Supporting collaborative dissection through the development of an online wiki positively impacts the learning of veterinary anatomy

An innovative series of dissections of the canine abdomen was created to facilitate social distancing in the dissection room following COVID‐19 restrictions imposed in the UK. In groups of six, first‐year veterinary students took turns dissecting selected parts of the canine abdomen while maintaining social distancing and documenting their work with video and photographs. Here, students learned about the canine abdominal anatomy by dissecting, recording the dissections of others in their group, and compiling the recorded material into a collaborative electronic media portfolio (Wiki). An online formative multiple‐choice test was created to test students' knowledge of the canine abdominal anatomy. The result analysis showed that although students achieved the learning outcomes only by studying the Wiki, they had better performance in the anatomical areas where they learned through the dissection (p < 0.05). Student performance was very similar in the areas in which they were present in the dissection room and participated in recording the dissection compared with the areas that they effectively dissected (p > 0.05). A qualitative thematic analysis was developed to understand students' opinions via their feedback on this dissection approach. Our results showed that student collaboration and the development of practical skills were the most valued aspects of this dissection teaching initiative. Moreover, these results show that developing a group Wiki has a positive impact on student achievement of learning objectives, with a practical hands‐on dissection being fundamental for the optimal learning of the canine abdominal anatomy.


INTRODUC TI ON
Historically, first-year students of veterinary medicine have learned anatomy through small-group practical dissection.Cadaveric study has been shown to be an essential part of learning anatomy in human medicine (Huynh et al., 2021), with dissection-based teaching still remaining central to anatomy education, alongside other teaching methods (Ghosh, 2017).Dissection is considered an essential element of student learning in veterinary medicine, since for veterinary students, opportunities to develop practical surgical skills while learning anatomy are particularly valuable for preparing for clinical practice (Gummery et al., 2018;Wheble & Channon, 2021).

Digital versus in-person anatomy learning
Blended learning has been shown to be an innovative and useful teaching approach in anatomical sciences as it integrates learning methods and digital technologies in activities that combine conventional face-to-face teaching strategies with online materials (Khalil et al., 2018).Digital resources within anatomy teaching have taken many forms from more simplistic digital interventions, such as online videos (Roshier et al., 2011) to more complex digital 3D visualizations (Krause et al., 2023;Pettersson et al., 2023).Despite the utility of digital resources in many theoretical teaching situations, they are unsuitable for developing practical and clinical skills, such as instrument handling.Traditional group dissection formats promote personal growth and allow students to develop valuable collaborative skills (Flack & Nicholson, 2017), all of which are essential veterinary professional skills.Cadaver dissection is considered a useful prerequisite to surgical skills in human medicine for considering normal variation among cadavers, training dexterity skills, risk management, and personal emotions in a nonjudgmental environment (Pirri et al., 2021).Such skills are necessitated as "day one competencies" by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, 2020), and as such development within a veterinary undergraduate curriculum is essential.Retaining valuable practical dissection opportunities alongside digital resources might be therefore considered paramount by veterinary anatomy educators.In fact, a blended learning approach might be optimal for medical and veterinary students, harnessing the flexibility and benefits of digital resources while retaining the invaluable elements of in-person practical teaching.This study presents an innovative blended learning approach created to overcome the challenges imposed by COVID-19 while allowing students to learn the anatomy of the canine abdomen via in-person dissection and online collaborative group work.

COVID-19 context and challenges
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the inability to provide face-to-face teaching was particularly troublesome for anatomy educators and students alike (Yoo et al., 2021).In February 2021, only selected higher education teaching was permitted in-person, and "social distancing" measures were required, such that students and teachers had to remain distanced by at least 2 m.It was not feasible to provide a single cadaver for each student, or pair of students, to dissect, owing to a relatively large class size and the lack of availability of large amounts of good quality cadaver material at short notice.Therefore, an alternative solution to traditional small group dissections was sought that would be efficient with the available time, space, and resources available to us, and that would continue to facilitate a high standard of teaching.

