Elisabeth Bachynsky

Elisabeth Bachynsky

Contact Details

eabachynsky@hotmail.com

01707 884 647

About me

I am from Texas and currently a 4th year student at the Royal Veterinary College. I live here with my husband, Lloyd, and our Welsh Corgi, Adieu. I was previously a high school teacher for five years. Subjects taught included the following: biology, pre-AP biology, chemistry, and aquatic science.

My hobbies include walking thorugh the fields with my dog, motorcycling, and playin' Texas hold 'em poker!

What I hope to get out of this project

I hope to appreciate the efforts necessary for a collaborative project to be successful. It will be nice to experience being the 'who' behind the 'what' as opposed to the faceless information I encounter everyday on the internet.

My best learning experience

Learning how to play Tetris!

and why it was good

I was in awe of the skill and speed my husband displayed, and when I attempted to play, I was frustrated at ending the game at only 7 or 8 lines! Repeated exposure guarantees learning, and after many sleepless nights and zombified hours, I beat my husband with 184 lines!

Pathology that interests me

I really enjoy the gross anatomy of pathology with an emphasis on forensic science.

Pathology that is difficult

Histology!
This is more info about my life

RVC web site

File:Test.ppt

Day one thoughts

What (three things) I learnt today

1. I learned how to approach the project and what are I am assigned to focus my efforts.

2. I learned about the cognitive learning styles and how we change our styles to adapt to various situations.

3. I learned that we could start our own motorcyle gang!

What I still need to learn

1. I need to learn how to organize the information into manageable bits.

2. I need to learn how to concept map - as I never have used this tool for personal revision.

3. I need to learn how to change the color of fonts (is it even possible?)

How I feel about what has happened today

At first I felt quite daunted, but now I feel optimistic. I believe this will be worthwhile of not only my time but for those in the future who will use it. I look forward to creating something that will aid in my learning as well.

Three weeks into the wikivet project (or thereabouts)

Sections I've been working on

• Liver
• Alimentary Flashcards - Pathology
• Liver Flashcards
• Lymphoreticular & Haematopoietic System - Pathology

What I feel I've gained so far from being involved in the project

• The challenge of organizing the initial information in my sections enabled me to get a good grasp of what information was involved and what needed to be discussed.
• I've learned so much more about internet/html usage. Although I must admit, it's easiest to copy and paste someone else's formatting to get you going!
• I feel I have VIP access to an impressive creation. I plan on using wikivet to revise for my upcoming exams!
• I have met the nicest "boss" I've ever worked for! Good role model :)

Problems or issues that I've had or can forsee

• Making a simple change to a page heading (eg capitalizing the word system in lymphoreticular haemopoetic system) loses your links to the previous page since it is case sensitive. I think I have excess pages out there in the world wide web now.
• I found it extremely time consuming to use images from pdf lectures yet so much easier if the lecture is in power point format.
• Coming back to my section's homepage only to find it's been reworded and now the linked page headings don't match the rewritten subsections created by another student! I am reminded " If you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then don't submit it here."
• Spending a great deal of time about a topic, and then realising it's already been discussed in another section by someone else! Do you then consolidate? Leave as is? Or provide a link?

My suggestions for improving the way the project works for the future

• Personally, I feel a section is most manageable when assigned to one person. The initial stages involve so much rearranging of categories, it changes on a daily basis of input.
• I would like to see the use of consistent wording, eg Clinical Signs or Clinical Symptoms. Histologically or Microscopically.
• Having a 'web master' to point out areas that need improvement or change on a regular basis eg managing the number of subheadings in a topic

What involvement (if any!) I would like to have with the project in the future

• I know it could be never ending, but I would like to 'tweak' my sections
• I enjoyed making flashcards for the liver section, and I would like to go back and make some more once I have images uploaded in the liver section.
• I wouldn't mind being in charge of making flashcards for other sections. As a former teacher, I enjoy it!