The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine (UTCVM) hosted a three-day Veterinary Educator Boot Camp in Knoxville this summer with more than 80 participants from 10 regional veterinary schools attending. Sponsored by the Southeast Veterinary Education Consortium (SEVEC), the event featured sessions on student learning in clinical settings, creating successful clinical rounds, veterinary nurses in clinical education, developing practice readiness skills, professionalism, incorporation of veterinary social work in clinical education and other topics.

“Designed for the early career instructor, this conference had an array of topics related to clinical education,” said Dr. India Lane, current chair of the consortium and associate dean at UTCVM. “We included a pre-conference workshop on peer review of teaching and even a ‘dolphin tank’ educational research competition,” she said.

Keynote speakers included Dr. Darcy Shaw, professor emeritus at Atlantic Veterinary College, Prince Edward Island, whose presentation was entitled “Things Were Fine ‘Til They Weren’t–Giving Good Feedback.” Keynote speaker Dr. Jeannette Guerrasio, previously professor at the University of Colorado Department of Medicine discussed “Remediation in Clinical Education: Diagnosing and Treating the Struggling Learner.”

The Dolphin Tank Competition encourages and cultivates collaborative educational research among SEVEC members and institutions. Written proposals were followed by three-minute pitches to the attending audience. Two grants were funded after the presentations: to investigators Dr. Victoria Morris from Lincoln Memorial University and Dr. Amy Snyder from North Carolina State University.

SEVEC was established in 2018 and includes members, leaders, and financial support from 10 southeastern veterinary colleges. It receives financial management assistance from the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges.