Episode

Episode | Quick Take

“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future,” said Yogi Berra, but that’s never stopped me before! In this annual episode, we’ll revisit last year’s educational forecasts, explore what’s popped (and what’s fizzled), and check the tea leaves (and little gray cells) once again. With help from colleague Jerry Anzalone—and some cheeky assistance from AI—we’ll bravely map out what’s next for anatomy and physiology education, all seasoned with empathy, wit, and a cautionary look at history’s lessons. Buckle up: predicting the future is a bumpy—but fascinating—ride!

0:00 | Introduction
0:42 | Season 7 Debrief
7:32 | Virtual Library of TAPP Episodes*
10:15 | How Did We Do Last Year?
27:29 | Manuel the AI Assistant*
33:45 | Jerry Calls in to the Podcast Hotline
34:55 | Jerry’s Look at the Coming Year
42:05 | Badges and LinkedIn*
44:31 | Kevin’s Look at the Coming Year
52:39 | Staying Connected

* Breaks

Need help accessing resources locked behind a paywall?
Check out this advice from Episode 32 to get what you need!

Episode | Transcript

The A&P Professor podcast (TAPP radio) episodes are made for listening, not reading. This transcript is provided for your convenience, but hey, it’s just not possible to capture the emphasis and dramatic delivery of the audio version. Or the cool theme music.  Or laughs and snorts. And because it’s generated by a combo of AI robot and human transcription, it may not be exactly right. So I strongly recommend listening by clicking the audio player provided or the captioned audiogram.

Introduction

Kevin Patton (00:01):
Fellow St. Louisan, the late Yogi Berra, once said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

Aileen Park (00:12):
Welcome to The A&P Professor. A few minutes to focus on teaching human anatomy and physiology with a veteran educator and teaching mentor, your host, Kevin Patton.

Kevin Patton (00:26):
It’s episode 153, where we do our annual debriefing and predictions for the coming year.

Season 7 Debrief

Kevin Patton (00:44):
Longtime listeners to this podcast know that I’m a big believer in regular debriefings. When teaching, shortly after the end of every semester, I make sure to spend some time reflecting about how things went. Usually, I made sure to record things I’d need for a future evaluation process or a promotion or an award nomination. And well, of course, that inevitable memoir of a lifetime of teaching.

(01:19):
You got to get your ducks in a row before you start that. And I always took time during these debriefings to sort out what worked well and what needed tweaking or what needed a complete overhaul. So I reflected and got ready for, got my mindset in the right place for what was coming next. So now it’s time to do the debriefing for this podcast’s last season. It was season seven, which means that the podcast episode you’re listening to now is the first episode of season eight. Yikes, eight. We’re in the eighth year of this podcast. That’s pretty long for any podcast, so I’m glad I held on.

(02:16):
This year was another year of a few widely spaced episodes, but wow, those few episodes turned out to be awesome. The guests, the audience, and I all really, really enjoyed them. Wait a minute. They really, really, really, really enjoyed them. That’s four reallys, which is my highest rating. The first one, episode 147, was last year’s debriefing. As usual, besides the rundown of the previous season, I analyzed the previous year’s predictions and made new predictions for the coming year, which was this past year, of course.

(03:02):
I’ll do the same later in this episode. Then, after episode 147 came episode 148. No surprise there. And in that one, Justin Shaffer swung by to convince us that high-structure classrooms aren’t just about strict rules and tight schedules. They’re actually a lifeline for students navigating the rough seas of post-pandemic learning. Who knew that clear expectations and structured interactions could make learning anatomy and physiology feel less like survival training and more like smooth sailing?

(03:46):
In episode 149, well, that brought Greg Crowther and Ben Wiggins into the hot seat, where they boldly claimed that exams don’t have to feel like medieval torture. Instead, assessment could actually, hold your breath, help students learn. They showed us ways to transform stressful testing into moments of meaningful insight. Revolutionary? Possibly. Practical? Yeah, absolutely. By the time episode 150 arrived, Brenda Ulrich put on her metaphorical boxing gloves to give us an education on copyright for educators, especially when we’re using illustrations and photographs in our teaching slides.

(04:40):
Now, Brenda is an intellectual property attorney who works with schools and faculty and publishers all the time regarding these kinds of things. So she’s like the expert in these matters. And Brenda reminded us that fair use isn’t a license to steal, but knowing your rights and the rights of the copyright holders that can be empowering. Her practical tips probably saved more than a few of us from accidentally becoming academic copyright outlaws.

