Serving Learners and Educators Worldwide: The Michigan Histology Website as an Example for a Free Anatomical Resource.

ABSTRACT

With anatomical education becoming a global endeavor, free online resources offered via the internet or other electronic venues are of increasing importance for teaching and learning communities worldwide. Students and instructors from developing countries, often limited in access to modern instructional resources by infrastructural and financial constraints, are frequent users of such online learning tools. During the recent Covid-19 pandemic when all academic institutions were forced to quickly switch to a non-contact mode of teaching, free online instructional resources were often essential for continuing the educational mission. However, there are a number of obstacles and issues that need to be considered when creating and offering such learning resources. These include the type, quality, and completeness of the content, their educational purpose, access to technical and financial resources, copyright and ethical issues, and more. Educators, who plan to generate and maintain free online resources, should also be aware that such projects usually require a considerable long-term time commitment. In this paper, these issues are discussed using the Michigan Histology website as an example. The discussion also addresses how e-learning resources like the Michigan Histology website supported online learning during the recent Covid-19 pandemic.