The end of any Professional education is the attainment of sufficient knowledge with appropriate action. A health professional is wise but unable to act means he/she is a defective product. This awareness has resulted in the shifting of
a-Passive teaching to active learning.
b-Transmission of biomedical knowledge to development of professional skills & attitude
c-Verbal media- to Audiovisual media.
One of the vital components of the interaction between the Teacher & the taught is effective communication which is at present achieved through the development of audio-visual computer technologies to the extent of making self learning modules for the students.
The medical education technology is so advanced through virtual reality -ie- computer based -3D interactive program. Computers, the 5th major revolution in education have become obiquitous today - seen in every walks of life ,especially the computers with multimedia capacity -added with sound ,animation & 3D video. Eg- the effect on the student of 3D image of the internal ear, or animation of heart valve functioning
Traditional animation is to create images which show an object in a movement & to direct us to think as if it moves by the help of playing these sequence of hand - painted images one after another at a high speed ( 14-30 /sec)
2D - Computer animation
Digital drawings are made on a computer screen in adobe photoshop or hand - drawn/ printed diagrams are scanned in computer .All the simulated tools are available in the tool option - pencil,rubber,paint,brush etc.
3D- Computer Animation
In projecting a 2D picture one after another which are rendered by means of width ,length, depth, in the space supplied by computer software. The user's commands - the computer calculates the details like movement, color, light,& perspective of objects on the created visual stage accurately & gives the outcome as as in image ,using sound music ,effects, that support the image can take the animation to it's goal so easily
General Advantages
1- In the movie field
2- TV educational programs
3- Medical education
a- for health care professional
b- for Medical & allied health science students
c- for health care education of patients regarding various procedures
d- Mass media health education program
e- Medical website design & development
Medical Animations in Macromedia Flash format
1- Flash media is available in most of the computer systems
2- The file size is very small- it opens quickly.
3- It can be made interactive
Medical Animations are available
To demonstrate
a- Human anatomy
b- Physiology
c- Genesis of pathological lesions
d- Signs & symptoms of illness
e- Various Surgical techniques & procedures
f- Principles of various investigations & interpretations of results
Advantages
a- Animation has an important role in Medical education along with its unique value of grasping
b- It makes the unseen visible, making the abstract thoughts concrete, very close to the real appearance eg:- the blood cells flowing in the circulation ,the fluid dynamics inside a working heart.
c- Most animations are simple smooth & easily understood -have direct influence on the learning & understanding skills, since it has the motion features ,the events that can not be filmed with camera in real life is shown step by step -Eg- the blood clotting mechanism .
d- It helps to attract the audience by giving a richer expression in an ordinary way
e- We can replace a real narrator using the animated image.
f- The whole thing can be reproduced at any time any place using the CD .
g- For the students ,the digital class,the animations in terms of visuality , attractiveness, arousing attention,easiness in perception makes the learning so effective .
Problems & Limitations
a-It is inadequate for a candidate to develop psychomotor skill through virtual reality
b-All topics cannot be taught with this .
c-Producing an animation is quite tedious, time consuming .
d-Faculty involvement in the class room is little .
Conclusion
However the Medical animations are having its wide applications among Health care Professionals, all students of Medical/Dental/Nursing/Pharmacy & Allied paramedical courses, all Hospitals ,Private practitioners , Medical representatives
etc.