(05:16):
By the way, if you listened to that episode, that boxing metaphor makes more sense because we talked about Brenda’s upcoming first match in her new sport of boxing. I’m happy to report that Brenda won against a very tough opponent. It was a great match. Then, in episode 151, featured by the powerhouse trio, Jennifer Stokes, Rachel Hopp, and Abbey Breckling, introduced the brand new HAPS Accommodations Handbook. They unpacked the beauty of universal design and made clear that inclusive teaching isn’t just good ethics. It’s good education.

(06:06):
That handbook is a lifeline for anyone who’s ever felt lost navigating accommodations. It’s like having your own GPS for teaching anatomy and physiology. And then, finally, in episode 152, Dr. Kate Oland Galligan completed a full-circle journey from sitting in my classroom decades ago to now teaching anatomy and physiology herself at the same university. And boy, did she school us all on fascia. Turns out, in a way, we’re not really separate systems and organs after all. We’re more like one big, glorious, interconnected web of collagen and elastin and coffee-stained textbooks.

(07:02):
After Kate’s passionate deep dive, none of us will look at fascia or life in the same way again. And there you have it. Six episodes packed with wisdom, humor, practical tips, and fascinating insights from some really knowledgeable and enthusiastic educators. Who knew anatomy and physiology teaching could be this entertaining?

Virtual Library of TAPP Episodes

Kevin Patton (07:32):
A little debrief there covered six episodes, which really had a lot more topics in them than I could cover in a few minutes. So, if you haven’t listened to any of them, you can always go back and do that.

(07:46):
And not only that, but you can go back to any of the episodes over seven years of The A&P Professor. Now, yeah, there’s a couple of little brain breaks in there that are talking about something that’s happening that month or that year or whatever, but most of the content and most of the episodes is what we call evergreen. That is, it’s always useful. So you might want to go back and browse a little bit, not just for those of you that maybe joined us in a later season, maybe just joining us right now for the first time, but also those who have heard those early episodes.

(08:29):
You might go back and find something like, “Oh yeah, I forgot about this. I’m glad I was reminded of it.” My point is is that there’s this huge virtual library of episodes just waiting for you. Now, you can just browse through whatever podcast or audio platform that you’re using right now. Maybe it’s a podcast app, maybe it’s Audible, or you might be going to the website. If you go to theAPprofessor.org/podcast, you’re going to see the more recent episodes listed there. And if you scroll down toward the bottom, you’re going to see, season by season, each collection of episodes.

(09:13):
And not only that, if you go way up to the top, along the top navigation ribbon, and under the podcast tab, you’re going to see a bunch of different options for browsing through those past episodes. There is a list of podcasts. There’s what we call the jukebox. It’s kind of a virtual jukebox there where you can scroll through and pick which ones you want to listen to, and the player for each one is built right into the page. And there’s lots of other options there too. So lots of different ways to browse through. And don’t forget, at theAPprofessor.org, if you scroll down to the bottom, there’s a search bar.

(09:56):
And so if there’s a particular topic, you want to see if I’ve covered it in other episodes, or if you’re looking for a particular past episode, that might be a shortcut to find it quickly. So it’s theAPprofessor.org/podcast.

How Did We Do Last Year?

Kevin Patton (10:15):
If I’m going to be honest about doing a debriefing, I have to go back to the predictions that I made last year and see whether they came true or not, or got close to coming true, or came true a little bit, or we went in the opposite direction I said we were going to go in.

(10:31):
Remember, it wasn’t just me, but contributors Mike Pascoe and Jerry Anzalone both had phoned in with their own predictions, and some of them were the same, some of them weren’t the same, some of them were similar. Usually, what I do is just do like a self-analysis, which I always thought was okay, but I’ll tell you, I’m a biased judge. I’m a biased judge about my own work. Now, yes, I’m a perfectionist too, so I do find things that need to be fixed all the time in the things I do. But if I call it finished, then usually, in general, I think that it’s pretty good.

(11:05):
And so, I kind of do that, whether I intend to do it or not do that with these predictions. And yeah, that was close. Even if it wasn’t close, I’m going to call it close. I do that when I play Horseshoes too, and that maybe we need a third party. So what I decided to do was use artificial intelligence and have artificial intelligence analyze the whole set of predictions we did in our episode last year. So mine and Mike’s and Jerry’s put them all together, put them into the artificial intelligence chat, and asked it, “You know, really, did we get close?”

