Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Medical Education
Date Submitted: Mar 10, 2022
Date Accepted: Aug 29, 2022
Google Images Search Results as a Resource in the Anatomy Laboratory: A Rating of Educational Value
ABSTRACT
Background:
Preclinical medical learners are embedded in technology-rich environments, allowing them rapid access to a large volume of information. The anatomy laboratory is an environment in which faculty can assess the development of professional skills such as information literacy in preclinical medical learners. In the anatomy laboratory, many students use Google Images searches in addition to or in place of other course materials as a resource to locate and identify anatomical structures. The most frequent sources, as well as the educational quality of these images are unknown.
Objective:
This study was designed to assess the sources and educational value of Google Images search results for high-yield anatomical structures.
Methods:
The top ten Google Images search results were collected for 39 anatomical structures. Image source websites were recorded and categorized based on the purpose and target audience of the site publishing the image. Educational value was determined through assessment of relevance (is the searched structure depicted in the image?), accuracy (does the image contain errors?), and usefulness (will the image assist a learner in locating the structure on an anatomical donor?). A reliable scoring rubric was developed to assess an image’s usefulness.
Results:
A total of 390 images were analyzed. Most often, images were sourced from websites targeting healthcare professionals and healthcare professions students (38% of images), while Wikipedia was the most frequent single source of image results (62/390 results). Of 390 total images, 363 depicted the searched structure and were therefore considered relevant. A high percentage (93%) of relevant image results were found to be accurate; however, only 43% of relevant images met the threshold to be deemed useful in identifying the searched structure in an anatomical donor. The usefulness of images did not significantly differ across source categories.
Conclusions:
Anatomy faculty may use these results to develop interventions for gaps in information literacy in preclinical medical learners in the context of image searches in the anatomy laboratory.
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© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.