'They think it's all over' - but maybe it isn't!

The worst of the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be over, but the fallout continues for vets as young dogs with challenging behaviours arrive in their practices. At BVA Live, Sarah Heath will help delegates understand some of the underlying causes and how they can support these 'pandemic puppies'. But she will also explain that the challenges may not end with the current generation of dogs….

Emergency Management in Academia: Converting Internships into Academic Capstone Courses Mid-Semester and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic created countless challenges in higher education at every level. At the faculty level, one such challenge was how to convert applied internships into online academic capstone courses in the middle of the semester. For programs that require their majors to complete internships as part of a graduation requirement, full-semester conversions were necessary, both for the Summer semester and in preparation for the possibility of no internships being offered in the Fall. Such actions are in the best interest of all students, many of whom are taking the course during their senior year and run the risk of delaying their graduation absent these accommodations. While on its surface these conversions may seem daunting, both internships and capstone courses share similarities that facilitate the process, including professional development and the integration and application of knowledge students have acquired over their academic careers. This paper aims to serve as a resource for postsecondary educators in the conceptualization and implementation of these conversions. The authors examine several important considerations, including creating new assignments to replace uncompleted internship hours, ensuring that mid-semester adjustments continue to meet course outcomes, communicating with students and internship providers to facilitate a seamless transition, and working with colleagues and university administrators to quickly build and approve a new capstone course for the Summer.

Teaching Techniques to Facilitate Time Management in Remote and Online Teaching

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a host of personal and professional complications for faculty across academia, as well as the students they teach. While the severity of these complications vary at the individual level and look different for everyone, one area COVID-19 has presented enormous challenges in academia is time management. Both faculty and students have been forced to adjust their schedules due to consequences of the pandemic (this includes school and university closures, employment issues, and even the virus itself). Such changes create major challenges for both groups, particularly those converting traditional daytime face-to-face courses into online and hybrid formats. This paper offers three specific techniques to facilitate time management: asynchronous teaching, chunking, and micro-learning. Research findings have led to the support for each of these techniques. The authors explain how each technique facilitates time management via remote and online teaching, and make suggestions about each technique in their own courses to contextualize their usage. Recommendations are also noted, with the goal of enabling faculty to preserve one of their and their students’ resources during and after a pandemic: time.