Digitalization in education during the COVID-19 pandemic: emergency distance anatomy education

PURPOSE: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the distance education method started to be applied to prevent the interruption of education in universities. Anatomy education given to students who will serve in the field of health has also been transferred to the online method in this digitization process. The aim of the study was to evaluate the emergency distance anatomy education by taking the feedback of the students of the health services vocational school and to make changes and regulations that will increase the quality of education. METHODS: In the study, a questionnaire was applied to Harran University Health Services Vocational School students. The link address of the online survey (prepared 5-point Likert scale) form was shared with the volunteers. SPSS 20.0 was performed for the statistical analyses. RESULTS: A total of 75.6% of the volunteers participated in the study stated that they preferred face-to-face anatomy education to distance anatomy education. 63.3% of the volunteers stated that distance anatomy education provides flexibility and time saving, 65.5% of them provide the opportunity to learn at their own learning pace. 63.1% of the participants stated that they could not get their attention due to not being in the classroom environment. CONCLUSION: To increase the efficiency and quality of distance anatomy education for students studying in the field of health, it is necessary to take into account the feedback received from the students and to make adjustments in the curriculum and content by considering the feedback.