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Virtual Microscopy: A Useful Tool for Meeting Evolving Challenges in the Veterinary Medical Curriculum

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Abstract

Veterinary schools, similar to many professional health programs, face a myriad of evolving challenges in delivering their professional curricula including expansion of class size, costs to maintain expensive laboratories, and increased demands on veterinary educators to use curricular time efficiently and creatively. Additionally, exponential expansion of the knowledge base through ongoing biomedical research, educational goals to increase student engagement and clinical reasoning earlier in the curriculum, and students’ desire to access course materials and enhance their educational experience through the use of technology all support the need to reassess traditional microscope laboratories within Professional Veterinary Medical (PVM) educational programs. While there is clear justification for teaching veterinary students how to use a microscope for clinical evaluation of cytological preparations (i.e., complete blood count, urinalysis, fecal analysis, fine needle aspirates, etc.), virtual microscopy may be a viable alternative to using light microscopy for teaching and learning fundamental histological concepts. This article discusses results of a survey given to assess Professional Veterinary Medical students’ perceptions of using virtual microscope for learning basic histology/microscopic anatomy and implications of these results for using virtual microscopy as a pedagogical tool in teaching first-year Professional Veterinary Medical students’ basic histology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, 1601 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1601, USA

    Lori R. Kogan

  2. College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, 1678 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1678, USA

    Kristy L. Dowers & Sherry M. Stewart

  3. Colorado School of Public Health, Colorado State University, 1678 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80526, USA

    Jacey R. Cerda

  4. College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, 1060 William Moore Dr, CVM Main Building, Box 8401, Raleigh, NC, 27607, USA

    Regina M. Schoenfeld-Tacher

Authors
  1. Lori R. Kogan
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  2. Kristy L. Dowers
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  3. Jacey R. Cerda
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  4. Regina M. Schoenfeld-Tacher
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  5. Sherry M. Stewart
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Correspondence to Lori R. Kogan.

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Kogan, L.R., Dowers, K.L., Cerda, J.R. et al. Virtual Microscopy: A Useful Tool for Meeting Evolving Challenges in the Veterinary Medical Curriculum. J Sci Educ Technol 23, 756–762 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-014-9508-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-014-9508-6

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