Implementing a modified team-based learning strategy in the first phase of an outcome-based curriculum--challenges and prospects.

Background: Team-based learning (TBL) is an innovative form of collaborative learning. The aim of TBL is to create a motivational context in which students become accountable for their learning.

Aim: Student attendance at didactic lecture sessions in our school is usually poor.

"Between a Rock and a Hard Place": The discordant views among medical teachers about anatomy content in the undergraduate medical curriculum.

The last two decades of medical education have been marked by a persistent push towards curricular reform. Anatomy as a discipline, the unshakable foundation of medical teaching for hundreds of years, has been at the centre of this development. Although it is widely agreed that for doctors to be competent, they need an adequate knowledge of anatomy underpinning medicine, there is much less agreement over the quantity required, and who should decide and define it.

Perceptions and Attitudes of Medical Students towards Two Methods of Assessing Practical Anatomy Knowledge.

Objectives: Traditionally, summative practical examination in anatomy takes the form of 'spotters' consisting of a stream of prosections, radiological images and dissections with pins indicating specific structures. Recently, we have started to administer similar examinations online using the quiz facility in Moodle™ (a free, open-source web application for producing modular internet-based courses) in addition to the traditional format. This paper reports on an investigation into students' perceptions of each assessment environment.

Anatomy practical examinations: how does student performance on computerized evaluation compare with the traditional format?

Practical examinations in anatomy are usually conducted on specimens in the anatomy laboratory (referred to here as the "traditional" method). Recently, we have started to administer similar examinations online using the quiz facility in Moodle™. In this study, we compare student scores between two assessment environments viz.

Anatomy "steeplechase" online: necessity sometimes is the catalyst for innovation.

In most medical schools, summative practical examination in Anatomy usually takes the format of a "steeplechase" ("spotters" or "bell ringers") conducted in the gross anatomy laboratory using cadaveric material and prosected specimens. Recently, we have started to administer similar examinations online using the quiz facility in WebCT™ and Moodle™. This article chronicles how we conceived and developed this method within the peculiar nature of our medical school setting.