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. 2023 Mar 21;9(4):1869–1880. doi: 10.1002/vms3.1123

Online veterinary anatomy education during Covid‐19 pandemic in Iran: Challenges and opportunities

Javad Sadeghinezhad 1,✉
PMCID: PMC10357271  PMID: 36943939

Abstract

Background

The covid‐19 pandemic changed veterinary anatomy in‐person training to inexperienced virtual training rapidly.

Objectives

This survey was designed to assess the perceptions of first‐ and second‐year Iranian veterinary students on learning outcomes during the online transition.

Methods

The opinions of 684 students were examined using questionnaire.

Results

The data showed that 23.8% of students were interested in learning anatomy online and 24.8% were satisfied with it. Only 13.5% of the students in the survey generally agree with replacing remote teaching with ordinary training. Less than 1% of students considered online education suitable for the practical part of anatomy. Most of the students' sources for theoretical part included professor's booklets, narrated PowerPoint lectures, in‐class notes, and anatomy books. Professors' dissection videos, YouTube videos and also anatomy atlases were the most used sources for practical part. Many students (69.3%) were comfortable using technology. Few numbers of the students (36.1%) were satisfied with the result of the online anatomy exam. Students commented missing dissection, lack of interaction and technology challenges as main negative‐points of E‐learning. While time management and reviewing the recorded lessons was described as one of the most important benefits.

Conclusions

Online education cannot replace face‐to‐face education in anatomy and it can be used along ordinary training as an additional educational tool. However, group online learning activities, using dissection videos and 3‐D software are suggested for online learning. The data of this study, collected for the first time in Iran, can be used for future decisions in veterinary anatomy.

Keywords: Covid‐19, online learning, veterinary anatomy

For the first time in Iran, a nationwide survey was conducted to assess the perspectives of veterinary students of public universities regarding anatomy education the pandemic.

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1. INTRODUCTION

Covid‐19 was declared a global health emergency on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March 2020 by the World Health Organization (Sohrabi et al., 2020). Different governments then imposed various restrictive measures to control the disease and prevent its spread. As a result of the Covid‐19 pandemic, countries around the world implemented quarantine, social distance, travel restrictions. Then, a large number of schools, colleges and universities were closed, affecting the study of almost half of the world's students (Bedford et al., 2020). Afterwards, education in the world quickly shifted from face‐to‐face to screen‐to‐screen. With this sudden change, lectures, even in developed countries, faced various challenges such as time, resources, technical skills and strategic planning (Longhurst et al., 2020; Saverino et al., 2022). Education in developing countries was also further forced without previous experience, the necessary training and platform (Patra et al., 2021a).

Anatomy, which is one of the basic sciences in medicine and veterinary medicine and is required for examination, diagnosis and surgical procedures in the clinic (Cuschieri & Calleja Agius, 2020; Plendl et al., 2009), was also affected by the emergency remote learning (Cheng et al., 2021; Pather et al., 2020). Indeed, anatomy is a three‐dimensional subject that requires an understanding of the relationship between structures and dissection is the gold standard for achieving these objectives (Thom et al., 2021). Consistent with this, the absence of practical classes has been introduced as the most important problem in anatomy education during Covid‐19 as adapting laboratory‐based courses with online training is not easy (Franchi, 2020; Ross et al., 2020; Wilhelm et al., 2021). Accordingly, evaluating this change is important to find possible ways to improve anatomy education during pandemic as well as their use in the post‐Covid‐19 period.

In Iran, on 23 February 2020, with the announcement of the government, the in‐person classes were stopped and the virtual classes continued until the time of the submission of this article (Asadpour, 2021). The doctorate of veterinary medicine degree comprises six academic years. Each academic year has two semesters that last 16 weeks. The veterinary curriculum of all public universities is almost the same with few differences in design at each veterinary faculty. Generally, the gross anatomy program includes systematic anatomy 1, systematic anatomy 2 and topographic anatomy with 2 h of lecture and 2 h of practical sessions per week for each lesson in each semester. Systematic anatomies 1 and 2 are offered in the first and second semesters, but topographic anatomy is taught from the third to the seventh semester (during preclinical phase). Before Covid‐19, theoretical sessions were given in person, and practical sessions were held in the dissection hall in small groups of students under the supervision of anatomy professor. The final assessment is done at the end of each semester and is taken in writing for the theoretical part and as a spotter test for the practical part (Sadeghinezhad, 2022).

