title: The effectiveness of an interactive 3-dimensional computer graphics model for medical education.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medical students often have difficulty achieving a conceptual understanding of 3-dimensional (3D) anatomy, such as bone alignment, muscles, and complex movements, from 2-dimensional (2D) images. To this end, animated and interactive 3-dimensional computer graphics (3DCG) can provide better visual information to users. In medical fields, research on the advantages of 3DCG in medical education is relatively new.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the educational effectiveness of interactive 3DCG.
  
  
  METHODS
  We divided 100 participants (27 men, mean (SD) age 17.9 (0.6) years, and 73 women, mean (SD) age 18.1 (1.1) years) from the Health Sciences University of Mongolia (HSUM) into 3DCG (n = 50) and textbook-only (control) (n = 50) groups. The control group used a textbook and 2D images, while the 3DCG group was trained to use the interactive 3DCG shoulder model in addition to a textbook. We conducted a questionnaire survey via an encrypted satellite network between HSUM and Tokushima University. The questionnaire was scored on a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree (score 1) to strongly agree (score 5).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Interactive 3DCG was effective in undergraduate medical education. Specifically, there was a significant difference in mean (SD) scores between the 3DCG and control groups in their response to questionnaire items regarding content (4.26 (0.69) vs 3.85 (0.68), P = .001) and teaching methods (4.33 (0.65) vs 3.74 (0.79), P < .001), but no significant difference in the Web category. Participants also provided meaningful comments on the advantages of interactive 3DCG.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Interactive 3DCG materials have positive effects on medical education when properly integrated into conventional education. In particular, our results suggest that interactive 3DCG is more efficient than textbooks alone in medical education and can motivate students to understand complex anatomical structures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics, Institute of Health Biosciences, University of Tokushima graduate school, Tokushima, Japan. bayanmunkh.b@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bayanmunkh
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Battulga
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Konishi
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moriguchi
keywords: Medical education; Web-based learning management system; educational effectiveness; electronic health information; interactive 3D CG; satellite network