Anatomy education beyond the Covid‐19 pandemic: A changing pedagogy

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid‐19) pandemic has induced multifaceted changes in anatomical education. There has been a significant increase in the employment of digital technologies coupled with the upskilling of educators' capacity and altered attitudes toward the digitalization process. While challenges remain, learners have demonstrated capabilities to adapt to digital delivery, engagement and assessment. With alternative and innovative teaching and learning strategies having been trialed and implemented for almost two years, the key question now is what the pedagogy will be for anatomy education beyond the pandemic. Here we discuss some of the changes in anatomy education that have taken place as a result of the Covid‐19 pandemic and importantly present some outlooks for evidence‐based anatomy pedagogy as the world enters the post‐pandemic phase and beyond. The authors conclude that the anatomy discipline is ready to further modernize and has the opportunity to use digital technologies to evolve and enhance anatomy education to ensure students are provided with the learning experience which will prepare them best for the future.

The freedom to teach (at the best)

“…In March 2020, at the time the global Covid‐19 pandemic disrupted the delivery of education worldwide, many institutions of higher learning, especially in developed countries, already offered lectures in a recorded format or like the University of Michigan Medical School as a combination of in‐person events that were also available as video recordings. Within a very short time, most modalities of instructions, including lectures, laboratory sessions, small group learning and others, had to change to an online‐only format, either synchronous or asynchronous 52,53 . Teachers who had never taught online or in an asynchronous format had to learn how to record their presentations with often unfamiliar software programs, each having unique features and limitations 54,55 …”

“…Within a very short time, most modalities of instructions, including lectures, laboratory sessions, small group learning and others, had to change to an online-only format, either synchronous or asynchronous. 52,53 Teachers who had never taught online or in an asynchronous format had to learn how to record their presentations with often unfamiliar software programs, each having unique features and limitations. 54,55 This shift to exclusively providing online education required students having access to computing devices (including smartphones) and fast internet connections.…”

A scoping review on the trends of digital anatomy education

“…Indeed, anatomical education is shifting toward a greater focus on adopting digital technologies and blended learning strategies (Drake et al, 2009; Uhl J‐FJ et al, 2021; Wickramasinghe et al, 2022). This is a continuously evolving process and has been further accelerated by the recent COVID‐19 pandemic (Xiao & Evans, 2022).…”

“…Virtual dissection resources including the virtual dissection table (Brucoli et al, 2020), multimedia dissector and the virtual human dissector (Houser & Kondrashov, 2018) have been effectively implemented for medical education, providing alternative experience to understand human body complexity and layers of internal structures. The extent of availability and sophistication of digital technologies is advancing, which is accompanied by an increasing acceptance and understanding of digital technology in anatomy education (Xiao & Evans, 2022). Junior medical students perceive the use of virtual dissection as a valuable tool for learning anatomy and radiology (Darras et al, 2020).…”

Student Engagement Using HoloLens Mixed-Reality Technology in Human Anatomy Laboratories for Osteopathic Medical Students: an Instructional Model

“…Anatomy faculty must design virtual course activities that maintain student engagement using mixed-reality technological resources. This is important in the current phase of the lingering global health pandemic when virtual resources have proven reliable for delivering anatomy content in a modern and safe way that allows for traditional educational rigor to be sustained [ 12 ]. This is also important with the shift of anatomy curricula to include more reliance on technology and less on human cadavers since the 2010 call for medical education reform [ 13 , 14 ].…”