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Experiential Learning in Biomedical Engineering Education Using Wearable Devices: A Case Study in a Biomedical Signals and Systems Analysis Course

2022 , Montesinos, Luis , Santos-Diaz, Alejandro , Salinas-Navarro, David Ernesto , Cendejas-Zaragoza, Leopoldo

Biomedical engineering (BME) is one of the fastest-growing engineering fields worldwide. BME professionals are extensively employed in the health technology and healthcare industries. Hence, their education must prepare them to face the challenge of a rapidly evolving technological environment. Biomedical signals and systems analysis is essential to BME undergraduate education. Unfortunately, students often underestimate the importance of their courses as they do not perceive these courses’ practical applications in their future professional practice. In this study, we propose using blended learning spaces to develop new learning experiences in the context of a biomedical signals and systems analysis course to enhance students’ motivation and interest and the relevance of the materials learned. We created a learning experience based on wearable devices and cloud-based collaborative development environments such that the students turned daily-life scenarios into experiential learning spaces. Overall, our results suggest a positive impact on the students’ perceptions of their learning experience concerning relevance, motivation, and interest. Namely, the evidence shows a reduction in the variability of such perceptions. However, further research must confirm this potential impact. This confirmation is required given the monetary and time investment this pedagogical approach would require if it were to be implemented at a larger scale. ©MDPI, The authors.

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Transdisciplinary experiential learning in biomedical engineering education for healthcare systems improvement

2023 , Montesinos, Luis , Salinas-Navarro, David Ernesto , Santos-Diaz, Alejandro

Background: The growing demand for more efficient, timely, and safer health services, together with insufficient resources, put unprecedented pressure on health systems worldwide. This challenge has motivated the application of principles and tools of operations management and lean systems to healthcare processes to maximize value while reducing waste. Consequently, there is an increasing need for professionals with the appropriate clinical experience and skills in systems and process engineering. Given their multidisciplinary education and training, biomedical engineering professionals are likely among the most suitable to assume this role. In this context, biomedical engineering education must prepare students for a transdisciplinary professional role by including concepts, methods, and tools that commonly belong to industrial engineering. This work aims to create relevant learning experiences for biomedical engineering education to expand transdisciplinary knowledge and skills in students to improve and optimize hospital and healthcare care processes. Methods: Healthcare processes were translated into specific learning experiences using the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) model. This model allowed us to systematically identify the context where learning experiences were expected to occur, the new concepts and skills to be developed through these experiences, the stages of the student’s learning journey, the resources required to implement the learning experiences, and the assessment and evaluation methods. The learning journey was structured around Kolb’s experiential learning cycle, which considers four stages: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. Data on the student’s learning and experience were collected through formative and summative assessments and a student opinion survey. Results: The proposed learning experiences were implemented in a 16-week elective course on hospital management for last-year biomedical engineering undergraduate students. Students engaged in analyzing and redesigning healthcare operations for improvement and optimization. Namely, students observed a relevant healthcare process, identified a problem, and defined an improvement and deployment plan. These activities were carried out using tools drawn from industrial engineering, which expanded their traditional professional role. The fieldwork occurred in two large hospitals and a university medical service in Mexico. A transdisciplinary teaching team designed and implemented these learning experiences. Conclusions : This teaching-learning experience benefited students and faculty concerning public participation, transdisciplinarity, and situated learning. However, the time devoted to the proposed learning experience represented a challenge. ©The authors, BMC Medical Education.

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Experiential Learning for Circular Operations Management in Higher Education

2024 , Salinas-Navarro, David Ernesto , Arias Portela, Claudia Yohana , González de la Cruz, José Rubén , Vilalta-Perdomo, Eliseo

This research-to-practice article delves into novel learning experiences for operations management education, involving the circular economy and experiential learning. Higher Education academics are required to develop effective learning that actively and impactfully helps nurture in students the essential competency to face sustainable development demands. In operations management education, one possibility is to integrate real-world circular economy challenges into learning activities that address issues concerning solid waste generation in business processes and operations. This type of innovative learning experience involves both conceptual understanding and practical implementation. Accordingly, experiential learning is considered a suitable pedagogy for this purpose in this work because of its hands-on applications, critical thinking, and active engagement. To illustrate this proposition, this paper presents a case study concerning an operations management undergraduate course at a Mexican university. The case study indicates how to translate a situation of solid waste generation in a business into relevant disciplinary experiential learning. The results show that students regarded the learning experience as motivating, interesting, and relevant while widely accomplishing their learning objectives. However, limitations did exist regarding experiential learning, the methodological approach, data collection, and implementation challenges. Future work points to the need for further learning experiences and to improve research reliability, transferability, and validity. ©2024 MDPI (Basel, Switzerland) unless otherwise stated.

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Design a challenge-based learning model for higher education, an application in a beverage company

2022 , Da Silva-Ovando, Agatha Clarice , Olivares Quintana, Oscar Saúl , Salinas-Navarro, David Ernesto , Chong, Mario

As the students’ profile and the industry’s expectations change over time, universities must adopt learning methodologies to deliver more suitable graduates to the labor market. The Universidad Privada Boliviana (UPB) has been developing experiential learning practices by implementing challenge-based learning (CBL) to enrich undergraduates’ curricula. One example reflected in the CBL experiences developed by Taquiña Brewery, one of the five breweries of the Cervecería Boliviana Nacional (CBN), and the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department of the UPB between 2018 and 2019. As a result, the students widely accepted the methodology, and academics from all disciplines were trained to replicate CBL experiences in their classrooms. While CBN found the opportunity to hire new talent, receive a fresh perspective on recurrent operational issues, and find new ideas based on theoretical concepts. This work contributes to the exemplification of innovative approaches to enhance the teaching and learning of Supply Chain Management and Logistics. ©The authors, IEEE.