'Digital Porcine GI Tract': Testing the Efficacy of a Digital Anatomy Tool

There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Michelle Pine, DVM, PhD - Clinical Associate Professor, Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University; Nicola Ritter, PhD - Director of the Center for Educational Technologies, Center for Educational Technologies, Texas A&M University; Patrick Wilson, DVM, PhD - Clinical Associate Professor, Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University

Abstract Body : Veterinary students at Texas A&M University are expected to learn the anatomical structures of the porcine gastrointestinal (GI) tract. While they have access in lab to their own equine and caprine cadavers for dissection in small groups, the structures of the porcine GI are observed on a single, prosected specimen. To address this deficiency in cadaver material, we developed ‘Digital Porcine GI Tract’- a navigable tool that allows students to explore the structures of the pig GI tract by clicking through ‘info’ buttons placed on high resolution images. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of this tool in enhancing students’ ability to identify specific structures outlined in their course level objectives on cadaver material. Our study will include 159 first-year veterinary students enrolled in the second semester anatomy course, Clinical Anatomy of Large Animals. The class is divided into two lab groups (A&B) of approximately 80 students each that meet at different times. We will take advantage of this pre-existing division to discourage sharing of the digital tool and/or communication about the tool between the groups. Lab Group A will be given access to ‘Digital Porcine GI Tract’ for one week, while Lab Group B will not. We will check which students accessed the digital tool through the learning management platform and how much time was spent with the tool. After one week both groups will take a timed 5-minute, 5-question cadaver quiz on the porcine GI tract. We will analyze the data using parametric or non-parametric statistics equivalents of descriptive and t-test with p values set to p < .05. After the quiz, the tool will be made available to students in Lab Group B. We hypothesize that Lab Group A’s mean scores will be higher than those of Lab Group B, indicating that the digital tool is useful in improving students’ learning and performance. This study will provide evidence-based recommendations for integrating digital tools in veterinary anatomy education, particularly in instances where cadaver material is limited. This study has been approved by the IRB: IRB2023-1285M.