Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan;18(1):48-58.
doi: 10.1002/ase.2532. Epub 2024 Nov 21.

Teaching human anatomy before during and after COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study on kinesiology students' performance, cognitive load, and congruent embodied learning

Rawad Chaker  1 , Mélanie Gallot  2 , Ayodélé Madi  1   2 , Christian Collet  2 , Nady Hoyek  2
Affiliations

Teaching human anatomy before during and after COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study on kinesiology students' performance, cognitive load, and congruent embodied learning

Rawad Chaker et al. Anat Sci Educ. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, anatomy educators have demonstrated their ability to respond to face-to-face (F2F) teaching restrictions and offer emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) approach. Another educational model that was intensified during COVID-19 was blended learning (BL) which is a combination of F2F and online settings. Studies on the effects of the methods employed during COVID-19 pandemic on anatomy students' learning outcomes are sparse and show slightly similar but nuanced results. There is poor evidence on how the transition to online-only or to BL in response to COVID-19 impacted anatomy students' performance, cognitive load, and embodied learning. The main aim of this longitudinal study is to evaluate the effectiveness of ERTL and BL on anatomy performance in kinesiology students. The second aim of this study was to better understand students' performance in terms of cognitive load embodied learning, and the use of 3D digital tools. The results indicate no significant differences between F2F and ERTL students' performance. However, the results yielded significantly better performance for the BL students in comparison with both F2F (p = 0.001) and ERTL cohort (p = 0.001). The rapid transition to online-only teaching and learning neither enhanced nor deteriorated students' performance. The BL modality appears to be the most efficient. Learning outcomes were discussed in relation to cognitive load, embodied learning, and the use of 3D digital tools.

Keywords: Covid‐19; anatomy; blended learning; cognitive load; embodiment.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Bozkurt A, Jung I, Xiao J, Vladimirschi V, Schuwer R, Egorov G, et al. A global outlook to the interruption of education due to COVID‐19 pandemic: navigating in a time of uncertainty and crisis. Asian J Dist Educ. 2020;15(1):1–126.
    1. Ashraf MA, Yang M, Zhang Y, Denden M, Tlili A, Liu J, et al. A systematic review of systematic reviews on blended learning: trends, gaps and future directions. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2021;14:1525–1541.
    1. Müller C, Mildenberger T. Facilitating flexible learning by replacing classroom time with an online learning environment: a systematic review of blended learning in higher education. Educ Res Rev. 2021;34:100394.
    1. Raes A, Detienne L, Windey I, Depaepe F. A systematic literature review on synchronous hybrid learning: gaps identified. Learn Environ Res. 2020;23:269–290.
    1. Rasheed RA, Kamsin A, Abdullah NA. Challenges in the online component of blended learning: a systematic review. Comput Educ. 2020;144:103701.

LinkOut - more resources