Wikis and their use in higher education
A wiki is an online environment where content is curated collaboratively and iteratively by multiple users.Wikis have strong potential to be useful within medical education (Rasmussen et al., 2012).
When easy to use and trackable, wikis can be effective in encouraging socialization during an online learning process (Augar et al., 2004).Students and teachers both recognize the value of wikis for learning and their utility for organizing information (Elgort et al., 2008).Self-motivated student engagement is essential, however: wikis can only be used successfully if students invest time and understand their roles (Choy & Ng, 2007).Evidence of the use and benefits of wikis in veterinary education is limited, likely because, within traditional in-person curricula, there was previously little need for their use.

Collaborative learning
Small group teaching can be a very useful method of enhancing student learning within higher education anatomy teaching (Channon et al., 2017).Collaboration among peers is a well-established method of teaching that can be especially effective in the early years of higher education (Topping, 1996;Ten Cate & Durning, 2007).Simulations of teamwork agree that learning outcomes can be reached better when in collaboration with peers (Baillie et al., 2009).Group work encourages engagement that may be lacking in other teaching formats (Plendl et al., 2009).
Though the pedagogy of group work is well established for inperson teaching, there is much to be learnt about its applications in online student interactions.Student interaction with online learning varies at different levels (Shu & Gu, 2018).Indeed, it is thought that undergraduate students were less likely to be motivated by digital learning during the pandemic, compared to postgraduate and mature students (Tang et al., 2021).Some students may disengage from online teamwork where there is a lack of understanding of their individual roles and responsibilities (Piezon & Donaldson, 2005).
Nonetheless, the forced move to remote learning during the pandemic created an immediate requirement for innovative solutions and an unexpected opportunity for progressive pedagogical transformation, in higher education teaching (Wahab, 2020).

Research aims
We aimed to use collaborative learning, both on campus through rotational dissections, and online via the development of a digital wiki, in order to adapt an established dissection of the canine abdomen for blended learning.The aim of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of this new teaching method, the "canine wiki dissection," in terms of student outcomes (knowledge acquisition of the anatomy of the canine abdomen) and student perceptions of their learning experience.We hypothesized that the sequential collaborative and blended design of the teaching method would be flexible and facilitate the achievement of the knowledge-based learning objectives while providing opportunity for students to interact and develop key and differing sets of transferable skills through the development of a wiki and in-person dissection.In evaluating the effectiveness of this new teaching method in terms of student learning outcomes, we hypothesized that there would be no difference between the level of knowledge obtained from the areas of anatomy that a student dissected, versus the sections they recorded in-person, versus the sections of the abdomen that were learned via the created wiki.

MATERIAL S AND ME THODS
All experimental procedures involving human subjects were approved by the Social Science Research Ethical Review Board at the Royal Veterinary College (URN SR2020-0326).

Curriculum and context
The study participants were first-year undergraduate students of

Overview of teaching method
Learning the anatomy of the canine abdomen was facilitated in a socially distanced manner, within resource constraints (specimens, staff, time, space within the dissection room), by the design of a group activity consisting of a sequential dissection and development of a wiki.The blended learning design gave all students the opportunity to dissect part of a cadaver, and at the same time support students to learn the rest of the relevant anatomy using digital media while off campus.

Specimen preparation
Student groups were allocated their own whole cadaver, which they used throughout the sessions.The canine cadavers used in these sessions were sourced from Carolina Biological Supply Company (Carolina, 2022a), which acquires cadavers from shelters after they have been euthanized.The cadavers were preserved using Carolina's Perfect Solution® (Carolina, 2022b) and were stored for shipping in Carosafe® solution (Carolina, 2022c).Upon arrival at the RVC, they were transferred to tanks containing a formalin solution (7% formaldehyde).Cadavers were labeled with a number (corresponding to the student group) on a plastic tie, in order to present each group with the same cadaver throughout the series of dissections.
A standard dissection kit was provided.In compliance with COVID-19 regulations, students worked in socially distanced pairs of at least 2 m, wearing appropriate PPE, including facemasks.

Outline of teaching session design
Over five consecutive days, three practical teaching sessions were held.Each session consisted of two separate dissections (6 dissections in total).Each dissection focused on a different region of the dog's abdomen: "Skin and Abdominal Wall," "Topography I," and "Topography II"; "Stomach" and "Intestines"; and last, "Liver and Pancreas" (Table 1).
Groups of six students were divided into dissection pairs, and each pair of students attended one teaching session (two dissections in total).Each session was designed so that during the first dissection one student in each pair dissected the cadaver as per the provided instructions, and the other student recorded digital media (photographs and videos) of the anatomical structures.In the second dissection of the session, the roles were reversed within the pair (Table 1).There were two further iterations of this session format, such that the remaining two pairs of the student group could also subsequently participate in the sequential dissection, giving all six students the opportunity to dissect and record.For each individual student, this design meant that they were present on campus for one-third of the whole sequential dissection process, and undertook independent learning off campus instead of attending the other two practical teaching sessions.The remaining sessions were dissected and recorded by their peers and materials were curated in a wiki (Table 1).At the end of the series of dissections, all students in the group combined their recordings forming a final submission of a wiki, which was used by the group members to both peer-teach and learn the anatomy of the abdomen while off campus.
As expected, outside the intended study design, some students were not able to attend the practical dissections on campus (students solely off campus) due to COVID-19 implications.These students were still able to contribute to this activity by editing materials recorded by their peers and curating the wiki.Students solely off campus had to learn the anatomy of the canine abdomen only through the wiki.

Digital media and off-campus wiki curation
Recording students used their own (or university-loaned) mobile phones and tablets to record a prescribed list of structures, decided in accordance with the learning objectives.A "team" area and associated editable wiki-style repository tab were created for each student group within Microsoft (MS) Teams 4.3.42.0 software.This was populated by the students during their off-campus time with images, pictures, videos, and notes of the anatomy of the canine abdomen collected by the group.The pair of students who had attended a particular on-campus practical session were primarily responsible for ensuring recorded materials were uploaded and adequately explained for the benefit of students who had not attended that practical session (though all students could edit and add to each part of the wiki if desired).For the practical sessions that were not attended on-campus students were expected to use the wiki as the main method of meeting the learning outcomes of the session.Full specialist technical support for students recording and curating the wiki was available remotely through the University IT helpdesk.The full instructions were made accessible to students as a PDF document through RVC Learn®, a virtual learning platform hosted via Moodle (moodle.org).

Guidance for students
It was understood that the technical and partially online nature of the project could lead to student challenges, and networks of support were provided to support this teaching intervention.Students were invited to an online seminar detailing the structure of the sessions, how the dissections would occur, and how to record and collate their digital material.A supporting dissection worksheet was also provided and members of the anatomy teaching team were present during face-to-face teaching sessions to provide help (at a social distance).Students were given clear guidance about the ethical use of recorded digital media in the dissection room.They were encouraged to consider the sensitive nature of the tissues they were handling.In particular, they were reminded of their professional obligations in this regard, and to remain within the stipulations of the RVC's social media policy (Royal Veterinary College, 2019).

Assessment of knowledge-based learning outcomes
Following the dissection sessions, students had 10 days to submit their final group wiki before completing an independent online formative quiz.This was conducted online through RVC Learn®.The aim of the quiz was to assess student knowledge of canine abdominal anatomy gained via collaborative dissection and wiki creation.
The formative quiz contained 30 multiple-choice questions (MCQ), which were primarily identification questions and thus contained images of the anatomical structures of the canine abdomen that had not previously been used within teaching materials.The images used in the quiz were obtained during a pilot of the sequential dissection process or were publicly available images obtained from the Color Atlas of Veterinary Anatomy, volume 3 (Done et al., 2009).The 30 MCQs were divided into six groups of five questions, with each of those sets of questions corresponding to one of the sequential Note: Table shows the logistical organization of one group of six students (A-F), each that were divided to work in pairs on different days.Dissections were carried out on three independent days, with each pair of students rotating between roles of dissecting or recording.For the dissections, where students were not present, the student had to learn via wiki.
canine abdomen dissection sessions.Cronbach Alpha for the test was calculated as 0.73.
The final group wiki was formatively assessed by anatomy teaching staff using a purpose-created rubric (lowest score = 0; highest score = 5) (Supplementary files 1a and 1b).Once students had participated in the formative quiz, individual group feedback was provided to students on their wiki, and an exemplar wiki created by the anatomy team was made available for students to use alongside their own wiki for further learning and revision of the canine abdominal anatomy.

Evaluation of the student learning experience
Student feedback on their experience undertaking the dissection and wiki development was sought through the addition of supplementary questions that were incorporated at the end of the formative MCQ test.These supplementary questions included five demographic questions and 10 feedback evaluative questions, requiring students to reflect on their own learning and on the value of the project.A further three open-ended questions were presented to students at the conclusion of the online assessment to allow qualitative data about the student experience to be captured.These asked students to provide a reason for the satisfaction rating they provided, to suggest improvements to the activity for the future, and a free text area for any other thoughts or comments students wished to volunteer.Cronbach alpha for the evaluative part of the survey was 0.80.

Data analysis
The data collected from the student questionnaires and MCQ test were organized in Microsoft® Excel® for Microsoft 365 MSO (16.0.14326.207706).Statistical analysis was performed on GraphPrism® 9.3.1 version software.
First, MCQ test results from students on campus (n = 226) and involved in the practical sessions were analyzed.
MCQ test results were aggregated by section of the test, where each section represented learning outcomes of the specific dissections of the carnivore abdomen.Student MCQ scores were compared using an ANOVA between parts that students themselves dissected (dissected); parts that students recorded (recorded); and parts that students did not dissect nor record (thus learned while off campus via their group's wiki).Tukey-Kramer post hoc tests were carried out to further examine and confirm differences between these three groups.
The MCQ scores for parts of the dissection that were dissected and recorded (the in-person elements) were compared directly to scores from sections learned solely via wiki using ANOVA.
MCQ scores for the small group of students who were based solely off campus (n = 24) and were compared with those of students who participated in the on-campus dissections.As the total MCQ test results from students on campus and off campus did not follow a normal distribution scores are presented via box plots, and these results were compared using a Mann-Whitney U test (two-tailed).
Finally, the evaluation feedback provided by students was considered for both quantitative and qualitative analyses.Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was carried out on students' feedback to identify themes through a descriptive phenomenolgogical approach.The comments provided in all three open-ended questions were combined for analysis.Familiarization and manual coding of the data was performed, where exploratory analysis was the intended goal.All codes identified were semantic and were collated manually.Codes were used to identify sub-themes from which overarching themes were identified.Several iterations were performed until the themes could not be simplified further.The codes and themes drawn from this analysis were determined collaboratively between two of the study authors.

Student participation
The total number of students enrolled in the year was 236, and of those, 224 (95%) attempted the formative MCQ quiz.Among those, 47 (27%) were male and 177 (73%) were female.All sessions on campus were full, but since 24 (10%) were students solely off campus, 27 (11%) students attended more than one session.

Wiki and formative test scores
Every group of students submitted the final wiki on time.The mean score awarded for the wiki was 3.8 out of 5 (0.9; all values in brackets are ±SD), n = 40 (Figure 1).The mean individual score for the MCQ test was 80% (10); n = 224 (Figure 2).
In students who were able to attend on-campus sessions, the mean scores from the elements that students dissected, recorded, and learned via the wiki were 85% (7), 84% (9), and 78% ( 14), respectively (Figure 3).The scores for the on-campus elements (dissection and recording) did not differ significantly from each other (p > 0.05), however, a significant difference was detected between each of these and the off-campus learning that took place via the wiki (p < 0.05).
There was no significant difference between the MCQ scores of students who were able to attend the practical sessions on campus (mean = 81%; n = 226, SD 11%) compared with the scores of students who did not attend any practical sessions on campus (mean = 79%; n = 20, SD 12%), p < 0.05 (Figure 4).
Thirty-eight percent (66) of respondents would highly likely recommend the canine wiki abdomen dissection for a future cohort of students.47% (83) would be likely to recommend it, 13% (22) said that they were not very likely to recommend it, and 3% (5) said that they would not suggest it (Figure 7A).F I G U R E 1 Final wiki scores (group activity).Plot bars represent the number of groups that achieved scores between 0 and 5 according to the rubric; n = 40.

