Improving Biomedical Engineering Education Through Continuity in Adaptive, Experiential, and Interdisciplinary Learning Environments

Abstract

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.

Using Virtual Reality in Biomedical Engineering Education

“…Simulation-based scenarios can help overcome these limitations by offering varied clinical immersion opportunities that are controlled, repeatable, and recorded for more effective learning through student reflections and teaching through instructor's feedback [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. Efficacy of simulation-based training has been reported previously in teaching teamwork, communication, and collaborative learning [1,2,20]. While simulation-based training can offer effective immersion experiences, the cost associated with simulation manikins, access to simulation laboratory, and creating interdisciplinary environment with BME and other healthcare profession students are not always feasible.…”

“…Additionally, students reported VR videos to serve as a tool for better preparedness of students for operating room visits, which are a part of this course for clinical needs finding and has been detailed previously ( Fig. 5(a)) [1]. When comparing in-person immersion to video immersion, the students reported VR to simulate their in-person experience more closely (100%), and reported VR to serve as an alternative to in-person simulation lab experience (60%).…”

“…While the efficacy of clinical immersion is proven in biomedical engineering education, it poses several limitations in accessibility and availability for large student cohorts. Recent work from our group reported simulation-based training (SBT) as an option to experience clinical immersion [1,2]. SBT included interdisciplinary teams of BME and nursing students working on a clinical problem through simulation manikins or standardized actors.…”

Preparing Early-career Biomedical Undergraduates Through Investigations of Stakeholder Needs: A Qualitative Analysis

“…These skills are also part of ABET's previous professional outcomes and its current student outcomes for engineering programs [9], [34]. Therefore these professional skills are being integrated into current BME curriculum [24], [35]. Motivation, independence, and dealing with failure were more desirable in academia, which has also been stated in previous studies [36], [37].…”

Design of Flipped Classroom Model for a Computer-Aided Structural Analysis Design and Experimentation Course

“…One such initiative is the research in Linked Column Frame (LCF) system [3] as an alternative to the traditional moment frame system for lateral resisting frames for earthquake loads. Currently, there is a tremendous demand for bringing civil engineering research results in undergraduate classrooms with active learning pedagogy [4] and to use technology for education [5]. For example, the University of Southern California has a completely online degree in Structural Engineering [5].…”