Analyzing the cross-cultural transfer of professional practices through organizational stories

Portions of this article were presented at the annual Conference of the Southern Anthropology Society, Atlanta, GA, April 1994.     

Effects of anonymity and retaliatory potential on student evaluations of faculty performance

The present study, employing a 2×2 design, examines the independent and interactive effects of two experimentally manipulated variables, Anonymity (A) and Retaliatory Potential (RP), on students' ratings of faculty performance. Data were obtained from 188 students at a large midwestern university using an instrument that had been specially developed for the study. A hypothesized main effect was found for A: The professor was rated more positively by students completing signed ratings than those completing ratings anonymously. The data showed no support, however, for the hypothesized RP main effect or the A×RP interactive effect. Practical implications of the study's findings are discussed.     

Computer‐assisted learning in anatomy at the International Medical School in Debrecen,Hungary: A preliminary report

The University of Debrecen's Faculty of Medicine has an international, multilingual student population with anatomy courses taught in English to all but Hungarian students. An elective computer‐assisted gross anatomy course, the Computer Human Anatomy (CHA), has been taught in English at the Anatomy Department since 2008. This course focuses on an introduction to anatomical digital images along with clinical cases. This low‐budget course has a large visual component using images from magnetic resonance imaging and computer axial tomogram scans, ultrasound clinical studies, and readily available anatomy software that presents topics which run in parallel to the university's core anatomy curriculum. From the combined computer images and CHA lecture information, students are asked to solve computer‐based clinical anatomy problems in the CHA computer laboratory. A statistical comparison was undertaken of core anatomy oral examination performances of English program first‐year medical students who took the elective CHA course and those who did not in the three academic years 2007–2008, 2008–2009, and 2009–2010. The results of this study indicate that the CHA‐enrolled students improved their performance on required anatomy core curriculum oral examinations (P < 0.001), suggesting that computer‐assisted learning may play an active role in anatomy curriculum improvement. These preliminary results have prompted ongoing evaluation of what specific aspects of CHA are valuable and which students benefit from computer‐assisted learning in a multilingual and diverse cultural environment. Anat Sci Educ. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.