Augmented Reality for the Study of Human Heart Anatomy

Augmented reality is increasingly applied in medical education mainly because educators can share knowledge through virtual objects. This research describes the development of a web application, which enhances users' medical knowledge with regards to the anatomy of the human heart by means of augmented reality. Evaluation is conducted in two different facets. In the first one, the authors of this paper evaluate the feasibility of a three-dimensional human heart module using one investigator under the supervision of an expert. In the second, evaluation aims at identifying usability issues by means of the cognitive walkthrough method. Three medical students (naive users) are called upon three target tasks in the web application. Task completion is appreciated in the light of the standard set of cognitive walkthrough questions. Augmented reality content miss hits are revealed by means of the first evaluation in an effort to enhance the educational utility of the three-dimensional human heart. Cognitive walkthrough provides further improvement points, which may further enhance usability in the next software release. The current piece of work constitutes the pre-pilot evaluation. Standardized methodologies are utilized in an effort to improve the application before its wider piloting to proper student populations. Such evaluations are considered important in experiential learning methods aiding online education of anatomy courses.