HAPS Conference Summary, June 2, 2010
By: Marianne Baricevic, Ph.D.
I attended the Human Anatomy & Physiology Society Annual Conference from May 29-June 2,
2010 in Denver, Colorado. On Sunday, May 30 and Monday, May 31, I presented a poster presentation
entitled “Success with Supplemental Instruction in Anatomy & Physiology”. The poster attracted a lot
more attention than I had anticipated, and many people are interested in learning more about
Supplemental Instruction (SI). Most people were very impressed with the reduced frequency of D, F and
W grades earned by students who regularly attended SI, as the non-pass rate for Anatomy & Physiology
across the nation is roughly 40-50%. There were some other posters which have given me ideas for a
new course proposal that would teach a more advanced level of A&P utilizing clinical applications and
topics. When I was not at my poster, I was attending update seminars for topics in A&P. The update
seminars were very interesting, and have broadened my repertoire of “hot topics” to present to my
students. Two of them were especially informative; “Forensic Anthropology, Human vs. Non-Human”
and “Anatomy-Teacher Scholar Program at the University of Utah, School of Medicine”. While I am
familiar with forensic anthropology, it was new to see forensic anthropology and comparative anatomy
merged together. Also, the program offered at the University of Utah is a great option for professional
development, which has led me to search for similar programs nearby.
On June 1 and 2, I attended workshops that were held at Arapahoe Community College. These
were probably the most valuable part of the conference. I had a very difficult time trying to narrow
down my choices in workshops. The following is a brief summary of what I took away from the
workshops I decided to attend.
Tuesday, June 1
9:30-10:30: Got Honors? An Embedded Honors Option for A&PI and II
This was probably the best workshop I attended! I am currently trying to figure out what should be
required of an Honors A&P student at RVCC because we do have the honors option. This workshop gave
me a wealth of information for some honors options projects. More importantly, the presenters of the
workshop are just beginning to start development of an Honors College at their college (Front Range
Community College). I was able to ask them general questions about how they are going to have Honors
options, versus an Honors College.
10:45-12:15: Awesome Analogies, Dynamic Demos, & Mnifty Mnemonics: Skeletal, Muscular &
Nervous Systems
This workshop gave me some fun new ways to teach complex concepts in A&P, such as the functions of
the 12 cranial nerves. Generally, I would not like my students to learn a “mnemonic” device; I’d rather
they actually understand a concept. However, the presenters of the workshop stressed that if it can
make a traditionally challenging concept a little easier, it can’t hurt to share it with our students.
1:45-2:45: Developing and Evaluating Curriculum Materials that Promote Active Learning in Human
Anatomy & Physiology
This workshop was very intriguing, but left me a bit skeptical of how to implement the ideas at RVCC. It
focused on the use of inquiry-based learning which primarily involves class discussion for the majority of
the lecture and very little actual “lecturing” by the instructor. This means that the students are
expected to read at home and learn the material on their own time, and when they meet for class, they
should be asking and answering their own questions on the course content as a group. The instructor
would not lecture, but would facilitate the class discussion. This is a great idea, but it relies on the
responsibility of the students to learn on their own, and I’m not sure if I would feel like I am “teaching” if
I don’t have some role as a lecturer. The presenter is currently writing an NSF grant to fund a pilot
inquiry based curriculum, and I am considering contacting him and keeping up with his program to see
how things develop. If it works, I would be willing to implement it in my classes, as active-learning often
results in content retention more than passive learning.
3:00-4:00: Using Problem-Based Learning to teach concepts of physiology
This workshop discussed the benefits of problem-based learning (PBL) in an advanced A&P class. I am
familiar with PBL, and was curious to see the curriculum and schedule for how the presenter utilized it.
Unfortunately, I don’t feel that an introductory A&P class is the appropriate setting for PBL, because it
requires too much class time for research and presentations, that I think are better spent learning the
basic material. However, I would consider implementing PBL for honors A&P, or if we offered a higher
level class to follow A&PII.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
9:15-10:15: Web-Enhanced Anatomy and Physiology Courses
The presenter discussed the results of a “study” in which he compared his evening A&P class with little
web technology to his daytime A&P class with a lot of web technology. His daytime A&P class with the
web enhancements did somewhat better on exams than his evening class without the web use. The
presenter discussed a few programs he uses to enhance his class via the web. Some of these were video
lectures that the students can view on their own. Another was online quizzing and assessing the
students can access from home. The programs he used are available through MacGraw Hill, which is not
the publisher we use here at RVCC. However, I currently use our own publisher’s web tools in a similar
way.
10:30-12:00: Attention Skeptics—A&P can be taught Online: Online A&P Professors show you how
This was a very encouraging workshop. The presenters teach A&P entirely online—both lecture and lab.
Students are required to purchase an at-home lab kit, and must submit a video of themselves
performing a virtual lab to the instructor. At first, I was very skeptical of how to ensure academic
integrity, but this presentation actually changed my initial opinion of an entire online course.
1:30-2:30: From Genes to Proteins to Physiologic Function: Teaching Molecular Biology in an A&P
class
I attended this workshop in lieu of another workshop that I had hoped to attend that was cancelled. I
was expecting to learn a great new way to teach basic Molecular Biology to my A&P students. The
presenter gave some background about why it’s important to teach Molecular Biology in A&P, and also
demonstrated the use of concept mapping to enforce it. It was a somewhat helpful idea to include in
my lectures.