Teaching students how to interpret animal emotions 2: putting research into practice

The first part of this article discussed teaching veterinary nursing students how to interpret the emotions of animals. It also provided educational strategies for the classroom and clinical placements that were aligned with the ‘Authentic Learning Framework’ of Herrington and Oliver (2000). However, transforming teaching approaches into tangible plans may require considerable work. To avoid the unnecessary duplication of effort, the first aim of this second part is to share the design of a specific teaching and assessment plan on interpreting animal emotions. The second aim is to analyse the outcomes of this teaching and discuss any insights gained, as well as their significance.

This article focuses on a stage two module (animal behaviour for veterinary nursing) within the Bachelor of Science in veterinary nursing degree at the University College Dublin. This 4-year honour’s degree programme is recognised by the Veterinary Council of Ireland and the Accreditation Committee for Veterinary Nurse Education. Animal behaviour for veterinary nursing ran in the spring trimester and had a capacity of 45 students. It included education on normal animal behaviour, animal welfare assessment, learning theory and training methods, and animal behaviour problems. The animal emotions teaching and assessment were fully developed for the 2019-20 academic year. The teaching was planned for delivery at the beginning of the module, so that student understanding could then be built on. Emotions were explored in dogs, cats, cattle and sheep, and taught by this author. Equine behaviour was taught by a different lecturer and did not take the same approach, while the behaviour of exotics was not included in the module. The associated learning outcome was to ‘correctly identify/interpret the behaviour, body language and vocalisations of domestic animals’.