No (Real) Stakes Practice

 "You're going to be in charge of managing a sheep herd this semester.  Whoever has the most living sheep at the end of the semester wins." 

This is how my animal genetics professor opened class the first day of my sophomore year.  I distinctly remember my classmates and I looking at each other in disbelief before the whispers started.  

She's going to put us in charge of sheep?  Is that legal? I don't know the first thing about sheep! This is insane!

Yes, we all could have guessed that our professor was not actually going to put a bunch of inexperienced students in charge of multiple live sheep herds but this was pre-pandemic learning and technology-based lab experiments were not common practice in our Animal Science program.  

Our professor was one of a handful of professors who understood the importance of integrating fun and interactive technology into what was otherwise a class full of numbers, calculations and confusing situations.  Most students (myself included) struggled to understand the concepts taught in this genetics course based largely on limited access to lab experiments and real-world scenarios.  

That's why my professor integrated this technology program into our curriculum.  This program simulated a real sheep herd with real farm examples and scenarios that we faced each week.  This way, students could play the role of animal manager and see exactly what types of difficulties and situations we would face in the animal science field.  

As small as this change was, it truly made all the difference.  It sounds cheesy but I genuinely believe this simulation is the reason I not only passed this class but actually understood the material (even past my exam).  

Toward the end of class, we discovered that our professor asked another colleague in the field to create this program because of the challenges her students faced without access to live simulations.  It was remarkable to see a professor use technology and innovation to solve a problem students faced in her classroom.  

Imagine if more professors used technology to bring previously inaccessible resources to students? How much more learning could be facilitated in the classroom through the use of technology?

Comments

  1. Leadership & Technology at UVMFebruary 2, 2023 at 5:48 AM

    This sounds so cool and like an amazing learning opportunity! I love how your professor helped with theory to practice in a low risk setting like this. I hope to see more things like this emerging in learning, especially for institutions that might not have the ability to have real sheep (or anything else) but are still able to provide an integrated learning experience.

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