• Programme: Bachelor of Science in Medicine, Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences, Bachelor of Science in Dentistry, Bachelor of Science in Speech Language and Hearing Sciences, Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and Movement Sciences
• Standard learning track year: -
• Course unit(s): Anatomy
• Aerage number of students: GNK = 450, REVAKI = 750, BMW = 150, Tandheelkunde = 60, Logopedie en audiologische wetenschappen = 150, LO = 200
• Involved lecturer(s): Joris.vandevelde@ugent.be, Emmanuel.audenaert@ugent.be, vicky.vandenbossche@ugent.be, wouter.willaert@ugent.be
• Academic year of (first) implementation: 2022-2023

Description

Under the impetus of Prof Emmanuel Audenaert, the tool 'Opanex' was developed at the Department of Human Structure and Recovery. The foundations were laid during a collaboration with a Norwegian faculty, after which the tool was made ready for use by IDLab through the APOLLO 8 project. Eventually, Opanex will become open-source and made available via GitHub. Although Opanex stands for 'Open Anatomy Explorer' and was thus developed primarily for applications within anatomy education, the tool lends itself equally well to similar applications within other disciplines.

Opanex provides an answer to two challenges. On the one hand, there is the increasing number of students in anatomy practicals: as much as 700 students are involved in the medicine programme alone. On the other hand, similar existing tools often use schematic representation and artificial colours, making it difficult for students to recognise the structures when they subsequently enter the dissection room. By providing anatomy models digitally and being able to edit them yourself, both problems can be remedied in the future.

Opanex is a visualisation platform that offers the following functionalities:

• Import and export own models (including labels) or existing 3D models (e.g. from SketchFab), this way also allowing collaboration with other universities.
• Visualising, rotating and zooming in 3D
• Adding labels and colouring regions
• A quizzing tool, where students have to name a region or, given the name, colour the region themselves.

To build a library of 3D models, the department can count on the voluntary commitment of a large and well-organised group of students.

What Opanex looks like is shown in this one-minute video.

Also, on the education tip of the 'Virtual Science Labs' project, you will find the accompanying manuals under 'Opanex'. If you have any questions about Opanex or the accompanying support, please contact Vicky Vandenbossche.

Recording

The recording of the presentation on Opanex given at the revisionday of the "Virtual Science Labs" project can be found here.