Anatomy through visual-rich social media: experiences, lessons, and opportunities.Anatomy through visual-rich social media: experiences, lessons, and opportunities.

International Journal of Experimental & Clinical Anatomy · Oct 20, 2022

• • It is well established that during the Covid-19 pandemic, many students struggled to feel a sense of belonging in their online university classrooms. Academics in the same token have struggled creating an engaging classroom particularly in the hybrid setting. In the discipline of anatomy, perhaps the most challenging aspect during the pandemic was to find ways to transfer the non-traditional interdisciplinary skills to students through a screen and in the absence of the human donor element. Social media in some respects seems to fill this gap - albeit it fills this gap in a different sense. In 2020, a public online community aimed to increase anatomical awareness and education was established using the social media platform InstagramTM. The online community is led by an anatomist, and the page is followed by students, medical professionals, academics, and members from the general public. The aim of this presentation is to demonstrate how using social media platforms that students are familiar with, such as InstagramTM can create a sense of belonging for students in both the fully online, and face to face setting. In addition, the aim is to demonstrate the need for further outreach within the community regarding anatomical concepts and understandings. Examples of the process of preparing content aimed at social media will be given. The presentation will also outline the limitations, the gray areas, and future directions of using such platforms to advance anatomical outreach to students, and the lay public.