The American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education (AVMA COE) has established new policies for distance education in veterinary colleges, emphasizing that online learning should enhance rather than replace traditional in-person education.
According to the new guidelines approved at the council’s March meeting, distance education (DE) modalities such as online courses, recorded lectures, and hybrid learning can serve as valuable supplements to veterinary education, but with clear limitations.
The policies explicitly state that clinical training cannot be delivered through distance education. As noted in the council’s April 1 letter to stakeholders: “As distance education continues to evolve, the veterinary educational community is expected to adapt along with it, and future policy revisions are anticipated. However, the central goal remains unchanged: ensuring that technology enhances student learning while maintaining an educational experience that prepares students for professional practice in a collaborative, in-person environment.”
The development of these policies follows the COE’s extended recognition by the U.S. Secretary of Education in November 2024, which required the council to ensure compliance with federal regulations regarding the accreditation of programs using distance education.
Key Policy Requirements
The new policies mandate that veterinary programs:
Remain predominantly residential
Provide clear guidelines for oversight and approval of distance education
Invest in appropriate technology, faculty training, and resources
Regularly assess distance education offerings using student performance data
Ensure courses include regular interaction between faculty and students
Maintain at least 85% of preclinical curriculum and 50% of direct instruction in person
Importantly, veterinary colleges currently using distance education must submit a substantive change request by late summer. Programs cannot use distance education until their request receives COE approval.
Dr. Janet Donlin, CEO of the AVMA, emphasized in a recent veterinary education symposium that “maintaining hands-on clinical experiences remains paramount in preparing practice-ready veterinarians, regardless of technological advances.”
The council’s extensive stakeholder feedback process included surveying accredited and provisionally accredited programs and collecting over 1,300 comments from veterinary faculty, students, and veterinarians nationwide. This revealed limited outcomes data on distance education in veterinary training, with most available studies coming from the COVID era.
For veterinary educators seeking to understand and comply with these new policies, the COE has created a 46-minute learning module. Additionally, the council will host a Q&A session about the new distance education policies on May 13 at 3 p.m. Central, with registration required beforehand.
These changes reflect the veterinary profession’s commitment to embracing technological innovations while ensuring they complement rather than compromise the hands-on training essential to producing skilled veterinary practitioners.
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Source: https://www.avma.org/news/veterinary-college-accreditor-creates-distance-education-policies