Example of Global Challenge Page

The Global Challenge

We need your help to make sure that as many students as possible in your school take part in the Global Student Challenge.

What is it all about?

WikiVet is one of the largest veterinary online resource used by vet students around the world. We are always working to add to the content on the site to support the highest standards of veterinary education. As part of this commitment, we have just completed a comprehensive new section on veterinary dentistry – a topic that does not always receive the attention it deserves in vet schools.

To help provide veterinarians, vet students, nurses and the public with more high-quality resources in this area, the module will include an introduction to veterinary dentistry with an overview of oral anatomy, oral hygiene and dental surgical procedures. Additional interactive materials include a series of dentistry webinars, videos and quizzes. The dentistry module will be freely available online to all users of WikiVet through www.wikivet.net.

To coincide with the opening of this section, WikiVet are launching The Global Student Challenge. This is an online quiz which aims to test your knowledge of veterinary dentistry that will help you identify topics that you need to review in WikiVet. By participating you will also be automatically entered into a competition where you will be able to compare your overall scores with that of students from all the other registered vet schools around the world. There are textbook prizes to be won for the top 3 students – and the top 3 vet schools!

How you can help

We have teamed up with the International Veterinary Students Association (IVSA) and the Association of Veterinary Students (AVS) with support from Mars Petcare to involve as many veterinary schools as possible. You have received this email through one of these contacts and we would like your help in encouraging your own vet school to get involved in this challenge.

We would like each contact student to help spread the word about the challenge to every student in their school. This could be done in the following ways:

• Put up WikiVet Student Challenge posters on the noticeboards (PDF versions available from WikiVet)

• Make a brief introduction at the start of a lecture (PowerPoint template available)

• Email whole student year groups with information (using WikiVet template)

• Use student Facebook or Twitter sites to promote the Challenge

• Encourage academics to recommend the site to students

• Distribute A4 fliers (available from WikiVet)

What is in it for you?

As an incentive to student ambassadors who get actively involved, we will present a free copy of the BSAVA Manual on Canine and Feline Dentistry if their vet school gets over 100 registrations. in the Global Student Challenge. Of course your school will also benefit if it scores in the top 3 from a donation of veterinary dentistry textbooks for their library.

We would like to encourage you to continue to work with the WikiVet project and will be running further exciting initiatives on animal behavior and nutrition over the next couple of terms. Not only will this help support student learning but will also offer you the exciting opportunity to work with colleagues through the WikiVet, IVSA and Mars networks in the future.

Next steps…. The competition goes live on the 3rd November and runs until the end of November when the winners will be announced. So, if you are prepared to help promote the competition in November, please add your details to our registration for from the link below:

Link to ambassador registration form

For any further information, please get in touch with our WikiVet student coordinator, Gemma Gaitskell-Phillips (ggaitskell@rvc.ac.uk)