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Purpose The physicians say that the least anatomy is required for clinical practice. But the disease causes anatomical distortions or variations in structures impairing functions of organs and systems. So, the diagnosis and analysis of treatment of disease depend on interwoven inter-relationship among Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Radiology and clinical sciences. Consequently, the upcoming doctors are to be cultivated sufficient anatomy. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze viewpoints of medical students, faculties and practitioners regarding degree of need of Anatomy in clinical practice. Methods A feedback survey has been carried out among students and faculties to seek their views on the need of Anatomy in clinical practice using two hypotheses. Hypothesis 1 defines the degree of need of Anatomy (‘most essential’, ‘essential’ and ‘least essential’) in clinical practice based on answers of questionnaire by medical students and faculties, whereas hypothesis 2 assigns weights depending on knowledge and experience of the feedback providers. The means/weighted means of views have been statistically analyzed. Additionally, the literature survey was carried out on the demand, necessity, importance, usefulness and applicability of Anatomy in clinical practice. Results Our statistical analysis revealed that Anatomy is ‘most essential’ for clinical practice. In literature survey too, the inadequate knowledge of anatomy among medical students leads to poor comprehension of clinical practice. So, anatomy is most essential for clinical practice. Conclusion Sound knowledge of Human Anatomy is most essential during medical practice for Physicians.

COVID-19 pandemic has created a lot of turmoil in medical teaching, the magnitude of impact is many folds in the subject of anatomy, as it is practical based. A major challenge for anatomy teachers is to replicate the experience of practical exposures. These exposures range from cadaveric dissection to demonstration of bones, museum specimens, and histology slides, where they will have interactive communication with students, and thus help in the enhancement of communication and clinical skills among them. In recent days, anatomy teachers throughout the globe started using various advanced technology to make the teaching–learning session more interesting. In pre-pandemic era, usage of such advancements in information and communication technology was a ‘choice’. But pandemic has changed the situation drastically, what was a ‘choice’ earlier is now an ‘obligation.’ Presently although infection rate is low, vaccination rate is high, most of the medical schools re-opened for usual offline teaching, still body donation is all time low making the situation ‘back to square one’. Keeping such unprecedented situations in mind, we need to incorporate various innovative educational technologies in day-to-day teaching–learning methodologies.

Purpose This study aimed to investigate the students’ opinions about the distance anatomy education given in our faculty at the COVID-19 pandemic and present our department’s experiences. Methods An online questionnaire designed for medical faculty students. The questionnaire was applied to 355 volunteer medical faculty students. The questionnaire consisted of demographics, five-point Likert items, and open-ended questions. The questionnaire was applied between August and September 2020. Distance anatomy education activities were evaluated during March and July 2020. Results Results showed face-to-face theoretical anatomy education was found to be more effective than distance anatomy education conducted with recorded lecture videos. Even though the positive aspects of distance anatomy education stand out in topics, such as time management, it has been stated that cadaver and laboratory education has been disrupted. Most of the students agreed that they spent more time on supplementary resources during distance anatomy education. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic has provided an unexpected experimental environment. The demand for a blended method, which consists of distance (supported by video recordings) theoretical anatomy education and face-to-face practical anatomy education for the post-pandemic period comes to the fore. Distance anatomy education brings some problems with it due to its nature, and it is essential to seek unique solutions to them. Evaluating the perceptions of the parties will play an essential role in solving the problems of distance anatomy education and in the formation of future anatomy education styles.

