The project has now come to an end, see the final report for more information and overall conclusions.

Introduction

OVAL.png

The Opening Veterinary Access to Literature (OVAL) project involves the repackaging of currently restricted-view veterinary educational resources into an open format, which will then be made freely accessible to an international audience of veterinary online learners.

The project is funded by the JISC eContent programme 2011. It covers work over seven months and started in March 2011.

Lead Institution: The Royal Veterinary College, University of London
Project Partners:
University of Nottingham
CABI, Wallingford
Manson Publishing

You can visit the OVAL blog now too.

Dissemination Event

The project has now come to an end. We had organised a dissemination event on the 9th December to let people know about what we have done as well as launch another project, Online Veterinary Anatomy Museum (OVAM). Please see the agenda for more details on what we discussed.

You can also view the Adobe Connect recordings of the event:

Morning session 1 - OVAL Dissemination
Morning session 2 - OVAM Launch part 1
Afternoon session - OVAM Launch part 2

Project Description

Veterinary students and graduates have become increasingly confident in using web based resources to supplement or replace traditional approaches to learning. Whilst the convenience of e-learning has obvious attraction, there are also concerns with the academic quality of online information and how to search for it amongst the numerous other less reliable sources. The OVAL project will help to address these issues by adapting quality peer reviewed articles and datasheets provided by our commercial partners and integrating these in to the widely used WikiVet veterinary educational portal.

Currently, there is an extensive range of veterinary literature produced by private sector publishers which has a limited readership due to the prohibitive costs. However, with the significant market changes associated with e-publishing, there is now a good business case for making some of these resources free to view. The OVAL project intends to use this opportunity to develop an innovative model for repurposing online journals and text books as Open Educational Resources (OER).

Project Outcomes

Below are links to the relevant pages created under the OVAL project with the help of CABI datasheets and the flashcard questions taken form the Manson self assessment books.

Pages from CABI Datasheets

Each of these pages has been reviewed and has associated flashcards questions linking from it. List of pages that are still awaiting review can be seen here.
CABI logo.jpg

Flashcards from Manson Books

Manson Self assessment book sample questions converted into WikiVet format. Each question has links to at least to one regular WikiVet page, that has also been either written from the start or checked and updated.
Manson logo.gif
Equine Orthopaedics and Rheumatology Q&A
21 questions
Small Mammals Q&A
21 questions
Avian Medicine Q&A
25 questions
Equine Internal Medicine Q&A
23 questions
Cattle Medicine Q&A
11 questions
Sheep Medicine Q&A
11 questions
Small Animal Dermatology Q&A
22 questions
Equine Reproduction and Stud Medicine Q&A
21 questions
Cytology Q&A
18 questions
Rabbit Medicine and Surgery Q&A
21 questions
Feline Medicine Q&A
24 questions
Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care Medicine Q&A
22 questions
Veterinary Dentistry Q&A
22 questions
Small Animal Soft Tissue Surgery Q&A
22 questions
Small Animal Orthopaedics Q&A
18 questions
Small Animal Abdominal and Metabolic Disorders Q&A
19 questions
Ornamental Fish Q&A
26 questions
Reptiles and Amphibians Q&A
24 questions

Pages from CABI Datasheets in Spanish on the Spanish WikiVet site

Herpesvirus Bovino 1
Herpesvirus Bovino 4
Herpesvirus Bovino 5
Fiebre Efímera Bovina
Enfermedad del Agua Fría
Enfermedad de la Columna
Renibacterium salmoninarum
Estreptococcosis - Peces
Vibriosis - Peces
Bunostomum
Enfermedad_de_los_Ojos_Azules
Encefalopatía Espongiforme Bovina
Coronavirus Bovino

Articles from CABI datasheets in French (pdf format)

We now have the new French WikiVet set up, have a look here.


Podcasts

Podcasts recorded from the WikiVet pages adapted from CABI datasheets. You can listen to them at iTunes.

English Podcast


Links from Wikipedia

Wikipedia pages that have been edited and links to WikiVet pages included within the references or external links sections.

Updates

Review Process

For more recent updates please visit our blog!

Nottingham student focus group July 12, 2011

Steering group meeting minutes:

September 15, 2011

June 7, 2011

21st April - Meeting with CABI representative

OVAL project staff members had a productive meeting with a CABI representative and here is a summary of what was agreed so far:

  • CABI will provide a list of diseases that have been researched the most in the past twenty years and have suitable datasheets
  • WikiVet will select diseases from that list to appropriately fit into WikiVet
  • The 'new' information sheet within WV will be written/adapted
  • CABI will provide abstracts of about 5 key references each for those new sheets (possibility to extend this to other WV pages has been mentioned)
  • Small subset of these sheets (details to be confirmed, possibly 10-20) will be integrated either by part or whole into Wikipedia as a test run to enhance traffic to both CABI and WV sites
  • CABI may be asked to try to obtain permission from authors to use selected images (details to be confirmed)
  • CABI will invoice the RVC for their time spent on this work

15th April - Second Project Advisory Group meeting

Current status of the project was discussed, any issues raised and next steps planned. For more information see meeting minutes.

30th March - JISC eContent programme 2011 meeting

The project manager and officer attended the JISC eContent programme meeting and left with a better understanding of how the OVAL project fits within the greater scheme of things. The variety of other projects funded by the same programme was very impressive and the whole event was very informative and proved to be a success.

16th March - Project Officer met with CABI representatives

We discussed the selection of appropriate content currently provided by CABI and how best to adapt it for use within WikiVet. An initial work flow was agreed and will be tested soon.

28th February - First Project Advisory Group meeting

Project partners and members introduced themselves and explained what they should be able to contribute. Initial thoughts and ideas were shared and first steps to the collaboration were taken. Minutes of the meeting

JISClogo This project is funded by the JISC eContent programme 2011.
JISC inspires UK colleges and universities in the innovative use of digital technologies, helping to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in education.