The Effectiveness of an Augmented Reality Head-Mounted Display in Learning Skull Anatomy at a Community College

Despite an increase in the use of technology in undergraduate anatomy education, and the rising popularity of online anatomy courses at community colleges in the United States, there have been no reports on the efficacy of augmented reality on anatomy education in this population. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that augmented reality is an effective and engaging tool for learning anatomy in community college students. Participants recruited from Cuyahoga Community College (Cleveland, OH) studied skull anatomy using either traditional tools (i.e., textbook and plastic skull model) or an augmented reality head-mounted display with an interactive virtual skull application. Comparison of knowledge before and following the study period revealed that augmented reality was an effective tool for learning skull anatomy: pre-quiz = 32.7% (+/- 25.2); mean (+/- SD), post-quiz = 61.8% (+/- 19.5); n = 15; t((28))= 3.53;P = 0.001. The traditional tools were equally effective: pre-quiz = 44.9 % (+/- 18.6), post-quiz = 67.9 % (+/- 17.3); n = 17; t((32))= 3.73;P = 0.0007. Students rated the augmented reality device as 9.6 (+/- 1.0); mean (+/- SD) when asked if it fit the statement "fun to use" on a semantic differential scale from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent). In conclusion, this study found that augmented reality is an effective and engaging tool for the instruction of skull anatomy at a community college.