Introduction In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, anatomy education programs were amended so as to shift to primarily online mode from physical classes. In the whole process, main concern area that has emerged is regarding dearth of physical human dissection sessions. There is enough evidence available in literature to suggest that dissection room is an ideal place to cultivate and inculcate discipline independent skills or humanistic skills among the students. These include attributes in relation to ethical practice, professionalism, communication skills, empathy and compassion. Imbibing these skills are an essential element of medical education curriculum as it is desirable that students exhibit these traits when they begin medical practice. Hence deficiency in terms of exposure to physical dissection sessions can adversely affect training of medical students on a long term. Methods A literature search of relevant, peer-reviewed, published articles was undertaken from indexed databases (Medline and PubMed, Scopus, Embase, CINAHL Plus, Web of Science and Google Scholar) for this study. Results To counter the pertinent issue in online anatomy teaching program, a few measures have been suggested in this paper based on identification of actual deficit areas in terms of learning and analysis thereof. Live streaming of real time dissection, awareness sessions on human dissection, online interactive learning sessions and reflective thoughts-based exercise can contribute to building discipline independent skills in present scenario. Conclusion Incorporation and implementation of these interventions within the realm of online anatomy education programs during COVID-19 pandemic can possibly contribute towards desirable learning outcomes.

Purpose Due to the ongoing discussion of the usefulness of dissection on human bodies in medical curricula, we investigated the influence of anatomical knowledge collected in the dissection course and requested for modules of visceral surgery. Methods Students attending the dissection course of topographic anatomy had to answer a questionnaire of 22 questions with focus on anatomical knowledge required for visceral surgical modules. Failure was defined as 13 or fewer correct answers, success categorized as high, good or moderate. The same questionnaire was handed out to 245 students prior to the module on visceral surgery. Students provided information on which regions they had dissected during the course or prior to the module. The results were compared to the result of a written Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) exam of the module visceral surgery (n = 160 students) with an unannounced primary focus on anatomy. Results Students who dissected the truncal regions of the human body succeeded in answering the questionnaire with high success. Students dissecting regions of the Head/Neck or Limbs had a high failure rate, and none of them reached the “high” success level. In the MCQ exam, students dissecting truncal regions had a high success rate, while those who had not dissected or who dissected the Head/Neck or Limbs had a high failure rate. Conclusion Dissections support and improve the required knowledge for surgical modules. For the visceral surgical module, students dissecting the region prior to the module greatly benefited. Therefore, entire human body dissection assumes to be preferable.

Purpose COVID 19 pandemic has brought crucial changes in the field of medical education. Ad mist university examinations in India medical schools have switched to online assessment methods to avoid student gatherings. In this context, we conducted online anatomy practical evaluation and we have aimed at quantifying the students’ experience on virtual assessment. Methods A total of 250 first year MBBS students appeared for online anatomy practical examinations. Immediately after the completion of exams electronic feedback about their experience, in questionnaire format was obtained after getting informed consent. Their feedback was analysed and quantified. Results Completed feedback forms were submitted by 228 students. More than 50% of students favoured online anatomy spotter examinations. Only 32.8% of students were comfortable with soft parts discussion using images. For image based viva voce 61.4%, 80% & 82% of students responded that the features and orientation of osteology, radiology and embryology images, respectively, were good. For surface marking 55% of the participants preferred online verbal evaluation. Finally, more than 60% of the students preferred the conventional over online assessment methods. Conclusions The inclination of students’ preference for traditional anatomy examination methods mandates adequate training of both students and teachers for virtual examination. The superiority of conventional anatomy practical examination methods is unbiased but pandemic situations warrant adequate preparedness. In the future the anatomy teaching and evaluation methodology in Indian medical schools have to be drastically reviewed in equivalence with global digitalization.

Purpose Human anatomy is a core course of basic medicine and the first professional course for medical students. Traditional teaching includes "teacher-centered" instruction, passive learning, and a lack of interaction between teachers and students as well as between students. The aim of this study was to develop a "student-centered" multielement fusion teaching mode to address the mentioned drawbacks. Methods A total of 141 clinical medical students from grades 2016 and 2017 of Chengde Medical University participated in this study. The students were randomly divided into four classes: two experimental classes and two control classes. The experimental classes experienced a "student-centered" multielement fusion teaching mode, while the control classes experienced a traditional teaching method. Formative assessments and questionnaires were used to assess the students' preferences and obtain feedback. Theoretical and experimental tests were carried out to detect the students' scores at the end of the semester. Results The results of the questionnaires demonstrated that 100% of the students agreed that the multielement teaching mode was better. In the experimental test, the students in the experimental group achieved a mean score of 16.50 ± 0.3203, which was significantly higher than that of the control group 12.65 ± 0.4731 (P 0.05). Conclusion The application of a "student-centered" multielement fusion teaching mode obtained strong approval from the students. This teaching mode not only improved students' interest in learning and increased the interaction between teachers and students as well as between students but also enhanced students' competence and will lay a solid foundation for their future careers.

