Teaching Osteology: Does the Use of Digital Applications Help Students?

Abstract

Background: Osteology is the study of bones where the student has to learn to identify the bone, it’s muscle attachments and important anatomical relations. Teaching-aids are used to enhance the understanding of a subject. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the use of digital tools, as a teaching aid, on the learning outcomes of students. Methodology: Students were divided into two groups; one group was taught using a mobile/laptop-based application along with the bone, while the other group was taught using only the bone. A pre-test and post-test questionnaire served as the study tool to analyse the learning outcomes of each class. A student satisfaction survey was conducted using a three-point Likert scale. Results: A statistically significant difference was observed between the pre-test and post-test scores within each group indicating that there was a gain of knowledge irrespective of the teaching methodology the student was exposed to. This could mean that the use of digital applications for osteology maybe on par with teaching osteology using only the bone. 80% of the students responded that the use of the digital applications was favourable. Conclusion: It can thus, be concluded that the use of such technology in osteology classes may be beneficial to the student. This study shows that applications, which are usually considered to be a distraction to teaching and learning but are at the same time popular with today’s student community, can be used effectively in teaching concepts to the students.