Recipient Organization
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
WEST LAFAYETTE,IN 47907
Performing Department
Animal Sciences
Non Technical Summary
The purpose of this USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant proposal is to create, disseminate and optimize delivery of a multi-disciplinary curriculum in agricultural animal bioethics. Courses in farm animal welfare/bioethics are urgently needed to address public concerns about the ethical implications of farm animal production for animal wellbeing, the environment and rural communities. However, few resources exist to support faculty instruction in these important bioethical issues in US colleges of agriculture and veterinary medicine. A team of collaborators from purdue, University, University of Maryland, Texas A&M, Michigan State, and University of Alaskawill create a series of teaching modules and case studies to enhance faculty teaching of the bioethical implications of contemporary animal production systems. Workshops, scientific publications and an instructional support website will be produced to disseminate the materials and facilitate integration and application of multidisciplinary pedagogical strategies. Expected outcomes are increased faculty understanding of and ability to facilitate bioethical discussions; increased student ability to synthesize scientific and ethical information in critical assessments of animal production systems; expansion of collaborative networks to include a wider range of expertise and foster a cross disciplinary approach to teaching bioethics across the curriculum of agricultural sciences.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
100%
Goals / Objectives
Develop modules and case studies to teach agricultural bioethicsDevelop and deliver workshops to instructors demonstarting best use of modules and case studiesDevelop a bioethics website to host the materials created
Project Methods
Specific objective 1: development of agricultural animal bioethics modules and case studiesIn order to decide what existing content can be used for module development on agricultural animal bioethics, Dr. Croney will approach members of the NCCC 209 (Agricultural Bioethics, USDA Regional Project) working group, which she currently chairs, to identify their teaching needs and to collect existing animal bioethics syllabi, modules and related content material. This can be done during the official annual project meeting anticipated for summer, 2010. Dr. Siegford, who is past chair of NC 1029, (Animal Behavior and Welfare, USDA Regional Project) will ensure that the teaching needs of those members (some are also members of the bioethics group) are likewise understood and compiled. Based on the material collected, the team will collectively review the materials to determine which of the content meets existing teaching needs to avoid redundancy of efforts, and identify what needs are still outstanding. Drs. Croney,Siegford and Swanson will take the lead on identifying the animal bioethics topics that are needed to support animal welfare coursework. Drs. Anthony, Beck, Varner and Stricklin will take the lead on identifying topics that expand beyond and are related to animal welfare and production that should also be incorporated, such as impacts on the environment and impacts on rural communities. Team members will then reach a consensus on the specific topics of focus for module and case study development. It is anticipated that the modules and cases will cover three general areas pertinent to animal production: animals, policy, and the environment. Team members will then meet with Dr. Dane Scott at the University of Montana to initiate development of teaching modules and discuss instructional delivery and evaluation methods. Dr. Scott is Director of The Center for Ethics and Associate Professor in the Department of Society and Conservation at The University of Montana. He is also the PI of an NSF, EESE project, Debating Science. This 3-year ethics education project is designed to help graduate students in science and engineering consider the larger ethical dimensions of their research and to become productive participants in public science debates.Drs. Croney, Anthony, Varner, and Siegford (led by Dr. Croney) will initiate development of teaching modules on animal bioethics that emphasize animal welfare issues; Drs. Stricklin, Swanson and Anthony (led by Dr. Swanson) will initiate development of content related to policy development; Drs. Stricklin, Varner and Anthony (led by Dr. Anthony) will initiate development of content pertaining to environmental and social implications of animal agriculture. This team will also seek input from rural sociologists such as Dr. Linda Lobao. All teams will seek further input by experts in the respective areas of coverage to ensure the most inclusive, appropriate content is captured in each area. For example, we anticipate consulting with Dr. Bernard Rollin, a renowned ethicist who has published several books on animal bioethics, including a textbook of case studies for veterinary medical ethics (Rollin, 1999). No such textbook currently exists for animal scientists. Case study development: The Animal Bioethics, Policy and Environmental Ethics teams will meet by teleconference and then in person to discuss the development of case studies. Drs. Varner and Anthony have extensive expertise in this area and will lead the group on case study construction and serve as primary advisors in developing cases in the topic areas of need identified by the NCCC 209 and NC 1029 groups. Drs. Croney, Siegford and Swanson will be responsible for the development of at least 10 cases that pertain to the ethics of farm animal production and welfare. Drs. Varner, Anthony and Stricklin will take the lead on developing atleast 6 cases that pertain to environmental and social implications of animal production. Drs. Swanson and Stricklin will lead the development of at least 4 cases pertaining to policy development in animal agriculture. It is expected that a first draft of the modules and cases will be completed approximately1 year from the onset of the project. At that point, external review of the materials will be sought from the NCCC 209 (Agricultural Bioethics) members and other experts and feedback incorporated prior to use and dissemination.Specific objective 2: Create a mechanism by which to enhance and support educators' ability to deliver and disseminate the modules and case studies effectively.Face-to-face Workshops in Agricultural Animal Bioethics: Workshop organization and planning will require all team members but will be led by Drs. Croney, Lord and Stricklin. Prior to each workshop, participants will be asked to bring copies of their existing and planned course syllabi.Participants then will be asked to identify their prior training in or experience with bioethics and to describe their teaching needs. Participants will be asked to discuss the concerns and challenges related to incorporating bioethical subject matter into their courses. The second phase of each workshop will be to present participants with an overview of the different modules and case studies to reveal available resources. The participants will then break up into small groups based on their teaching needs, and with the guidance of the team and workshop facilitators will begin to develop plans for incorporating the materials into their course content. Next,participants will come back together to discuss various means of effectively delivering the materials and assessing their effectiveness. Demonstrations by guest speakers/expert consultants will discuss the benefits and constraints of different pedagogical strategies for teaching agricultural bioethics. In addition, the experts will show how to use small student group discussions and problem solving exercises most effectively. Groups will then reform and participants will work to identify specific delivery and assessment strategies. Participants will be encouraged to test these and other strategies, with other participants serving as a "mock"classroom. Each participant will leave the workshop with a concrete, peer-reviewed plan for integrating the curriculum materials into their own courses, which should greatly enhance their confidence and ability to effectively deliver the modules and cases.Instructional Website Development: The team will meet by teleconference to determine key resources that should be included on the website. The animal welfare, policy and environmental teams will then compile resources in each respective area and provide those to Drs. Croney, Beck, Siegford and Swanson, who will take the lead on establishing an agricultural animal bioethics instructional support website. A website developer will be hired to implement the team's website plan. It is expected that the website will contain a host of resources, including templates for use of the modules and case studies organized by instructors'different needs (ranging from full course development, to selective use of particular modules).Podcasts, videos, and other media will demonstrate different methods that faculty tested and found to be effective in engaging students in interactive, small group discussions and analyses of problems. Student-developed white papers summarizing their own analyses will be available to demonstrate the outcomes of these innovative approaches