I started teaching veterinary anatomy 25 years ago, and to stay focused and effective as a teacher, I've embraced two main objectives. First, to provide an effective and efficient way for students to learn foundational critical information that is adequate and extensive enough to elevate them to higher levels within their future coursework. Secondly, to ensure the students sufficiently grasp the content to transfer their knowledge to novel scenarios and confidently discuss concepts with others, thus encouraging the growth of the class as a whole.

Throughout my teaching career, I have seen a trend in reducing contact time while maintaining very high curricular standards. In response, I embraced the changing technology, the different academic journeys of recent students versus those 20 years ago, and the new insights in academia by crafting a novel and creative delivery style and system for sometimes mundane but critical information. Traditionally, students were woefully underprepared before class. It became evident that to do the same amount of instruction in less time, the students would have to prepare for lab and lecture before class. My primary approach to encourage pre-class readiness was initiating preparatory quizzes given before lectures and labs. I assigned readings from the current textbooks and quizzed students at the start of each lecture and lab. While students did not mind taking quizzes, their current textbook was cram-packed with too much information; they were excellent reference books, not a clear introduction to anatomy.

My instinct to this challenge was to replace these books with a better source to introduce anatomy concepts for beginning anatomy students. I started to generate organized and cumulative introductory materials for each topic, streamlining their preparation for their quizzes, for our class discussions, and ultimately their grasp of anatomy. The basics available to me at that time were posting tidbits on the current LMS and making my slides available at the library. These limited delivery systems were frustrating to both the students and me, especially for more extensive diagrams and graphics which could only be shared using compressed files that some students could not open. I worked with an incredibly talented programmer who created a personalized teaching platform to design web-based exercises and quizzes. The program allowed me to produce and deliver controlled, concise, and interactive concepts, followed by an electronic quiz that was automatically submitted upon completion, making each anatomy step an active lesson. The platform's data collection allowed me to see each student's progress and the efficacy of each question. The beauty of the web-based Active Lesson is that if a student does not have thorough comprehension, they can go back and read through the material and re-take the quiz without penalty. The quizzes incorporate a variety of methodologies, including visual cues, word definitions, drawing, and interactive hot spots enabling the students to use and transfer the main ideas. These assigned lessons and quizzes were to be completed before class and prepare the students for a time-stamped graded quiz at the beginning of class. I saw an immediate increase in participation and engagement during lectures, pre-lab presentations, and within the student lab groups themselves. Rather than hearing "What are we dissecting?" I listen to comments like, "These muscles look just like the images in our quiz." In addition, the questions I received during lectures and lab were much more in-depth and contained a much stronger factual base. Both the students and I felt more productive, and the straightforward and efficient content delivery increased their overall anatomy comprehension. Ultimately, the exam study was essentially review. An unexpected and empowering aspect of the Active Lesson was that students gave input about what they thought worked best and highlighted confusing topics which needed more detailed descriptions. It became clear that students using this approach were better prepared for lectures and lab than students using the more traditional method of reading a textbook. I confirmed my anecdotal observations with a published manuscript demonstrating my approach of delivering web-based, interactive concepts combined with active retrieval exercises enhanced the initial learning of anatomy instead of traditional resources

Student response to the Active Lesson platform has been highly favorable. Annually, I survey the students to rate the veterinary anatomy application on a scale from 1 (ineffective) to 5 (vital) with a series of questions, including "Did the veterinary anatomy application help you learn anatomy?" Ninety-five percent of the students consistently gave it a 5 ranking, and the other five gave it a 4

In addition to my anatomy applications, Active Lesson LLC has multiple instructors who have created their own interactive web-based educational courses, ranging from human anatomy, veterinary orthopedic surgery, athletic training, biology, and technology. Many of the instructors emphasized that using the platform keeps them organized and fresh within their field.

My teaching philosophy is a direct result of my main teaching objectives. In every area, I provide an effective and efficient way for students to learn critical information, motivate them to transfer this material to higher levels, and encourage them to have the confidence to share what they know with others. In turn, I enjoy watching my students as they develop their confidence and vision, not only during their initial introduction to anatomy but throughout veterinary school.