During the lockdown period, classes were conducted online using the E‐learn platform (based on Adobe Connect) with PowerPoint presentations as well as uploading the lecture files. In some universities, the dissection videos and other supplementary educational materials were either sent to students via WhatsApp groups. Online assessment on a university platform also replaced face‐to‐face assessment (Ahmady et al., 2020; Raoofi et al., 2020).

Given the nature of the Covid‐19 virus and its successive mutations, it is not clear when it is time to train in‐person. On the other hand, the use of hybrid education model (combination of virtual and ordinary class) has been proposed for the future (Mahdy & Sayed, 2022). So, evaluating veterinary anatomy education during online training and measuring learners' satisfaction is necessary and can be used for future anatomy educational programs of Iranian universities. Therefore, for the first time in Iran, a nationwide survey was conducted to assess the perspectives of veterinary students of public universities regarding anatomy education the pandemic.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. Survey implementation

This cross‐sectional survey was designed to assess the perceptions and satisfactions of first‐ and second‐year Iranian veterinary students on learning outcomes during the online transition. For this purpose, the questionnaire was designed based on previous studies (Mahdy & Sayed, 2022; Wilhelm et al., 2021) and was adapted for the present one. It was tested with three faculty members of veterinary anatomy to ensure the clarity of the questions. An anonymous online questionnaire was created using Google Form and its link was sent to professors of public universities through the WhatsApp group of the Iranian Association of Veterinary Anatomical Sciences. In some cases [names], the representatives of first‐ and second‐year students were contacted and the relevant link was sent to them. The persons to whom the link was sent (colleagues or students) were asked to send the questionnaire link to their first‐ and second‐year university students through the WhatsApp group, which is popular in Iran as a social media mobile application. The questionnaire was available from 1 February to 10 February 2022. At the beginning, the purpose of the study was mentioned and first‐ and second‐year veterinary students across governmental universities in Iran were asked to voluntarily complete the questionnaire.

The questionnaire contained five sections, which included a total of 17 items. First section consisted of five questions about students's sex, age, university, year of study and a question about whether they have trained anatomy online. In second section students were asked to express their views on the E‐learning during Covid‐19 pandemic by four‐point Likert scale which is suitable for evaluating these categories of questions (Cuschieri & Calleja Agius, 2020). It consisted of six questions: students' interest in online anatomy education, ease of use of technology, suitability of the university platform for online classes, replacement of face‐to‐face training with online education, degree of anatomy learning with online mode, degree of true reflection of anatomy knowledge in the exam. The third section consisted of three items with multiselect multiple‐choice question. The questions included: the tool used to learn anatomy online, the resources used to study the theoretical and also practical part of anatomy online. The fourth section comprised of one single‐selection question. Students were asked about the suitability of the E‐learning for theoretical or practical anatomy. In the last section, two free text comment boxes were considered for students to share the positive or negative points about online anatomy education.

2.2. Data analysis

Statistical analysis of data was performed with SPSS statistical package, version 21 (IBM Crop., Armonk, NY). Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of the items. Student demographic information was tabulated. In the case of Likert scale questions, data were presented numerically as mean ± standard deviation (strongly disagree = 1, disagree = 2, agree = 3 and strongly agree = 4) (Mayer & Cavallaro, 2019). Descriptive analysis of data was established based on the percentage of total responses. The qualitative text data were evaluated using thematic analysis. All answers were categorised by theme then each answer was classified and listed based on those themes (Kuckartz, 2019). Both first and second academic years studied anatomy online, and data were provided to all students and were not analysed separately.

3. RESULTS

3.1. Demographic analysis

A total of 684 first and second‐year veterinary students from all public universities in Iran participated in this study and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.803. Participants included 318 first‐year (46.5%) and 366 second‐year (53.5%) students, all of whom confirmed that they had studied anatomy online. Among these students, 47.22% were females and 52.78% were males (Table 1). The age of students was 20.41 ± 2.25 years.

TABLE 1.

