Visible Human Dissector - Undergraduate Edition

University Of Colorado At Denver, Aurora CO

Investigators

Abstract

Biological Sciences (61) The goal of the Visible Human Dissector (VHD) project is to provide a highly visual, interactive exploration tool to undergraduate instructors and their students that will enhance their ability to teach and learn human anatomy. The VHD, in its present prototype form, permits the user to 3-dimensionally display, highlight, dissect and identify structures and their properties and functions in the trunk of the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Male. This project, through collaboration with nine undergraduate institutions in Colorado, is helping to develop and integrate this unique visual, interactive tool into anatomy and physiology courses offered by two-year and four-year undergraduate institutions. The students have the opportunity to perform a virtual cadaver dissection on photo-realistic anatomy in an interactive, self-directed manner, with testing and feedback options. This is made possible through the integration of technology, innovative software and this unique dataset. The existing prototype VHD was designed for medical student use as an adjunct to their human gross anatomy course. A goal of this project is to integrate this same technology into the undergraduate classroom. The nine schools were chosen to encompass a diverse population of undergraduate types. Formative and summative evaluation tools are designed to evaluate the VHD. Both an instructor and a student version of the Visible Human Dissector will be distributed nationally.