Optimizing Communication in an Online Systemic Anatomy Course with a Laboratory

Abstract

An online (OL) section of a face‐to‐face (F2F) anatomy course with a prosection lab commenced in 2012‐13. Lectures for F2F students were broadcast in live and archived format to OL students using virtual classroom software (Blackboard Collaborate). Labs were delivered OL by a teaching assistant (TA) who manipulated 3‐dimensional computer models in the virtual classroom. Analysis revealed that although course format was unrelated to grades, F2F labs were preferred as it was easier to communicate with the TA. The course was modified in 2013‐14 (138 OL, 354 F2F) to improve OL student‐teacher communication in lab: OL students were divided into lab groups that rotated through virtual breakout rooms, which decreased the student:teacher ratio and gave them the opportunity to communicate with 3 TAs. The study objectives were to compare perceptions of student‐teacher lab communications between OL (N = 101) and F2F (N = 273) survey participants, and determine if the delivery format would influence final anatomy grades. The majority of respondents agreed they were engaged in lab by TAs (60% OL; 82% F2F), could interact socially with TAs (71% OL; 91% F2F), and could ask TAs questions (75% OL; 94% F2F); however, these proportions were significantly higher in the F2F section (p < 0.001). Final grades were statistically identical between sections. There were strong, positive correlations between incoming grade average and final anatomy grade in both F2F (r = 0.71, p < 0.01) and OL (r = 0.70, p< 0.01) sections. These data suggest that prior academic performance, and not delivery format, predicts anatomy grades. While virtual breakout rooms can be used in OL anatomy labs to facilitate student‐teacher communication, they do not adequately replace the F2F lab environment.