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This paper outlines a creative Wikipedia-based project developed by the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries and the KU Biology Department. Inspired by the tenets of open pedagogy, the purpose of this project is to use Wikipedia as a way for students to learn about the scholarly peer review process while also producing material that can be shared and used by the world outside the classroom. The paper is divided into three sections, with the first summarizing pertinent related literature related to the paper's topic. From here, the paper describes the proposed assignment, detailing a process wherein students write new articles for the encyclopedia which are then anonymously peer reviewed by other students in the class; when articles are deemed acceptable, they are published via Wikipedia. The parallels between this project and academic peer review are emphasized throughout. The paper closes by discussing the importance of this project, arguing that it fills a known scholarly need, actively produces knowledge, furthers the aims of the open access movement, and furthers scientific outreach initiatives.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the education system worldwide faced sudden and unforeseen challenges. Many academic institutions closed their doors, forcing both educators and students to transition to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) for the remainder of the semester. This transition eliminated hands-on experiences, increased workload, and altered curricula. However, these aspects, as well as students' perceptions, study habits, and performance in response to ERT remain poorly documented. This contribution describes changes in the curriculum of an undergraduate cadaver-based laboratory, and explores students' performance, self-perceived learning, and overall satisfaction during this educational crisis. Online content delivery for this course included both asynchronous instruction and synchronous discussion sessions. While formative assessments remained the same, online spotter examinations included short answer, multiple choice, multiple answer, ordering, and true and false questions. Despite examination grades improving 20% during ERT, students reported lower levels of learning, confidence, and engagement with the course materials when compared to the face-to-face portion of the class. The most prevalent challenges identified by students were those related to the loss of access to cadaver-based learning, including difficulty identifying and visualizing structures in three dimensions, and the loss of context and sensorial cues. Flexibility in taking examinations and learning the material at their own pace were recognized as positive outcomes of the ERT transition. While the resulting student perceptions and performances are unsurprising, they offer insight into the challenges of fostering a productive learning environment in a future threatened by epidemic outbreak and economic uncertainty.

Cadaveric prosections are effective learning tools in anatomy education. They range from a fully dissected, sometimes plastinated, complete cadaver ("in situ" prosections), to a single, carefully dissected structure detached from a cadaver ("ex situ" prosections). While most research has focused on the advantages and disadvantages of dissection versus prosection, limited information is available on the instructional efficacy of different prosection types. This contribution explored potential differences between "in situ" and "ex situ" prosections regarding the ability of undergraduate students to identify anatomical structures. To determine if students were able to recognize the same anatomical structure on both "in situ" and "ex situ" prosections, or on either one individually, six structures were tagged on both prosection types as part of three course summative examinations. The majority of students (61%-68%) fell into one of the two categories: those that recognized or failed to recognize the same structure on both "in situ" and "ex situ" prosections. The percentage of students who recognized a selected structure on only one type of prosection was small (1.6%-31.6%), but skewed in favor of "ex situ" prosections (P[less than or equal to]0.01). These results suggest that overall students' identification ability was due to knowledge differences, not the spatial or contextual challenges posed by each type of prosection. They also suggest that the relative difficulty of either prosection type depends on the nature of the anatomical structure. Thus, one type of prosection might be more appropriate for teaching some structures, and therefore the use of both types is recommended.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) by students has recently been made a key topic among educators because of the potential to transform students' learning experiences. However, the use of AI‐based software by instructors has not received the same level of consideration despite its recent accessibility and prevalence. This contribution discusses the benefits, challenges, and limitations of commercial AI‐based software (Gradescope®) for grading summative, short answer practical examinations in an undergraduate gross anatomy course. While the integration of Gradescope® in grading practical examinations reduces time and perceived instructor biases, it might erode personal relationships between students and instructors, especially with regard to individual feedback. Future research should assess best practices for incorporating AI technology into course grading considering the challenges and trade‐offs to students and instructors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new and phylogenetically basal species of Carpolestes, the youngest and most derived genus of the plesiadapoid family Carpolestidae in North America, is described from a late Tiffanian (Ti-5) site in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, USA. Carpolestids differ from closely related plesiadapoid clades in having an enlarged, multicuspidate, blade-like P4 that is partly convergent on that of multituberculates and other mammals showing plagiaulacoid dental adaptations. With some notable exceptions, the evolutionary history of North American carpolestids is characterized by the progressive development of larger and more elaborate P4 blades through time. In particular, species of the monophyletic genus Carpolestes differ from species assigned to the earlier and apparently paraphyletic genus Carpodaptes in terms of both the size and shape of their P4. A geometric morphometric analysis reveals that, with respect to P4 shape, the closest approximation to the highly derived morphology of Carpolestes is made by Carpodaptes hobackensis, which is one of the smallest known species of Carpodaptes. In contrast, the largest known species of Carpodaptes, Carpodaptes jepseni, has a P4 that falls within the metric range of variation for species of Carpolestes, yet Carpodaptes jepseni shows a uniquely derived P4 shape that seems to exclude it from any special phylogenetic relationship with Carpolestes. A phylogenetic analysis based on dental characters reconstructs Carpodaptes hobackensis as the sister group of the Carpolestes clade. Shape seems to have been a more important factor than size during the final transformation of the blade-like P4 of North American carpolestids. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:212F9ECC-DA9A-44F8-BE7E-43F3EBAD636A [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]