(11:45):
And then it gave me some answers. And then I thought, “Well, really, or is artificial intelligence just making that up?” So I said, “Can you give me at least a couple of citations for references that have happened within this last year that have been published within this last year that support or give an example of your analysis of each prediction?” And so it did that, and I thought, “Wow, that’s a lot better than me just winging it.” And I didn’t… I’m not going to go through all of the references it gave. And those were just a couple of what I’m sure many examples that could be found on these topics.

(12:31):
But the point is I took that extra step, which I think gives a little bit more credibility to the results. So let’s go through those results and see what you think. See whether you agree, whether we got close or not. So, prediction number one was there’s going to be more augmented reality and virtual reality tools being used in teaching labs and simulations to create a more immersive A&P learning experience. And the result is, yes, adoption of these things has grown, but there’s a caveat, and that is, it’s happened very unevenly across institutions.

(13:14):
There are some institutions or some departments within institutions, or maybe even just individual instructors within institutions that have really embraced, or at least in the first stages of embracing augmented and virtual reality tools. But there are many, even within the same institution, but certainly there are whole institutions that really aren’t even looking at it yet, at least not seriously. So yeah, there’s been some growth, but not a big explosion or as big an explosion as there could be. It’s not universal.

(13:48):
Prediction number two was that there would be an increased use of artificial intelligence to tailor learning, to adjust learning, to make learning better, that we as educators could use artificial intelligence to increase learning, and students could use artificial intelligence to help with their studying and understanding of the concepts. We also mentioned that AI could raise some concerns and challenges regarding academic integrity. So there’s sort of the good and the bad, but there’s going to be increased use of artificial intelligence. So, has there been? Well, yeah, there’s been a lot of increased use in artificial intelligence in education, in particular anatomy and physiology education. And it’s become a major force.

(14:40):
It’s become a major force in not only helping us create new and better learning experiences for our students and help us do other tasks that we have to do as educators, but we also see a lot more debate about academic integrity and what does that really mean now in the world of artificial intelligence, and how do we ensure that our students are being honest in the work that they are doing and presenting to us and that we may be grading them on or used to construct their performance in some way or to analyze or assess their performance in some way. So yeah, that’s still happening and that’s kicked up too. So I think we’re spot on with that.

(15:34):
Prediction number three is that there would be a growing dependence on technology and that that could reduce the human touch and maybe even widen inequities. Artificial intelligence says, “Yeah, that caution was spot on.” Technology benefits and equity issues continue to coexist. So yes, the human touch may be in danger if we don’t hold on to it. And also equity issues continue to coexist along with the increased use of technology. We need to acknowledge that and deal with it. Okay, prediction number four is that there would be lower in-person attendance, especially in lectures, and so that that would spur more hybrid approaches to learning.

(16:29):
And artificial intelligence says that, “Yeah, that many courses have seen this trend, and hybrid models are starting to get to the point where they’re almost the norm in some places.” Prediction number five, expansion of online hybrid courses. That is, there’d be a lasting shift toward online and hybrid course delivery. And this kind of overlaps the previous prediction, number four. And yeah, that shift has accelerated during this post-pandemic period, and that kind of confirms the prediction.

(17:06):
And then prediction number six was that digital textbooks will integrate augmented reality and virtual reality, interactivity, data analytics, and new subscription models. And artificial intelligence says that, “Yeah, digital and interactive resources are evolving rapidly, but the transition’s still underway.” We still don’t see a lot of the higher level technology being built into some of these digital textbooks, but we’re further along that path of digital textbooks dominating. And then we get to prediction number seven, which we said courses would blend science with soft skills.

(17:53):
That is with the humanities and other disciplines, non-science disciplines included. And artificial intelligence says that interdisciplinary elements are increasingly common, although not without some resistance. Now, it turns out that my own education background is that I had a lot of interdisciplinary aspects to the courses and programs that I took all throughout my college years, even some in high school, but especially in my college years. So I could sort of come out of that. For me, that’s not new. But even back then, where it was being done in these little pockets, there was resistance.

(18:36):
There were some educators who felt like that was wrong to do that, and that is still happening, that resistance is still happening. But apparently there is this trend to widen that that experience of an interdisciplinary approach to anatomy, physiology, and other sciences. So prediction number eight, what did we say there? Well, we said that we’re going to see more competency-based models for courses and grading systems, or ungrading systems, if you will, with digital badges and other kinds of digital credentials gaining ground.

