Learning Capabilities

I may be teaching Radiographic Anatomy this semester in a face-to-face classroom setting for the last time.  As our program moves towards distance education and the online format, I am thinking how this course may be restructured to meet the needs of the learner.  Currently, I use PowerPoint to display radiographs on the overhead projector for the class as we discuss the anatomy.  Students are also given a copy of the lecture so that they may actively take notes and label the radiographs.  This works as an excellent study tool. 

One of the first lessons covered in the Radiographic Anatomy course is how to properly hang films.  It sounds easy enough, but there are a surprisingly large number of rules that must be applied.  I would prepare a pre-test to assess the learners’ prior knowledge on anatomy (it is a pre-requisite of the program) to determine if we are all on the same page to begin with.  This is a form of declarative knowledge in which the learner can tell me what information they do, or do not know about the subject.  Students would then view the lessons on film hanging.  These lessons would contain multiple examples and demonstrations of both the correct and incorrect method to display a film for reading by the radiologist.

A great way for the learner to prove their understanding of the concept is to hang the films for themselves.  I have looked into a few online puzzle-type software programs that I may be able to use to make interactive assessments.  My goal would be to display an image incorrectly, and have the student manipulate the image until it is displayed correctly for reading.  For example, a radiograph of a posterioanterior right hand should be displayed as if the viewer’s eyes were the x-ray beam going through the image in the same manner in which the photons went through the extremity when it was imaged.  It should be hung on the viewbox for reading as if the patient were hanging from their fingers, with the radiographer’s marker on the lateral aspect of the anatomy. 

 On the assessment, the image may be displayed upside down, backwards, or flipped.  Concept knowledge can be demonstrated as described previously, or by giving the learner a multiple choice exam containing images of radiographs.  The student could be asked to choose which image is displayed correctly, or select the description which would best explain how to fix the radiograph. 

To demonstrate rule knowledge the student may be given a radiograph they have not been shown before and asked to apply the previously learned rules for film hanging to properly hang the film.  For example, if students were told that extremities are hung by the phalanges, although they have not seen a foot radiograph displayed, they should know that according to the rule, it should be hung by the toes. 

Problem solving knowledge may be assessed in this type of course by giving the student a mystery patient.  We also refer to this as “a day in the life of [a radiographer]”.  These types of assessments are designed to pull all of the learners’ knowledge together into a real-world situation.  The student is given a radiograph that has not been marked (this is a major no-no in radiography) and asked to display it.  The student must be able to correctly identify anatomy on a radiograph, and differentiate the organs visualized to be able to determine the patient’s left and right side of the body.  Then the student must apply the rules they have learned to properly display the image.