Year of study and gender of surveyed students from different universities.

University Participant n (%) First year Second year
Male n (%) Female n (%) Male n (%) Female n (%)
University of Tehran 115 (16.81%) 30 (4.38%) 45 (6.57%) 20 (2.92%) 20 (2.92%)
Semnan University 72 (10.52%) 15 (2.19%) 16 (2.33%) 16 (2.33%) 25 (3.65%)
Razi University of Kermanshah 74 (10.81%) 15 (2.19%) 16 (2.33%) 22 (3.21%) 21 (3.07%)
Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz 72 (10.52%) 18 (2.63%) 9 (1.31%) 22 (3.21%) 23 (3.36%)
Shahid Bahonar Universityof Kerman 80 (11.69%) 27(3.94%) 16 (2.33%) 19 (2.77%) 18 (2.63%)
University of Tabriz 66 (9.64%) 24 (3.5%) 10 (1.46%) 21 (3.07%) 11 (1.6%)
Lorestan University 48 (7.01%) 12 (1.75%) 9 (1.31%) 16 (2.33%) 11 (1.6%)
Urmia University 48 (7.01%) 17 (2.48%) 14 (2.04%) 10 (1.46%) 7 (1.02%)
Zabol University 27 (3.94%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 14 (2.04%) 13 (1.9%)
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad 48 (7.01%) 11 (1.6%) 13 (1.9%) 10 (1.46%) 14 (2.04%)
Shiraz University 22 (3.21%) 1 (0.14%) 0 (0%) 13 (1.9%) 8 (1.16%)
University of Shahrekord 12 (1.75%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 8 (1.16%) 4 (0.58%)
Total 684 (100%) 170 (24.85%) 148 (21.63%) 191 (27.92%) 175 (25.58%)
318 (46.49%) 366 (53.5%)
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3.2. Students' views on learning and satisfaction during online anatomy education

The present data showed that 23.8% (n = 163) of the participants expressed interest in anatomy E‐learning. Consistent with this data, 24.8% of students (n = 170) were satisfied with the online anatomy learning. Also, only 13.5% of the students (n = 92) in the survey generally agree with replacing remote teaching with face‐to‐face training (Figure 1).

FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 1

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Students' opinions (n = 684) on online education of veterinary anatomy based on four‐point Likert scale agreement (1: strongly disagree, 2: agree, 3: agree and 4: strongly agree). Data are reported in means ± standard deviations.

Examining the answers to multiple‐choice questions showed that 42.4% of the participants believe that online education was appropriate for the theoretical part of anatomy. However, only 0.9% of students considered online education suitable for the practical part of anatomy. A small percentage of students (6.6%) also found it suitable for replacement with both theoretical and practical parts. Half of the participants (50.1%), however, believe that the E‐learning was not suitable for any of the theoretical and practical aspects (Figure 2).

FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 2

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Students' opinions on the suitability of online veterinary education for the theoretical and practical parts (n = 684). Data were shown based on the percentage of total responses.

3.3. Students' opinions on sources, materials and tools used to learn anatomy online

Students used various sources to understand the theory of anatomy during virtual learning. Most of the students' sources included professor's booklets (76.3%), narrated PowerPoint lectures (64.2%), in‐class notes (54.1%) and anatomy books (43.6%). Other resources used were: educational anatomy websites (17.8%), anatomy E‐books (13.9%) and research papers (5.1%) (Figure 3a).

FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 3

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Different sources used by students (n = 684) for learning theoretical (a) and practical (b) parts of veterinary anatomy during Covid‐19. Data were shown based on the percentage of total responses.

Evaluation of the types of sources used by students to understand the practical part of anatomy, revealed that professors' dissection videos (62.6%), YouTube and Aparat videos (29.5%) and also anatomy atlases (28.9%) are the most used sources. Educational Anatomy websites (10.7%) and applications (0.4%) were other sources. Half of the students (53.2%) stated that there was no suitable source for studying the practical part of anatomy, and 10.8% of the participants did not have a program for practical anatomy training in their curriculum during Covid‐19 pandemic (Figure 3b).

Students used more laptop (72.8%) and smartphone (48.2%), as well as personal computer (15.4%) and tablet (7.9%), to access online materials (Figure 4). Many students (69.3%, n = 474) were comfortable using technology such as computers, tablets, downloading files, etc. (Figure 1). However, 64% (n = 438) of students believed that the university platform was not suitable for online classes (Figure 4).

FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 4

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Different devices used students (n = 684) for studying online veterinary anatomy. Data were shown based on the percentage of total responses.

3.4. Students' perceptions on online anatomy assessment

Analysis of participants' answers showed that 36.1% (n = 247) of the students were satisfied with the result of the online anatomy exam and considered it in accordance with their knowledge (Figure 1).

3.5. Students' remarks on the negative points of online anatomy education

Analysing students' answers to open‐ended questions and categorising them by themes revealed 11 topics for disadvantages of E‐learning in anatomy.

3.6. Theme 1: Lack of dissection class

Lack of practical classes was one of the most mentioned disadvantages for online anatomy education. Students have been unable to imagine the professor's oral statements and their three‐dimensional illustration. Lack of dissection procedure, lack of physical contact with the samples and not understanding the position and relationship of the structures were some of the problems raised by the participants. Students commented on these challenges:

‘Everything gets mixed up, especially the directions, we just memorized everything and we do not have a three‐dimensional idea of anything’.

‘Online learning of anatomy without dissection is like playing computer war games and then being sent to the battlefield. Equally useless’.

3.7. Theme 2: No interaction

According to the students, communication with the professor is not established in the online method, and there is a sense of simplification and lack of sense of duty in the classroom.

3.8. Theme 3: Technology problems

From the students' point of view, the internet speed for online classes was often low and they had problems. Some students also complained about the cost of the Internet. Defects in the university platform for holding online classes, especially in the case of sound, were also commented by students.

‘The professor was pointing at something, and what we were seeing was something else’.

3.9. Theme 4: Prolonged feedback

Students mentioned the prolonged response from the professor as one of the drawbacks of the online method.

3.10. Theme 5: Concerns about the future

Students were concerned about their readiness for future careers, as well as sufficient knowledge of the university's clinical courses. Some of their comments are as follows:

‘I did not learn anything, I will become an illiterate veterinarian’.

‘Teaching in the current way is not very useful, and I hope that in the future, before entering the pre‐clinical phase, we will have a supplementary face‐to‐face and class’.

3.11. Theme 6: Self‐learning challenges

The students explained that they do not receive information well and do not have deep learning. In addition, there were insufficient sources to understand the structures. As a result, they were not able to fully understand the anatomy.

‘Most lesson sources are in the form of text and less image is used. I do not understand when I study’.

3.12. Theme 7: Isolation and indifference

The students believed that being away from the lively environment of the university would create a sense of isolation and reluctance in them.

3.13. Theme 8: Lack of focus

Some stated that they did not have a quiet place to attend classes and could not concentrate.

3.14. Theme 9: Lack of professor scheduling

Some students pointed out that some professors do not have a regular schedule for teaching, and that online instruction allows them to form classes whenever they want.

3.15. Theme 10: Final assessment problems

Some believed that students were not properly assessed in the final exam. There is no exam or homework during the semester. In addition, there is the problem of the internet for the online final exam. Some also pointed to cheating on online exams.

‘I want to give an example. A person who does not know how to ride a bicycle and is only taught theoretically and then told to ride a bicycle on the day of the exam, even if he has memorized all the theory well, will definitely be harmed’.

3.16. Theme 11: No benefits

Some students also believed that the online method was useless.

3.17. Students' remarks on the positive‐ points of online anatomy education

A total of 7 topics were extracted from students' comments regarding the benefits of online anatomy education.

3.18. Theme 1: Time management

Time management was one of the most important issues mentioned by students. The students noted that eliminating commuting to the university saved time and gave them more time to do other things such as further study, searching, resting and so on.

3.19. Theme 2: Review the recorded lessons

Students commented that with the online method, they could easily review the recorded lessons and take complete notes. Some of their comments are as follows:

‘Training can be accessed at any time and in any situation using E‐learning model’.

‘If we miss class or for some reason do not understand the lesson well, we can see the class again’.

3.20. Theme 3: Learning new software

Learning the skill of using different software during online training was another benefit that was mentioned.

