Role of Digital Media in Enhancing Anatomical Education: A Survey Study Focused on the Cranial Cavity and Its Contents

Abstract

IntroductionRecently, there has been an increasing effort to modify traditional learning tools to adopt them with the new demands of students by producing visual learning tools. These efforts have aimed for an equal access to high quality learning opportunities to fulfill the increasing interest in self‐paced flexible studying using digital medial technology. The emergence of COVID pandemics has highlighted these demands for these educational resources. Human gross anatomy education is one of the fields that has been impacted by recent critical situation more dramatically. Thus, it is crucial to create more educational videos in gross human anatomy and study the effects of such videos on anatomy education.ObjectivesThis project aims for understanding the role of self‐paced educational videos in education of human body anatomy with a focus on cranial cavity and its contents.MethodA video exploring the cranial cavity and its contents for learners in professional programs was filmed and edited by Camtasia 2020 software. Different features such as labels, transitions, schematic pictures, and quiz questions were added in the editing process to enhance the students’ experience. The edited video was uploaded on YouTube and shared with students taking human gross anatomy courses. The viewers were asked to complete an online survey that was designed to assess their learning experience using the video.Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROGgR7mxsr8&t=107sResultsThe video received 2429 views, 92 likes and 29 responses to the survey from Jan 2021 to Dec 2021. Participants watched the video from different countries such as Canada, US, India, and Brazil. Analysis of the data shows that the majority of the participants who completed the online survey found the video and its features enhancing their learning of the anatomy of the human body. More specifically, 82.8% of students selected “to prepare for my anatomy lab” as their main purpose for viewing the video and 93.1% choose “Strongly Agree” when asked if the videos helped them fulfill their purpose.Moreover, on the 1‐5 scale, the average score of 4.59, 4.66, 4.41, and 4.86 were given by students for the quality of labelling, transitions, quiz questions, and overall quality of the video, respectively.ConclusionIn conclusion, the feedback received from this survey strongly suggests that using digital media is beneficial for enhancing the anatomical learning experience of students.