Bloomsbury Media Cloud

A joint Bloomsbury initiative to create a "Cloud" based media resource funded by JISC.

Example videos:

New panoramas of RVC facilities

We are currently developing a series of 180° and 360° panoramas featuring some of the exciting new buildings and recent redevelopment projects at our Hawkshead and Camden Campuses. These are based on up 50 high quality digital images which are stitched together and then rendered into a panorama on a Mac in a Quicktime format. This enables the viewer to pan around the scene and zoom in on specific parts of the image.

Link to panoramas

Learning from Stubbs

The engraving accessible from the link below is taken from one of the earliest veterinary anatomy textbooks in the world. The Anatomy of the Horse by George Stubbs was published in 1766 in London. To complete the book, Stubbs first spent 18 months dissecting horses and then drawing the dissections in meticulous detail. This work is said to have been the inspiration behind many of his subsequent paintings of horses - included one of the famous racehorse Eclipse which is now on display in the RVC library.

The animation is based on a scanned image of the original illustration. Interactive labels have then been added using a program called Dragster (http://www.webducate.net/). This provides a fascinating example of both the similarities and the differences in the ways that anatomy was taught at the RVC in the 18th century as compared to the modern day.

Link to Stubbs Animation

Vet Record Article on Learning to Learn Online

Online resources are playing an increasingly important role in veterinary undergraduate education and lifelong learning. The challenge is to know where to search for useful, authoritative and comprehensive information without wasting time aimlessly browsing the web. Nick Short, head of the e-Media Unit at the Royal Veterinary College, gives a brief overview of some of the sites available.

Click here for full article

New program on testing the functional integrity of ocular reflexes

The e-Media Unit has been working with Dr Raymond Macharia to design a Flash animation in which a virtual patient is provided to test pupillary (consensual) light reflex, palpebral and corneal reflexes as well as the testing nervous control of extra-ocular muscles of the eye. It is hoped that the use of a virtual patient will provide a safe way to observe and practice on a wide range of nerve or ocular deficits and also receive informative feedback.

The eye receives sensory and motor innervations to its extrinsic and intrinsic tissues through cranial nerves and the sympathetic trunk. The optic nerve is specific for vision while other ocular and extra-ocular structures transmit sensory modalities such as pain and pressure to the brain through the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve. Motor responses to sensory inputs are provided through the facial nerve, oculomotor, trochler and abduscent nerve. In addition the sympathetic trunk through the cranial cervical ganglia (CCG) supplies parasympathetic innervation to the ciliary muscles and glands around the eyeball.

Web site link

Echo 360 at the RVC

The Royal Veterinary College has recently adopted Echo 360 to record and publish all its lectures. Each lecture theatre has its own dedicated mixing box which combines digital feeds from the screen (eg Powerpoint or video) with the audio or video recording of the lecturer. The resulting streaming video is automatically load onto a server and linked in to the relevant course on Blackboard at the end of each lecture.

You can view an example video here of a lecture by Professor Katarina Staerk..

The RVC works closely with the other Bloomsbury Colleges (SOAS, IoE, LSHTM, Birkbeck and SoP) on the Bloomsbury Learning Environment. As part of this collaboration the Colleges have a shared services policy which includes sharing costs such as the Echo 360 licence and joint training. There is an example a training video on using Echo 360 here.

The RVC also leads a JISC funded shared services and cloud project called the Bloomsbury Media Cloud. More details about this initiative can be found here.

Digital slide box

The RVC has purchased the SlidePath digital image software. This enables microscope slides that have been scanned at a very high resolution to be accessed through a web browser. These can then be viewed at different resolutions and interactive questions added. Some examples of images currently available through the Review site include:

	Mouse tongue Longitudinal section through body and root of tongue including some laryngeal cartilage. Shows serous secretory units in body of tongue and mucous secretory units in root of tongue Static image of mouse tongue Interactive image of mouse tongue
	Rat trachea, oesophagus and thyroid Transverse section through neck Static image of rat trachea, oesophagus and thyroid Interactive image of rat trachea, oesophagus and thyroid
	Multiocular or brown fat Rat fat Static image of multiocular or brown fat Interactive image of multiocular or brown fat

Interactive Canine Radiographs

The teaching of anatomy at veterinary school usually takes place in the first 2 years of the course. This fits well with the general introduction to the basic sciences which is the first step in understanding the study of the normal animal before we move to teach about the abnormal. However, this often presents a problem where students loose sight of the relevance or significance of structure and function to their long term interest in becoming veterinary surgeons. The problem is compounded when student reach the clinical years of the course and have forgotten all their basic anatomy which should underpin everything they learn about surgery and medicine.

In an attempt to address this dichotomy, we have been exploring ways that we can use technology to bridge this divide. One development which has proved really effective has been the "interactive canine radiograph". This marries hundreds of annotated images taken from dissected specimens with high quality radiographs captured in the RVC hospitals. By clicking through interactive skeletal maps, students can find any bone or joint in the dog and then compare the key anatomical features with their radiographic equivalent.

One of the great features of this program is that it has all been developed by young vet graduates and students who know how they like to learn anatomy. On their own initiative, they have incorporated all the images into a sophisticated web of Powerpoint slides - over 40Mb is total size! These can be accessed through the web, virtual learning environment or on touch screen PCs in the anatomy museum. Perhaps most elegant of all, the Powerpoint format means that students can copy individual slides or images to their desktop whilst we can add an update the program at any time without major additional programming.

You can download a copy of the progam from our e-Media Showcase - it is a Creative Commons resource so free for educational use.

Access the e-Media Showcase

Mobile Phones in East Africa

The e-Media Unit is involved in a new initiative to develop mobile phone platforms for use in East Africa. This work has been funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and includes the development of disease surveillance tools running on Android based mobile phones and the creation of educational content which can be accessed on the phone itself. This work is being carried out in partnership with Imperial College, the London Knowledge Lab, the London International Development Centre and the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance.

You can find out more about the project on the Androids in Africa blog.