Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research, while enhancing transferable skills. Students were challenged to describe their research, scholarship or creative activity in 150 or fewer words to share with our community.

Digital Technologies for the Enhancement of Anatomy Education

Anatomy can be challenging for university students to learn and understand but is vital for the education of future healthcare professionals. Existing tools, such as cadaveric or plastic models, have various limitations, creating a gap in the availability of adequate anatomy models to meet the needs of all student populations. The need for advanced teaching tools led to the investigation of Augmented Reality (AR). AR is an emerging technology that superimposes a virtual image onto a user’s view of the real world and can be used to explore human anatomy through interactive models. Our study aims to investigate whether integrating AR and digital three-dimensional models into anatomy education will enhance the overall learning experience through increased student engagement and motivation. By exploring digital models, we can address the lack of anatomical teaching tools to meet the needs of all student populations and improve learning outcomes across various educational settings.

Sidney Wright
MSc candidate, Anatomy and Cell Biology
Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry - Western University

Supervisor
Katelyn Wood (https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=VqPHEqYAAAAJ&hl=en)

Sidney is an MSc candidate in the Clinical Anatomy program within the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. She completed her Bachelor of Medical Science in Interdisciplinary Medical Science at Western University in 2023. Sidney's passion for anatomy and teaching led her to pursue this program, where she can further her interests in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research. Her current research focuses on investigating whether the integration of Augmented Reality (AR) and digital three-dimensional (3D) anatomical models in an undergraduate anatomy curriculum will enhance the overall student learning experience. Through her work, Sidney aims to contribute to the improvement of anatomy education and help guide future teaching practices.

You can connect with Sidney on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/sidney-wright-3b410a261 and via email at swrig25@uwo.ca.

View Sidney's work as it appears in the Inspiring Minds Digital Collection: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/inspiringminds/585/.