96 - “The Podcast Really Helped Bring the Human-ness Back”: The Role of Podcasts in Reimagining Anatomy Education

Poster Board Number: 96
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Abstract Body : The use of podcasts and other new media in education has increased dramatically, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic urged educators to find creative solutions to remote learning. Podcasts are a low-barrier, low-cost method of sharing knowledge widely and are growing in popularity; in 2022, 50% of Americans aged 12 to 34 reported listening to podcasts in the preceding month. From a pedagogical perspective, podcasts support constructivist approaches to learning and provide learners with an opportunity to make meaning through active reflection on existing knowledge. However, many medical education podcasts focus heavily on clinical topics instead of the nuances of human structure and function or the relevance of anatomy literacy to the general population. Additionally, while many anatomy programs have provided podcasts as supplemental resources, few have assigned podcasts as compulsory course materials. To address this gap, we developed the podcast Body Banter for students enrolled in a non-credit biomedical communication certificate program and assigned weekly episodes for the introductory human structure and function course. A key attribute of this podcast is the variety of guest speakers—every episode features an expert on the topic of discussion to share diverse perspectives of how they perceive and understand the human body. Feedback from students indicated that attitudes toward anatomy education improved after taking the course compared to beforehand. The majority of students agreed that the podcast was a valuable resource for their learning and that they would recommend it outside of the course’s context. Our thematic analysis indicated that one of the most impactful aspects of the podcast was the opportunity to listen to diverse perspectives on the human body. We found that assigning this podcast was an effective way to prime students before coming to class by presenting the weekly topic in an engaging and human-centred manner, which challenged students to consider the real-world impact of the anatomical sciences on the whole human being. We propose that adopting new media such as podcasts is a valuable way to improve students’ engagement with, and attitudes toward, anatomy education. We have released this podcast on publicly accessible platforms with the intent to share this resource openly with anatomy educators and the wider public around the world. As part of ongoing work, we intend to further investigate the role such podcasts have in reimagining anatomy education for students in multidisciplinary programs.