Thematic analysis
Thematic analysis of qualitative data showed that there were five overarching themes (each containing a number of subthemes).

Student enjoyment
Students I feel more confident with the information I learned in my dissection than in my peers' dissection tasks.

[Response ID 24190]
Particularly, within this theme, they highlighted the practical skills that they were able to develop and the value of seeing and feeling structures in person as key reasons why they benefited from the experience.
Doing the dissection gave us a holistic approach to understanding the topography and relation of each organ in the abdomen (internally and externally) […] this activity enabled us to be more hands-on with our learning.This helped us with getting a basic understanding of surgical entries for the following years.

[Response ID 24107]
You can look at lectures and images, but the hands on experience is extremely important in my opinion.Collaboration with peers and facilitators in the practical class was also commonly mentioned.
[…] there was opportunity for group discussion at the time and a greater ability to solve issues in person.
[ Response ID 24137] Enhanced engagement through observation and use of technology Students highlighted that although dissecting was the best means of learning, observing, and recording a dissection was also beneficial in improving student engagement and that the use of technology in this process was beneficial.Students commented that they felt reassured that they were correct in their identification of anatomical structures because they were able to corroborate their recordings with other resources, and indeed that in processing these images (e.g., in annotating photographs or describing videos), they clarified or reinforced their knowledge, while learning new technology skills.
[…] labelling photos and watching the recorded videos further helped consolidate this learning.[Response ID 24147] Enhanced engagement through online learning In many cases, students said that they benefited from engaging with the online resources, both those that were provided to them and those that they had produced.
The project is a useful revision material and was an My group did a virtual presentation to each other so that if we had questions about other parts of the dissection we could ask them.[Response ID 24156] Many felt that their wiki was a useful revision tool and that they were able to use that to study for the formative quiz, which itself was beneficial in reinforcing learning, and was viewed as good practice for their summative exams.
I am very happy we had this quiz-it is instant feedback to show what I do know and [sic] what I don't.
[ Response ID 24079] Aspects of the project limited student learning Students identified a number of limitations that they felt hindered their learning during the project.One major concern that students had was that the wiki that their group produced was not a reliable study resource because they did not feel that it was sufficiently fact-checked.Some students felt that the recordings that other members of their group were of poor quality or were difficult to interpret.Indeed, some felt that the dynamic of the group size made the project more difficult, with many quoting social distancing as the main barrier to good collaboration.Many quoted that teamwork was not carried out well and that work was not distributed evenly among members of the group (Supplementary file 2).Some students thought that the use of technology in this project was an unnecessary distraction and that it could have been used more gainfully, for example, to live-stream a demonstration to students who were not on campus.Ultimately, many students who were present in the dissection felt that social distancing requirements were a limiting factor as to how much they could take from the session.
[…] we had to stand 2m away from the table so it was difficult to observe anything from that distance.