3.21. Theme 4: Learning to search internet sources

Students stated that trying to understand the lessons allowed students to learn searching for online sources.

3.22. Theme 5: Animal protection

Some students believed that by eliminating the dissection in the online method, animal rights would be more respected.

3.23. Theme 6: Maintaining health in pandemic

Maintaining health in a pandemic by staying at home was another benefit of the online method.

3.24. Theme 7: Less stress

Being with a family and avoiding urban and interurban travel were mentioned as the benefits of the remote learning, which reduced students' stress.

4. DISCUSSION

This study was conducted nationally for the first time to evaluate online veterinary anatomy education based on the opinion of first and second‐year veterinary students of Iranian public universities.

The results of this study showed that less than a quarter of students were interested in the online anatomy and were satisfied with learning using this module. A survey on first‐ and second‐year medical students at the University of California San Diego found that 93% believed that online education had a negative effect on anatomy education. Passive education was considered to be one of the most important factors (Shahrvini et al., 2021). In a study conducted in India, majority (65%) of the medical and dental students agreed that they missed their traditional anatomy learning during pandemic (Singal et al., 2021). In India, medical anatomy was taught using cadaveric dissection, and Covid‐19 hit anatomy teaching. Network problems and lack of previous experience of online education have been mentioned as the main factors in reducing students' desire for online anatomy education (Patra et al., 2021b).

Contrary to the results of this study, higher levels of satisfaction such as 93% (Seada & Mostafa, 2017), 87.5% (Srinivasan, 2020), 63% (Cuschieri & Calleja Agius, 2020) and 68% (Mahdy & Sayed, 2022) have been reported from online anatomy education.

A review of the literatures (Bahramnezhad et al., 2016) shows that the factors that affect online education can be divided into three categories: 1. Learner (age, gender, computer and technological skills and past experience with computer), 2. Instructor (curriculum designing, assessment of needs and designing curriculum based on learner's needs, evaluation of methods, use of preorganiser), 3. Management and technical support (internet speed, efforts to engaged participants, preparing security systems, consideration of bandwidth and sever). Education in Iranian universities changed rapidly from face‐to‐face to online. There was no previous experience in the field of online education and the necessary strategies and platforms for online education were not available (Salmani et al., 2022), and as a result, it was not accepted for three quarters of surveyed students. In contrast, at the University of Genoa, where there was online learning experience, the challenges of online education changed into opportunities and different methods (online communication platform, 3D anatomical modelling program etc.) were used to improve teaching online anatomy during Covid‐19. As a result, the students' final score and their satisfaction with the online method were evaluated more than the face‐to‐face method (Zarcone & Saverino, 2022).

Present study showed that 13.5% of the students agreed with the completely replacement of the online method with the conventional method. Around 42% of students recommended the online method for the theoretical part and less than 1% for the practical part. Similarly, in a study conducted at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, different strategies of teaching medical anatomy were compared from the students' point of view and it was found that only 14.5% of them suggested replacing the online method with face‐to‐face training and 34.5% also would like some lectures to be taught online (Totlis et al., 2021). The evaluation of the opinion of veterinary students from 87 different countries also showed that 52.7% agreed with using the online method for the theory part and 8.7% for the practical part of anatomy (Mahdy & Ewaida, 2022). The suitability of online education for the theoretical and practical part of anatomy was proposed as 44.4% and 12.9%, respectively, by veterinary students of Egyptian universities (Mahdy & Sayed, 2022). Similar results were found in the study of online education in Chinese medical schools and the tendency for practical online education was lower than that of anatomy theory. Therefore, it is suggested that anatomy theory lessons can be taught online with the help of anatomy‐specific educational resources (Cheng et al., 2021). However, due to the fact that the transfer of three‐dimensional concepts and the relationship between structures is difficult using online method, it remains challenge and is not recommended for the post‐Covid period (Cuschieri & Calleja Agius, 2020).

