Whiteboard animation simulation for dental education

Whiteboard animation is a specific type of animation where line drawing and narration are used to explain concepts. The combination of visual thinking and storytelling makes whiteboard animations a unique and effective educational tool. Storytelling is a multimodal teaching approach that simultaneously engages listeners’ thinking, emotions, and imagination.1 However, this powerful tool is underutilized in higher education, particularly science education.1 Whiteboard animations, powered by storytelling, have successfully explained complex health-related topics to pharmacology students2 and positively impacted the retention, engagement, and enjoyment of university-level students.3 We planned to create whiteboard animations for dental students to explain complex science topics using graphics and storytelling. However, we have encountered two challenges while attempting to make whiteboard animations as an educator: (1) Making a good quality whiteboard animation requires paid software, which can be expensive. (2) Most whiteboard animation software is designed for business advertising and does not provide the graphics gallery needed to explain health science-related topics. The graphics gallery of the software do not have images representing the microanatomy of the tooth, oral cavity, and cellular processes. As a solution, we have used traditional PowerPoint and hand-drawn digital images to mimic whiteboard animation. Procreate, a stylus pen, and an iPad were used for drawings that were exported into PowerPoint. The built-in animations of PowerPoint were used to animate the images and supporting text (Figure 1). Screen-capture software was used to record the animation screen as a video with a voice-over narration. Our whiteboard animation explains the types of epithelial cells in a storytelling manner. First-year dentistry students learn about the epithelium as part of histology. The animation starts with the story of a boy who wants to eat cereal and milk with a fork. The narration then draws a connection between the structure-function relationships of a utensil to the structure-function relations of cells in the epithelium (Figure 2). We have incorporated interactive self-assessment questions allowing viewers to assess their learning. The learning objective of the animation and corresponding assessment questions are shown in Table 1. Learning objective whiteboard animation: Epithelium of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract Identify the types of epithelial cells based on their shape and function. Differentiate between simple and stratified epithelium. Define the type of epithelium found in different parts of the gastrointestinal tract. Describe the correlation between the shape of an epithelial cell and its function in the gastrointestinal tract. Q1. Which epithelium comprises cells whose height is two–three times greater than their width and are arranged in an ordered layer? Simple cuboidal epithelium Simple columnar epithelium *** Simple squamous epithelium Stratified epithelium Q2. Which epithelium comprises several layers, such that cells high up in the epithelium are not in contact with the underlying extracellular matrix? Simple cuboidal epithelium Simple columnar epithelium Simple squamous epithelium Stratified epithelium *** Characterize the epithelium of the oral cavity. Explain how the epithelium of the oral cavity is different from the rest of the gastrointestinal tract. Q3. What type of epithelium is found in our oral cavity? Stratified squamous epithelium *** Simple columnar epithelium Stratified columnar epithelium Simple squamous epithelium Traditionally whiteboard animations use hand motion to draw and write on a whiteboard. However, PowerPoint does not have that option. As an alternative, we used the animated “human hand” to bring and stick the picture on a white screen or color the important regions instead of appearing it to draw. Adding background music and sound effect can make the video engaging and entertaining. According to Cognitive Load Theory, the learning load of working memory can be reduced by alternating how a topic is presented.4 Whiteboard animations offer an alternative learning scaffold, therefore expected to reduce the extrinsic load of understanding complex concepts. Stories with real-world examples will also help students understand and retain the information. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.