DISCUSS ION
This innovative canine wiki dissection was an introduction of blended learning into a previously solely face-to-face veterinary anatomy curriculum.The innovation achieved its aim: students were able to continue to study practical anatomy despite the prevailing restrictions, and by using this tool, students could meet the knowledge-based anatomical learning outcomes.While addressing a unique problem, our results go some way to supporting previously established, broad pedagogical principles; that group work enhances student learning (Alcántara et al., 2018), and that in-person teaching is essential to optimize success in anatomy learning (Ghosh, 2017).Our results begin to explore the emerging concept that online learning can be a beneficial supplement to, rather than a replacement for, traditional teaching methods (Kalthur et al., 2022) in a blended learning context.The conclusions drawn here shed some light on how university educators can incorporate technology into teaching after the pandemic to improve opportunities for flexible learning.
The results of this study can be summarized as three main findings: (1) through the canine abdomen wiki dissection, both on-campus and off-campus students were equally able to achieve fundamental anatomy learning outcomes; (2) optimum learning of anatomy occurred where an element of in-person teaching was retained, suggesting total replacement with digital resources is inadvisable; (3) anatomy education can be flexible, harnessing and developing transferable skills to aid student learning of anatomy at-distance.

Meeting learning outcomes through the wiki dissection
Two measures showed that students were able to demonstrate their understanding of the learning objectives and meet the standards set in previous years: the score of their wiki submission and their formative MCQ test scores.The implication of these findings are that learning anatomy from a wiki in this context is sufficient for meeting fundamental learning outcomes of anatomical boundaries and structures, supporting the idea that engagement with wiki development can be effective in anatomy education (Elgort et al., 2008).
This study only quantitatively assessed knowledge-based learning outcomes and so, off-campus students, despite meeting the knowledge-based learning outcomes, likely missed out on the development of other critical skills that are afforded by practical anatomy teaching (Flack & Nicholson, 2017;Pirri et al., 2021).It is important to highlight that most of the off-campus students (though not all) were international students who were unable to return to campus because of travel restrictions during the pandemic.These international students are high-fee-paying students, and in our experience are often highly intrinsically motivated students.This may have contributed toward the relatively uniform performance of students on campus (home students) and off campus (international) when learning via wiki.Even those who were on campus may have had their practical experience hindered by the social distancing requirements, and this was a common theme mentioned by students in their feedback.If those recording felt that they could not engage properly with the material, it might be that without social distancing requirements, those recording may have gained more from interaction with the cadaver (e.g., if they could get closer to the specimen).

In-person anatomy teaching enhances the learning of anatomy
Students that were on campus and participated in practical classeseither dissecting or recording-performed better in the specific questions related to these sections, compared with those questions relating to content that they learned solely through the wiki.
A comparison of the average scores of these parts of the assessment shows that simply being present (whether dissecting or recording) enhanced student scores, compared with elements where no practical teaching took place.The results here support the notion that practical experience is valuable in veterinary anatomy learning (Huynh et al., 2021) and that curricula relying on only online material might offer a lower-quality learning experience than dissection (Totlis et al., 2021).
Our results are consistent with other studies that suggest an element of the study of physical anatomy has an advantage over studying only solely digital anatomical learning resources such as pictures and videos (Preece et al., 2013).According to Smith and colleagues, this advantage could be attributed to the high perceived relevance of cadaveric dissection for students preparing to work in the veterinary and healthcare professions and the enhanced engagement that this stimulates (Smith et al., 2014).
Additionally, our thematic analysis of student comments suggests that a key benefit of being present in these dissections was the haptic interaction with true 3D structures, which allowed appreciation of organ texture and topography, compared with 2D visuals on a screen.
Students appreciated that the practical element of the project allowed for the development of their hands-on dissection skills.It is widely accepted that developing instrument-handling skills early in their studies will benefit students later in their careers (Gummery et al., 2018); students can clearly also appreciate this link.Many related this to helping their surgical skills later in their career (Pirri et al., 2021).The development of such skills is not possible when learning via prosections and 3D virtual anatomy, but it is likely that different anatomical structures/regions are best suited to different practical teaching methods in a blended learning approach (Estevez et al., 2010).For our teaching team, the small animal abdomen was considered a critical region where we wished to retain dissection during the pandemic.None of our students will carry out orthopedic surgery on day 1 postgraduation, but many will need to carry out a spay, or exploratory laparotomy, and to safely enter and navigate the abdomen, even at this early stage.It is for this reason that the canine abdomen became the focus of this specific project (and why we did not retain limb dissections for example, replacing these with prosection-based practical teaching).
Recently, COVID-19 challenged the idea that online anatomy teaching could possibly replace the traditional way of face-to-face teaching.A systematic review assessed the optimal form of anatomy teaching post-pandemic, and its conclusion was in frame with our results: the benefits of cadaveric dissections still justify having face-to-face dissections as the first option for anatomy learning.
Furthermore, it supports the established idea that supplementing didactic teaching with practical dissection teaching, either actively or by observation, provides better learning outcomes (Nnodim, 1990;Lackey-Cornelison et al., 2020).As anatomy teaching moves toward a blended learning approach, understanding the value of inperson aspects of teaching will be valuable and will go some way to help organizers decide upon which elements of teaching should be provided in-person.In supporting student aspirations to achieve the highest possible grades, we can show that presence within the dissection room is one major contributor to optimal success in the study of anatomy.

