Hands-on, Eyes-off Learning

Engagement. We are evolving the Anatomy and Physiology Labs into a more hands-on, interactive and engaging learning environment. Students use models, and their own bodies, to learn the location of physical anatomy structures like major muscles and bony landmarks. The poster will be a flat board-game design with four interactive steps to complete. Examples might be feeling a quarter and saying if it is on heads or tails. This builds palpation skills in learners and is a fun experience!https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo/1120/thumbnail.jp

Evaluating the bones of adaptive learning: Do the initial promises really increase student engagement and flexible learning within first year anatomy subjects?

[EN] Knowledge of human anatomy is essential in first-year undergraduate allied health courses. Traditionally this discipline has used time and resource intensive laboratory classes, however recent changes in resourcing and student learning preferences have led to a combination of pedagogical approaches being used. The aim of this study was to examine whether the use of Smart Sparrow adaptive and interactive online resources provided real flexibility in learning and influenced both student engagement and motivation to learn for allied health students studying first year anatomy. Twenty adaptive online anatomy lessons were created. These adaptive lessons were evaluated with (i) a student survey amd (ii) inbuilt learning analytics (n = 157). Our results showed that a total of 96% of students agreed or strongly agreed that the resources enhanced overall engagement in the subject and 96% found the resource easy to access. Overall our findings revealed that students overwhelmingly engaged with the lessons, and self-reported improvements in their learning through repeated use of flexible and adaptive learning resources.Linden, K.; Pemberton, L.; Webster, L. (2019). Evaluating the bones of adaptive learning: Do the initial promises really increase student engagement and flexible learning within first year anatomy subjects?. En HEAD'19. 5th International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 331-339. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD19.2019.9346OCS33133

China Returns to Africa: Anatomy of an Expansive Engagement

This paper presents a scoping analysis of the main contours of relations, offering an anatomy of key dimensions of an expansive Chinese engagement in the continent that remains dynamic

An Anatomy Massive Open Online Course as a Continuing Professional Development Tool for Healthcare Professionals

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) remain a novel and under-evaluated learning tool within anatomical and medical education. This study aimed to provide valuable information by using an anatomy MOOC to investigate the demographic profile, patterns of engagement and self-perceived benefits to healthcare professionals. A 21-item survey aimed at healthcare professionals was embedded into the Exploring Anatomy: The Human Abdomen MOOC, in April 2016. The course attracted 2711 individual learners with 94 of these completing the survey, and 79 of those confirming they worked full- or part-time as healthcare professionals. Variations in use across healthcare profession (allied healthcare professional, nurse or doctor) were explored using a Fisher’s exact test to calculate significance across demographic, motivation and engagement items; one-way ANOVA was used to compare self-perceived benefits. Survey data revealed that 53.2% were allied healthcare professionals, 35.4% nurses and 11.4% doctors. Across all professions, the main motivation for enrolling was to learn new things in relation to their clinical practice, with a majority following the prescribed course pathway and utilising core, and clinically relevant, material. The main benefits were in relation to improving anatomy knowledge, which enabled better support for patients. This exploratory study assessing engagement and self-perceived benefits of an anatomy MOOC has shown a high level of ordered involvement, with some indicators suggesting possible benefits to patients by enhancing the subject knowledge of those enrolled. It is suggested that this type of learning tool should be further explored as an approach to continuing professional, and interprofessional, education

Anatomy 3.0:Rediscovering Theatrum Anatomicum in the wake of Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged medical educators internationally to confront the challenges of adapting their present educational activities to a rapidly evolving digital world. In this article, the authors use anatomy education as proxy to reflect on and remap the past, present, and future of medical education in the face of these disruptions. Inspired by the historical Theatrum Anatomicum (Anatomy 1.0), the authors argue replacing current anatomy dissection laboratory (Anatomy 2.0) with a prototype anatomy studio (Anatomy 3.0). In this studio, anatomists are web-performers who not only collaborate with other foundational science educators to devise meaningful and interactive content but who also partner with actors, directors, web-designers, computer engineers, information technologists, and visual artists to master online interactions and processes in order to optimize students' engagement and learning. This anatomy studio also offers students opportunities to create their own online content and thus reposition themselves digitally, a step into developing a new competency of stage presence within medical education. So restructured, Anatomy 3.0 will prepare students with the skills to navigate an emergent era of tele and digital medicine as well as help to foreshadow forthcoming changes in medical education

User Interface Design in Virtual Reality Research

Thesis Statement The primary objective of this research is to develop and investigate a user interface that supports learning to be implemented in the virtual reality application Anatomy Builder VR, an ongoing project from the Department of Visualization. Through the conception of this interface, we will explore the research question “how can user interface design in virtual reality applications support learning and engagement?”. Theoretical Framework Through the use of iterative design, we will develop an interface to be implemented in the virtual reality application Anatomy Builder VR.To accomplish this, we will create several prototypes to be evaluated by a focus group before implementing a high fidelity interface into the application. The three prototypes will be used to conduct a user study that will improve the quality and functionality of the final interface as a whole. Project Description Effective user interface design is extremely important when creating an application focused on learning. If the application’s interface is misleading, the user will either incorrectly learn the information or stop using the application altogether. For this reason, we will center our research on the question “how can user interface design in virtual reality applications support learning and engagement?”. Expected outcomes include designing a user interface that will provide an intuitive and engaging learning experience. Our interface will be implemented intoAnatomy Builder VR, an application that allows users to assemble a human or canine skeleton while learning comparative anatomy. Anatomy Builder VR is a current collaborative project between Department of Visualization and Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences. We will investigate how our design impacts the user’s anatomy learning experience

Maintaining excellence in teaching of human anatomy: University of Nairobi experience

