The ambition of the Veterinary Online Collection is to provide an easily accessible platform for sharing veterinary educational online resources. This will provide veterinary schools with available ‘state-of-the art’ online teaching material. Close collaboration with EAEVE will secure the relevance of the Veterinary Online Collection.

The Veterinary Online Collection was initiated by veterinary schools from University of Copenhagen, Denmark, University of Helsinki, Finland and Utrecht University, the Netherlands together with the EAEVE (European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education) as an associate partner.

Initial funding was provided by EU under the Erasmus+ programme – strategic Partnership (Key Action 2). Agreement number: 2020-1-NLop-KA226HE-083056.

After completion, this project will result in an easily accessible and academic framework for sharing veterinary educational online resources, which will provide schools with available ‘state-of-the art’ online teaching material. Inclusion and strategic application of this platform by the EAEVE will secure the continuation of this important initiative. Adoption of a quality guide for the uploaded material and the subsequent editorial process will secure uniformity and high quality of the resources.

The availability of a larger variety of online resources in English, regularly supplemented by new material, will support veterinary students all over Europe in obtaining their intended learning outcomes and day-1 competencies in a ‘student-centered’ classroom. By sharing these resources, educators will complement each other and time and money will be spent more efficiently.

Four work packages

The outputs of this collaboration will be established through four work packages:

• WP1: Establishment of an online platform for e-learning content including an associated editorial board;
• WP2: Creation of an online instructors’ forum for exchange of requirements, expertise and collaboration;
• WP3: Selection of educational resources for submission to the repository. New topics will be identified and be developed. This WP includes the development of a virtual quality guide for developing online veterinary teaching resources;
• WP4: Dissemination of results.

In this project, the partners, in close collaboration with their teaching staff and students will:

1. Map the requirements for an online repository and platform for sharing educational online resources;
2. Establish the shared veterinary platform as part of the already existing online platform at Utrecht University;
3. Manage the online veterinary platform for sharing resources, including quality control of submitted resources;
4. Create a virtual quality guide for developing online veterinary teaching resources as well as instruction videos on E-learning.

Common important themes not currently taught using E-resources in partner institutions will be identified, and subsequently developed in collaboration. Results of this collaboration will be disseminated by publications, through a new series of online annual international meetings on the use and development of E-resources in veterinary curricula, as well as in the annual assembly of EAEVE and in other veterinary conferences. The goal is to propagate the initiative and to recruit more schools into this initiative.