An innovative method for flexible student study
The wiki has proved to be a unique anatomical educational method, incorporating transferable digital skills while learning anatomy.
The creation of a wiki required reflection and assimilation of learning during the practical class.Undertaking this task, students had to be creative, innovative, and use higher-order skills while learning anatomy.Furthermore, in this process, students have received a basis for training in the professional and ethical use of cadaver images (Cornwall et al., 2016).This has clear implications for modern veterinary practice, where the inappropriate use and sharing of images of clients' animals can breach client confidentiality and be problematic for veterinary surgeons (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, 2021).
Furthermore, the wiki can be developed collaboratively which is likely to benefit student learning.There are also career-long benefits to producing such a revision material: this innovative way of teaching anatomy improves upon current approaches as it builds up a peer-reviewed portfolio for students to learn and revise the anatomy of the canine abdomen at any time during their academic trajectory.
There is an increasing need to deliver anatomy to audiences with different needs and it is essential that that delivery can be flexible.This aspect of the innovation allows students to learn independently, anywhere in the world, as it adapts the dissection products to be digital and accessible to students through a software communication platform.We have shown that by applying the wiki to this practical session, students who were not able to attend were able to learn adequately in a way that they would have missed out on otherwise.It is possible that the use of this tool would be able to supplement student learning for short-or long-term absences from the dissection room.

Teamwork in anatomy education
Thematic analysis of student comments supports the quantitative data that suggests that collaboration between peers was beneficial to learning.The positive nature of students' comments agrees with the understanding that teamwork activities stimulated active learning (Topping, 1996;Ten Cate & Durning, 2007).By communicating their ideas with their peers, sharing their knowledge, and solving problems together, all students, regardless of whether they were present or not, likely benefited from assembling the wiki in their groups (Elgort et al., 2008).
As dictated by the circumstances, one of the major problems with this format of teaching was that though they worked in a group in collaboration with the wiki, teamwork was limited in the dissection room, where it is likely to have the greatest benefit (Flack & Nicholson, 2017).Group work by its nature is inherently inflexible and within their feedback, students identified the common challenges of working in groups, team member dynamics, and unequal sharing of the workload due to variable degrees of participation (Channon et al., 2017).Students do find group work difficult, so on a professional course, finding opportunities such as this to practise teamwork is essential.A session that directs students to produce a revision resource for those who cannot be present in dissection, while encouraging and focusing on discussion and private study, could be a valuable asset in modern veterinary education.

