Anatomy and Embryology Goettingen - 2013 Seminar

Online Embryology for Medicine and Science

Dr Mark Hill
School of Medical Sciences, The University of NSW, Australia.

6 December 2013      Dept. of Anatomy and Embryology, University of Goettingen     Translate page - German

Introduction

This presentation will describe my experiences in developing online embryology teaching for medical (large group) and science (small group) student groups.

Medicine (large computer lab)	Science (small computer lab)

Embryology Online

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  pre-1997

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  2001

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  2004

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  2007

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  2007 DVD

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  2009 - Wiki Format

Technology Timeline
The changing technology environment we have experienced in the last 50 years, and more recently in the last 20 "internet years".
1961 - Microfiche - miniaturise data, images and text. 1962 - Slide carousel projector - transport and display content easily. 1960s - Overhead projectors - prepared and flexible in-class. 1977 - Apple computers. 1981 - IBM computers. 1982 - Microsoft MS-DOS. 1990 - Powerpoint - electronic slides. 1991 - Quicktime - multimedia platform for images and animations. 1993 - Mosaic first web browser. 1994 - Netscape Navigator web browser. 1995 - Internet Explorer web browser. 1996 - Flash - multimedia platform for images and animations.	1997 - Embryology site first online. 1998 - Google internet search. 1998 - Blackboard course management system. 2001 - Wikipedia online encyclopaedia running on Mediawiki. 2002 - Moodle course management system. 2004 - Facebook social networking service. 2004 - Embryology website reformatted as 3 column webpages. 2006 - Twitter microblogging service. 2009 - Embryology site transferred to new wiki format. 2010 - iBooks e-book application for iPads. 2012 - ??

New Wiki Format 2009

• familiar structure and layout. (the Wiki format)
• easy to print and search. (print this current page)
• resolved student navigation issues. (every page has the same navigation and access to student pages)
• contributions by researchers staff and students. (Researcher Contributions)
• current research easily added and used by students. (Human development day 3 to 5)

Why Wikis?

The Software - Wikipedia had been around for a few years and many students were commonly using it initially as a dictionary rather than encyclopaedia. MediaWiki is the database software which runs this application on the web and is separate from the content hosted in Wikipedia. The Support - MediaWiki is freely available, stable, regularly updated, and has a large group of developers maintaining and making many useful applications (extensions) within this software framework. The Interaction - The format can be used interactively by teacher and student, both can construct, distribute and share knowledge. This can be done easily anytime and anywhere with an internet connection and editing can be restricted to only those designated users and hierarchically within those users. Importantly, an extension allows users access through the familiar UNSW Zpass system. Visibility - You need to see what is being done! The embryology educational material has since its early development been on the internet and available to all. Learning management systems (LMS) are excellent for what they do, manage courses and students. My experience is that students don't generally like LMS and use it only because they have to. Most are LMS are commercial packages ($$) and their content is generally hidden (which can be important for security/copyright etc) and not easily shared.

Online Classes

Medicine large computer lab

Medicine practicals computer use (june 2012)

• Both lectures and laboratories in Medicine and Science can be prepared and presented online. (Lecture, Practical)
• Online textbooks are directly linked within the classes. (UNSW links)
• Additional general notes are available for students to use as topic background. (2012)
• An extensive glossary of terms is provided to aid understanding of terminology. (Glossary, mesoderm)
  • In development everything changes, even the names of structures!
• Current related clinical and research data, movies and findings can be provided to show relevance of topics. (Research movies)
• Quizzes available to test student knowledge (currently broken by a recent software update).
• Content can also be modified and used for external education purposes. (Maternal-Fetal Medicine Trainees - Renal, Brain Awareness Week 2012)

Browser used	Browser operating systems

Teaching Contact Hours

Trends in anatomy disciplines contact teaching hours based on data from USA survey.

‎‎Human Development Page | Play

About this graph

Online survey were constructed to gather basic information about gross anatomy, microscopic anatomy, neuroscience/neuroanatomy, and embryology courses. 2009 total of 130 allopathic and 25 osteopathic medical schools in USA. Number of responses (Gross anatomy 65, Microscopic anatomy 45, Neuroscience/Neuroanatomy 31, Embryology 43) Reference University of New South Embryology Contact hours Medicine - (lecture and practicals, including foundations and phase 2) is 24 hours. Science - Lectures 20, Practicals 48.

New Embryology Topics
Less contact time, but a growing list of new clinically relevant topics. Assisted Reproductive Technology (In vitro fertilization) Stem Cells Molecular Development (genetics, epigenetics, inheritance) Prenatal Diagnosis (genetic, ultrasound, MRI, fetal cells in maternal) Fetal Surgery (prenatal medicine)

Medicine practicals computer use (june 2012)