Social interactions between veterinary medical students and their teachers in an ambulatory clinic setting in Finland.

In this study, the social interactions between students and their teachers in an ambulatory clinic setting were investigated using Bales's interaction process analysis framework. Observational data were collected during five small-group sessions. The observations were quantified, and the behaviors of students and teachers were compared statistically. This study demonstrated that the interaction between students and their teachers was for the most part equal and could be characterized as "positively task oriented." The study has implications for veterinary educators wishing to use social psychology frameworks to assess the quality of learning in small-group clinical setting.

Traditional and nontraditional evaluations of student outcomes in a practical final examination of veterinary radiology.

The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Helsinki recognized the lack of systems to measure the quality of education. At the department level, this meant lack of systems to measure the quality of students' outcomes. The aim of this article was to compare the quality of outcomes of a final examination in veterinary radiology by calculating the correlations between traditional (quantitative scores traditionally given by veterinary teachers) and nontraditional (qualitative Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome, or SOLO, method) grading results. Evaluation of the quality of the questions is also included. The results indicate that SOLO offers criteria for quality evaluation, especially for questions. A correlation of 0.60 (p<0.01) existed between qualitative and quantitative estimations, and a correlation of 0.79 (p<0.01) existed between evaluators, both using traditional scores. Two suggestions for a better system to evaluate quality in the future: First, development of problem-solving skills during the learning process should also be assessed. Second, both the scoring of factual correctness of answers (knowledge) and the grammatical structure of an answer and the quality of presentation should be included in the quality evaluation process.

Evaluation of radiographic interpretation competence of veterinary students in Finland.

In the evaluation of the clinical competence of veterinary students, many different definitions and methods are approved. Due to the increasing discussion of the quality of outcomes produced by newly graduated veterinarians, methods for the evaluation of clinical competencies should also be evaluated. In this study, this was done by comparing two qualitative evaluation schemes: the well-known structure of observed learning outcome (SOLO) taxonomy and a modification of this taxonomy. A case-based final radiologic examination was selected and the investigation was performed by classifying students' outcomes. These classes were finally put next to original (quantitative) scores and the statistical calculations were initiated. Significant correlations between taxonomies (0.53) and the modified taxonomy and original scores (0.66) were found and some qualitative similarities between evaluation methods were observed. In addition, some supplements were recommended for the structure of evaluation schemes, especially for the structure of the modified SOLO taxonomy.