Ask an Anatomist: Our experience of using Office365 forms as a channel for questions for medical students learning anatomy remotely

Introduction: During COVID-19, medical anatomy has undergone significant change, with most delivery taking place asynchronously online. A challenge with this change has been a decrease in the time available for students to ask questions. We share our experience of using an Office365 form as a channel for students to ask questions during CBL anatomy teaching for year 1 and 2 of the MBChB programme in 2020-21.
Method: An Office365 form was set up with branching connections for the questions for year 1 and 2 groups. The form gave students the opportunity to give feedback and was open throughout teaching delivery. Student queries were reviewed by a member of the medical anatomy teaching team and either answered by email, or anonymised and answered in a round-up presentation at the end of each case cycle for the whole cohort.
Results: 92 questions were submitted through the form, two-thirds from year 1 students. Questions were received across all cases for both groups. There was a substantial drop in the number of questions after the first case. Themes included questions about challenging concepts, level of expected learning and where to find information. Feedback was positive about anatomy content and highlighted a desire for live anatomy sessions.
Conclusion: Our experience shows this is a successful method for collecting student questions and helps us to offer advice and support. Moving forward we want to investigate how to improve the uptake of the use of this form, so that more students benefit from having their questions answered.