Interactive, Illustrative Video to Improve Student Retention and Comprehension of Sympathetic Autonomic Pathways and Effects

The autonomic nervous system is always a dreaded, but critical lecture for medical and health professional students, due to its seemingly complex pathways and convoluted delivery. In the context of our current technology‐centric student culture, we need new ways to deliver information effectively and succinctly to students and professionals alike without over‐simplifying content. We developed a video that creates an easy to follow schematic of the sympathetic nervous system. However, in attempt to address the diversity of student learning styles, we expanded upon our original audiovisual approach to a multi‐method design. Videos are a passive activity, but the best learning outcomes seem to derive from incorporating a myriad of learning strategies. Therefore in addition to the video we included a printable outline of the drawings to allow students to actively follow along as they listen to the video. This makes it a visual, auditory and kinetic learning experience, which we believe will improve students’ comprehension and retention. Data on its efficacy and reception will be collected both qualitatively and quantitatively in the next few months. This will be achieved through the distribution of pre and post‐viewing surveys, assessing students’ confidence as well as quantitative quizzes that will test changes in subject comprehension. The first video will represent our pilot project to establish a video series starting with autonomics and then addressing other difficult concepts in anatomy at the medical professional education level.