At the Forefront of Anatomy Teaching and Learning Approaches
Members of NUMed's Anatomy Working Group (AWG) recently won the e-poster competition at the 2nd Malaysian Anatomical Association Education Symposium (MAAES) 2023.
19 September 2023
Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia’s (NUMed) Anatomy Working Group (AWG) members, namely Dr. Madihah Rushaidhi, Dean of Biomedical Sciences and Associate Professor, and Dr. Nor Alia Binti Mohamad, Lecturer, did the university proud when they emerged as winners of the e-poster competition at the 2nd Malaysian Anatomical Association Education Symposium (MAAES) 2023 recently.
Bagging first prize, Dr. Madihah’s poster, titled “Measuring Cognitive Load in Anatomy Practical Session: A Cross-Comparison between Medical and Biomedical Sciences Programmes”, evaluated the cognitive load incurred during anatomy practical sessions for Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) students and BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences (BMS) students.
“A thorough understanding of the workings of the brain and the constraint of working memory is essential when it comes to designing an instructional method that promotes effective learning. The study revealed that MBBS students scored higher in the intrinsic load domain compared to BMS students, indicating a higher content complexity level among the MBBS students. Nevertheless, there were no significant differences observed between the two programmes in terms of the extraneous load domain and self-perceived learning domain,” she said.
Dr. Nor Alia’s poster, on the other hand, won first runner-up position, exploring “Team-taught Method in Anatomy Practical Session: Does it Affect Students’ Engagement?”.
The team-taught method, which involves the presence of multiple lecturers in the anatomy lab to facilitate students’ learning, has been adopted for years in NUMed to conduct anatomy practical sessions for both MBBS and BMS students.
“To find out whether this method is suitable for both programmes, we measured students’ engagement after they attended the practical sessions. This proved that the method is relevant and suitable for both programmes despite the difference in hours spent in the anatomy teaching and learning sessions,” shared Dr. Nor Alia.
The two projects were collaborative efforts with Dr. Nurul Uyun Abdul Aziz, the Lead of NUMed’s AWG.
Dr. Madihah and Dr. Nor Alia received certificates of recognition for their efforts, and their findings are being published in the Medicine and Health Journal.
Both of them were grateful for the support they received from NUMed, their colleagues, and their collaborator, Dr. Siti Nurma from Universiti Sains Malaysia.
“This accomplishment has filled us with pride, and we look forward to furthering our work in medical education,” added Dr. Madihah.
“This was a collective effort to ensure that we deliver the best for our students, specifically when it comes to anatomy teaching. It was, indeed, a great experience to be able to bring NUMed’s name to the limelight of a prestigious national association,” chimed in Dr. Alia.
Additionally, the two winners extend their gratitude to the scientific committee and judges of the Malaysian Anatomical Association (MAA) for selecting them and providing them with constructive feedback during the judging sessions. The guidance they received will be instrumental in helping them in their future research endeavours.
Featuring the theme "Anatomy Education 2050: Envisioning the Future", the 2nd MAAES was held at the H-Elite Design Hotel in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, on 29 & 30 August 2023. The event’s line-up also included two other competitions, plenary sessions, and a forum on “Surviving without Cadavers: Leveraging Technology with Human Intelligence”.