No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
The BIORES-21 Survey: Insights Into Remote and Online Education in Biomechanics and Mechanobiology
Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic necessitated mainstream adoption of online and remote learning approaches which were highly advantageous yet challenging in many ways. The online modality, while teaching biomedical engineering-related topics in the areas of biomechanics, mechanobiology, and biomedical sciences, further added to the complexity faced by the faculty and students. Both the benefits and the challenges have not been explored systematically by juxtaposing experiences and reflections of both the faculty and students. Motivated by this need, we designed and conducted a systematic survey named BIORES-21, targeted towards the broader bioengineering community. Survey responses and our inferences from survey findings cumulatively offer insight into the role of employed teaching/learning technology and challenges associated with student engagement. While some alternatives to overcoming these challenges were also presented, the continuation of online learning techniques as in-person education resumes in many places was evident. Overall, the data presented summarizes the key benefits of online learning that emerged from the experiences during the pandemic.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in nearly all universities switching courses to online formats. We surveyed the online learning experience of undergraduate students (n = 187) at a large, public research institution in course structure, interpersonal interaction, and academic resources. Data was also collected from course evaluations. Students reported decreases in live lecture engagement and attendance, with 72 percent reporting that low engagement during lectures hurt their online learning experience. A majority of students reported that they struggled with staying connected to their peers and instructors and managing the pace of coursework. Students had positive impressions, however, of their instructional staff. Majorities of students felt more comfortable asking and answering questions in online classes, suggesting that there might be features of learning online to which students are receptive, and which may also benefit in-person classes.
Active teaching methodologies have been placed as a hope for changing education at different levels, transiting from passive lecture‐centered to student‐centered learning. With the health measures of social distance, the COVID‐19 pandemic forced a strong shift to remote education. With the challenge of delivering quality education through a computer screen, we validated and applied an online course model using active teaching tools for higher education. We incorporated published active‐learning strategies into an online construct, with problem‐based inquiry and design of inquiry research projects to serve as our core active learning tool. The gains related to students' science learning experiences and their attitudes toward science were assessed by applying questionnaires before, during, and after the course. The course counted on the participation of 83 students, most of them (60.8%) from postgraduate students. Our results show that engagement provided by active learning methods can improve performance both in hard and soft skills. Students' participation seems to be more relevant when activities require the interaction of information, prediction, and reasoning, such as open‐ended questions and design of research projects. Therefore, our data show that, in pandemic, active learning tools benefit students and improve their critical thinking and their motivation and positive positioning in science.
Objectives
We examined undergraduate STEM students’ experiences during Spring 2020 when universities switched to remote instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we sought to understand actions by universities and instructors that students found effective or ineffective, as well as instructor behaviors that conveyed a sense of caring or not caring about their students’ success.
Methods
In July 2020 we conducted 16 focus groups with STEM undergraduate students enrolled in US colleges and universities (N = 59). Focus groups were stratified by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Content analyses were performed using a data-driven inductive approach.
Results
Participants (N = 59; 51% female) were racially/ethnically diverse (76% race/ethnicity other than non-Hispanic white) and from 32 colleges and universities. The most common effective instructor strategies mentioned included hybrid instruction (35%) and use of multiple tools for learning and student engagement (27%). The most common ineffective strategies mentioned were increasing the course workload or difficulty level (18%) and use of pre-recorded lectures (15%). The most common behaviors cited as making students feel the instructor cared about their success were exhibiting leniency and/or flexibility regarding course policies or assessments (29%) and being responsive and accessible to students (25%). The most common behaviors cited as conveying the instructors did not care included poor communication skills (28%) and increasing the difficulty of the course (15%). University actions students found helpful included flexible policies (41%) and moving key services online (e.g., tutoring, counseling; 24%). Students felt universities should have created policies for faculty and departments to increase consistency (26%) and ensured communication strategies were honest, prompt, and transparent (23%).
Conclusions
To be prepared for future emergencies, universities should devise evidence-based policies for remote operations and all instructors should be trained in best practices for remote instruction. Research is needed to identify and ameliorate negative impacts of the pandemic on STEM education.
This two-stage qualitative-dominant sequential mixed-method study, using an online survey of elementary and secondary school English language teachers (N = 73) and follow-up interviews (N = 10), collectively explores how teachers in Hong Kong adapted their instruction to online teaching in responses to COVID-19. The findings indicate that teachers used a variety of asynchronous and synchronous digital technologies and instructional approaches to facilitate students’ learning, assess learning, and communicate with students and parents remotely. The findings suggest that a blend of asynchronous and synchronous modes are seen as optimum to support student learning online. A model is proposed on how teachers can blend asynchronous and synchronous digital technologies and instructional approaches within a sequence of learning.
The COVID-19 pandemic compelled the global and abrupt conversion of conventional face-to-face instruction to the online format in many educational institutions. Urgent and careful planning is needed to mitigate negative effects of pandemic on engineering education that has been traditionally content-centered, hands-on and design-oriented. To enhance engineering online education during the pandemic, we conducted an observational study at California State University, Long Beach (one of the largest and most diverse four-year university in the U.S.). A total of 110 faculty members and 627 students from six engineering departments participated in surveys and answered quantitative and qualitative questions to highlight the challenges they experienced during the online instruction in Spring 2020. Our results identified various issues that negatively influenced the online engineering education including logistical/technical problems, learning/teaching challenges, privacy and security concerns and lack of sufficient hands-on training. For example, more than half of the students indicated lack of engagement in class, difficulty in maintaining their focus and Zoom fatigue after attending multiple online sessions. A correlation analysis showed that while semi-online asynchronous exams were associated with an increase in the perceived cheating by the instructors, a fully online or open-book/open-note exams had an association with a decrease in instructor’s perception of cheating. To address various identified challenges, we recommended strategies for educational stakeholders (students, faculty and administration) to fill the tools and technology gap and improve online engineering education. These recommendations are practical approaches for many similar institutions around the world and would help improve the learning outcomes of online educations in various engineering subfields. As the pandemic continues, sharing the results of this study with other educators can help with more effective planning and choice of best practices to enhance the efficacy of online engineering education during COVID-19 and post-pandemic.
During school closures forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, remote/online learning has been adopted to help students continue to learn. Student engagement, which is energized by motivation as explained by self-determination theory (SDT), is a prerequisite for learning. Therefore, this study investigated how the three perceived psychological needs in SDT affected student engagement in online learning using pre- and post-questionnaires completed by 1,201 Grade 8 and 9 students within 6 weeks of partaking in online learning. The results suggested that digital support strategies better satisfied students’ needs, that all of the needs were predictors of the level of engagement, and that relatedness support was very important.
Universities have made a compulsory shift to distance education due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All of the higher education instutitions in Turkey have completed 2019-2020 Spring semester using online tools. However, most of these institutions were not fully-prepared to have all of their courses online. Technical inadequencies, lack of qualified online tools, inexperience of instructors and students in distance education have emerged as major issues that instutitions have to face. In addition to all, a new question arised; which approaches will be used for assessment. This study aimed to seek the common assessment approaches used through pandemic, how students perceived the quality of the assessment and the pros and cons of using these practices. Additionally, we examined whether participants’ perceptions about quality of the assessment differ according to interaction with faculty members and use of online tests. Researchers employed survey design to reply four research questions and used a three-part instrument to collect qualitative and quantitative data. 486 students from 61 universities voluntarily participated in the study. Results indicated assignments are the mostly used tools and students are generally satisfied about the quality of the assessment practices. Another result is that students who interact with faculty members are more satisfied with the quality of the assessment practices. This emphasizes the importance of formative assessment and feedback in remote assessment. Further, students who took online tests are more satisfied with the quality of assessment. Suggestions were made for future research.
The rapid shift to online teaching in spring 2020 meant most of us were teaching in panic mode. As we move forward with course planning for fall and beyond, we can invest more time and energy into improving the online experience for our students. We advocate that instructors use inclusive teaching practices, specifically through active learning, in their online classes. Incorporating pedagogical practices that work to maximize active and inclusive teaching concepts will be beneficial for all students, and especially those from minoritized or underserved groups. Like many STEM fields, Ecology and Evolution shows achievement gaps and faces a leaky pipeline issue for students from groups traditionally underserved in science. Making online classes both active and inclusive will aid student learning and will also help students feel more connected to their learning, their peers, and their campus. This approach will likely help with performance, retention, and persistence of students. In this paper, we offer broadly applicable strategies and techniques that weave together active and inclusive teaching practices. We challenge instructors to commit to making small changes as a first step to more inclusive teaching in ecology and evolutionary biology courses. We encourage instructors to use inclusive teaching practices and active learning in their online classes. Incorporating pedagogical practices that work to maximize active and inclusive teaching concepts will be beneficial for all students, and especially those from minoritized or underserved groups. In this paper, we offer strategies and techniques that weave together active and inclusive teaching practices and challenge faculty to commit to making small changes as a first step to more inclusive teaching in ecology and evolutionary.
This study explored virtual reality (VR) as an educational tool to offer immersive and experiential learning environments to biomedical engineering (BME) students. Traditional and VR videos were created and used to teach required communication skills to BME students’ while working with clinical partners in healthcare settings. The videos of interdisciplinary teams (engineering and nursing students) tackling medical device-related problems, similar to those commonly observed in healthcare settings, were shown to BME students. Student surveys indicated that, through VR videos, they felt more immersed in real-world clinical scenarios while learning about the clinical problems, each team-member’s areas of expertise, their roles and responsibilities, and how an interdisciplinary team operated collectively to solve a problem in the presented settings. Students with a prior in-person immersion experience, in the presented settings, reported VR videos to serve as a possible alternative to in-person immersion and a useful tool for their preparedness for real-world clinical immersion. We concluded that VR holds promise as an educational tool to offer simulated clinical scenarios that are effective in training BME students for inter-professional collaborations.
Educational institutions (schools, colleges, and universities) in India are currently based only on traditional methods of learning, that is, they follow the traditional set up of face-to-face lectures in a classroom. Although many academic units have also started blended learning, still a lot of them are stuck with old procedures. The sudden outbreak of a deadly disease called Covid-19 caused by a Corona Virus (SARS-CoV-2) shook the entire world. The World Health Organization declared it as a pandemic. This situation challenged the education system across the world and forced educators to shift to an online mode of teaching overnight. Many academic institutions that were earlier reluctant to change their traditional pedagogical approach had no option but to shift entirely to online teaching–learning. The article includes the importance of online learning and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Challenges (SWOC) analysis of e-learning modes in the time of crisis. This article also put some light on the growth of EdTech Start-ups during the time of pandemic and natural disasters and includes suggestions for academic institutions of how to deal with challenges associated with online learning.
STEM is an educational approach to the integration of science,
mathematics, engineering and technology which are taught as nunnery through
real life-inspired activities. In this paper we present the latest trends in webbased
and online STEM education. Βy exploiting connectivity, increasing the
means that can be shared online and developing cooperation between people
from distance, new educational paradigms are immerging. We chose to present
applications from 2013 onwards in order to highlight the latest trends in STEM
online education and have categorize them according the technologies used in
their implementation.
Keywords—
The traditional teaching style in higher education is didactic. However, the current literature states that student learning improves when they are active players in the process, triggering the move to implement active learning within the curriculum. In accordance, Monash University (an Australian research‐intensive university) introduced the “Better Teaching Better Learning” agenda to deliver a more student‐centered learning experience but its implementation has been inconsistent across its different schools. Interviews and an online survey were conducted to evaluate the teaching practices in lectures of Biomedical Science academics, identify barriers preventing them from implementing active learning in their teaching, and identify possible strategies to overcome said barriers. The two main teaching groups use a variety of teaching styles in lectures, with education‐focused academics employing more active learning practices. Many academics were in the process of changing their teaching style, mainly to improve the overall student learning experience. However, complex barriers prevent them from doing so. Possible strategies were identified that would help academics adopt a more student‐centered teaching style. © 2018 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 1–12, 2018.
Active learning is an instructional method in which students become engaged participants in the classroom through the use of in-class written exercises, games, problem sets, audience-response systems, debates, class discussions, etc. Despite evidence supporting the effectiveness of active learning strategies, minimal adoption of the technique has occurred in many professional programs. The goal of this study was to compare the perceptions of active learning between students who were exposed to active learning in the classroom (n = 116) and professional-level physiology faculty members (n = 9). Faculty members reported a heavy reliance on lectures and minimal use of educational games and activities, whereas students indicated that they learned best via the activities. A majority of faculty members (89%) had observed active learning in the classroom and predicted favorable effects of the method on student performance and motivation. The main reported barriers by faculty members to the adoption of active learning were a lack of necessary class time, a high comfort level with traditional lectures, and insufficient time to develop materials. Students hypothesized similar obstacles for faculty members but also associated many negative qualities with the traditional lecturers. Despite these barriers, a majority of faculty members (78%) were interested in learning more about the alternative teaching strategy. Both faculty members and students indicated that active learning should occupy portions (29% vs. 40%) of face-to-face class time.
This study investigates the determinants of Internet access and its effect of it on educational inequality in OECD countries during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. The spatial panel data model is used to include the neighborhood in the model relating to educational inequality. The findings from the study reveal that despite the increase in Internet access during the Covid-19 period, the response to the pandemic has caused education inequalities. Furthermore, economic development indicators are effective in increasing Internet access and reducing educational inequality. Finally, the study shows that, as improvements in income levels can increase Internet access, which results in a reduction in educational inequality.
Biofluids comprises a core topical domain for modern biomedical engineering education. Like other biomedical topic areas, biofluids education must address highly inter-disciplinary and applied topics. Concept/problem based active learning approaches can provide effective avenues to teach such diverse and applied topics. However, with the heterogeneity within biofluids topics across cellular, physiological, and/or extra-organismal scales, it is important to develop active learning content that enables students to explore concepts with appropriate context. This challenge is further complicated by the need to administer such content remotely (due to the Covid-19 pandemic). Here, we outline our design process and implementation experience for simulation-based active learning modules for a newly developed physiological biofluids course. We share the overall design approach, with two example cases of simulation based concept exploration: (a) arterial Windkessel effects and lumped parameter hemodynamic analysis; and (b) curvature induced helical flow in human aorta illustrated using 4D flow MRI. Evidence from student survey ratings, student comments and feedback, and monitoring student performance for course deliverables indicate positive student response towards these modules, and efficacy of the modules in enabling student learning. Based on our design and implementation experience, we argue that simulation-based approaches can enable active learning of biofluids through remote and online learning modalities.
As the COVID-19 pandemic forced a sudden shift to online teaching and learning in April 2020, one of the more significant challenges faced by instructors is encouraging and maintaining student engagement in their online classes. This paper describes my experience of flipping an online classroom for a core Chemical Engineering Fluid Mechanics class to promote student engagement and collaboration in an online setting. Comparing exam scores with prior semesters involving in-person, traditional lecture-style classes suggests students need a certain degree of adjustment to adapt to this new learning mode. A decrease in Student Rating of Teaching (SRT) scores indicates that students largely prefer in-person, traditional lectures over an online flipped class, even though written comments in the SRT contained several responses favorable to flipping the class in an online setting. Overall, SRT scores on a department level also showed a similar decrease, which suggests students were less satisfied with the quality of teaching overall throughout the department, with this flipped method of instruction neither improving nor worsening student sentiment towards online learning. In addition, whereas most students liked the pre-recorded lecture videos, they were less enthusiastic about using breakout rooms to encourage student collaboration and discussion. Further thought and discussion on best practices to facilitate online student interaction and collaboration are recommended, as online learning will likely continue to grow in popularity even when in-person instruction resumes after the pandemic.
During the Spring 2020 semester, many institutions abruptly transitioned their courses from face-to-face instruction to remote learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To address the unique challenges posed by the remote teaching and learning modality, our department used mobile technology to adapt empirically validated instructional strategies for use in our remote courses. At Merrimack College, all faculty and students have iPads and Apple Pencils, and the members of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have incorporated this mobile technology into all of our course offerings. Our continued use of this technology eased the transition for both faculty and students by promoting course continuity and decreasing the cognitive load imposed by the transition. Survey responses suggest that students appreciated the structure provided by scaffolded course materials and synchronous class meetings, which helped keep them engaged in their chemistry courses. Coupling active learning instruction with the Zoom video conferencing platform allowed students to connect with the instructor and other students; this was highly valued by our students. Overall, we can conclude that universal access to technology, creating community using videoconferencing software, and intentional pedagogical choices to incorporate active learning created a positive learning environment for students.
Here we describe a systematic approach towards creating effective screencast based modules for teaching computational techniques in remote and online modalities. We adopted a multi-stage approach to create screencast videos that replaced in-person demos and active learning content in a finite element analysis based class. The stages include systematic preparation of video data and script; production stage, for recording and editing of captured video and audio; and post-production stage, for uploading generated media files into our learning management system. Modules were paired with assignments, thereby enhancing student learning and enabling assessment of module content efficacy. Our approach and technology received highly positive reception from students. Students also successfully navigated all associated assignments and final course project, which builds upon the content addressed in the modules. We identified several avenues for improvement in continued future offerings of such modules. We have outlined our design experience and student reception of screencast based modules for creating engaging learning content in remote teaching modalities. The description has been presented in form of teaching tips for other educators to adopt for their teaching needs.
In order to provide undergraduate students with a full, rich online learning experience we adapted pre-existing online content including graduate courses from Johns Hopkins University Engineering for Professionals (JHU EP) program. These online courses were designed using published methodologies and held to a high level of rigor of a Masters-level curriculum. Adapting pre-existing online course material enabled us to more rapidly adapt to the COVID-19 shutdown of in-person education. We adapted content to meet the majority of lab-based learning objectives rather than generating self-recorded lecture material and allowing us to focus faculty time on addressing student needs. Here we discuss benefits, challenges, and methods for replicating these courses, and lessons to be applied in future offerings from this experience.
This paper covers teaching a graduate thermodynamics class as a seminar and using improvisational activities to foster community and discussion. The paper includes the experience of piloting improvisational activities online to help foster community for an entirely virtual version of the thermodynamics seminar class. Improvisational activities were found to help foster discussion in a thermodynamics seminar class, and some of these improvisational activities can be translated online in ways that may help to foster connection and community across the curriculum including online.
The COVID-19 induced abrupt transition to online learning that occurred in the Spring of 2020 presented particular challenges to the adaptation of hands-on laboratory courses in biomedical engineering. This paper describes the transition of such a course in one undergraduate program, assessment of this transition, and how this assessment has led to the design of the Fall 2020 online delivery format. In the spring, instruction was delivered online via asynchronous lectures and recorded video demonstrations, while raw data was provided to students to simulate specific laboratory techniques. Additionally, synchronous and asynchronous forms of student support were offered, including office hours and discussions. Student feedback was assessed via an end-of-semester survey designed specifically to analyze the students’ perceptions of the Spring 2020 transition to remote learning, as well as a comparison of Spring 2020 and Spring 2019 (when the course was taught in-person) student performance deliverables. Student performance was comparable to (or even better than) that in 2019. Students responded very positively to the transition, with most students agreeing or strongly agreeing that they had the resources needed to succeed (4.43 on a Likert scale), although on average, the students also found that the shift made learning more challenging, with increased effort required to engage with the material. Students especially found the recorded demonstration of laboratory techniques, asynchronous lectures, the learning management system chat feature, and virtual office hours useful. Many students felt that even with these resources, they still lost some of the experience that comes with in-person hands-on application, and some students found working in teams to be more challenging. While the overall approach implemented in the abrupt transition was effective in terms of student learning outcomes, engagement and immersion in a more realistic experience is a concern moving forward in Fall 2020. Based on our outcomes and on data from the literature, we will add gamified virtual lab simulations, shown to enhance student experience and create a more engaging and effective learning environment in lieu of in-person instruction.
During the spring of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary to rapidly translate a new human-centered design studio course for first-year biomedical engineering students from a face-to-face delivery mode to a remote delivery mode. In addition to disrupting plans for hands-on design prototyping experiences, stay-at-home orders associated with the pandemic disrupted plans for students to interact substantively and empathetically with potential users, which is the heart of human-centered design. The challenge was therefore to provide students without ready access to machine shops, 3D printing, or other people with some form of the educational experiences promised in the course syllabus.
The need for biomedical engineering (BME) students to be trained in real-world health care settings, where most medical device industry emerges, is imperative. Clinical immersion helps accomplish this training goal. However, the growing student population in the field of BME and a shortage of clinical collaborators offer serious limitations to the clinical immersion experience. This paper describes the use of a clinical simulation-based training (SBT) tool in BME education as an alternative resource to the real-world clinical immersion experience. Through the inclusion of simulation labs in BME courses, we assessed their efficacy in need-finding and enhancing students' understanding of the current challenges of existing medical technology. We also explored the possibility of offering cross-disciplinary learning environments in these simulation labs, including engineers and students from other healthcare disciplines such as nursing. Simulation labs served as a helpful tool in the need-finding phase of the design process, and the immersed students reported higher adaptive and life-long learning outcomes. Students also reported the simulation lab immersion to be valuable to their future goals as engineers. Furthermore, the SBT labs offered repetitive training in a controlled learning environment, inclusion of an interdisciplinary setting, and feedback through student reflections. The inclusion of simulation lab immersion and SBT labs in the two BME courses served as an useful and alternative educational tool that helped train students to better understand the needs of the health care industry while working in interdisciplinary settings.
This study reports our experience of developing a series of biomedical engineering (BME) courses having active and experiential learning components in an interdisciplinary learning environment. In the first course, BME465: biomechanics, students were immersed in a simulation laboratory setting involving mannequins that are currently used for teaching in the School of Nursing. Each team identified possible technological challenges directly related to the biomechanics of the mannequin and presented an improvement overcoming the challenge. This approach of exposing engineering students to a problem in a clinical learning environment enhanced the adaptive and experiential learning capabilities of the course. In the following semester, through BME448: medical devices, engineering students were partnered with nursing students and exposed to simulation scenarios and real-world clinical settings. They were required to identify three unmet needs in the real-world clinical settings and propose a viable engineering solution. This approach helped BME students to understand and employ real-world applications of engineering principles in problem solving while being exposed to an interdisciplinary collaborative environment. A final step was for engineering students to execute their proposed solution from either BME465 or BME448 courses by undertaking it as their capstone senior design project (ENGR401-402). Overall, the inclusion of clinical immersions in interdisciplinary teams in a series of courses not only allowed the integration of active and experiential learning in continuity but also offered engineers more practice of their profession, adaptive expertise, and an understanding of roles and expertise of other professionals involved in enhancement of healthcare and patient safety.
Demand of biomedical engineers is rising exponentially to meet the needs of healthcare industry. Current training of bioengineers follows the traditional and dominant model of theory-focused curricula. However, the unmet needs of the healthcare industry warrant newer skill sets in these engineers where translational training strategies such as solving real world problems can be incorporated to the existing biomedical engineering education through active, adaptive and experiential learning. In this paper we report our findings of active and adaptive project based learning approach through a simulation lab visit that served as a clinical immersion experience for students enrolled in a senior-level Biomechanics undergraduate course. In this team-based learning activity, students identified an unmet need in the simulation mannequin and offered a biomechanics related solution to overcome the problem. Surveys assessed student perceptions of the activity and learning experience. While students, across three cohorts, felt challenged to solve a real-world problem identified during the simulation lab visit, they felt more confident in utilizing knowledge learned in the biomechanics course and self-directed research indicating that the active and experiential learning approach fostered their technical knowledge and life-long learning skills while exposing them to the components of adaptive learning and innovation.
The informal network ‘Active Learning in Engineering Education’ (ALE) has been promoting Active Learning since 2001. ALE creates opportunity for practitioners and researchers of engineering education to collaboratively learn how to foster learning of engineering students. The activities in ALE are centred on the vision that learners construct their knowledge based on meaningful activities and knowledge. In 2014, the steering committee of the ALE network reinforced the need to discuss the meaning of Active Learning and that was the base for this proposal for a special issue. More than 40 submissions were reviewed by the European Journal of Engineering Education community and this theme issue ended up with eight contributions, which are different both in their research and Active Learning approaches. These different Active Learning approaches are aligned with the different approaches that can be increasingly found in indexed journals.
Grand Rounds is a ritual of medical education and inpatient care comprised of presenting the medical problems and treatment of a patient to an audience of physicians, residents, and medical students. Traditionally, the patient would be in attendance for the presentation and would answer questions. Grand Rounds has evolved considerably over the years with most sessions being didactic-rarely having a patient present (although, in some instances, an actor will portray the patient). Other members of the team, such as nurses, nurse practitioners, and biomedical engineers, are not traditionally involved in the formal teaching process. In this study we examine the rapid ideation in a clinical setting to forge a system of cross talk between engineers and physicians as a steady state at the praxis of ideation and implementation.
The emergence of worldwide communications networks and powerful computer technologies has redefined the concept of distance learning and the delivery of engineering education content. This article discusses the Sloan Consortium's quest for quality, scale, and breadth in online learning, the impact on both continuing education of graduate engineers as well as degree-seeking engineering students, and the future of engineering colleges and schools as worldwide providers of engineering education.
Physiology is a core requirement in the undergraduate biomedical engineering curriculum. In one or two introductory physiology courses, engineering students must learn physiology sufficiently to support learning in their subsequent engineering courses and careers. As preparation for future learning, physiology instruction centered on concepts may help engineering students to further develop their physiology and biomedical engineering knowledge. Following the Backward Design instructional model, a series of seven concept-based lessons was developed for undergraduate engineering students. These online lessons were created as prerequisite physiology training to prepare students to engage in a collaborative engineering challenge activity. This work is presented as an example of how to convert standard, organ system-based physiology content into concept-based content lessons.
The exclusive reproduction of short-term learned and pool-based contents in examinations may impede development of in-depth understanding. This pilot project suggests an approach useful to overcome this shortcoming by enhancing students' motivation for comprehensive learning using automatically added contextual questions in electronic examinations. Installed in practical courses teaching pain physiology, digital data acquisition and examination workstations were interlinked via a network connection. The data acquisition software was substantiated by algorithms that evaluated data acquired before their transmission to examination workstations. These data were used by the assessment software operating on these workstations to automatically compose new examination questions. Examinations thus combined pool questions with newly generated questions with authentic digitized data from the preceding course. This helped confront students with questions based on their individual data that had resulted from the courses examined. Formative evaluation showed an increase in motivation and alertness for practical tasks and acquired results. This suggests usefulness of this setting in examining the preparation and comprehension of course contents. There is reason to assume that this approach is suitable to be transferred to other practical courses using digital acquisition of practical and examination data.
The instructional design of an introductory biomechanics class (BME 101) has gone through several iterations since its inception in 1988 at Vanderbilt University. Our objective is to modify BME 101 so that it becomes more effective through the introduction of learner-centered, community-centered, and assessment-centered activities. Challenge-based instruction provides one method of instruction that can capture these various dimensions of effective learning environments. We have been exploring the potential of this instructional method and several innovative learning technologies to improve students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the course. We provide a short description of how challenges are created for biomechanics and how technology was used to make the course more learner centered, both in and out of class.