Dissecting good learning: A new 3D teaching tool for University of Northampton students

The mysteries of the human body are being revealed to students in an extra dimension at University of Northampton (UON) with a new digital dissection desk.

The Anatomage Table is a 3D anatomy and dissection/viewing tool for students of UON studying Health Professions and Sports subjects.

A standalone desk, it has high fidelity screens that give interactive, life-sized and detailed visuals of human anatomy that students can ‘zoom in’ on the workings of the body, such as how the heart functions.

Students can then strip away the layers to understand how human body systems works in harmony, for instance the muscles used to make us smile or frown, their blood and nerve supply and their interactions, in a safe practice environment at the University’s Waterside Campus.

Dr Jacob Saranga, Dean of Faculty of Health, Sports and Behavioural Sciences, says: “The Anatomage Table is more than just an impressive piece of ‘kit’. It confirms the University’s commitment to innovation and advancing the quality learning experience for all our students.

“It also adds a new chapter to how technology is transforming education, demonstrating our investment in the healthcare and sports graduates of the future.

“Anatomage will also support our commitment to sustainability as students will, increasingly, use this to view dissections rather than travelling to external locations.”

There’s a video of the Anatomage Table here. Anatomage joins other new teaching and learning innovations at the University…

Faculty of Health, Sports and Behavioural Science

Led by UON simulation lead Kate Ewing, there have been a series of communication and professionalism workshops. These are for first year students across five health professions programmes and are bespoke to UON, and already receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback.

The University also has a high-fidelity maternity mannequin – Maya – with which users can visualise the foetus inside and watch the birth. This will soon be launched for Midwifery students to use.

The new AI conversations tool in Blackboard/NILE

Northampton Integrated Learning Environment (NILE) is the University’s ‘digital campus’ and where students check for their course updates and access online learning materials and support.

The new Scenario option has been added; this is an AI-powered tool that allows lecturers/technicians to create role-play conversations for students. Instead of just asking questions, instructors can set up a conversational scenario where students can practice and play out a situation with an AI persona.

Updates to H5P and Xerte

H5P (HTML5 package) is a software tool used to create interactive responsive online content for synchronous (occurring at the same time) and asynchronous (not occurring at the same time) activities for online and classroom. H5P software is conveniently available from within NILE and can be used for live polling in the classroom or for independent study online. It provides quizzes, interactive books, presentations and more for self-service learning.

Xerte Online Toolkits is the software which is used to create e-learning and interactive online learning for students to use in their studies. Some enhancements to page types are available in the recent version of Xerte Online Toolkits, including the Title page, with the ability to provide text of different size font combined with media such as a video and a start button.

There’s more about Learning Technology on our website.