In this study, the professor's booklet, narrated Power Point lectures, in‐class notes, and textbooks were the most common sources for studying the theoretical part of anatomy. Presenting PowerPoint with audio for online anatomy education in Egyptian veterinary schools has been used as the most important resource (Saber, 2021). In a study conducted in the United Kingdom to examine the resources to study physiology, lectures and a recommended textbooks (94.3% and 78.7%, respectively) were introduced as the most popular sources from the veterinary students' point of view (Saadeh et al., 2021). Traditional resources such as lectures, written notes and textbooks remain, the most utilised resources for learning new material by medical students of Australian universities (Wynter et al., 2019). Since it is not possible for all students to access textbooks during the Covid‐19 period due to the distance (Singal et al., 2021), it is important to provide high‐quality lectures by the faculty staffs in pdf format. However, narrated Power Points that have a small volume and their electronic transmission also consumes little internet are useful for students (Mohmmed et al., 2020).

On the other hand, online resources such as educational websites, telegram channels, Facebook, WhatsApp groups, etc. have been welcomed by veterinary students to study anatomy during Covid‐19 (Mahdy & Sayed, 2022). Internet applications and web‐based sources are available on mobile and other electronic devices and have been adapted for using in health sciences and medicine education (Vancouver Reference Style). These are popular with the new generation, also known as the digital generation, and tend to be used in educational curriculum (DiLullo et al., 2011). In an international survey, although the use of electronic resources for veterinary education has been estimated to increase, significant geographical differences have been identified in the use of these facilities. It has been mention that for using online learning resources effectively, the faculty must include theses sources in the curriculum and introduce to students and encourage them to use it (Gledhill et al., 2017). Since advanced 3D visualisation software are not available in Iranian veterinary faculties (except for free online ones), they are not among the main sources of students' study. However using group online communication platforms operated by staffs can be effective for sharing learning resources as well as increasing student interactions (Zarcone & Saverino, 2022).

For the practical part of anatomy, the professor's dissection videos are the most important resource available to veterinary students in Iran. In general, the combination of words (spoken) and images (videos) plays an important role in learning, and therefore dissection videos are widely used in teaching anatomy (Golenhofen et al., 2020; Nation et al., 2020). In addition, these videos seem to be effective for three‐dimensional visualisation of the structures and their relationships during the pause of dissection classes in lockdown period. To reduce the effects of online education on practical part of veterinary anatomy, peer learning using dissection videos was introduced during Covid era, which has been accompanied by the positive opinion of students (Sadeghinezhad, 2022). The use of YouTube or Aparat videos (similar to YouTube) by Iranian veterinary students is low (29.5%) for studying practical anatomy. This is while, social media like YouTube has been introduced as a useful tool for teaching veterinary and medical anatomy due to its availability and popularity (Barry et al., 2016; Mahdy & Ewaida, 2022). So, it is suggested that YouTube channels be launched by faculty and dissection videos be uploaded for students to use (Mahdy & Sayed, 2022). It is noteworthy that half of the students stated that there was no suitable source for the dissection, and that some faculties did not have a program for dissection during the Covid period in their curricula. This suggests that dissection remains a challenge in online anatomy education (Cheng et al., 2021). However, it should be noted that the rapid shift from ordinary to virtual education, especially in developing countries that did not already have experience with E‐learning, has prevented faculty from providing new resources (Parkes & Barrs, 2021; Patra et al., 2021a).

The present study showed that around 73% and 48% of students, respectively, used laptops and smartphones alone or with other devices for online education. In the international survey, laptops and mobile phones were also reported to be the most used tools by veterinary students (Gledhill et al., 2017). In India, most medical and dental students (81%) used cell phones, and 13% (18%) used lipsticks (Singal et al., 2021). Majority of veterinary students at Egyptian universities (80%) also used smartphones to learn anatomy online (Mahdy & Sayed, 2022). The extent to which these electronic devices are used is important for designing online learning resources and ensuring that students receive them correctly (Gledhill et al., 2017).

As expected from the new generation, most students (69.3%) were skilled in using technology. Most Egyptian veterinary students (64%) (Mahdy & Sayed, 2022) and Indian medical and dental students (74%) (Singal et al., 2021) were also comfortable using the technology. Students' skills in using technology play an important role in online education and students who do not have enough knowledge in this field are deprived of its benefits (Totlis et al., 2021).