(19:18):
Now, these digital credentials have started to catch on, but how much they’re implemented really varies a lot by institution and by individual courses and instructors. Once an institution really signs on to the digital credentials, usually it spreads pretty rapidly throughout that institution. But even in institutions where that has not happened, there are a lot of individual instructors or even whole departments that have signed on to the idea of these badges or digital credentials.

(19:54):
So yeah, that prediction was kind of happening, still kind of happening, I guess. And then prediction number nine was that there would be ongoing debates over DEI, over things like inclusive language in A&P, and how do we handle gender and sex in A&P. And what about diverse representation in A&P? So we said that there would be not only ongoing debates but there’d be more of these things that we’d get more inclusive in our language in addressing gender and sex issues.

(20:32):
And we’d be more inclusive in our diversity of representation in A&P, not just in textbooks, but in what we’re doing in the course. And yeah, okay, so those are still hotly debated, and yeah, they’re continuing to evolve. And they didn’t really evolve completely in the way I thought. I’ll admit that. Just today, yet another colleague posted an announcement in social media that her large institution was dismantling their organized DEI efforts, which were pretty rich and comprehensive, and they did that in order to comply with federal regulations, which we’re seeing a lot of that now.

(21:18):
We’re seeing all kinds of things that and even like keywords, like if it says DEI, throw it away. If it mentions inclusivity or inclusion, throw it away. If it includes any aspect of gender, throw it away. Diversity of representation, throw it away. So, it’s this backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion. And I’m sure you feel the same way, and I don’t want to go down this rabbit hole right now. But really, aren’t diversity and equity and inclusion just basic instances of kindness and love and compassion? Can’t we work out any differences we have in specific policies or initiatives?

(22:11):
Do we really think that just throwing it all away at once is productive? Maybe we should just change the name from DEI to kindness and love. Maybe that’ll take care of it. Then the filters looking for those keywords won’t find anything, and we can still stay on that road of evolution toward a kinder, more loving type of education that we offer our students. But then, somebody’s going to have the idea that we need to ban kindness and love. I mean, how would you like to stand for that? “What’s your position? Oh, my position on everything is I’m against kindness and love.”

(22:55):
Oh, what a world do we live in. Well, let’s move on to the next one, perhaps something a little more optimistic. Oh, shoot. The next one is number 10, faculty life and burnout. Oh, no. In our last year’s episode, we said that faculty would face more precarious work conditions, and so, therefore, there’d be more burnout, and there’d be more reliance on adjuncts. We’d see fewer and fewer full-time faculty. We’d see people retiring or being fired, maybe en masse like we’re seeing in some places, and being replaced with no one or being replaced with adjunct faculty.

(23:39):
And as I said in that year’s episode, I’m not against… I’ve been adjunct faculty almost my whole career, and I’ve also been full-time faculty, and those are both valuable roles, but I don’t think we should have only one or only the other. I don’t think that’s good for learning. I don’t think it’s good for the profession of education. And well, unfortunately, the challenges for faculty, they have grown exactly as predicted. Now I’m… Now that is a quote from artificial intelligence, “Exactly as predicted.” So that’s kind of heartwarming in a way that I was exactly right.

(24:19):
But it’s not heartwarming when you consider what it is. There’s more burnout. No, I didn’t really want that to happen. I thought it would happen, but I didn’t want it to happen. Well, let’s go on to number 10. I said that there’d be a greater push for clear communication of scientific ideas that is sometimes… comes under the umbrella of what we call science communication or public communication of science. And I said that there’d be a greater push for that, both within academia and coming in from the public asking for more of that. How did we come out on that?

(24:58):
Well, I think it has become more important. AI thinks it has become more important. And it seems clear that there are many more scientists now engaging actively in public communication of science and in outreach than ever were before. I mean, it’s always been a thing, but it’s never been the big thing it is now. And a lot of the activity I see going on is actually activity in encouraging other scientists to get more active in that area. So it’s kind of… we’re kind of like in a evangelistic mode, if you will, trying to convert more professors and more scientists to buy into this whole science communication effort.

(25:47):
And then our last prediction had to do with fibers and threads and tubules in the body. We predicted that there’d be a surge in research and teaching about the roles of various cellular and connective tissue fibers. And we even had an episode this year with Kate Oland Galligan, who came in and talked about fascia, and she’s got a lot more to say about fascia, by the way. So I think we’re going to have another episode this year featuring Kate and maybe some others.

