Abstract:

Complete Anatomy (CA) software allows users to investigate the minute detail of the human anatomy in 3D. Anatomical and Physiological Basis of the Human Body I (BANYFIS I) is part of the first-year subjects of the Pharmacy degree at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). Practical lessons teachers involved in BANYFIS I lectures developed several CA courses for 2 of the 5 practical lessons. Moreover, instructions for installing and using CA were made and given to the students previous to the practical lessons. The aim of this study was to assess if the courses were helpful in the students´ learning processes. In addition, we assessed the students´ satisfaction about the use of CA and the instructions provided.

There are 5 different lessons during the practices, 4 of them including anatomical features. We created 2 different courses with anatomical information for the muscle and bone structures, and the renal system lessons. The other 2 systems, cardiovascular and respiratory were used as controls. Therefore, students had access to CA and the courses before, during and after the practical lessons.

To assess students´ satisfaction with CA software and the custom designed courses, a survey of 16 questions was handed to them at the end of last practice. They had to answer to each item numerically, considering a five-point Likert scale from 0 to 4, with 0 being 'totally disagree' and 4 'totally agree'. Data from 120 students was collected, compiled and analysed.

Most of the students (82,3%, taking on account the two top answers in the survey) believed that using CA improved their information comprehension, and that having courses was a benefit for their motivation and aptitude towards the practical lessons (70%). 30,0% of the students gave the maximum score to the development and easy usage of the instructions, being a 45,8% for the second higher answer. More than 70% of them were satisfied or totally satisfied with the courses and 75,0% with the use of CA. In terms of the courses, more than an 85% expressed their satisfaction with how complete was the information shown in the courses, and 78,0% was satisfied or very satisfied with the capacity of synthesis and analysis of such information. Also, 73,7% acknowledged that would have been of great use to have courses of the other 2 lessons. In addition, students rated CA contribution to their capacity of searching for information with a 44,2% for high satisfaction, and a 30,8% for very high satisfaction, and 70,6% noted that CA increased their motivation towards the practical lessons. Furthermore, the results indicated that CA helped the students in their autonomous learning process (83,3%), despite only a 36,6% of students acknowledged CA helped in their teamwork learning process.

These results indicate that in terms of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) both CA and the courses developed by the teachers, who overcame the challenge of adapting the practices to the use of ICTs, are of great use in the development of practical lessons in degrees with anatomical information, enhancing and improving the students´ learning processes.

Keywords:

Complete anatomy, Physiology, Courses, Learning Satisfaction, Innovation and Communication Technologies.