British Society of Animal Science Annual Conference (BSAS), 'Science With Impact', at the University of Chester.

 

One of the conference themes was 'knowledge transfer and education', and 'bridging the gap between policy and research'. BSAS works to improve the understanding of animal science and the ways it can help ensure food is produced ethically and economically. As an organisation they promote accessible science and during the 2015 annual conference were keen to have a range of papers looking at innovative educational projects.

 Lee presented preliminary evaluation of the bespoke Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course that the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education designed for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Lee's project, titled "The use of online learning as continuing professional development within animal welfare organisations: A case study with IFAW' found that IFAW staff members had a generally positive response to the professional development program, with more IFAW staff members reporting that they felt very confident in describing IFAW's ethical position with regards to animal welfare issues, and 90% of staff members strongly agreed that animal welfare was based in science (versus 80% who felt this way prior to doing the course).

 

Lee also investigated how different learner types responded to the online format of the course, and intends to use this to inform the creation of virtual learning environments in future projects.

This work will allow animal welfare scientists to build better interventions in future, and refine the educational materials already in use. Lee's work also supports the evidence based approach to animal welfare, by demonstrating how an evidence led approach can make a measurable change in peoples' knowledge and attitudes to animal welfare, as well as providing education in an enjoyable and flexible setting.