(26:20):
If you want to get involved in that, you’re welcome to join in. Just contact me. AI says, “Yeah, research in this area is expanding, but it does continue to remain a niche topic in many A&P courses.” So yeah, I see that. I see where some people are really expanding on their appreciation of and interweaving of fascia and related topics in their course, and others have not yet gotten there. So overall, AI says that my colleagues and I largely hit the mark. Many of the trends, especially in educational technology, AI, hybrid learning, and faculty challenges have proven very accurate.

(27:07):
Some areas like full adoption of AR and VR tools or micro-credentials, they’re still in progress, but the overall set of predictions was impressive. So yeah, I’ll take that. I think that’s good.

Manuel the AI Assistant

Kevin Patton (27:29):
Let’s take a quick break from our main topics because I want to tell you about something I’ve just added to our A&P Professor website. That’s at theAPprofessor.org, and it’s a virtual AI assistant that I’ve added in there. Well, you know me, I like to play with new things, and this is something that became available in the Jotform platform.

(27:58):
Now, Jotform is actually a whole collection of products, and I use their forms for you to be able to claim your digital credentials. So that’s how I started using Jotform. And then I start using it for other things. And I really like it. It’s kind of like Google Forms, but it does a lot more and different things, and they have other products that you can integrate with it. And so they’ve just rolled out their AI virtual assistant, and it’s actually like this huge collection of templates for different kinds of AI assistants.

(28:32):
And they’re also completely customizable. And well, again, being the kind of guy I am, I customized mine. So, the AI assistant that you will see on theAPprofessor.org website is not one of these stock photo people that they have in most of their templates. It’s just a little character that I’ve used in my courses for decades, actually. He’s an ass. And I know, especially because you’re listening here with sort of an anatomy filter on, what I mean by that is this character is a donkey, and his name is Manuel.

(29:20):
And so, for my students, he’s known as Manuel My Ass, and he’s a semi-fictional character that I use. Actually, he has his own webpage. If you go to lionden.com, that’s L-I-O-N-D-E-N.com/manuel, M-A-N-U-E-L.htm, don’t put an L at the end, it’s just htm, then you’ll see where I send my students when they have complaints about the way I do things in the course, especially complaints that are like, “Well, that’s not the way so-and-so does it in their class.”

(29:59):
Or, “That’s not the way we did it in AP1. And here I’m in AP2, how do you expect me to do things differently?” Things like that. And so anyway, this is where I send my student complaints usually, and it’s real playful. Follow all the… If you go there, follow all the links because it just gets really silly. So anyway, so I thought, “Well, I already have this character that is sort of associated with my work, and so I’m going to use…”

(30:28):
And plus, this… they said, “Give a name for your customized assistant here, your virtual assistant.” And well, I mean, what better for an assistant than an actual ass, right? And so that’s Manuel. And so you will see a little picture of Manuel at the bottom left of any of the pages at the website. Now, right now he’s in the lower left. Usually you see these things in the lower right, but I already have something there, and I’m trying to figure out how to move him around.

(31:01):
So if he’s not on the left, look on the right. And I think those are my only two choices. We’ll see if I get… can get some things moved around, but just look around for him and click on the little profile picture of Manuel and a dialog box will pop up like you see in… You’ve used these things in other websites. They’re all over the place. And so this is early days. So what kind of answer he’s going to give you for questions you have or information you’re looking for is questionable. And well, he’s ass an after all, so you just never know what he’s going to say.

(31:42):
But he’s in training. So I would love it if you would go there and see… ask him some questions. Even if you already know the answer to it, ask him questions about where to find things on the website, things about the podcast, topics from the podcast, guests from the podcast. Just think up some things to ask him. It’d be great if some of them were like realistic questions that someone might ask, but if you want to ask him just some bizarre random question, ask it and see what he says. And I get a printout of all of the conversations.

(32:16):
Now, unless you put your name or email into it, I don’t know who it is doing it, which doesn’t really matter anyway. But I can go in there and see those conversations, and if there’s something he can’t answer or he answers incorrectly, then I can go in and correct it. And by doing so, that trains him for future questions of that type. I’m going to play around with this and see what I can do with him, and he might get annoying and I’ll get rid of him, or maybe it’s going to be really a great help.

(32:53):
But wouldn’t this be neat to use in a course and have a lot of the questions that your students ask answered automatically? Like, “What is the exam date? When is test four? What topics are going to be on test four?” You know, those kinds of… “Where is your office, or how do I contact you?” Or things like that that are questions that really don’t need us and take time away from other things that we need to be spending our time on. So I don’t know, just a little toy here to play with.