The teaching of Human Anatomy still uses the traditional model, contentist, focused on memorization, making it uninteresting from the students' perspective. This work aims to present pedagogical innovations, built from the use of active learning methodologies and digital tools for Physical Education graduates. Research was carried out to ascertain educational trends for the 21st century. The following trends were incorporated: hybrid teaching, inverted classroom and gamification. For this, a Multimodal Hybrid Teaching Environment was created containing three online environments (Moodle platform, Facebook and Instagram) and two offline environments (theoretical classroom and practical laboratory). In addition, anatomical contents were approached in a systemic, multimodal, interdisciplinary manner and with a focus on professional practice. It is hoped that the proposal presented can contribute to the teaching and learning of Anatomy for undergraduate Physical Education students. La enseñanza de Anatomía Humana todavía utiliza el modelo tradicional, orientado al contenido, centrado en la memorización, lo que lo hace poco interesante desde la perspectiva de los estudiantes. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo presentar innovaciones pedagógicas, construidas a partir del uso de metodologías de aprendizaje activo y herramientas digitales para estudiantes de Educación Física. Se llevó a cabo una encuesta para conocer las tendencias educativas para el siglo XXI. Se incorporaron las siguientes tendencias: enseñanza híbrida, aula invertida y gamificación. Para ello, se creó un Entorno Docente Híbrido Multimodal, que contiene tres entornos online (plataforma Moodle, Facebook e Instagram) y dos entornos offline (aula teórica y aula práctica de laboratorio). Además, los contenidos anatómicos se abordaron de manera sistémica, multimodal, interdisciplinaria, con un enfoque en el docente de Educación Física y su práctica profesional. Se espera que la propuesta presentada pueda contribuir a la enseñanza-aprendizaje de Anatomía para los estudiantes de pregrado de Educación Física. O ensino de Anatomia Humana ainda se utiliza do modelo tradicional, conteudista, voltado para memorização tornando-o desinteressante na perspectiva dos alunos. Este trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar inovações pedagógicas, construídas a partir do uso de metodologias ativas de aprendizagem e ferramentas digitais para licenciandos em Educação Física. Foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa para averiguar as tendências educacionais para o século XXI. Foram incorporadas as seguintes tendências: ensino híbrido, sala de aula invertida e gamificação. Para tal, foi criado um Ambiente Multimodal de Ensino Híbrido contendo três ambientes on-line (plataforma Moodle, Facebook e Instagram) e dois ambientes off-line (sala de aula teórica e laboratório de aula prática). Além do que, os conteúdos anatômicos foram abordados de forma sistêmica, multimodal, interdisciplinar, com foco no professor de Educação Física e na sua prática profissional. Espera-se que a proposta apresentada possa contribuir para o ensino-aprendizagem de Anatomia para os graduandos de Educação Física.

