Neuroanatomy Learning: Augmented Reality vs. Cross-Sections

Neuroanatomy education is a challenging field which could benefit from modern innovations, such as augmented reality (AR) applications. This study investigates the differences on test scores, cognitive load, and motivation after neuroanatomy learning using AR applications or using cross-sections of the brain. Prior to two practical assignments, a pretest (extended matching questions, double-choice questions and a test on cross-sectional anatomy) and a mental rotation test (MRT) were completed. Sex and MRT scores were used to stratify students over the two groups. The two practical assignments were designed to study (1) general brain anatomy and (2) subcortical structures. Subsequently, participants completed a posttest similar to the pretest and a motivational questionnaire. Finally, a focus group interview was conducted to appraise participants’ perceptions. Medical and biomedical students (n = 31); 19 males (61.3%) and 12 females (38.7%), mean age 19.2 ± 1.7 years participated in this experiment. Students who worked with cross-sections (n = 16) showed significantly more improvement on test scores than students who worked with GreyMapp-AR (P = 0.035) (n = 15). Further analysis showed that this difference was primarily caused by significant improvement on the cross-sectional questions. Students in the cross-section group, moreover, experienced a significantly higher germane (P = 0.009) and extraneous cognitive load (P = 0.016) than students in the GreyMapp-AR group. No significant differences were found in motivational scores. To conclude, this study suggests that AR applications can play a role in future anatomy education as an add-on educational tool, especially in learning three-dimensional relations of anatomical structures.     

Response and Responsibility: Rethinking Accountability in Education

Current conceptions of accountability imply that, in order for teachers to be able to hold themselves to account, they need first to have cultivated certain ‘professional dispositions’. But these conceptions fail to acknowledge the extent to which teachers are first and foremost accountable ‘as such’. For the early existentialist thought of the philosopher Jean‐Paul Sartre, this relates to a kind of responsibility premised on the ways in which we are always and inevitably responding to the world in which we find ourselves (with others). In this paper, I offer a reconceptualisation of teacher accountability in light of this, one that recognises implicit responses in classroom situations as underpinned by the subjectivity of those who bring these situations to light—often in subtle and immeasurable ways.     

Community College Counseling: Why Are Research Outcomes So Elusive?

This article focuses on counseling research in the community college context. The article suggests the need for a robust community college knowledge base, describes some limitations of the current community college literature, and suggests a framework for more effective work in this area. The authors’ own experiences and selected examples of published studies are used as illustrations of the hurdles encountered and solutions available when examining counseling theories, practices, and outcomes in 2‐year settings.     

Symbolic Management of the Degree of Information Security by Integer Splitting

This paper demonstrates the application of module arithmetic for controlling the level of information security by a new technique referred as integer splitting. The basic definitions and concepts of the method are provided. The mathematical function of arising transformation is described in detail; its properties were studied and the basic theorems were proven that justify the use of splitting in practical applications. An active system was designed and characteristic cases of its operation are considered.