Little W Brady, Dezdrobitu Cristian, Conan Anne, Artemiou Elpida
School of Veterinary Medicine, Ross University, St. Kitts, Basseterre, West Indies USA.
Med Sci Educ. 2021 Mar 18;31(2):723-732. doi: 10.1007/s40670-021-01260-8. eCollection 2021 Apr.
Strong understanding of cardiac anatomy and function are essential components of veterinary medical education; however, the heart is considered challenging to comprehend due to its complexity. This study introduced and assessed a new learning resource, the IVALA® augmented reality (AR) heart program in a cohort of pre-veterinary students. Students were randomly divided into traditional textbook learning and AR learning groups. All students underwent a pre- and post-intervention testing assessing baseline cardiac anatomy knowledge, as well as pre-intervention evaluation of inherent spatial awareness. Teaching and learning included a 60-min cadaveric learning experience guided by either traditional learning resources or the IVALA® program. All students completed a participant survey about their learning experiences. Seventy-four students (36 in the control, and 38 in the IVALA® group) participated in the research. Overall, students improved in cardiac knowledge by an average of 24.5% after intervention regardless of study methodology. No significant difference in post-test improvement was noted between the two groups. On a 20-question assessment, students in the IVALA group improved by an average of 4.9 questions correct over their pre-intervention test, and the control group improved by an average of 4.8 questions ( = 0.9). A positive correlation was found between spatial awareness scores and post-test improvement regardless of cohort group ( = 0.03). Sixty-two individuals (83.8%) completing the participant survey reported an overwhelming preference for learning with AR compared to traditional methods. This study illustrates student preference of IVALA® program in learning anatomy of the heart and supports its use is as effective as traditional methods of teaching with the benefit of increased enthusiasm and engagement.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-021-01260-8.
对心脏解剖结构和功能的深入理解是兽医医学教育的重要组成部分；然而，由于心脏的复杂性，其被认为难以理解。本研究在一群兽医预科学生中引入并评估了一种新的学习资源——IVALA®增强现实（AR）心脏程序。学生被随机分为传统教科书学习组和AR学习组。所有学生在干预前后都接受了测试，评估基线心脏解剖知识以及干预前对固有空间意识的评估。教学包括由传统学习资源或IVALA®程序指导的60分钟尸体学习体验。所有学生都完成了关于他们学习体验的参与者调查。74名学生（对照组36名，IVALA®组38名）参与了这项研究。总体而言，无论采用何种学习方法，干预后学生的心脏知识平均提高了24.5%。两组在测试后提高方面没有显著差异。在一项20道题的评估中，IVALA组的学生在干预后测试中平均比干预前多答对4.9道题，对照组平均多答对4.8道题（=0.9）。无论所属队列组如何，空间意识得分与测试后提高之间都存在正相关（=0.03）。62名（83.8%）完成参与者调查的人报告说，与传统方法相比，他们对使用AR学习有着压倒性的偏好。本研究表明学生对IVALA®程序在心脏解剖学学习中的偏好，并支持其使用与传统教学方法一样有效，且具有提高热情和参与度的好处。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s40670-021-01260-8获取的补充材料。
