Associate Professor University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky, United States
Abstract Body : INTRODUCTION
As many programs are utilizing more prosection-based approaches for gross anatomy education, novel resources need to be developed to support student learning. Here, we created Anatomy Interactives, an open educational resource (OER), to provide a novel environment for students to work through a guided donor prosection virtually as well as learn and practice knowledge in osteology, radiology, and cross sectional anatomy.
METHODS
In Phase 1 of the project (Anatomy Interactives), interactive hover-over panels for studying fixed images (i.e., features of a bone; anatomy visualized in a radiograph, etc.) were originally developed in Microsoft Powerpoint and exported to .html files using iSpring Suite. Students utilize the interactives in the laboratory to study osteology and radiology. In Phase 2 (Prosection Laboratory Modules), guided prosection laboratory modules were developed in iSpring Suite, where modules took students through an identification-based prosection of a specific body region and contained quiz questions to help students integrate functional and structural knowledge on a prosected donor (i.e., Locate the deltoid. What is the innervation of the deltoid? What movement is executed by the deltoid?).
RESULTS
The Anatomy Interactives site gets heavily trafficked during the gross anatomy courses. For example, the page gets heavily trafficked from January-April when the dissection course is ongoing. While there is no prompt on the student evaluation form regarding the site, various comments suggest that the website is well received. There is high demand for more guided prosection modules as evidenced by these comments.
CONCLUSION
Anatomy Interactives and Prosection Laboratory Modules is a novel program for enhancement of student learning in the gross anatomy laboratory. Future surveys and website analytics will help us further understand the OER’s effectiveness and students’ perceptions of the modules, so that we can continue to grow the resource to best meet student needs.
SIGNIFICANCE
As time and curriculum constraints and donor availability may limit access to human donors, prosection is an approach for human gross anatomy education that is growing in popularity. Prosection-based anatomy education can be augmented through digital media such as those presented here.