Around 64% of students considered the online assessment method appropriate for assessing anatomy knowledge. In general, this issue is one of the major challenges that anatomy professors face in the Covid‐19 period (Singal et al., 2021). In Iranian universities, online exams are set on the university platform and questions are made available to students within a limited time frame, and after the exam, the answers are evaluated by professors. Despite the time limitation and the presentation of random questions from the question bank, it still does not seem to be effective in preventing cheating. So students may feel that some students are taking the exam honestly by their own but some are getting help from books or other resources (Singal et al., 2021). Available information indicates that course grades in some universities have increased with online exams, but it is not clear whether this was due to improved student knowledge or possible exam cheating (Gonzalez et al., 2020; Iglesias‐Pradas et al., 2021; Wilhelm et al., 2021). On the other hand, it is difficult to assess students' ability to identify anatomical structures with online exams, and as a result, practical online anatomy exams have been discontinued at some universities (Cheng et al., 2021). However, the use of a remote proctoring software and oral examinations using telephone or video conferencing software are recommended (Byrnes et al., 2021; Gupta et al., 2020; Lewis, 2020).

The challenges mentioned by students in relation to online anatomy education can be divided into four categories based on the previous classification (Pather et al., 2020): challenges for staff, students, resources and curriculum.

The most important problem for students in relation to online anatomy classes was the lack of dissection as mentioned in different studies including veterinary anatomy field (Choudhary, 2021b; Gaur et al., 2020; Kelsey et al., 2020; Mahdy & Sayed, 2022; Mukhtar et al., 2020; Singal et al., 2021; Shahrvini et al., 2021; Wilhelm et al., 2021). Lack of practical sessions has been cited as the most important challenge in online anatomy education by veterinary students in a global survey (Mahdy & Ewaida, 2022). An important factor in learning anatomy is the three‐dimensional perception of structures that even the use of online resources (3D models, simulations etc.) cannot replace ordinary teaching based on dissection (Azer & Eizenberg, 2007; Ross et al., 2020). On the other hand, the physical touch of the specimens in the dissection room helps the students to gain practical experience, which increases their skills and professionalism (Aziz et al., 2002). These ‘hidden curriculum’ provided by the dissection laboratories are not easily transmitted through the computer‐based methods (Wilhelm et al., 2021). It seems that the students in this study believed that they were not prepared for a future job due to the lack of a practical class (Kumar Ghosh & Kumar, 2019).

Students also complained about lack of interaction in E‐learning. Inadequate direct student‐teacher interaction has been noted in online education (Mahdy & Sayed, 2022; Wallace, 2003; Wilhelm et al., 2021). Therefore, inability to focus on screen for a long time has been mentioned as one of the biggest challenges of online learning in veterinary anatomy (Choudhary, 2021a). This distance learning environment and the physical absence of the educator and learner cause adverse effects on learning and may affect students' motivation (Singal et al., 2021). In addition, the real‐life campus environment is important for students and there is no virtual alternative to campus activities (Singal et al., 2021). Therefore, students may feel more isolated in the virtual learning environment without eye contact with the professor (Totlis et al., 2021). Coherently, a decrease in motivation and a sense of isolation can be seen in students' comments in this study and other similar surveys (Attardi et al., 2016; Longhurst et al., 2020; Mahdy & Sayed, 2022; Singal et al., 2021; Wilhelm et al., 2021). To address these issues, group learning activities provided in the online communication platforms have been proposed (Mejia, 2020; Poston et al., 2020; Zarcone & Saverino, 2022). In fact, commenting, sharing and monitoring students by professors can stimulate the attention of students and promote their sense of connectedness (Wilhelm et al., 2021). In this way, receiving feedback that was of interest to the surveyed students also provides and can lead to an increase in students' performance (Wang & Wu, 2008).

Moreover, students were dissatisfied with the internet and the university platform. In previous studies, the internet‐related issues (internet connection, availability of technical assistance and quality of the online program of the lectures) have been identified as a challenge in online learning of human and veterinary anatomy during the Covid‐19 era (Choudhary, 2021a; Mahdy & Sayed, 2022; Totlis et al., 2021). Internet is the main facilitator in online learning and all influential factors such as technology, E‐learning platform and pedagogy must be integrated effectively (Evans et al., 2020).

