A Comparative Study of Attitude and Perception of Students to the Online Learning of Anatomy in a Low-Resource Settings During COVID-19

A large amount of anatomy teaching is based on practical sessions.This could be a challenge with online learning which has become inevitable in the COVID-19 era as the practicality of teaching could be limited. This study sought to analyze the perception of students to the online learning of anatomy in a low-resource setting. Previously validated questionnaires were used to assess the availability, feasibility, effectiveness, acceptability, and receptiveness to different teaching modalities in Anatomy in public and private universities in Nigeria. Our results show that there was a significant increase in the availability of resources in the private institution compared to the public. In our study, genetics, embryology, and surface anatomy were considered most feasible to learn by the students. Genetics, embryology, and histology were perceived as absolutely effective in the virtual learning of anatomy, while gross anatomy, clinical anatomy, and radiological anatomy were perceived as not effective. The result showed a generally low receptiveness to learning all branches of anatomy online, with 243 (44.7%) students not being receptive, while 177 (32.5%) students were receptive. Also, 232 (42.6%) felt they were not equipped with the technological skills to learn all branches of anatomy online as against 185 (34.0%) who said they were technologically equipped. The study showed a variation in the perception and attitude of students in public and private schools towards the online learning of anatomy. Of great importance is the availability of infrastructure. Overall, in a low-resourced setting, traditional teaching of anatomy is more widely accepted compared to online learning due to many factors. The availability of facilities for virtual learning is important for students to keep up with global standards.