The Cranial Nerves tutorial walks the user through the 12 cranial nerves with pictures and descriptions. It provides a nice comprehensive overview of each of the cranial nerves, with both textual and visual descriptions.
Type of Material:
Tutorial
Recommended Uses:
The tutorial would be well-suited to adopt within a learning management system as a link to further detail the cranial nerves. It is likely best-suited for individual review by students though it also may be useful for study groups to review collaboratively.
Technical Requirements:
Only a web browser is needed to view this material successfully. It functions effectively across browsers.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Users of the site will learn the pathways and purpose of each of the 12 cranial nerves. This is an excellent study tool and a beneficial introductory lesson on the cranial nerves.
Target Student Population:
College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School
The material could be used in numerous classes such as biology, neurology, psychology, health sciences, anatomy & physiology, biological psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and related disciplines.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Some understanding of the brain and biology (e.g., neuronal transmission, the cells and sections of the brain) would make this material especially comprehensible to the students reviewing it.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The site clearly explains the pathways and functions of each of the cranial nerves.
The presented content is accurate and technically factual in nature.
Concerns:
The textual and visual information is comprehensive and complete. However, instructors who use this material in class may wish to add references to enhance depth and/or rigor.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
For students ready to learn the cranial nerves, the descriptions are clear, and the images point out the pathways. Table 1 (Cranial Nerves Summary) provides a useful summary of the nerves in order, including modality and function.
Concerns:
None.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
This site is easily navigable with a web browser, and it is easy to follow along with the back and forward buttons throughout the tutorial.
Static pictures and text should run on any format.
Concerns:
The site has a note that it has not been updated since 08/28/1997, which may discourage some users from benefiting from the content (which is accurate and useful). Our understanding of the cranial nerves has not changed.
The site has one broken link ("Structure Home Page" in the left-hand navigation menu).
It appears that some of the graphics may not have fully descriptive alt tags; to be WCAG 2.1 compliant for web accessibility, these images would need to be associated with descriptive alt tags.
Creative Commons:
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