Purpose To evaluate whether otolaryngology residency program directors (PDs) provide residents to teach pre-clinical medical students anatomy and to outline their perceptions of this practice. Methods An anonymous online survey was sent to active U.S. otolaryngology residency PDs in 2019, assessing each program’s involvement in teaching medical student anatomy. Results Forty-five of 121 (37.1%) of surveyed otolaryngology PDs responded. Sixteen of the 44 (36.4%) residency programs that were associated with a medical school provided residents to teach anatomy (“Teaching Programs”). The 29 (64.4%) remaining programs did not provide residents (“Non-teaching Programs”). No significant differences were found between Teaching and Non-teaching Programs (P

Introduction Anatomy has traditionally been taught via dissection and didactic lectures. The rising prevalence of informatics plays an increasingly important role in medical education. It is hypothesized that virtual dissection can express added value to the traditional one. Methods Second-year medical students were randomised to study anatomical structures by virtual dissection (intervention) or textbooks (controls), according to the CONSORT guidelines. Subsequently, they applied to the corresponding gross dissection, with a final test on their anatomical knowledge. Univariate analysis and multivariable binary logistic regression were performed. Results The rate of completed tests was 76.7%. Better overall test performance was detected for the group that applied to the virtual dissection (OR 3.75 with 95% CI 0.91–15.49; p = 0.06). A comparable performance between groups in basic anatomical knowledge (p 0.45 to 0.92) but not muscles and 2D-3D reporting of anatomical structures was found, for which the virtual dissection was of tendential benefit (p 0.08 to 0.13). Medical students who applied to the virtual dissection were over three times more likely to report a positive outcome at the post-dissection test than those who applied to textbooks of topographical anatomy. This would be of benefit with particular reference to the understanding of 2D–3D spatial relationships between anatomical structures. Conclusion The combination of virtual to traditional gross dissection resulted in a significant improvement of second-year medical students’ learning outcomes. It could be of help in maximizing the impact of practical dissection, overcoming the contraction of economic resources, and the shortage of available bodies.

Teaching and learning anatomy, as a process, has changed. Fresh cadavers were once used as a tool for the student to approach the human body in order to overcome theoretical knowledge and gain applied expertise. Today, techniques such as corrosion casting are known to be a more effective way of achieving optimal results with the students. This paper examines a method to apply this technique to an organ using different polymers. The concentrations for acrylic, epoxy resin, polyester resin, and room temperature vulcanization (RTV) silicone are described, as well as the corresponding diameter of the duct to be injected with each one. A variety of specimens obtained using this technique, their qualities and characteristics are presented. The results of using these procedures while involving the students, showed increased sense of responsibility, dedication and awareness, which led them to take the class more seriously and enjoy the process of learning. Additionally, the specimens left by the students will help future classes reduce the number of specimens needed.

