DEV2022: Human anatomy and development: Tissues and body systems

10 x practical assessment (2.5% each; 25% total)
8 of the 10 assessments were related to the wet and online pracs, and came in the form of Moodle quizzes. What I really liked about the organisation of these quizzes were that the wet and online pracs were paired based on topics (introduction to anatomy, musculoskeletal, heart/lung, neuroanatomy/special senses), and each pair of associated Moodle quizzes were opened for a 2 week block. Therefore, we were able to view the questions before we came to class, and also given plenty of time to complete the assessments. The quizzes themselves were either MCQ/dropdown or short answer. Some questions required that you do some reading or watch a video first. Some questions were also quite specific, so be sure to read your lecture and practical notes carefully, and look through other resources where needed. The wet practical assessments would only be marked if you got your attendance marked off by your demonstrator at the associated practical class. For wet pracs, the quiz questions were mostly based off the answers to worksheets we filled out during class, and the answers to these worksheets were uploaded after the quizzes had closed. The answers and marks for the online practical were released immediately once the quizzes had closed, and the answers and marks for the wet practical assessment was usually returned within a week.

The other assessments were a case study, and an anatomical flag race, each worth 2.5%. The case study involved breaking the class up into smaller tutorial groups, and we would then work in smaller groups of 2-4 to read through the case study of a patient, answer related questions, and present our findings and answers back to the class in the form of an 8-minute oral presentation. My main annoyance with this assessment was that while we were given the (blank) assessment rubric, the only feedback received was in the form of a numerical mark, with no feedback. The final assessment for the semester was an anatomical flag race. Students were assigned to stations around the practical room (in groups of 1-2), and each station would have an anatomical specimen or model, with 1-3 associated MCQs. We were given 1 minute at each station to answer the questions, after which a buzzer sounded, and we were required to move to the next station. This repeated for around 40 minutes (with a total of 67 MCQs), and was quite stressful, since once you moved onto a different station, you couldn't return and reconsider your previous answers. To help us, we were also allowed a double-sided, handwritten A4 cheat sheet - be sure to take advantage to this! A numerical grade was provided for this assessment.

Mid-semester test (25%)
This was a 75 minute short-answer test based on lecture and practical content from weeks 1-7. This assessment is big - not much so in terms of the actual test itself, but more the 25% weighting on the test, so it's very important that you don't let this sneak up on you, and try your best to keep up to date with content. The test itself was relatively accessible and fair, and almost all students left early. The types of questions included extended multiple choice, one-word answer, true/false, and short response. Practise questions with answers were provided on Moodle for revision. A numerical mark was returned to us after around 4 weeks. Chantal also dicussed some of the commonly incorrect questions during the end of semester revision lecture, but we were not provided any specific feedback on our individual performance.

End of semester exam (50%)
The end of semester exam was 2 hours long, and consisted of 104 MCQs on all lecture and practical content. I also thought that the questions here were relatively fair and accessible, although there is a lot of content to know. It's also important to remember that all practical content is assessable, so I would recommend reviewing all of the practical quizzes from semester, as as well as review the practical notes. Around 50 practice questions were provided via a Moodle quiz. Hurdle of 45% (on the exam) to pass the unit.

This unit is the next step up from DEV2011, and focuses on the organogenesis of organ systems in the body. For each organ system studied in this unit, the lectures covered developmental, anatomical, and developmental pathological context. For example, with respect to the lungs, we learnt about how they develop, their anatomical features, and also how problems during foetal development can impact on lung development. These concepts were reinforced in practical classes.

The topics covered were:
1) Body Plan & Musculoskeletal - anatomical terminology, body plan, the limb, bone development and histology, paediatric developmental disorders (clinical), body wall
2) Trunk - Thorax & Skin - lung anatomy, histology, and development; cardiac anatomy, histology, and development; anatomical imaging; integumentary system (skin) development and histology; limb patterning and regrowth
3) Skull, Special Senses, & Neuroanatomy - nervous system anatomy, histology, and development; special senses (eye, ear, taste) and their development; skull anatomy and ontogeny

I personally found the content to be interesting. Consider this unit if you took (and liked) DEV2011 and are interested in human anatomy - particularly, how development can give rise to different organ systems.

