Emerging from emergency pandemic pedagogy: A survey of anatomical educators in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Abstract

It is critical that academic opinion of pandemic pedagogy is comprehensively quantified in order to inform future practices. Thus, this study examines how anatomists in the United Kingdom (UK) and Republic of Ireland (ROI) perceive the teaching adaptations made in response to COVID‐19, and how these adaptations have impacted their experiences teaching, their online work environment and community. Data was collected via a questionnaire from 24 anatomists across 15 universities in the UK (11) and ROI (4). With regards to teaching, 95.6% of academics have upskilled in new technologies to meet the demands of distance teaching. Academics (95.8%) preferred face‐to‐face delivery of practical sessions. Most universities (80.0%) reported that practical sessions will continue in a new form that ensures social distancing. However, 50.0% of academics are uncertain if these adaptations will improve student learning. Many anatomists believe that the new adaptations may hinder student–student (66.7%) and student–tutor (45.8%) interactions. Regarding assessment, 52.6% of academics preferred traditional methods to online. Remote online assessment was difficult to protect against collusion, but provided time saving opportunities for academics. Finally, in terms of working environment, 83.3% of academics stated that their workload increased; 54.2% preferred working on site rather than remotely and 79.2% think that staff interactions are better when working on site. These results demonstrate a widespread concern amongst anatomists regarding the pandemic‐induced adaptations to teaching, assessment and working environment. However, important opportunities were also identified that could ultimately serve to benefit students and educators alike.

Assessment of the opinions and experiences of anatomy educators regarding the distance anatomy education in medical facilities under the effect of COVID-19 in Turkey

“…At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, although there were not enough guides or resources on how academics could provide distance/online health/medical education, institutions had to produce their solutions quickly under challenging conditions. Researchers on anatomy education began sharing their experiences with the scientific world [ 3 , 6 , 9 , 13 , 21 , 24 , 32 ].…”

“…In comparison, 24.8% were willing to return to traditional face-to-face classes [ 6 ]. Twenty-four anatomists from fifteen universities in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland preferred face-to-face practice (95.8%), preferred the traditional method to the online method (52.6%), considered that students' interaction with each other and their instructors decreased (66.7%) [ 9 ]. Anatomy education in classes of anatomists of different professional origins (disciplines) (Total: 356, 293 clinical medicine, 63 nonclinical major) in China was compared [ 32 ].…”

“…In the third section of the questionnaire, the open-ended questions were evaluated by the thematic qualitative content analysis method [ 4 ]. Studies using a similar method were reviewed in the literature [ 9 ]. In the first step of the qualitative evaluation, the data (responses to the third section) were read several times by the researchers.…”

“…Some of the views of medical/anatomy educators about distance anatomy education during the COVID-19 pandemic period have been reflected in a few letters to the editor and research articles published previously [ 6 , 9 , 21 , 23 , 24 , 28 , 32 ]. In these studies, it was observed that questions about some subjects, such as hybrid education, were not asked or that the answers to the open-ended questions were not adequately evaluated analytically, or that the number of participants was relatively limited.…”

Teaching a blind student anatomy during the Covid‐19 pandemic

“…The online delivery of anatomy education specially also presented unique challenges due to the tactile and three‐dimensional (3D) nature of the subject (Longhurst et al, 2020 ; Dulohery et al, 2021 ). Despite this, the anatomy learning environment demonstrated a resilience and capacity to adapt to the threat of a global pandemic (Baptiste, 2021 ).…”