Objective:
- To showcase the business and entrepreneurial aspects of animal based practice
- To encourage students to reflect upon, and plan for, their careers
- To increase understanding of opportunities available
Introduction:
By inviting a guest speaker, typically the focus is on the animal care as the guests explore this part of their role more readily and students are most naturally interested in this. By creating a topic/challenge, you can encourage wider elements to be explored by a large group.
Activity:
We have invited a range of speakers, typically from the local vet practices but also 'celebrities' such as SuperVet Noel Fitzpatrick and invited them to speak on a decision that they have had to make.
By focusing the presentation on an event or decision (ideally with costs in terms of time, resources etc) the format can be that the speaker presents a simple situation (can be a one liner) regarding a professional dilemma and the students are invited to ask questions to determine what to do in this situation. By sharing a short 'story' of an animal requiring help out of hours, with no owner, or a request to support local event (judging a dog show or running a stand) with increasing demands and no payment, or how a particular situation with escalating costs was handled, the students are invited to ask short questions in order to make their decision as to how they would approach the task.
Wider issues of cost, professionalism, ethics, PR (Public Relations) etc can all feature in the discussion.
With an invitation to a more well-known figure, a different approach can be taken, and a broad invitation across the institution and beyond be made. By creating a public event, this allows for a broader range of questions to be asked and students to mingle with externals and wider colleagues alike.
Impact:
The impact of bringing external viewpoints into the traditional lecture theatre practice often creates an impact that creates a “buzz” for weeks to come.Students regularly reference the comments made by externals for weeks to come and deepen their understanding of their future careers. By sharing real-life stories, the interdependent nature of business issues and animal care is made clear to the students.
Learner outcome:
Understanding and appreciation of career options, as well as the wider context of their subject is a key lesson for most students. Ideally the week after a talk, a wider debrief (without the speaker present) is taken to explore the range of issues that the students have understood. This reflection can be particularly powerful, especially as the opportunity to hear different speakers provides different perspectives for learners to compare.
Resources:
Agreement and discussion with the guest speaker – to prepare their situation and what questions they will answer and how they handle them.
References:
http://www.enterprisingvet.com/
http://coursewareobjects.elsevier.com/objects/companion_sites/enterprisingvet/casestudies/
Henry, C (2013) Veterinary Business and Enterprise - Theoretical Foundations and Practical Cases London Elsevier