- Dr Chantal Hoppe (unit-coordinator) - musculoskeletal and exam revision
- Dr Justin Adams - body plan and body wall
- Dr Julia Phillips - guest lecture on paediatric medicine and paediatric developmental disorders
- Prof John Bertram - bone development
- Emeritus Prof Richard Harding - lung anatomy and development
- Prof Jane Black - cardiovascular anatomy and development
- A/Prof Ian Smyth - integumentary system
- A/Prof Helen Abud - limb patterning and regeneration
- Dr Sonja McKeown - neuroanatomy and development
- Prof Paul McMenamin - special senses
- Dr Olga Panagiotopoulou - skull anatomy and ontogeny

No (as per faculty policy)

4.5 out of 5. Assessments straightforward and fair, and the unit was generally well organised. I also really appreciated the access to the vast array of resources, including the Human Anatomical Sciences Learning Resources Centre, and dissection room tours.

Yes, with screen capture. Live-streaming available via Panopto and Echo360.

- Recommended: General Anatomy: Principles & Applications by Eizenberg et al. This was supposedly the core textbook for this unit, although I personally did not use it. However, it was also complemented by an online resource called anatomedia (free access via Monash), which I did use, and was useful for me in completing the practical assessments.
- Human Embryology & Developmental Biology (5e) by Carlson. You might have this from DEV2011, and may be useful to you in this unit, as there is a significant amount of developmental content. I probably used this a handful of times throughout semester, and this text is also set as readings in some of the online pracs.
- Functional Histology (2e) by Kerr. Also from DEV2011. This unit also has a relatively significant amount of histology, so this text may also be useful to you. I don't think I used this for this unit.

Per week: 2 x 1-hour lectures, 1 x 2-hour wet practical class or online practical

This unit had fortnightly wet pracs, with every other week having an online practical (via Moodle). The first half of most wet pracs consisted of an animal tissue dissection relating to recently learnt content (including limb, heart/lung, and eye), with the second half involving the class splitting into groups and moving around between stations where demonstrators would guide us through a worksheet. The online pracs involved us going through videos and readings, and filling out a related quiz online.

Students were also given access to the Human Anatomical Sciences Learning Centre, where we would be able to view all the specimens used in practical classes and more for our revision and interest. We were also provided with opportunities to partake in weekly, voluntary dissection room tours, where a demonstrator would take us through the anatomy of a cadaveric specimen related to the content we were covering in class. These were especially interesting, as we were able to get a first hand look at human anatomy, and relate this back to what we learning in class.

Semester 2, 2018.
This unit is only available in Semester 2.

Not yet available

Overview
This is an absolutely superb unit in every way possible. The unit organisation and coordination was on-point, learning objectives were always clear and unambiguous, the lectures were all incredibly engaging, the labs were brilliant, really informative and fun and the teaching staff were of supremely high quality. I have absolutely no reservation in saying that DEV2022 is the best all-round unit offered by Monash.


Lectures
As above, the lecture series was - to me, anyway - some of the most interesting stuff I have ever studied before. Every lecturer was engaging and the subject material was perfectly aligned with my interests. Put it this way: Even with my very shitty lecture attendance, I was always keen to go to a DEV2022 lecture. In fact, the DEV2022 lectures have made up more than half of the lectures I've attended this year (lol).

One of the first things this unit did to get on my good side was, prior to the start of semester, to cancel one of the lectures scheduled each week. It just so happens that the cancelled lecture would have been my only 8am start. I will be forever grateful for just that .