الملخص: أهداف البحث: يعد النقص المتزايد في اختصاصي علم التشريح وعدم الاتساق في مؤهلاتهم التعليمية من الاهتمامات الرئيسة في التعليم الطبي على مستوى العالم. الغرض من هذه الدراسة هو تقييم ديناميكيات معلمي علم التشريح في نيجيريا فيما يتعلق بخصائصهم العامة ومؤهلاتهم وخبراتهم في التدريس وتركيزهم على البحث. طرق البحث: أجريت هذه الدراسة بين المشاركين في المؤتمر السنوي السادس عشر للجمعية التشريحية لنيجيريا الذي عقد في جامعة كالابار، في نيجيريا في عام ٢٠١٩. تم جمع البيانات باستخدام استبانة ذاتية الإدارة وتحليلها باستخدام برنامج ميكروسوفت إكسل كتكرار ونسب مئوية. النتائج: من بين ٨٤ من أعضاء هيئة التدريس، شارك ٥٦ (٧٢.٤٪) في هذه الدراسة؛ وكان هناك ٦٨٪ من الرجال و٣٢٪ من النساء. ينتمي ٢٧ عضوا من أعضاء هيئة التدريس كحد أقصى إلى الفئة العمرية من ٣١ إلى ٤٠ عاما، بينما ينتمي خمسة فقط إلى الفئة العمرية من ٥١ إلى ٦٠ عاما. خمسة وعشرون (٤٥٪) منهم حاصل على درجة الدكتوراه في علم التشريح، وجميع غير الحاصلين على الدكتوراه (٩٧ ٪)، باستثناء واحد، يطمحون للحصول على درجة أعلى في علم التشريح. كان الاهتمام البحثي (٢٩؛ ٥٢٪) في علم التشريح العصبي وعلوم الأعصاب هو الأكثر شيوعا. وعمل أكثر من نصف المشاركين (٣١؛ ٥٥٪) في الجامعات الفيدرالية، و١٦ (٢٩٪) في جامعات الولايات، وأربعة (٧٪) في الجامعات الخاصة، وخمسة فقط (٩٪) كانوا يعملون في المؤسسات المتحالفة معها. الاستنتاجات: معظم المتخصصين في علم التشريح في نيجيريا هم في منتصف العمر وفي منتصف العمر الوظيفي. المؤهل الأكثر شيوعا هو درجة الماجستير، وعدد قليل حاصل على درجة الدكتوراه. مع خبرة قليلة أو معدومة بعد الدكتوراه. تركز البحث على بعض مجالات التشريح. كشفت هذه الدراسة عن حاجة ملحة لمعالجة الثغرات التدريبية والبحثية في علم التشريح. Abstract: Objective: The growing shortage of anatomy educators along with inconsistencies regarding their educational qualifications has become a major global concern for medical education. The purpose of this study is to assess the dynamics of anatomy educators in Nigeria with respect to their general characteristics, qualifications, teaching experience, and research focus. Methods: This study was conducted on the participants of the 16th Annual Conference of the Anatomical Society of Nigeria held at the University of Calabar, Nigeria in 2019. The data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire and analysed as frequencies and percentages using Microsoft Excel. Results: Out of 84 faculty members, 56 (72.4%) participated in this study; 68% of the participants were men and 32% were women. A maximum of 27 faculty members belonged to the ‘31–40 years old’ age group while only 5 belonged to the ‘51–60 years old’ group. Twenty-five (45%) faculty members had a Ph.D. in Anatomy and all the non-Ph.D. holders (97%), except for one, aspired for a higher degree in Anatomy. The research interest with the highest frequency (n = 29; 52%) was in neuroanatomy and neurosciences. Over half of the respondents (n = 31; 55%) worked in federal universities, 16 (29%) in state universities, 4 (7%) in private universities, and only 5 (9%) were employed in allied institutions. Conclusion: Anatomy professionals in Nigeria are mostly middle-aged and mid-career individuals. Most of them have master’s degrees while only a few hold PhDs and have little to no postdoctoral experience. The research focus was concentrated on some areas of anatomy. This study reveals the urgent need to address the training and research gaps in the field of anatomy. الكلمات المفتاحية: معلمو علم التشريح, المعلمين الطبيين, تشريح التدريس, تشريح, بحوث التشريح, Keywords: Aanatomy, Anatomy educators, Aanatomy research, Medical educators, Teaching anatomy

University neuroanatomical courses seldom teach the anatomical-functional connectivity of the brain. White matter dissection improves understanding of brain connectivity, but until now has been restricted to neurosurgeons and in some cases to medical students, never to health-care non-medical professionals. Our aim was to teach white matter anatomy to medical and non-medical students to evaluate this technique in groups with different education. A standardized lab demonstration of white matter anatomy was performed with high appreciation rate in both groups, suggesting a suboptimal neuroanatomical education provided by basic course. We encourage to include this technique of teaching brain anatomy into basic neuroanatomical courses to improve the level of comprehension and competence in all health-care staff within the field of neuroscience.

