Centre for Medical Education

Dear Students,

This is an invitation to participate in a study being undertaken by Dr Eva Sweeney, an academic in the Centre for Biomedical Sciences Education and Quitterie Lamort de Gail, a medical student and former Clinical Anatomy Master’s student. This study aims to compare the effectiveness of 3D virtual resources and 3D printed anatomical models as learning resources in anatomy teaching.

The session will involve a short knowledge-based test before viewing the resources, and another similar test after viewing them. This session will serve as a learning opportunity to review, build on, or learn about different anatomical structures of the human body. Participation in the study is voluntary. 

• The session will take place in the Histology Lab (MBC/0G/314) on the ground floor of the MBC from 10.20am – 12.20am on Saturday 28th February 2026. The optional focus group would take place directly after the session in the adjoining room, MBC/0G/310. If you would like to attend the session please submit your name and email via this form: https://forms.office.com/e/tRNyD6DCkD

The knowledge tests will both take 20 minutes, participants will then have 50 minutes to view and use the learning resources. You will be randomly allocated to a circuit: Circuit X will interact with 5 virtual models (A, B, C, D, E) and 5 printed (F, G, H, I, J) models, while Circuit Y will interact with the same models in the opposite modality (ABCDE as printed models and FGHIJ as virtual models). All resources will be available to view freely at the end. At the end of the learning session, you will be invited to complete a second knowledge test (20 mins) and a
short anonymous questionnaire (10 mins) to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning resources you were provided.

You will also be invited to participate in an optional focus group lasting around 30 minutes following the session to share in depth feedback and ideas for improvement. This focus group will be audio recorded for the purpose of evaluation; however it should be noted that all data collected will be anonymised and participation is voluntary.   

To anonymise your data, you will be given a numerical code which will allow the researchers to match your pre and post test scores and your evaluation survey. The key to this code will be kept by the lead investigator and not shared with the student investigators.  

Printed versions of the participant information form and consent form will be available on the day but if you wish to read them in advance you can view them here: subject information sheet and consent form.

Please feel free to contact me using the below details if you have any questions about the study.

Sincerely,
Eva Sweeney, PhD

Centre for Biomedical Sciences Education
School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science
Queen’s University Belfast
Whitla Medical Building
97 Lisburn Rd,
Belfast BT9 7BL
Ph: +44 (0)28 90 97 Ext. 5703
Email: e.sweeney@qub.ac.uk