This is at heart an anatomy course, though it integrates a lot of other stuff such as embryology and histology, and the unit has a fairly clinical focus (i.e. a lot of the labs are focused around pathologies and their anatomical basis).

The lecture series is broken up as such:

Nope. However, a practice Moodle quiz was available well in advance of the exam.

5 out of 5.

Yes, with screen capture.

Textbooks in this unit were fucking brilliant.
These are the ones that are officially prescribed or recommended for the unit:

• Functional Histology 2nd Edition - Jeffrey Kerr
• General Anatomy - Principles and Applications - Eizenberg, Briggs, Adams and Ahern
• Human Embryology and Developmental Biology 5th Edition - Carlson. You might have a copy of this from DEV2011.

However, on top of these I went and got myself a copy of Gray's Anatomy 40th Edition. I did this because a) I could get it for cheap and b) it is by far the most in-depth, comprehensive anatomy text available. As someone with a keen interest in anatomy, this text was a great reference for when I had questions beyond the scope of lectures, or when I wanted some extra explanations on any topic I didn't fully understand at first (*cough* foetal circulation *cough*).

As always, I find that the best way of getting hard-copy textbooks as cheap as possible (which usually isn't saying much) is to get the ISBN of the book and search for it at booko.com.au, which compares prices for you.

Sem 2, 2014

It was implied during prac class that good prac attendance can lead to a small "boosting" of your final mark, so that if you're on the border between two different letter grades, there is some chance that your final mark will end up on the higher of those two grades. I'm not sure if this actually happens or not.

Two online Moodle tests - 5% each (10%)
Oral presentation - 15%
Poster presentation - 5%
Mid-semester test - 20%Final exam - 50%

This subject is a prerequisite for 3rd year DEV units. Also, it's a prereq for Melbourne Med and Dent, if anyone wants such a thing.

It is about studying the anatomy of the human body, with a developmental viewpoint in mind. Firstly, we cover the most general anatomy of the body (anatomical terms, compartments of the body and limbs, general nerve innervation, extensor and flexor muscles, and the spinal vertebrae). Then we move onto the more focused anatomy, which takes in the skin, bones, thorax, lungs, heart, abdomen, gut, liver/pancreas/gallbladder, kidneys, nervous system and reproductive system. Yes, that sounds like a great deal of stuff. And it is (I'm sorry, there's no other way of putting this).

The anatomy we learn is less specific than what a person in a Medicine degree would study, for example. It is more about general concepts than learning about every single thing in the body. For example, when we consider a nerve plexus, we simply learn that certain divisions of the plexus will cause general types of movements, instead of learning what each of the divisions does specifically. We still look at things from a developmental perspective, however. This means that you're not really just memorising where everything fits in the body, but you learn about how the developmental processes lead to everything being in its 'proper place' in the adult. In addition, most lectures having a short section on congenital abnormalities, where development does not go as planned.

Jeff Kerr takes the majority of lectures. How he knows so much anatomy, I have absolutely no idea. He can give off the impression of being a "schoolmaster" type, and makes you feel like you're back in the classroom again (even our demonstrator agreed with this), but he is a very good lecturer who puts in the effort to explain many of the concepts we encounter in simple and logical terms. One thing about him is that he speaks fairly slowly (good if you like taking notes), and clears his throat a lot. The other lecturers are decent too. (I particularly like Ryan's quote, "I don't do lectures. Lectures are what your parents give you when you misbehave, and what they did to people in the Dark Ages who couldn't read.")

Remember how I said most weeks, we had 2 lectures? Well, it turns out that instead of a third lecture each week, we get these things called "SDLs", or Self-Directed Learning tasks. Basically, these consist of a series of pictures that have questions/labels for you to fill in, based on that week's lecture material. You then go and discuss the previous week's SDL in your lab class, where you get put in a group of around 20 or so students with one demonstrator. You're not expected to know how to fill everything in, but some demonstrators do try to encourage you to actually think about the question, rather than just telling you the answer. They're also a pretty good revision tool (more about this later).

