Sharmin Nazlee, Abdallah Hady, Jirgees Elias, Chow Ava K
Mike Petryk School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, College of Health Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
PLoS One. 2025 Jul 24;20(7):e0329172. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0329172. eCollection 2025.
m-Learning is gaining popularity in health professional education; however, reports on mobile apps targeting didactic teaching and learning are scarce, particularly in the context of health professional courses such as histology. Histology is an essential foundational component of dental and medical education. At the Mike Petryk School of Dentistry, University of Alberta, instructors utilize photomicrographs from textbooks to teach students on the microanatomy of teeth, the development of tooth and facial regions, and developmental anomalies. Limited availability of high-quality tissue sections and time constraints present challenges for both students and instructors. To provide students with an accessible collection of diverse histological sections and to facilitate in-class interactive didactic teaching, we developed an Augmented Reality (AR)-based mobile app called Tooth ARcademy. The development of Tooth ARcademy comprises the following steps: selecting histology glass slides, digitizing the glass slides, curating and annotating the digital slides, preparing multiple-choice questions, and integrating the resources into the mobile app. Tooth ARcademy is available worldwide at no cost. The app has three modes. Instructors can use the AR-based Learn mode to create in-class activities and supplemental questions tailored to students with specific learning outcomes. The Practice mode enables students to study oral histology outside of class time. With the Quiz mode of Tooth ARcademy, students can self-assess their knowledge of oral histology by participating in quizzes. The knowledge of oral histology is essential for dental education. Tooth ARcademy is designed to create interactive and engaging learning environments both inside and outside the classroom. Besides some limitations of the current phase, Tooth ARcademy can be a valuable m-learning tool that benefits students and educators in dental, medical, and other professional schools.
移动学习在卫生专业教育中越来越受欢迎；然而，针对理论教学的移动应用报告却很少，尤其是在组织学等卫生专业课程的背景下。组织学是牙科和医学教育的重要基础组成部分。在阿尔伯塔大学迈克·佩特里克牙科学院，教师利用教科书中的显微照片向学生讲授牙齿的微观解剖结构、牙齿和面部区域的发育以及发育异常。高质量组织切片的可用性有限以及时间限制给学生和教师都带来了挑战。为了为学生提供多样化组织学切片的便捷集合，并促进课堂互动式理论教学，我们开发了一款名为“牙齿AR学院”的基于增强现实（AR）的移动应用程序。“牙齿AR学院”的开发包括以下步骤：选择组织学载玻片、将载玻片数字化、整理和注释数字载玻片、准备多项选择题以及将资源整合到移动应用程序中。“牙齿AR学院”在全球范围内免费提供。该应用程序有三种模式。教师可以使用基于AR的学习模式来创建针对具有特定学习成果的学生的课堂活动和补充问题。练习模式使学生能够在课外时间学习口腔组织学。通过“牙齿AR学院”的测验模式，学生可以通过参加测验来自我评估他们对口腔组织学的知识。口腔组织学知识对牙科教育至关重要。“牙齿AR学院”旨在在课堂内外创建互动且引人入胜的学习环境。除了当前阶段的一些局限性外，“牙齿AR学院”可以成为一种有价值的移动学习工具，使牙科、医学和其他专业学校的学生和教育工作者受益。