Limitations
Though considered a reliable means of assessment in higher education through the pandemic, the formative MCQ test was not invigilated or proctored, which could raise questions about the validity of drawing conclusions from the test scores.We were not able to consider the time students spent on the test or the degree to which students performed independently, however, students were requested to complete the test as a genuine formative test opportunity.
There is much consideration here of the value of dissection in developing practical skills, but this study had no means of assessing the practical skills developed by students, except for digital skills, and consideration of whether the dissection had been completed satisfactorily (which were considered within the scores for the wiki).
In this study, only the dissection of the canine abdomen is studied (which is inherently variable in its gross anatomy), and extrapolations to other dissections or contexts should be made with caution.The results of the study should be interpreted only in the context of the RVC and its curriculum.In other contexts, including post-pandemic, similar results might not be expected, and additions or changes may need to be made to the format to retain educational benefits and/or student engagement.
We appreciate the limited context of the pandemic onset within which our study has taken place: this resulted in it being developed in a confined cohort rather than across a number of settings.As these were first-year students at the time of the study, no veterinary medicine at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London, UK.The Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (BVetMed) at the RVC is a 5-year undergraduate program, and integrated anatomy comprises approximately 40% of the first 2 years of the program.Anatomy practical classes feature strongly within the first 2 years of the curriculum, which are typically either small group dissection classes or station-based sessions using prosected/ skeletal materials.The first year of the Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine class constitutes 236 students, of which 72% of the students are UK ("home") students and 28% are international students.

TA B L E 1
Organization of the canine abdomen dissection.Organisation of the dissections within tutor groups, each with six students: A

F
Profile of individual achievement for the MCQ quiz.Overall number of students achieving a score within each given range (individual activity).Plot bars represent the number of students who achieved scores between 0 and 100 on their first attempt.Total mean score was 80.21 (n = 224).
generally expressed the experience as positive, highlighting particularly their improved understanding of canine anatomy and other related subjects.Many said that they enjoyed taking part in the project.Really enjoyed the whole dissection, recording and formative quiz.Overall, the exercise has really helped me to understand the anatomy of the digestive system.[Response ID 24182] I really enjoyed the dissecting and recording and I did a lot of further research.[Response ID 24120] All in all I really enjoyed the activity and it was fun to work with my group to set up the wiki.[Response ID 24179] Enhanced engagement through practical learning Students showed capable reflection within the open comments, especially in relation to how they felt they benefited from the project.An overwhelming number of students identified the practical aspect of learning in this project as a reason for improving their engagement and, for the parts that they dissected, they felt they had the most confidence in what they had learned.

For
example while my colleagues put together great images and videos for the arteries, I still have a hard time visualizing what and where the branches of the aorta occur.[Response ID 24198] F I G U R E 3 Total individual scores of students who attended the practical sessions on campus.Plot denotes average scores; error bars represent 95% confidence interval; ns = not significant; *p < 0.05; ANOVA with Tukey post hoc test.F I G U R E 4 Comparison of achievement of students attending on-campus practicals versus off-campus learning from the wiki.Box denotes first and third quartiles and median; whiskers denote maximum and minimum; + denotes mean; ns = nonsignificant; p < 0.05; Mann-Whitney U test, unpaired, two-tailed.F I G U R E 5 Students' answers to question (A) "The time stipulated for each dissection (75 min) was sufficient for me to follow the guide, understand it, perform the dissection and for my assistant to record images/video for the anatomy," n = 176 responses.Students answer to question (B) "The final product of the wiki dissection created by my group could be used as a tool for other students to learn and review the abdomen anatomy of carnivores," n = 176 responses.F I G U R E 6 Students' answers to the contribution of active participation via dissecting, recording, and reviewing the material recorded by their colleagues in helping to reach the learning outcomes; n = 176 responses.F I G U R E 7 (A) Students' opinions on suggesting the Carnivore Abdomen Wiki Dissection for another cohort of students; n = 176 responses; (B) Students' satisfaction on the carnivore abdomen wiki dissection; n = 176 responses.The ability to be hands on helped me to better understand where different organs are in relation to each other in the abdomen.The 2D drawings now make more sense after seeing the 3D layout.[Response ID 24108] I would have preferred to have completed all sections of the dissection as it is hard to visualize placement without physically handling specimen and finding it in person.[Response ID 24187]

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photos because it cemented my knowledge from what I had learnt whilst doing the dissection.[Response ID 24183] interesting way to learn from other members of my group.[ResponseID 24191]    I think this has been one of the best ways to learn… but then having to consolidate our knowledge for a presentation … it was excellent.[ResponseID 24145] It was quite difficult to ensure the quality of my groupmates' work, especially with the technical challenges of this task.[ResponseID 24119]