Experience in maintaining excellence in teaching of human anatomy is important in informing strategies to mitigate worldwide decline in the level of knowledge of human anatomy among medical students and qualifying doctors. Factors responsible for the decline include reduction in teaching time, inadequate teachers and undermining of cadaver dissection. Measures to address these challenges have resulted in wide disparities in curriculum design teaching methods, number and composition of instructors. Inspite of the challenges, the Department of Human Anatomy of the University of Nairobi (UON) maintained excellence of teaching for over 40yrs. This article describes the teaching of anatomy at the UON with a view of elucidating the learning points from which other departments can learn. Analysis reveals that human anatomy is allocated 630hrs per year of which 350hrs are allocated to gross anatomy with 270hrs devoted to dissection. Although dissection has remained the cornerstone of instruction, it is combined with clinically oriented problem based instruction, use of prosections, diagnostic imaging, computer aided and small group learning. Teaching of gross anatomy is integrated with microscopic, developmental and neuroanatomy. The department runs and intercalated Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) anatomy degree which is a reliable source of members of staff. Over 70% of the staff are surgeons. They are assisted by demonstrators drawn from trainee surgeons and young B.Sc. Anatomy graduates. Excellence in teaching anatomy can be maintained by reclaiming sufficient teaching time, combined dissection with contemporary methods of instruction, integrating gross, microscopic, developmental anatomy, neuroanatomy, involvement of clinicians in teaching, commencing training anatomy early and engagement of demonstrators.Keywords: Anatomy teaching, University of Nairobi 

Investigating the User Experience with a 3D Virtual Anatomy Application

Decreasing hours dedicated to teaching anatomy courses and declining use of human cadavers have spurred the need for innovative solutions in teaching anatomy in medical schools. Advancements in virtual reality (VR), 3D visualizations, computer graphics, and medical graphic images have enabled the development of highly interactive 3D virtual applications. Over recent years, variations of interactive systems on computer-mediated environments have been used as supplementary resource for learners. However, despite the growing sophistication of these resources for learning anatomy, studies show that students predominantly prefer traditional methods of learning and hands-on cadaver-based learning over computer-mediated platforms. There is limited research on evaluating user experience in the use of interactive 3D anatomy systems, even though Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) studies show that usability (ease of use) and user engagement are essential to technology adoption and satisfaction. The addressable problem of the research was to investigate how ease of use and flow affected aspects of the students’ engagement experience with the use of a 3D virtual anatomy application. The aim of the study was to evaluate the use of a 3D virtual application in performing dissection learning tasks and to understand aspects of user engagement as assessed by ease of use and flow experience. The flow experience was quantified using the Short Flow State Scale (S FSS-2) and the System Usability Scale (SUS) to measure perceptions about ease of use and user satisfaction. The research questions included: (1) What consequences of flow do students experience? (2) What aspects of the 3D virtual platform are distracting to performing the learning tasks? (3) How do students’ perception of ease of use affect the flow experience based on the SUS and S FSS-2 scores? (4) How do students rate their level of engagement as measured by flow based on their S FSS-2 scores? (5) How does flow help explain student satisfaction and motivation? (6) How do students perceive use of the application to learn anatomy compared with cadaver-based dissection? The study consisted of medical student participants who were asked to complete virtual dissection activities associated with learning objectives in the Structure of the Human Body course to perform using a 3D virtual anatomy application. A subset of participants who completed the learning task and the surveys had a follow-up Cognitive Walkthrough with Think-Aloud Protocol observation activity with an interview segment to gain deeper insights into their user experience with the application. The data from the convergent mixed method analysis indicated that ease of use had some impact on the flow experience and that perceived user satisfaction and motivation were attributed to the interactive 3D visualization design. Seven super-ordinate themes were identified: Ease of Use, Learnability, Interface-Technical, User Satisfaction, Visuospatial, Focus/In the Zone, and CA vs Cadaver. The results have implications for educators (particularly anatomists), educational technologists, and HCI and UX practitioners. Additional research should be conducted using the long version of the Flow State Scale to provide a better understanding of each flow dimension. Further study is recommended with students who have hands-on experience with human cadaver dissection that are also able to compare their experience with the use of a 3D virtual anatomy platform for a direct side-by-side assessment. It would also be helpful to conduct the study as part of the entire duration of the anatomy course and assess how the flow experience impacts student learning performance

Is a Team-based Learning Approach to Anatomy Teaching Superior to Didactic Lecturing?

Objectives: Team-based learning (TBL) is used in the medical field to implement interactive learning in small groups. The learning of anatomy and its subsequent application requires the students to recall a great deal of factual content. The aims of this study were to evaluate the students’ satisfaction, engagement and knowledge gain in anatomy through the medium of TBL in comparison to the traditional lecture method. Methods: This study, carried out from February to June 2012, included 30 physical therapy students of the Shiraz University of Medical Science, School of Rehabilitation Sciences. Classic TBL techniques were modified to cover lower limb anatomy topics in the first year of the physical therapy curriculum. Anatomy lectures were replaced with TBL, which required the preparation of assigned content, specific discussion topics, an individual self-assessment test (IRAT) and the analysis of discussion topics. The teams then subsequently retook the assessment test as a group (GRAT). The first eight weeks of the curriculum were taught using traditional didactic lecturing, while during the second eight weeks the modified TBL method was used. The students evaluated these sessions through a questionnaire. The impact of TBL on student engagement and educational achievement was determined using numerical data, including the IRAT, GRAT and final examination scores. Results: Students had a higher satisfaction rate with the TBL teaching according to the Likert scale. Additionally, higher scores were obtained in the TBL-based final examination in comparison to the lecture-based midterm exam. Conclusion: The students’ responses showed that the TBL technique could be used alone or in conjunction with traditional didactic lecturing in order to teach anatomy more effectively