Veterinary anatomy teaching from real to virtual reality: An unprecedented shift during COVID-19 in socially distant era

Abstract

Teaching Veterinary Anatomy in a virtual world is an utmost requirement of the ongoing era of COVID-19 pandemic. Due to sudden lockdown, all the educational institutes, professional medical and veterinary colleges were closed (except emergency services) and academic activities were suspended altogether. This situation was challenging as well as thought-provoking for various academicians and professors to rethink about the means to keep the conduit of imparting education unceasing. This review focuses on the virtual reality aids that are being adopted worldwide and the initiatives taken by academicians during this era to impart best practical anatomy lessons yet being in a socially distant world. However, during the lockdown and social distancing, face-to face interactions were not feasible, and therefore, number of distant learning methods were created on virtual platforms for continuing the process of teaching veterinary anatomy closer to reality available at their doorsteps where academic staff was actively involved to reconstruct and renovate resources, upgraded their digital competencies to develop new ways to shift from one on one and merged to remote online teaching, and anatomy teaching was transformed to an abrupt ‘virtual mode’. Adopting virtual reality (VR) aids such as 3D animations, software packages, virtual dissections and E-museum serves as a great saviour throughout this unprecedented pandemic in a socially distant world to continue the teaching connexion.