(33:28):
So just go to theAPprofessor.org and go to any page or just stay there on the homepage and play around with Manuel for a while. And if you have any feedback for me, let me know.

Jerry Calls In to the Podcast Hotline

Kevin Patton (33:45):
In an earlier segment, I had mentioned that my friend Jerry Anzalone, who’s a long-time A&P instructor and is a long-time listener and supporter of this podcast, he had contributed some predictions for last year. Well, true to form and true to his unwavering support of this podcast, he has contributed his own predictions for the coming year in this episode.

(34:15):
Now, I didn’t listen to them before I started editing the podcast. So well, at the moment I’m recording this, I don’t know what he’s going to say. And I did that on purpose because I didn’t want any overlap between them to influence it, and I didn’t want to create overlap that would not have otherwise happened. It’ll be interesting to listen to this and then listen to my predictions and see where we’re thinking the same way, where our thoughts are diverging, and so on. So, let’s get to Jerry’s predictions right now.

Jerry’s Look at the Coming Year

Jerry Anzalone (34:55):
Hi, Kevin. This is Jerry Anzalone calling from Punta Gorda, Florida with my predictions for the coming year in the world of A&P teaching and learning. First, these are my predictions for how current events may indirectly impact higher education in general. The dismantling of the Federal Government’s Department of Education will result in the removal of college and university accreditors from the oversight process or give states more authority in oversight.

(35:34):
And this may lead to less regulation for colleges, but fewer protections for students. And I based this on a February 7th, 2025 article from Inside Higher Ed. Here’s how it would play out. First, weakened civil rights enforcements could result in delays in downgrading of student civil rights and student loan fraud cases. Second, reduced disability rights support could increase the risk of improper implementation of individualized education plans or IEPs and reduced enforcement of integration mandates.

(36:22):
Third, less accountability in distance education could result from fragmented state oversight, potentially burdening online programs and limiting student access. Fourth, disruption of the triad system, the historic relationship between the Department of Education, accreditors, and state regulators by removing federal oversight, could lead to inconsistent accreditation standards and weaker gatekeeping for federal aid. Fifth, laxer oversight might enable-low quality institutions to access federal aid more easily, creating an environment conducive to predatory institutions to profit at the expense of students and taxpayers.

(37:16):
Six, states would inherit increased oversight responsibilities, burdening their available resources. Seven, disruption to federal student aid systems could delay disbursements and complicate borrower support. And lastly, marginalized students would bear the brunt of weaker oversight and enforcement. But because A&P has traditionally served as one of the prerequisite courses for allied health science programs, we may be better positioned than, say, humanities courses. Next, and on a more positive side, I asked the AI platform Perplexity for its predictions for A&P instruction and learning in the coming year based on current trends in higher education.

(38:09):
And here’s what Perplexity predicted. First, that technology would play a central role in contemporary A&P education through the increased integration of interactive resources like virtual dissection tables, augmented reality, virtual reality, and, of course, artificial intelligence. These high-tech tools are purported to enhance student performance and engagement and enable personalized learning through experimental and multimodal learning. Additionally, the continued integration of AI into A&P education helps to automate mundane administrative tasks and improve accessibility.

(38:56):
Secondly, A&P curricula will place a greater emphasis on practical skills and clinically relevant hands-on learning experiences. For example, there’s currently a growing emphasis on teaching skeletal muscle identification and action while focusing less on details like attachments and innervation. Three, A&P education will expand on interdisciplinary approaches. A&P education is currently incorporating broader scientific fields like biotechnology and data science to better prepare students for interdisciplinary careers and to enhance their ability to solve complex healthcare challenges.

(39:41):
For example, interdisciplinary integration combines anatomy with fields like art, engineering, psychology, and ethics to foster holistic understanding and critical thinking. Biotechnology is used for practical training, developments of medical device, and improving patient outcomes through anatomic knowledge. And data science and AI enable automated analysis, therapeutic target discovery, and virtual or augmented reality for integrative learning. Perplexity identified a few challenges to these goals, including addressing AI limitations, ethical considerations, and logistical barriers to effective implementation.

(40:31):
Perplexity also predicted declining student pools based on the current enrollment cliff. The significant and predicted decline in the number of college-going students forcing institutions to adapt by targeting diverse demographics, including adult learners through flexible online and hybrid models. For example, more colleges are using collaborative course sharing, pooling resources to ensure students can access A&P courses in formats that suit their needs. Also, citing data from 2017 up to the present, Perplexity asserts that the demand for educators in gross anatomy, histology, and embryology exceeds supply.

