Doing the “academic” stuff on line is a very good idea.
The practicum is something that needs to be done under the guidance of a “hands on” instructor.
Would you hire a farrier who was trained purely based upon on-line instruction? How about a vet? It seems to me that this type of “veterinary treatment” (and this is a veterinary treatment) needs more than just “screen time.”
As an aside, my wife is a graduate of the UT Medical School in Memphis and we were there recently for her 50th class reunion. The amount of simulation being used is truly dramatic and encompasses using devices and actors in teaching clinical skills. Even with this she was a bit “goosey” about the amount of real patient contact that theses new students had when compared with what she had 50 years ago. One of the developers of their program was recruited from a company that develops aviation simulators. I’m a retired Naval Aviator and we’ve been doing simulation since 1912. I got to chat with him about it and we agreed that the aviation world is orders of magnitude ahead of the medical world in this process. We also agreed that there are some very real, substantial differences in the two worlds. With airplanes any given representative of a model is going to be virtually identical. No two humans are absolutely identical, with the sole, possible exception identical twins.
And the BIG difference between simulation and actual flying is the “pucker factor.” In a simulator, no matter how realistic, you KNOW in your “heart of hearts” that no matter what happens you won’t die. In a real airplane you know that you CAN die. That makes a huge difference in metal attitude. When the medical student confronts a simulation they have the same “mental issue.”
Do lots of stuff on line where possible as it is very cost effective. But you’re going to charge money to render any sort of veterinary care then you MUST have completed some sort of “in person” training and evaluation.
G.
