Abstract:

In 2007, the teaching staff of Clinical Anatomy of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP) and the Office of Support for New Technologies in Education of the University of Porto (UP), engaged in a project of building a virtual tool that could allow students to practice and develop identification skills of anatomic structures, in the computer. Later, this “Virtual Quiz” was to be integrated in the learning management system of UP-WebCT VISTA. The purpose of the virtual tool is to allow a specific imaging and sectional anatomy training, aiming to improve both active learning and skills for practical identification of anatomical structures, being this last procedure of great impact to medical students. The e-learning tool was available to the students attending Clinical Anatomy (2nd year/2nd semester), starting the 2007/08 academic year. This Curricular Unit is of most relevance in medical curricula, since it allows to develop “critical anatomical reasoning”, known as crucial to the acquisition of “clinical reasoning”.

The “Virtual Quiz” is based on an animation built in Adobe Flash, which loads randomly 40 images of a total of 2500. Each image is linked to a respective correct answer. Each set of 2 images is to be answered in a minute, in the end of which a sonorous sign is heard, with automatic advancement of the page for the following set. After viewing and identifying the 40 images the final result is displayed. The student has the possibility to review the image with the correct answer, as well as his/her own response. This tool is exported to a SCORM package and the final grade is transposed to the Learning Management System, which allows the faculty to have individualized student’s information. The “Virtual Quiz” is a tool that can work dissociated from a LMS and can be used online and offline.
A statistical analysis was performed correlating the use of the “Virtual Quiz” and the performance achieved at the assessment proofs. It was demonstrated that students using the “Virtual Quiz” have significant better performance at the identification of anatomical structures in the “real” situation of examination.

This work demonstrates the adequacy and importance of developing new tools – directed to real situations and within the context of teaching/learning situations. If we link these important issues to the demonstrated improvement of academic performance, this makes this tool an important resource in the teaching/learning programs. Besides, it is extremely flexible to be used in other learning contexts. A specific version of this tool is now to be transferred as a tool for skills training transfer in a University Network created under the scope of EDULINK Project “A NAME for Health”, with the involvement of FMUP, Faculty of Medicine of the University Agostinho Neto, Luanda and Faculty of Medicine of University Eduardo Mondlane an University Lúrio, in Mozambique. (supported by EDULINK -contract nº 9-ACP-RPR-118 #29)

Keywords:

virtual quiz, clinical anatomy, identification station, e-learning.