However, several benefits of online education were also mentioned in the comments of students. In their view, time management was the most important benefit of online anatomy education. Reducing time constraints on students in online learning provides time management skills, self‐paced learning and more study time for students (Wilhelm et al., 2021). Time management during Covid‐19 has been praised by medical students at the University of Genoa for not moving from home to university and doing other social activities (Zarcone & Saverino, 2022). Since students can attend classes from home or any place of choice, they have more chances to participate in classes, and it was considered as one of the strengths of online education in veterinary anatomy field (Choudhary, 2021a). In contrast, time has been cited as one of the major challenges for British and Irish anatomists due to the preparation of new online resources in response to Covid‐19 (Longhurst et al., 2020).

Students in this survey highly valued the availability of recorded lectures during online learning. It has been found that the effect of recorded and online lectures on students' anatomical learning satisfaction is the same (Totlis et al., 2021). Students can listen to the lesson several times, pause the video at their own discretion and move it forward or backward. All of this makes the online method more flexible and students can use it anywhere, anytime, so students seem to enjoy it globally (Cuschieri & Calleja Agius, 2020; Kelsey et al., 2020; Shahrvini et al., 2021; Singal et al., 2021; Wilhelm et al., 2021; Zarcone & Saverino, 2022).

Students also mentioned learning new technologies as important advantages of online education. Development of new online resources and exploitation of new technologies have already been mentioned as an achievement of online education (Zarcone & Saverino, 2022). The use of technology in anatomy has increased (Iwanaga et al., 2021) and students' skills could significantly contribute to learning anatomy during Covid‐19 and even after pandemic.

4.1. Limitations of the study

This study has some limitations. Students' stress during Covid‐19 was not included in the questionnaire in this study and therefore students' opinions may have been affected. The questionnaire link was sent to students online, mainly through WhatsApp, and not all students may have access to it. Another limitation of this study is that the students ‘opinions were taken into account and the professors’ opinions were not included. In addition, since online training in veterinary anatomy in Iran has been ongoing since the beginning of the pandemic, only first‐ and second‐year students who learned anatomy online were surveyed and no comparison was made with the opinions of students who learned anatomy in person.

5. CONCLUSION

This study was conducted for the first time at the national level in Iran to evaluate the online veterinary anatomy learning based on students' opinions. The results of this study are significant because there was no previous experience of using online veterinary anatomy training in Iran. In addition, this information can be useful for deciding on the veterinary anatomy education strategy in the future.

The present study showed that online education cannot replace face‐to‐face education in anatomy. The online lecture can be used along ordinary training as an additional educational tool. However, group learning activities provided in the online communication platforms is suggested for online lectures during Covid‐19. Synchronous online teaching as well as recording lectures are recommended during pandemic. Recorded lectures can be used in the future for students with mobility difficulties, students who live away from campus or international students. There is no suitable alternative to practical anatomy training and dissection should be relaunched in anatomy halls after Covid era. Three‐dimensional models and software can be an effective support for anatomy learning and should be strengthened with the advancement of technology and increasing students' skills.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

J.S.: concept/design, acquisition of data, data analysis/interpretation, drafting of the manuscript, critical revision and approval of the manuscript.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

FUNDING INFORMATION

This research did not receive any specific funding.

ETHICS STATEMENT

This study was approved by the scientific research ethics committee of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of University of Tehran (number: IR.UT.VETMED.REC.1401.001). In this study, the completion of the questionnaire by students was completely voluntary and anonymous. The purpose of the study was clearly stated at the beginning of the questionnaire and information was provided about both the anonymous and optional nature of the survey.

PEER REVIEW

The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1002/vms3.1123.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author thanks all the students who completed the survey. Prof. Shojaei, Prof. Ranjbar, Prof. Nazem, Prof. Goodarzi, Prof. Nabipour, Prof. Akbari, Prof. Baharami and Prof. Kamali are also thanked for supporting this survey.

Sadeghinezhad, J. (2023). Online veterinary anatomy education during Covid‐19 pandemic in Iran: Challenges and opportunities. Veterinary Medicine and Science, 9, 1869–1880. 10.1002/vms3.1123

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data the support the findings of this study are available from corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Associated Data

This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

Data Availability Statement

The data the support the findings of this study are available from corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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