Setting up a virtual farm for problem-solving tasks

Associate Professor Breda Jakovac Strajn and Professor Martin Dobeic from the University of Ljubljana’s Veterinary Faculty, together with their colleagues, decided to update the course Animal Hygiene, Nutritional Physiology and Environmental Management. The course includes farm-based practical sessions in which students explore real-life examples. However, the distances to the farms and global changes have made these sessions increasingly difficult to organise. Lecturers teaching various courses within the Veterinary Medicine programme therefore began collecting visual materials from their respective specialist fields to illustrate the conditions veterinarians encounter in practice. This led to the idea of a “virtual farm”, designed to introduce students to a simulated farm reflecting real-world conditions. The concept would also provide a basis for incorporating virtual farms into other courses, creating a learning platform with images and videos that could be expanded with additional virtual farm examples.

For the pilot course update, the lecturers collected images at a farm, supplemented them with subject-specific content and combined them into interactive learning materials. They used these materials to create virtual farm case studies, which they incorporated into problem-based learning. Through these virtual cases, students became familiar with conditions on a farm, developed a more critical perspective on animal welfare and analysed the situation. By working through the problems, students independently identified improvements they could later recommend to animal owners as practising veterinarians. This approach redefined the teaching and learning process through the use of ICT, encouraging students to develop higher-order thinking skills in analysing and evaluating, as defined in the revised Bloom’s taxonomy.

By creating the virtual farm, the lecturers developed and strengthened their own digital competences. They selected suitable images and edited them using specialised ICT tools, such as Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. To ensure anonymity, they chose images that did not reveal the identity of the farm where the material had been collected. They also prepared a letter assuring the farm’s anonymity. Using these materials, they developed virtual farm-based problem scenarios and incorporated them into their teaching through problem-based learning. Working with the virtual farm enabled a blended learning approach and encouraged students to participate actively in the learning process. The lecturers also supported the development of students’ digital competences. Investigating and analysing problem scenarios and seeking solutions helped students develop information and media literacy, as well as problem-solving competence.

The lecturers plan to continue developing the virtual farm and introduce it into other courses within the Veterinary Medicine programme, as it was well received by students. Students reported that the virtual farm gave them a clearer understanding of the farming environment and animal husbandry, while motivating them to engage with their work and learning. It also proved useful for students with no prior knowledge. The lecturers therefore intend to continue developing relevant subject-specific content to enrich interactive exploration of real-world conditions from a professional perspective. They also plan to add videos to the images to provide a more vivid representation of the problem scenarios. This will gradually allow them to supplement conventional lectures, some of which can be provided as recordings in the online learning environment, with independent and group work focused on solving assigned problems. Under a lecturer’s guidance, groups could then present their analysis of the situation, examination of the problem and proposed solutions to their peers. This approach aims to develop the professional mindset veterinarians need to safeguard animal welfare and achieve appropriate production outcomes.

Recording of the presentation of this good practice example at the symposium Teachers for Teachers: New Trends, Experiences and Challenges in Higher Education Teaching (16 December 2022), organised within the framework of the University of Ljubljana’s Centre for the Use of ICT in Teaching and Learning.