Building Learner Agency and Self-Regulated Learning in Veterinary Education
This interactive masterclass explores how structured learner choice can be used to promote learner agency and self-regulated learning while maintaining clear learning outcomes and aligned assessment. Drawing on curricular innovations in veterinary anatomy education, participants will experience two alternative learning pathways: a three-dimensional anatomical modeling activity and a concept-mapping exercise built around a shared clinical context. Through guided reflection and discussion, participants will examine how learner decisions influence engagement, motivation, metacognition, and clinical reasoning. The session will also introduce practical approaches for studying learner choice and using those insights to inform curriculum design. Participants will leave with a framework and strategies for incorporating meaningful learner choice into their own teaching contexts.
Expectations for the Learning Community
We use a shared learning community agreement to create an environment grounded in respect, curiosity, and trust where diverse perspectives are valued and everyone has space to contribute and grow. This foundation supports agency, encourages thoughtful risk-taking, and allows learning to emerge through collaboration, reflection, and a willingness to try, revise, and try again.
Preparatory Work
The pre-work introduces essential content and terminology, giving learners the foundation they need to engage successfully in the session. Using multiple formats to support diverse learning preferences, these materials are typically completed in advance, but in this workshop are explored briefly at the beginning to establish a shared starting point.
Follow this link for a printable copy of the lecture: Asynchronous Lecture (pdf)
*Warning* The Proximal Forelimb Anatomy video contains images of specimens. View at your own discretion. Proximal Forelimb Anatomy Video
Choice 1
Explore the functional and topographical relationships of canine forelimb bones & muscles with a 3D model.
Choice 2
Build a concept map of the canine forelimb that links functional and topographical relationships.
Discussion
Through guided discussion, participants examine the design of the activities, considering how scaffolding, agency, and inclusive approaches shape the learning experience. They reflect on their experience to make the underlying pedagogy explicit and explore how these design choices support meaningful learning.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Jesse Darley from the Grainger Engineering Design Innovation Lab for technology & fabrication support.
Summary
Preparing veterinary graduates for contemporary practice requires more than knowledge acquisition; it requires learners who can make informed decisions about how they learn. Developing learner agency and self-regulated learning is therefore increasingly important as students navigate complex information environments and rapidly evolving technologies.
This interactive masterclass introduces a practical framework for designing learning environments that incorporate structured learner choice while maintaining clear outcomes and aligned assessment. The session draws on curricular innovations implemented at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and ongoing scholarship of teaching and learning collaborations with King’s College London.
Participants will experience the approach directly through a facilitated activity modeled on veterinary anatomy instruction. Prior to the activity, attendees will be shown examples of how learners are offered choices in preparatory materials (e.g., video, annotated notes, or text resources). Participants will then select between two active learning pathways designed around the same learning objectives: (1) constructing and analysing a three-dimensional anatomical model to explore spatial relationships, or (2) developing a structured concept map beginning from a clinical nidus.
Both pathways incorporate brief formative assessment tasks and reflection prompts intended to examine understanding of anatomical relationships, clinical relevance, and learning strategy.
Following the activity, participants will engage in guided metacognitive discussion exploring why learners choose particular approaches and how those decisions influence engagement and performance. Facilitators will share tools used in the program to examine motivation, perceived relevance, confidence, and learner decision-making, along with examples of how these data inform curriculum refinement.
The session concludes with a reflective activity in which participants consider adapting the framework in their own institutional contexts and teaching settings.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel".
Maya Angelou (poet, memoirist, civil rights activist)