RESUMEN: Poca información existe acerca de la evolución del uso de medios en la enseñanza de la anatomía moderna en sus primeros años. Esto se explica tal vez porque los académicos y estudiantes se preocuparon más del contenido que de los medios utilizados para la docencia morfológica obviamente. Su uso sin embargo es muy importante, pues modifica la forma de enseñar y de construir incluso los recintos donde se imparte la docencia, los que pasan de ser lugares con mucha iluminación natural de antaño, a ser recintos cerrados más bien obscuros y dotados de equipos con dispositivos proyectores de luz en la actualidad. El presente trabajo pretende por tanto dejar en la memoria de las nuevas generaciones los medios usados de antaño, el inicio de los medios audiovisuales en la década de los años 30 y el uso de TICs más recientemente y mostrar su evolución de la mano con los cambios tecnológicos en la enseñanza anatómica hasta nuestros días, no sólo a través de conocimientos generales al respecto, sino también a través de testimonios y documentos que los citan directamente en la docencia anatómica del país. SUMMARY: There is little information about the use of media in the teaching of modern anatomy in its early years. This is perhaps explained because academics and students were more concerned with the content than with the media used for morphological teaching, obviously. Its use however is very important, because it modifies the way of teaching and building even the enclosures where teaching is taught, those that go from being places with a lot of natural light, to being rather dark closed enclosures and endowed with equipment with devices projectors of light at present. The present work therefore, intends to remind the new generations of methods used in the past, the beginning of the audiovisual techniques in the decade of the 30s and the recent use of ICTs and show its development along with the technological changes in the anatomical teaching to this day, through general knowledge, evidence and graphic documents.

Submitted by Emília Freitas (emilia@icb.ufrj.br) on 2021-09-23T12:51:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 18247-Article-227673-1-10-20210729.pdf: 457732 bytes, checksum: 633d6dcfc5a67c62680133f3aad6c5ec (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Maria Luiza Jardim (luiza@sibi.ufrj.br) on 2021-10-04T18:58:55Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 18247-Article-227673-1-10-20210729.pdf: 457732 bytes, checksum: 633d6dcfc5a67c62680133f3aad6c5ec (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2021-10-04T18:58:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 18247-Article-227673-1-10-20210729.pdf: 457732 bytes, checksum: 633d6dcfc5a67c62680133f3aad6c5ec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2021-07-29 O ensino de Anatomia Humana ainda se utiliza do modelo tradicional, conteudista, voltado para memorização tornando-o desinteressante na perspectiva dos alunos. Este trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar inovações pedagógicas, construídas a partir do uso de metodologias ativas de aprendizagem e ferramentas digitais para licenciandos em Educação Física. Foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa para averiguar as tendências educacionais para o século XXI. Foram incorporadas as seguintes tendências: ensino híbrido, sala de aula invertida e gamificação. Para tal, foi criado um Ambiente Multimodal de Ensino Híbrido contendo três ambientes on-line (plataforma Moodle, Facebook e Instagram) e dois ambientes off-line (sala de aula teórica e laboratório de aula prática). Além do que, os conteúdos anatômicos foram abordados de forma sistêmica, multimodal, interdisciplinar, com foco no professor de Educação Física e na sua prática profissional. Espera-se que a proposta apresentada possa contribuir para o ensino aprendizagem de Anatomia para os graduandos de Educação Física. The teaching of Human Anatomy still uses the traditional model, contentist, focused on memorization, making it uninteresting from the students' perspective. This work aims to present pedagogical innovations, built from the use of active learning methodologies and digital tools for Physical Education graduates. Research was carried out to ascertain educational trends for the 21st century. The following trends were incorporated: hybrid teaching, inverted classroom and gamification. For this, a Multimodal Hybrid Teaching Environment was created containing three online environments (Moodle platform, Facebook and Instagram) and two offline environments (theoretical classroom and practical laboratory). In addition, anatomical contents were approached in a systemic, multimodal, interdisciplinary manner and with a focus on professional practice. It is hoped that the proposal presented can contribute to the teaching and learning of Anatomy for undergraduate Physical Education students.

