Great looking visuals make you look good!
Improving your presentations can be one way to increase student engagement in your classes. Students report that impressive presentations can make a difference in their overall impression of an instructor. This favorable impression goes beyond the presentation of information and into all aspects of the class experience [1]. Visual representations are especially important in anatomy classes. An old black and white handout of the skeletal system is likely to provoke some questions of your competency among students.
Illustration: Presentation Diagnosis - DOA
Minimize text information on your visuals and try not to read the text to the class. Not only can everyone read the text, but information presented in this way is not as easily absorbed as simply viewing visuals and listening to a speaker. The visual should emphasize the information being presented. [2][2] Text information related to the image should be within close proximity so that viewers can make an easy association. Large, easy to see visuals also help in a classroom setting and these higher quality images also allow students to zoom in for greater detail in an online class.
Animations are one way to enliven the classroom. Studies have found that animations really help audiences engage with the material presented to them and rated presentations lower that were lacking animated visuals. [3][3] This does not mean more is better however. Too many animations can quickly become distracting. As with visuals, animations should not be distractions and should highlight the material being learned.
In many disciplines, the problem is finding relevant imagery that is free to use. This is not an issue for anatomy instructors that have access to the Visible Body Human Anatomy Atlas.
This atlas allows you to quickly customize a virtual body in several ways:
- Add, remove and create transparent layers to highlight the anatomical parts of the body for your lessons.
- Show labels and basic details for selected items including the latin name, definition, and related pathology information.
- Create and save notecards to add your own information related to the lesson.
- Draw directly on models with highlighting tools.
Illustration: Strong Presentation Visual
Don’t lose your class or student evaluations with low quality visual materials[1].Bring your anatomy lessons to life with customizable, high quality images from Visible Body. Take a look at some of the options available in Visible Body or contact the library for additional information.
Links to additional information/tutorials:
References
1. Apperson J. M., Laws E.L., Scepansky J.A.: The impact of presentation graphics on students’ experience in the classroom. Computers & Education 47, 116-126 (2006). doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2004.09.003.
2. Bourne P. E.: Ten simple rules for making good oral presentations. 3, e77 (2007). doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030077.
3. Samuel T Moulton, Selen Türkay, Stephen M Kosslyn: Does a presentation’s medium affect its message? PowerPoint, prezi, and oral presentations. 12, e0178774 (2017). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0178774.