(41:23):
This may lead to increased reliance on technology-driven solutions or alternative teaching models to help bridge these gaps. So, to recap, the coming year likely presents the challenges of reduced federal oversight in accreditation, less protections for students, the continued elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and greater inclusion of high-tech tools in higher ed in general, including A&P. But as Yogi Berra said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” I hope you’re well. Take care.

Badges & LinkedIn

Kevin Patton (42:05):
I’m on LinkedIn, both as Kevin Patton, the individual, and as The A&P Professor, and you can find me easily in the search function of LinkedIn. But what I want to mention right now is that recently I’ve been seeing a lot of people that I’m linked to show up in my feed with an announcement from LinkedIn telling us all what kind of certification that person has received. And most of these are micro-credentials. That is, it’s a little mini-course, it’s a seminar, a webinar that they’ve engaged in recently. And it lets all of us know the kinds of things that they’re doing, which is a really great way to stay in touch.

(42:52):
And it also kind of spreads the word that these things are happening. And you know, we have badges. We have micro-credentials at The A&P Professor. You can earn a micro-credential when you listen to an episode of the podcast, when you read one of the books in The A&P Professor book club, when you watch one of our online seminars that you can… They’re on demand, that you can watch at theAPprofessor.org. And when you earn those badges, you can just send them right to LinkedIn as soon as you earn them. There’s a link in the show notes that walks you through how to do it, but it’s like two or three steps.

(43:36):
You just click share and click social, and then pick LinkedIn, and then it’s done for you. You have to start at canvas badges or canvas credentials page. It’s in your backpack. And how to find the badges in your backpack and do all that stuff, and how all of these badges work, that’s all listed for you at theAPprofessor.org/education. And you get taken back there every time you earn a badge. So you probably already know about it. So when you’re done with this episode, why don’t you go ahead and claim your badge for listening and then put that on LinkedIn, and maybe that’ll spread the word that this episode’s now out there and available and might be something that somebody else might want to take a look at.

Kevin’s Look at the Coming Year

Kevin Patton(44:31):
Well, it’s time for my psychic forecast for the coming year. And when I use the term psychic, what I mean is psychic. Literally, psych means mind, and the IC ending means relating to. So, if something is psychic, it’s relating to the mind. So, I’m using my mind to forecast what might be happening in the coming year. And this time, I’m going to go a little bit further out on the limb than I usually do. And well, let’s see how that goes. Prediction number one is the TikTok-ification of A&P education. Expect educators to begin to embrace micro-teaching. That is delivering complex anatomical truths in a snappy, bite-size burst tailored for short attention spans.

(45:30):
Who knows, lectures may soon feature captions like, “Five things your kidney wish you knew.” Or, “Mitochondria, not just your grandmother’s powerhouse anymore.” Prediction number two. Anatomy meets philosophy and maybe a dash of poetry. As external pressures narrow the curricular scope, clever instructors are going to start to disguise the broader interdisciplinary lessons under creative banners. Get ready for, I don’t know, Shakespearean anatomy. To dissect or not to dissect or philosophical explorations such as is homeostasis, just biological stoicism. Prediction number three, academic freedom. The musical. Responding to threats from authoritarian currents.

(46:38):
Some instructors may start to adopt innovative and maybe humorous methods to engage sensitive topics under the radar, perhaps singing their histology lectures to avoid suspicion. I’m thinking maybe some jazz for epithelial tissue. I don’t know. Hey, Greg Crowther, we’re going to need your help with this. Prediction number four, virtual anatomy field trips. Magic School Bus Version 2025. Advancements in immersive tech, like AR and VR won’t just augment lectures. I think they’ll kind of teleport students inside the body. Picture this. “Hey, seat belts, everyone. We’re navigating the hepatic portal system today. Next stop, Liver Central Station. “Prediction number five, digital detox in anatomy lab.

(47:50):
Ironically, after years of relentless digital expansion, and I mean relentless, hasn’t it been, expect a small but trendy wave of educators advocating so-called tech-free zones in A&P labs, students will rediscover the tactile joys and gross realities of dissection without notifications buzzing, proving that the dissection knife and the forceps remain mightier than the smartphone. Prediction number six, grassroots peer-reviewed rebellion. Frustrated by institutional politics and authoritarian micromanagement, faculty may rally toward informal cross-institutional peer support and validation networks, providing an underground market of curriculum reviews, solidarity, and covert pedagogy strategies.

