Virginia Via Research Day Book 2026

Faculty Research Education and Simulation

02 DEVELOPMENT OF A LIBRARY OF DIGITALLY ANNOTATED CADAVERIC SPECIMENS TO ENHANCE SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING AND REDUCE COGNITIVE LOAD WITHIN THE ANATOMY LABORATORY

Elina Jones, MA Corresponding author: ejones01@vcom.edu

VCOM-Virginia, Blacksburg, Virginia

directed learning will experience significantly less self-reported extraneous cognitive load than those who use traditional learning methods. Methods: This study employs a convergent mixed methods design to evaluate the impact of digitally annotated cadaveric material on students’ cognitive load during self-directed learning amongst first year academic tutors at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine. Participants would have completed a pretest-posttest questionnaire containing Cognitive Load Component (CLC) items and open ended items to measure intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load, as well as student perceptions. The CLC instrument, validated by Naismith et al. (2015) and used in medical education research (Michalski et al., 2023), offers evidence of reliability and construct validity. For the quantitative component, the independent variable is the accessibility of digitally annotated cadaveric material, and changes in CLC from pre- to post-intervention will serve as the dependent variable. The open-ended items for both from the pretest-posttest questionnaire will be used to explore student’s perceptions of how the resources available influenced their learning experience through the lens of cognitive load theory. For the quantitative strand, descriptive and inferential statistical analysis

will be used to summarize and analyze components of cognitive load between each cohort. For the qualitative strand, typed responses will undergo coding and analysis. After determining the impact of resources used during self-directed learning on cognitive load and developing themes reflective of the participants’ experiences, these data will be combined for interpretation. Results: Independent-samples t-tests were conducted to compare the after-dissec tion cogni tive load betw een students surveye d bef ore and aft er ac cess to a 3D p rosectio n li brary. No st atistically s ignificant di fferen ces were observed for intrinsic, extraneous, or germane cognitive load (p > .05). Moderate effect sizes suggested lower intrinsic cognitive load (d = 0.69) and higher g ermane cognitive load ( d = 0.63 ) following access to the 3D li brary. Extr an eous cognit ive load did n ot differ m eaning ful ly betw een groups ( d = 0.26 ). Qualitat ive analys is revealed perceived improvements in clarity, efficiency, and confidence during self-directed learning after access to the 3D resource.

Context : Medical students often engage in self directed learning outside scheduled lecture and laboratory time to review and solidify anatomical knowledge (Zargaran et al., 2020). During self directed learning, first-year medical students use cadaveric dissections, atlases, virtual dissection, and lab documents to review material. Students at our institution often have difficulty identifying structures on prosected cadavers, particularly earlier in the anatomy curriculum, relying heavily on reference material or peers when faculty are unavailable. The use of multiple resources for intrinsic knowledge has been shown to increase the likelihood of excessive extraneous information and cognitive overload, particularly amongst medical students (Chen et al., 2015). Further assessment of how the available resources and the quantities used by medical students in their anatomy education impact cognitive load is advantageous for understanding means to increase effective learning and long-term retention. Objective and Hypothesis : This convergent study aims to measure and determine how the use of digitally annotated specimens for self-directed learning impacts cognitive load experienced by medical students. We hypothesize that Medical students who use digitally annotated cadaveric material in self

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156 Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM)