Dog 360

Platform: iOS 4.0 or later (also available on Android)

Price: £5.99

Website: http://horse360.com.au

Value for money: **

Overall Rating: ***

Overview

Quite a simple concept but well put together.  Provided you purchase the full “bundle”, this app brings you basic canine anatomy as well as information on “conformation” such as terms used to describe different tail or ear shapes.  It features three different areas: “Learn”, “Recall”, “Vet Talk”.

• “Vet Talk” allows you to look up terms by clicking on an area of the diagram.
• “Learn” features a multiple choice test.  You need to get above a certain threshold in each section to progress onto the next.
• “Recall” asks you to select the appropriate area of the diagram for a given label.  I particularly like this feature as a lot of revision type apps only feature multiple choice tests and I tend to find it’s easy enough to get a good score without really taking the information in, whereas this does require a little more thought and understanding.

Things to note

It is worth noting that the iPad and iPhone/iPod versions for the app are sold separately. Having used this app on an iPhone, I would recommend the iPad version if you have to choose as it is difficult to place the pins for the “Recall” test accurately on the iPhone version.  Also available is Horse 360.

Conclusion

It is an app aimed at owners to increase their understanding of anatomical terminology so it isn’t exceptionally detailed for the price and some of the terminology is non Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria (this is more prevalent in the equine version) which is a little frustrating but it is still of value to students new to veterinary sciences seeking a nice interactive revision tool.

Hello world!

Technology is becoming more and more central to teaching and learning; indeed a quick look at the iTunes App Store shows you a whole category of apps designed for medical students, finding apps for veterinary students, however, is a little more tricky. A quick search online or on a device specific app store, may provide hundreds of results but many will be totally unsuitable for your needs. For example searching “veterinary” in iTunes pulls up several pages of results with the majority aimed at owners, games for children or country specific and unsuitable for use in the UK, and a few contain very precise information on a very narrow subject area.  All in all a bit of a mine field!

There are some apps out there that are ideal, as well as some great online resources with new things being developed all the time but finding them and knowing what’s worth spending your money on can be a challenge. We aim to use this blog to list and review apps that might be useful to veterinary students and perhaps also vets in practice; helping people to discover and make informed choices about what’s out there.

We actively encourage other people to get involved, send us your reviews or let us know about any apps, sites or tools you’ve found be they good or bad.