No abstract

3D virtual technologies are increasingly used in contemporary anatomy curricula with ongoing debate about their benefits and impact on learning. One such technology, the Anatomage Virtual Dissection Table is a touch‐pad instrument capable of displaying four life‐size fully segmented male and female bodies which can be virtually dissected layer‐by‐layer to display all organ systems. Little data is available describing how best to incorporate the Table into anatomy instruction either as a stand‐alone tool or in conjunction with other teaching modalities. In 2019, seven Anatomage Tables were used in their first large scale deployment in two different anatomy courses at UT Health San Antonio for 44 Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) and 48 Physician Assistant Studies (PAS) students . To gauge student impressions about digital technology, cadaver dissection and the Anatomage Table, voluntary, anonymous pre‐ and post‐course surveys were conducted in each course. Survey results indicated that 97.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 91.9–99.9%) of the OTD and PAS students viewed digital technology favorably; 51% previously used digital anatomy resources, but few had used the Table. 57.6% (CI=47.4–67.2%) chose the University of Texas Health San Antonio program because it offered cadaver dissection while 86.4% (CI=77.1–92.4%) were also eager to use digital anatomy resources as well. In the post‐course survey, the Anatomage Table was praised for image size and realism, availability of male and female specimens, high resolution regional anatomy, but some features (touch and rotation functions) were difficult to operate for some students. 65.9% (CI=55.5–75%) felt that the Table is a good learning tool to supplement cadaver dissection. 69.3% (CI=59.0–78.0%) felt the Table helped them better understand structures on the cadaver. Most felt that they benefited from the Table as a supplement to their cadaver dissection. A minority of students (12.5%, CI=7–21.2%) of preferred the Anatomage Table over cadaver dissection, while 73.9% (CI=63.8–82%) preferred the latter. These results provide insights highlighting the benefits and limitations of the Table especially when used in conjunction with cadaver dissection. The Table’s benefits may be even more apparent in programs where dissection of human cadavers is unavailable.

Physician Assistant Student Tracking data demonstrated that individual student experience in their family medicine rotation varied widely. However, in general, rural and suburban/urban experiences were more similar than different. This study supports the value of the Typhon PAST logging system for not only tracking student activity but also addressing program evaluation and research questions.

Visual identity systems allow a visual object to stand for, and provide suggestive expression of, a host. The primary graphic element in a visual identity system is the logo. In three sections, this article explores inportant semiotic mechanisms by which logos perform the work of identifying. The first section points to the difference between basic visual differentiation (boundary coherence) and affective/cognitive reference (semantic coherence). It makes a distinction between two kinds of reference that occur simultaneously in logos: (1) an immediate referencing of the host entity (the entity for which identification is sought), and (2), indirect, reference that is often metaphoric in character. The second section offers a four-part classification scheme for logos based upon a Peircean icon/index/symbol division with the addition of an axis of syntactical detail. A “hidden” class of logo is predicted by this Peircean framework; examples are identified and this class is named “gesturegraphs”. It is argued that this four-part classification scheme is both semiotically necessary and sufficient. Any further classes of logos can be considered subclasses within the four semiotic factors proposed. These classes are not judged to be discrete, but rather to afford blended and combinatorial situations. The rhetorical tropes of metonym and metaphor are discussed in terms of their value to the pictographic mode of logo design. Finally, in the third section of the article, genre is defined as the coherence of stylistic features in relation to the sector of the host’s activity. Two case studies are given as examples of how genre influences the semantical context of logos.