RZSS Zoo Studies (19+)

Are you over the age of 18 and love animals?

Then sign up for this award-winning virtual course with RZSS to learn more about the roles of zoos in CONSERVATION whilst engaging in the exciting world of BEHAVIOURAL RESEARCH, all from the comfort of your own home.

Aged 16-18 years old but still interested? Click here for our 16-18 event!

Broadcast from Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park in beautiful Scotland, the Zoo Studies course lasts approximately 5 days. To support flexible learners however, we are providing you 4 months access to our virtual course materials in which to complete the course. Those that do will enhance their CVs by receiving a Zoo Environment Behavioural Research Award (ZEBRA) from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS).

This online course can be done from the comfort of your own home while also giving you real life experience in ethology: the study of animal behaviour! By using our live webcams at Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park, and the wealth of unique and original online learning materials on our course, we aim to give you a grounding in the importance of behavioural research to the operation of zoos and wider conservation globally.

You can now fully plan this course into your academic year. By enrolling onto a Zoo Studies course beginning on the 1st of a specific month of the year, you can choose precisely when your 4 months of access to our online learning materials begins. This function can be used to enable you to ensure you have access over specific holiday, after exams, or simply as soon as possible!

Course Format:

Virtually join our Education Officers and the animals in our collections through ZOODle (RZSS's online learning platform) and let us guide you through the 4 Modules of our online course:

1. Behavioural Research
2. Conservation
3. Animal Welfare
4. Zoo Design

The course employs a blended learning approach, combining digital interactive games, online webinars and virtual formative assessments with live research opportunities using RZSS's live animal webcams.

The course has been designed to be completed within a single working week (35 hours), however to support flexible learning, all learners will be provided access to the restricted course pages of our online learning platform for a total of 4 months from your official start date. This should provide all learners with ample time to complete all virtual learning materials, remote behavioural research projects, and the other digital assessments.

Full participation will require access to an internet-enabled device. No other resources will be required for completion of this online course.

Course Assessment:

Over the course of the course, Zoo Studies will introduce 5 assessments which learners will be required to submit if they wish to receive an RZSS ZEBRA Award:

• An Original Design for an Animal Enclosure.
• An Original Design for an item of Enrichment.
• An Original Design for a piece of Interpretation.
• A maximum 300 word Abstract summarizing your webcam-based behavioural research project.
• The results of your webcam-based behavioural research project displayed visually in the form of a Graph(s).

The course is designed to be flexible. Learners will retain access to ZOOdle for 4 months to allow ample time to complete the 5 course assessments and course tutors can be contacted to provide additional support if and when required. The assessments can be submitted at any point during the the learner's 4 months enrollment on the course, and ZEBRA Awards will be distributed to online participants via email once all assessments have been successfully submitted.

Past Attendee Quotes:

"This week has been amazing I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm really excited for the future!" - Anonymous (February 2021)

“I really enjoyed the week, seeing all of the animals was amazing!" - Anonymous (February 2021)

“It exceeded my expectations for a virtual course!” - Anonymous (February 2021)

"I just wanted to say a massive thank you for organising and running the course this week. I think like a lot of people during lockdown I have found myself very bored and unmotivated and this week it has been great having something genuinely fun and interesting to get stuck into!" - Anonymous (February 2021)

"Yes my expectations were reached and breached!" - Anonymous (February 2021)

"I would absolutely recommend this course to friends and I already have" - Anonymous (February 2021)

"The course was really fun! Definitely one of my best birthday presents" - Anonymous (November 2023)

In 2023, the RZSS Zoo Studies course received a Gold Award in the category of Education from the British And Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA).