Using Digital Multimedia to Enhance the Learning of Gross Anatomy and Integrating with Clinical Science

Abstract

BackgroundWith the introduction of reformed curricula in medicine, most schools have reduced the total hours allocated for anatomy teaching and laboratory practical hours. These changes have been a continuous debate and triggered the emergence of innovative teaching and learning strategies in order to maximize students' learning of anatomy in the new context. Interactive modules allow for students to learn at their own pace and engage with their learning through quizzes and media to best supplement learning. The purpose of this project was to develop a module that can help support the learning of second year students in the new curriculum of UBC's Faculty of Medicine. This module was based on the content of a week‐long topic on osteoarthritis (OA) and hand anatomy and focused on the integration of clinical knowledge with the concurrent instruction of pertinent anatomy.MethodsAn interactive module on hand anatomy and osteoarthritis was developed to reflect curricular content. The module was made available to students on the curriculum website and completion of a voluntary survey of ten subjective questions was encouraged at the end of the module.Results94% of the participants felt their clinical knowledge of OA was strong or very strong after completion of the module, compared to 44% before completion of the module. Anatomical knowledge of the hand and wrist improved from 5 feeling strong or very strong to 83% of the participants. 88% of the participants felt that the integration of a clinical case of OA with the anatomy was either effective or very effective in assisting learning of the curricular content. 94% of the participants would like to see more modules like this for curricular content.ConclusionsThe development of an interactive module that explored clinical and anatomical content curricular objectives improved students' subjective knowledge of clinical and anatomical knowledge. Students found it useful for their learning to integrate cases into the core concepts of anatomy and would like to see more modules like this in the future.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.