The SDL discussion takes up the last hour of the three-hour labs. For the first two hours, usually there is a dissection of a particular organ to be done, along with answering questions based on posters, X-rays, specimens, etc. around the anatomy lab. You don't have to answer everything, and there are no marks attached to the actual pracs themselves, the pracs are just there to consolidate your knowledge, see some of the things in anatomy first-hand, and are a really good opportunity to talk to the demonstrators about any concepts you're struggling with. So even if you're not a big fan of dissection (I'm certainly not the most enthusiastic), there are good benefits to going, and you may just end up memorising one or two little facts or tricks (perhaps just by overhearing things or by osmosis) that will come in handy for assessments.

In terms of assessment, the Moodle tests are MCQ tests where you get shown a picture, and asked a question on it. They're not too bad if you have your lecture notes in front of you when you do them.

The oral presentation is where you get assigned a topic in Week 2, and you work with a partner to research and present a 10 minute talk/powerpoint presentation on your topic. These topics were fairly diverse, from frog morphogenesis, to muscle regeneration, to bone cells. After the talk, you get asked questions from your demonstrator and peers in your group. I did end up consulting my textbook for this presentation, as well as a number of scientific papers, so it's good for developing research skills. It was also somewhat interesting, and at 15% of your final mark, is definitely worth putting effort into.

The poster presentation is where you choose a poster topic to work on over the mid-semester break. This is more in-line with what was covered in lectures. You work together with a partner to design an A3 poster (handwritten/drawn) on your topic, and draw up the poster during the actual lab class itself. Most people did quite well on this one, and it's a good way to shore up your understanding of concepts. You don't really 'present' your poster, you just make it and hand it in. The best posters get prizes though

The midsemester test takes 75 minutes and has both an MCQ section (which again, is questions based off images they give you), and a written section (where you write an essay on an organ).The list of possible organs is given out beforehand, but you won't know which one you have to write on until you actually start the test. The images for the MCQ section are based on your SDLs, so this is why it's a good idea to at least attend the pracs so you know something about the images.

The final exam is like DEV2011; you have an MCQ section (AGAIN based on the SDLs . . . see what I'm getting at here? ), and three essay questions. For each essay question, you choose one topic out of 5 or so. So, your first essay will be on a topic from the first 1/3 of semester, your second from the second third of semester, and your third will be from the final third of semester. Before the exam, Jeff shows you all the past essay topics (so you can try to predict what will appear), and also publishes a 'shortlist' of images that the MCQ questions will be based on. I found that looking at these images, and writing a paragraph or so on each of these helped with revision, and also with getting enough information to write essay topics.
The standard of the final exam is somewhat demanding - Jeff said that in order to get the best marks, your essays must go beyond what was covered in lectures and need to include your own research - but it's still possible to get a HD-level response without that. At times, it honestly seemed like there was a mountain of stuff to memorise. However, this unit still had its nice moments, the lectures were done well, and at least you didn't have to memorise absolutely everything for the assessments. Definitely an improvement on DEV2011.

Jeff Kerr - takes the majority of lectures
Other lecturers include Helen Abud (GI tract), Ryan Wood-Bradley (Kidney), and some other lecturers who give one lecture each.

Not from the library database, but in the final week of semester, Jeff goes through the topics from past exams. So it's a really good idea to attend those final lectures!

3.8/5

Yes, with screen capture.

B. M. Carlson, Human embryology and developmental biology (4ed. in Semester 1, 2013) is the prescribed textbook. However, the two other textbooks that were used throughout the course are General Anatomy by Norman Eizenberg, and Functional histology by Jeff Kerr.
None really required, except when you want to do some further reading or research.

2 x 1 hour lectures per week (occasionally 3 lectures per week)1 x 3 hour lab per week (

Semester 2, 2013

Unknown at this point.