Purpose Near-peer teaching (NPT) is a highly valuable resource for the education of medical undergraduates with benefits to the students, teachers themselves, and the faculty. To maximise the effectiveness of such teaching programmes, the aim of this study was to determine how the student learning experience, and underpinning social and cognitive congruencies changes as the learner–teacher distance increases. Methods Second-year medical students at the University of Southampton participated in a series of neuroanatomy, extra-curricular revision sessions taught by the third-, fourth-, and fifth-year medical students and junior doctors. The students completed a validated questionnaire after the session rating various aspects of the teaching. Results Although all teachers delivered sessions that we rated highly with a mean perceived gain in knowledge of 18 % amongst all students, it was found that the third- and fourth-year medical students delivered a session that was rated significantly better than the fifth-year students and junior doctors across all, but one areas of feedback. Conclusions We believe that these findings may be explained by the diminishing social and cognitive congruencies shared between learner and teacher with increasing distance. From our results, we hypothesise that graduation is an important threshold, where there is a significant drop in congruencies between the learner and teacher, therefore, having a significant impact on the perception of the NPT session.

Gaining sufficient knowledge of anatomy is an important part of medical education. Factors that influence how well students learn anatomical structures include available sources, learning time and study assistance. This study explores the attitude of medical students with regard to studying anatomy and evaluates possibilities for improvement of training in anatomy. Twenty medical students participated in a focus group meeting. Based on this focus group, an online survey consisting of 27 questions was developed and distributed amongst medical students of Maastricht University, the Netherlands. A total of 495 medical students (both Bachelor and Master level) participated in this survey. Master students found studying anatomy less attractive than Bachelor students (36.8% of the Master students vs. 47.9% of the Bachelor students (p = .024)). Although most students responded that they thought it is important to study anatomy, 48% of all students studied anatomy less than 10 h per study block of 8 weeks. Only 47.9% of the students rated their knowledge of anatomy as adequate. Students suggested that three-dimensional techniques would help improve their knowledge of anatomy. Therefore investing in three-dimensional tools could prove beneficial in the future. (C) 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Purpose: \ud The pterygopalatine fossa is one of the most complex anatomical regions to understand. It is poorly visualized in cadaveric dissection and most textbooks rely on schematic depictions. We describe our approach to creating a low-cost, 3D model of the pterygopalatine fossa, including its associated canals and foramina, using an affordable “desktop” 3D printer.\ud \ud Methods: \ud We used open source software to create a volume render of the pterygopalatine fossa from axial slices of a head computerised tomography scan. These data were then exported to a 3D printer to produce an anatomically accurate model.\ud \ud Results: \ud The resulting ‘negative space’ model of the pterygopalatine fossa provides a useful and innovative aid for understanding the complex anatomical relationships of the pterygopalatine fossa.\ud \ud Conclusion: \ud This model was designed primarily for medical students; however, it will also be of interest to postgraduates in ENT, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, and radiology. The technical process described may be replicated by other departments wishing to develop their own anatomical models whilst incurring minimal costs.

An online section of a face-to-face (F2F) undergraduate (bachelor's level) anatomy course with a prosection laboratory was offered in 2013-2014. Lectures for F2F students (353) were broadcast to online students (138) using Blackboard Collaborate (BBC) virtual classroom. Online laboratories were offered using BBC and three-dimensional (3D) anatomical computer models. This iteration of the course was modified from the previous year to improve online student-teacher and student-student interactions. Students were divided into laboratory groups that rotated through virtual breakout rooms, giving them the opportunity to interact with three instructors. The objectives were to assess student performance outcomes, perceptions of student-teacher and student-student interactions, methods of peer interaction, and helpfulness of the 3D computer models. Final grades were statistically identical between the online and F2F groups. There were strong, positive correlations between incoming grade average and final anatomy grade in both groups, suggesting prior academic performance, and not delivery format, predicts anatomy grades. Quantitative student perception surveys (273 F2F; 101 online) revealed that both groups agreed they were engaged by teachers, could interact socially with teachers and peers, and ask them questions in both the lecture and laboratory sessions, though agreement was significantly greater for the F2F students in most comparisons. The most common methods of peer communication were texting, Facebook, and meeting F2F. The perceived helpfulness of the 3D computer models improved from the previous year. While virtual breakout rooms can be used to adequately replace traditional prosection laboratories and improve interactions, they are not equivalent to F2F laboratories.