(49:04):
Think fight club but for educators. First rule, you do not talk about learning styles. Okay, prediction number seven, the rise of the anatomy influencer. Expect charismatic educators to develop thriving personal brands, turning, I don’t know, anatomy with Andy or fascia fanatics into influential education channels just like Wendy Riggs and Steve Sullivan have been doing for a while now. Institutions might even start to offer tenure based partly on YouTube subscriber counts, bringing new meaning to publish or perish. Prediction eight, stealth DEI, diversity through anatomy and physiology.

(50:07):
So, amid all this external pushback against explicit DEI initiatives, I think clever educators will subtly infuse inclusive themes directly into their A&P lectures, highlighting human biological diversity, normalizing anatomical variation, and emphasizing the interconnectedness of all people through universal biological structures and functions. After all, nothing says inclusion quite like the realization that we all share similar internal plumbing. Prediction number nine, retro tech makes a nostalgic comeback.

(50:59):
Just when you thought digital was unstoppable, educators seeking to reengage screen-fatigued learners will embrace charmingly retro methods, expect vintage anatomical models, hand-drawn lecture notes, overhead projectors, and even resurrected transparencies. I shouldn’t have thrown all of those away. Proving again that everything old eventually becomes hipster cool. Prediction 10, hot topics get hotter. Brace yourself for another year of fascination with fascia, marvel at the mysteries of the human microbiome, and continue unraveling the intricate dance of diet, exercise, and metabolism.

(51:57):
Expect breakthrough after breakthrough in understanding these concepts and expect A&P curricula to increasingly incorporate these themes, moving beyond isolated organ systems toward a truly holistic understanding of human biology. After all, nothing sparks student interest quite like discovering that they’re essentially a walking ecosystem wrapped in a stretchy connective tissue sweater. Well, put a pin in those, and let’s see how we do over the next year.

Staying Connected

Kevin Patton (52:39):
Hey, instead of my usual episode wrap-up, I want to take just a few minutes to talk about something serious, something we all need to consider carefully as a A&P professors, especially in the current climate. As educators, we often tend to be optimists.

(53:01):
We believe deeply in the potential good that comes from the pursuit of knowledge and learning. But history shows us repeatedly that educators, particularly professors, are often the first targets in times of rising authoritarianism. Think about it. In nearly every modern society that’s veered toward authoritarian rule, from Russia in the early 20th century to Western Europe in the 1930s to Latin America in the 70s and 80s, and then Russia again in the early 21st century to more recent events worldwide, professors and intellectuals have faced enormous pressure. They’ve lost jobs, faced censorship, and sometimes far worse simply because they posed questions, sought truth, and encouraged critical thinking.

(54:10):
Authoritarian systems thrive on control of information and suppression of dissent. Professors, by the very nature of our jobs, stand in direct opposition to that. We don’t just deliver content. We cultivate independent thought. We challenge assumptions, and we encourage open dialogue. These are precisely the things authoritarian systems can’t tolerate. And let’s be clear. We’ve seen troubling signs closer to home recently. Pressure on curricula, restrictions on academic freedom, even direct attacks on the integrity of educators themselves. So what am I saying? I’m saying that it’s essential we remain watchful, aware, and prepared. Let’s not dismiss these patterns lightly.

(55:19):
We need to recognize the signs of erosion in academic freedom early when we still have the strength and numbers to speak up. It’s also important that we remain empathetic not only to our colleagues who are immediately impacted but also to those who may not yet realize what’s affecting others today might well affect them tomorrow. Now, more than ever is the time to support one another across institutions, disciplines, and even differences of opinion. Yeah, we might disagree about certain details, certain approaches, certain philosophies of teaching. But let’s never forget that beneath these differences lies our shared purpose: educating, guiding, and protecting the integrity of scientific knowledge itself.

(56:24):
We’re all in this together, and our collective strength depends on our solidarity. Let’s commit to standing together, speaking up when we see injustice, and remembering always that our greatest power lies in unity, empathy, and the unwavering pursuit of truth. History has taught us these lessons clearly. Sometimes painfully. Let’s ensure that we heed them today. Well, thanks for listening. I think it’s important to remind ourselves of this. Now, let’s move forward together into a new year of love and kindness. I’ll see you down the road.

Aileen Park (57:15):
The A&P Professor is hosted by Dr. Kevin Patton, an award-winning professor and textbook author in human anatomy and physiology.

Kevin Patton (57:34):
The content of this episode is for entertainment purposes only.