Königsweg 65
Haus 27
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 62618
fortpflanzungsklinik@vetmed.fu-berlin.de
The Free University?s Veterinary Clinic of Reproduction in the Department of Veterinary Medicine, Berlin, has been offering courses on alternative and complementary veterinary medicine to its students for several years. Due to time constraints and shortages in teaching staff, it has not been possible to satisfy student demand for instruction in these areas. To provide more detailed information as well as more opportunities for discussion and practica, subject area courses were modified in two steps.
Initially, blended learning was implemented to include e-learning and in-class formats of instruction. Subsequently, an entire block of courses offered were transferred to e-learning format. Students may now voluntarily register for the e-learning course entitled ?Introduction of alternative and complementary veterinary medicine? via the Internet and learn the basic principles of homoeopathy, herbal medicine, acupuncture and other alternative methods in veterinary medicine. After passing this basic course, blended learning courses enable advanced students to learn more about fundamentals of methods in greater detail as well as to perform practica with animal subjects. The evaluation of these courses showed that students rated e-learning to be a reasonable addendum to in-class instruction. More than two thirds of the students recommended an increased integration of e-learning into veterinary education.