Teaching, learning and examination in veterinary anatomy: what do students tell us?

Introduction Anatomy is a fundamental curricular unit in medical courses. With the changes in society, the presence of students in an increasingly digital world, and the controversy associated with the use of corps for educational or experimental purposes, for ethical reasons and issues related to animal welfare, much has been done to circumvent and improve this practice. Our teaching team has been focused on developing pedagogical and examination practices that stimulate students and meet the programme objectives. With this work, we intended to evaluate the perception of the students of the Anatomy I curricular unit in relation to the new examination methods implemented. Methods The students belong to the Integrated Master degree in Veterinary Medicine, at University of Évora, Portugal. Using the Google Forms platform, a questionnaire was drawn up with 16 questions and sent out via the Moodle platform: 1) What is your gender?; 2) What is your age?; 3) Is this the first time you have enrolled and attended this course?; 4) Did looking at dissected corps (in atlases, applications, on the internet) help you understand myology?; 5) Did looking at images in atlases, software or on the internet make it easier to identify the muscles in the corps? ; 6) Would you consider studying myology using only software/models?; 7) Which resource do you consider most important when studying myology?; 8) Do you find it difficult to learn anatomy using only models?; 9) Are dissection classes useful for acquiring skills for other curricular units and for your professional future?; 10) Of the examination methods applied, which is your favourite?; 11) Which of the examinations do you think best prepares you for your professional future?; 12) What are the advantages of oral exam?; 13) What is the main difficulty inherent in oral exam?; 14) What are the advantages of written exam (without visualising any anatomical model or corps)?; 15) What is the main difficulty inherent in written exam (without visualising any anatomical model or ...