iLearn Open House – Featuring HLTH109

Our regular iLearn Open House posts showcase units that implement good design practices through learning technology tools, resources and functions. This week features HLTH109 – Anatomy of Limbs and Back, convened by Associate Professor Goran Štrkalj. HLTH109 looks at the structures of the human body, specifically the anatomy of the upper limbs, lower limbs and back. Prior to taking HLTH109, students need to complete HLTH108 – Introduction to Anatomy, which covers the basic concepts of human anatomy.

HLTH109 – Anatomy of Limbs and Back

Unit Delivery and Design

“The main way of content delivery is based on the lab sessions however due to the complexity of anatomy, the time students devote to working in the lab is limited.”

Basic concepts are covered in lectures, then applied in lab sessions, and further strengthened in class tutorials.

When lab time is limited, Goran uses iLearn as a way to enrich the delivery to students, giving extra opportunities and exposure to the practical work, important for success in the unit.

One thing I try to do is not to put “too much” content on iLearn to prevent drowning students with an overflow of information. We try to balance this with what students do in the lab as we don’t want student to just rely on iLearn. We want the content on iLearn to supplement the work that is done in the lab sessions.

HLTH109 displays weekly topics split up between Lecture Material and Learning Resources.

Example of Weekly Layout in HLTH109

Each week under ‘Learning Resources’, videos are used to deliver content of what is demonstrated in the lab sessions. The videos are quick, short and to the point, allowing students to focus on what is important. The videos use titles throughout, allowing students to scroll through to specific time stamps and navigate to parts of the video they want to re-watch.

The idea of these videos is to demonstrate what we want students to know but more importantly, they are related to the unit’s learning outcomes.

In producing the videos, it was important for the convenors to use feedback from students. The first batch of videos were created by students, focusing on what they thought they struggled with.“We started to sift through them, making them more professional. The next step was to engage tutors, follow the same pattern, then [we] got help from the learning and teaching team for embedding into iLearn and its design”, Goran explained. 

Use of video to supplement student engagement in HLTH109

HLTH109 offers formative quizzes to test student’s current knowledge of musculoskeletal anatomy and help prepare for assessments and the final exam. The content of the quizzes is set to constantly change and reshuffle for each attempt, and covers the three major areas of the unit – upper limb, lower limb and back.

What makes HLTH109 innovative?

“It’s one thing to see bones in textbooks but it is completely different being able to manipulate them.”

Keen to use and explore new technologies, Goran introduced the use of the 3D bone imaging in HLTH109. In collaboration with the Learning Innovation Hub learning design team, Goran was able to scan bones which were then uploaded onto the Pedestal web platform. Pedestal is a flexible system that allows students to measure and manipulate 3D images of bones. The unit also provides simple images of muscles and ligaments to give students a more contextualised look of anatomical positions.

Pedestal – learning and teaching web service delivering 3D media to students in HLTH109

Goran noted how useful iLearn is for providing countless different formats through which to deliver content, as well as the possibilities that constantly ramify the delivery of the unit.

Some of these things were not available when I was a student and could only dream about, so it really excites me, especially when talking about new technologies with the L&T team – for example, making 3D bones accessible to students through the unit… We try to constantly move forward and look at new technologies to help deliver unit content and enrich the student experience.

To access Goran’s unit or any opened unit, log into iLearn and on the right side of your ‘home’ page, enter a unit code or keyword in the search box.

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