Victoria University (VU) in Melbourne, Australia is ranked in the top two percent of universities worldwide*. (*Times Higher Education, World University Rankings 2017, 2018, 2019). The Victoria Library serves over 40,000 students, researchers and faculty at its seven campus locations and through its online resources.
This was a really great opportunity for us to highlight Anatomy.tv as a really good database for students in the Health & Biomedicine and Sport & Exercise Science areas.
Two key focuses for library staff are teaching and learning. For Linda Forbes, College Librarian for both the College of Sport & Exercise Science and the College of Engineering & Science, this means assessing and selecting databases in collaboration with the Collections Management team. Recently, her role changed.
“VU began a First Year Model where courses are taught one at a time in block mode. Instead of students having four units or courses of study over a 12-week semester, they focus on one unit for four weeks and then go on to the next one. A big part of our role is working with the design teams to redesign many of the courses to be much more interactive. They’re also more intense because the students are focusing on one unit for four weeks, doing nine hours every week in their class.”
“This was a really great opportunity for us to highlight Anatomy.tv as a really good database for students in the Health & Biomedicine and Sport & Exercise Science areas. Because we were working in these design teams of about five people – the librarian, the academic and the learning designers – we were able to show our teams how Anatomy.tv works and make suggestions about how it could be included in the redesigned courses.”
The design team liked the variety of Primal videos and the live, real-time action, which they agree is very useful to students and teachers. The Learning Designers were particularly interested in the interactive and AR features of Anatomy.TV and have talked with Primal Pictures about future developments. In addition, the university has a relatively new Learning Management System (LMS), which enabled them to easily embed Primal videos in the learning management space for students to interact with in and out of the classroom.
The team loved that you can embed Primal videos into online course materials, that it’s very interactive for students’ learning.
Primal Passes Vigorous Approval Process
Like many university libraries, VU’s library does not have much in the way of discretionary funds with which to make purchases. “The decision-making process is rigorous,” says Forbes. “It’s the college librarian’s job to make a case for a resource we want to add to the collection. To do this we seek feedback from both academics and students. We trial the product and ask questions about assessing the capabilities. We look at courses being taught at the university’s colleges and see how well the resource matches up to the focus areas being taught. Then, if the product costs more than 1,500 dollars,(AUD) we have to collect feedback from academic staff and provide a description of how the resource would be used and why it’s important for teaching and learning at the University.”
“Then the request is considered by Collection Management personnel and our entire Information Resource Management Committee. Somebody else may want to buy another product for their college, so cases are measured against each other.”
Highly Interactive Anatomy Resource
The evaluation team agreed that Primal is the highly interactive and easy-to-use resource they were looking for. “The past four years we’ve had quite a big focus on blended learning. The team loved that you can embed Primal videos into online course materials, that it’s very interactive for students’ learning. Curriculum-wise, for both Sport & Exercise Science and the Health & Biomedicine Colleges there are a number of courses where Primal resources match really well, such as with Exercise, Physiology and Structural Kinesiology and also for the Osteopathy, Nursing, Health and Biomed- focus students as well.”
Wide Range of Packages and Features
“Within the package there’s a big variety, so it fits well with a lot of different courses. For example, we’ve used the Resistance Training package for Sports students, but then things like the Cardiovascular System and the Nervous System are really helpful for Health and Biomed students. VU students who work with Massage Therapy found Primal Pictures really useful as well. Things like the pressure points and being able to have that 3D component – the layers of the muscles – I think all the different features on Anatomy.tv make everything come alive for the students.”
As well as Anatomy.TV workshops embedded in class sessions the librarians have been able to implement workshops as Study Essentials which take place outside of class time, and are an important part of students’ study. These workshops are entirely focused on Anatomy.tv. Several of the Health and Biomedicine and Sports units also embed Primal content directly into the LMS. “Our Structural Kinesiology teacher created a whole workbook based around Anatomy.tv. In addition to teaching and learning, it’s part of the assessment in the courses as well.”
Anatomy.tv Scores High Usage
“The high usage of Anatomy.tv is particularly due to the First Year Model and the block mode of learning. In redesigning the units, we were able to suggest that Anatomy.tv would be really useful in particular units and courses. There’s also a mixture of units where Anatomy.tv has been embedded in the LMS.”
“In the College of Sport we work with 3D Real-time at the beginning of every unit, showing students how to access Anatomy.tv through their Library homepage, how to use the database, download a video, and create labels – then the students can create their own presentations.”
Forbes and colleague Sarika Singh create interactive videos to increase usage of Anatomy.tv. “Rather than static video on how to use all the different features of Anatomy.tv, there are places in these videos where the student must stop and answer a quiz or do something as a result of what they’re watching. Sarika has embedded videos in the different learning spaces using our LMS. She also embedded videos in library guides on how to access and use Anatomy.tv, with examples relating to the particular areas of study. The College of Health and Biomedicine have done similar things with their students and different units they’re working with.”
I’ve found that Primal really engages students, they’re really keen and get quite excited. Oftentimes they’re still playing and looking at the different features, say on 3D Real-time, out past the time that you might be finishing up the class.
Next Up: PALMS
VU have just purchased the Anatomy PALMS package, Primal’s interactive, online adaptive learning tool that combines research-proven Perceptual and Adaptive Learning Modules (PALMS) with 3D human anatomy models. “We’re really excited because it gives students the chance to learn individually with the PALMs package.”
Easy to Use
As a person who’s not really experienced in anatomy, I find Primal is very simple to use, and you can learn a lot because you’ve got the visual component. You can drill down and look at the layers and play around a bit. You’ve also got the text, which explains what’s happening, how things work. I think it’s very easy to use.”
Engages Students in Any Environment
“I’ve found that Primal really engages students, they’re really keen and get quite excited. Oftentimes they’re still playing and looking at the different features, say on 3D Real-time, out past the time that you might be finishing up the class. It also works really well online and (as part of a blended learning approach, but Primal’s also very interactive and effective to use in a face-to-face class as well. It covers a lot of different areas.”