General information on the Unit

ECTS: 7
Contact hours: 18 (14 tutorial)
Personal work hours: 157
Character: Compulsory
Venue: A place is not assigned for developing the personal work of this unit, although students may use the working areas and the computer facilities available at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza.
Scheduling:
- Developed throughout the first academic year of the Master.
- Choice of project topic: October
- Project tutoring and supervision: tutoring sessions are fixed by mutual agreement between the student and the tutor. Throughout the course 3 supervision sessions with the scientific directors of the Master are also established.
- The assessment of this Unit is made through the drafting of the document and the presentation and public defence before a qualifying jury at the end of the second semester.

• Submission of the written document: end of May
• Public presentation and defence before the jury: first week of June

Requisites and permanence
There are no previous requisites.
Learning methods
The process is based on a tutored theoretical and practical learning, guidance throughout the training and the reinforcement and monitoring of the student's attitudes.
Language
Students may write the documents and deliver the oral presentations and defence in any of the three languages: Spanish, English or French.

Presentation of the Unit

Throughout the first part of the Master students carry out an individual project on new techniques or methodologies in animal nutrition and their application in a productive context. Alternatively, the project may focus on the design of a nutrition programme for a given species, applied to a certain productive system and to the conditions of a specific zone, normally in the student's country of origin. The topic of the project is decided upon in accordance with the interest of the student, following approval of the UZ/IAMZ-CIHEAM Master Studies Commission. The project is conducted with the support of tutors, under the supervision of both scientific directors of the Master.

Context within the syllabus

The student must acquire the competences needed to address professional activity, where he will have to solve real problems, applying the education received, integrating knowledge, searching the specific relevant information, assessing the possible applicable strategies and setting action plans, adapting this whole process to specific contexts. Besides he must be able to communicate his results.

The education received in this unit also prepares the student to implement tasks that are similar but on a greater scale that will be carried out during the second part of the Master.

Competences

Specific competences

• ­ SC7 Developing feeding strategies with a favourable influence on end product quality and animal health and welfare, minimizing environmental impacts ensuring the sustainability of productions.
• ­ SC10 Appreciating the advantages of the innovations in animal nutrition and their possible incorporation into traditional nutrition programmes.

General competences

• GC1 Integrating scientific and technical knowledge and applying them discerningly.
• GC2 Performing scientific and/or technical information searches and processing them selectively.
• GC3 Analyzing results or strategies and elaborating conclusions which contribute to clarify the problems and to find possible solutions.
• GC4 Making decisions and generating new ideas and knowledge in complex systems.
• GC5 Learning and working autonomously, responding to unforeseen situations and re-aiming a strategy if necessary.
• GC7 Communicating reasoning and conclusions both to a general audience and to a specialized public.
• GC8 Writing presentations and synthesis, preparing and presenting oral communications, and defending them in public.

Objectives of learning

This Unit has three objectives. The first is for the student to develop the capacity of working autonomously, learn by himself and integrate knowledge and information. The second objective is for the student to apply all the education received to carry out a project similar to one of the most current tasks in the professional career of an animal nutritionist: to assess the use of techniques and methodologies in particular productive contexts, to develop adapted and improved feeding strategies and to plan their application. The third objective is for the student to be able to write technical documents, present oral communications and defend the project carried out.

Learning outcomes

Importance of the learning outcomes acquired in this unit

Apart from being competent in professional practice applying knowledge, skills and attitudes, it is essential for an animal nutrition expert to know how to continue learning throughout his professional life, be able to transmit his results to colleagues and other audiences, and defend his professional opinions confidently.

Learning outcomes

The student, at the end of the learning of this Unit:

• Knows how to apply the principles and methodology presented throughout the different units of the first part of the programme.
• Has skills in the search for technical and scientific information, as well as in its selective treatment.
• Critically assesses the possibilities offered by different new methodologies and techniques and estimate their eventual incorporation in classical nutrition programmes.
• Critically assesses the different alternatives for the optimal and sustainable nutrition of a particular species, in specific environmental and socioeconomic conditions, and according to the pre-established production objectives.
• Possesses skills in the preparation of documents of synthesis and in the presentation of results.
• Has gained experience in the preparation and delivery of oral communications and in their public defence.

Contents

Individual design of a project consisting of a bibliographical review on a subject chosen by the student and a personal proposal, integrating the knowledge acquired throughout the different units of the programme regarding the application of a technique or methodology to a nutrition plan, or to develop a nutrition plan driven by determined production objectives under particular environmental and socioeconomic conditions. The student develops a personal work and benefits from the advice of a tutor to guide the work plan and assess the different strategies that may be applied.

Learning activities

Learning activity 1: Individual tutored work, delivered in a written document, consisting of a bibliographical review on a subject chosen by the student and a personal proposal, integrating the knowledge acquired throughout the different units of the programme regarding the application of a technique or methodology to a nutrition plan, or to develop a nutrition plan driven by determined production objectives under particular environmental and socioeconomic conditions. The student develops a personal work and benefits from the advice of a tutor to guide the work plan and assess the different strategies that may be applied.
ECTS: 5.5
Hours: 137.5
Percentage of contact: 10% contact with the tutors who advise on the different aspects of the project.

Learning activity 2: Preparation of an exposition, public presentation and oral defence of the project (including preparation of the presentation)
ECTS: 1.5
Hours: 37.5
Percentage of contact: 10%

Assessment methods

Assessment system 1: Assessment of the written document, by a jury composed by the scientific coordinators of the Master and lecturers of the Master. The jury will value the following aspects from the written document: (i) general plan of the project; (ii) relevance of the references used; (iii) suitability of the proposed strategies; (iv) plan appropriateness; (v) writing and presentation of the text; and (vi) originality and difficulty of the project.
Weighting: 70% of the final score of the Unit

Assessment system 2: Assessment of the presentation and defence by the same jury that assesses the written document. The jury will ask the student the questions it deems appropriate to judge the command of the subject and the abilities for presenting and synthesizing it. The assessment is based on the following aspects: (i) clarity of the exposition; (ii) relevance of the student's answers to the questions posed by the jury; (iii) adjustment to the time assigned.
Weighting: 30% of the final score of the Unit

Lecturers

Tutors of the project
They are assigned in each edition of the Master according to the project topics selected by students. Usually they are chosen among the Master lecturers from UZ or the researchers of the Unit of Animal Production Technology of the CITA-GA.

Jury
Gerardo CAJA, Univ. Autónoma Barcelona, Spain
Carlos DE BLAS, Univ. Politécnica Madrid, Spain
Manuel FONDEVILA, Univ. Zaragoza, Spain