In 2016, our biomedical engineering (BME) department created a new model of instructional change in which undergraduate BME curriculum is closely tied to the evolution of the field of BME, and in which faculty, staff, and students work
together to define and implement current content and best practices in teaching. Through an Iterative Instructional Design
Sequence, the department has implemented seven BME-in-Practice modules over two years. A total of 36 faculty, post
docs, doctoral candidates, master’s students, and fourth year students participated in creating one-credit BME-in-Practice
Modules exploring Tissue Engineering, Medical Device Development, Drug Development, Regulations, and Neural
Engineering. A subset of these post docs, graduate students and undergraduates (23) also participated in teaching teams of
two-three per Module and were responsible for teaching one of the BME-in-Practice Modules. Modules were designed to
be highly experiential where the majority of work could be completed in the classroom. A total of 50 unique undergraduates
elected to enroll in the seven Modules, 73.33% of which were women. Data collected over the first two years indicate that
Module students perceived significant learning outcomes and the Module teaching teams were successful in creating
student centered environments. Results suggest that this mechanism enables effective, rapid adaptation of BME
curriculum to meet the changing needs of BME students, while increasing student-centered engagement in the engineering
classroom. Findings also suggest that this approach is an example of an intentional curricular change that is particularly
impactful for women engineering students.
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A Qualitative Examination of Learners’ Experiences in Experiential BME-In-Practice Modules
Learners of Biomedical Engineering (BME) programs report difficulties finding relevant jobs
post-graduation and also express a disconnect between their training and future professional
roles. In addition, because of the interdisciplinary nature of BME, there is a lack of shared
understanding of the field between learners, departments, and employers. This lack of
understanding further contributes to the disconnect between instruction and practice. To bridge the gap between curricular experiences and learners' understanding of career opportunities in BME, we developed a series of 1-credit (4-week) BME-In-Practice Modules that exposed biomedical learners to biomedical engineering practice. Each 1-credit module in the series was designed to run for four weeks and focused on different areas in BME such as Tissue engineering, Computational Modeling, Medical Device Development, Drug Development, Regulations, and Neural Engineering. Learners' enrolled in one or multiple modules and engaged in experiential learning for 4-weeks to gain knowledge and skills relevant to the BME area of focus in the module(s). Following the conclusion of the BME-In-Practice series, we collected survey data from learners who participated in the modules to address the following research questions: 1) What are learners' goals and motivations for enrolling in the BME-In-Practice Module(s)? and 2) How did learners' experiences with the module(s) align with their goals and influence their graduation plans? The survey was administered using Qualtrics and consisted of multiple open-ended questions examining learners' goals and motivations for participating in the BME-in-Practice Module(s) and questions assessing their experiences with the series. Responses to the open-ended survey questions were analyzed using a qualitative interpretive approach. Our results identify different goals related to learners' professional interests and competencies when enrolling in the module. Learners' reported gaining practical experiences as well as clarity and direction about their professional futures. We also discuss the graduation plans and outcomes reported by the learners' who participated in the modules, followed by implications for practice and future research.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2126251
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10357028
- Publisher / Repository:
- ASEE
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ASEE annual conference exposition proceedings
- ISSN:
- 2153-5868
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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