Many authentic BME projects require system integration. This year, before the start of the open-ended Capstone projects, three connected modules were used as an initiative to practice systems integration and thus promote readiness. To this aim, a Do-It-Yourself spectrophotometer/colorimeter was used as the interconnecting theme. In the first two…

Grand challenges such as energy, water, and food scarcity limit our growing population's ability to live sustainably on Earth. Such complex societal challenges, which interconnect many human and natural systems, will require today's students to apply approaches that go beyond simple cause and effect. To help instructors teach students how to…

Within recent years, there is an increasing need to train students, from biology and beyond, in quantitative methods that are relevant to cope with data-driven biology. Systems Biology is such a field that places a particular focus on the functional aspect of biology and molecular interacting processes. This paper deals with the conceptual design…

This study reports on an effort to illustrate the coupling of educational research with ongoing curriculum development to promote effective and evidence-based online learning. The research findings have been used to inform the "EarthLabs" curriculum development team as they revise existing modules and create new modules, in order to…

Providing high quality formative feedback to large and very diverse cohorts of students taking short intensive blocks of teaching (block release) has become crucial in management education provision. The paper proposes the exploitation of classroom response technology (CRT) to evaluate learning activities of students taking block release modules.…

This paper presents low-cost experiments for a control systems laboratory module that is worth one and a third credits. The experiments are organized around the microcontroller-based control of a permanent magnet dc motor. The experimental setups were built in-house. Except for the operating system, the software used is primarily freeware or free…

Given the constraints on educational development, the author sees the introduction of educational technology (broadly defined) as the only course for improving conditions. He describes a practical example in the Hungarian National Center for Educational Technology, which has broad functions in research and development, dissemination, and teacher…

Instructional development projects in Medical Terminology and Orientation to Hearing Aids are reviewed to demonstrate the procedural steps used and the interactive dynamics employed by development teams at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Six references are provided. (MER)

Characterizes the Job Corps experience as the first significant application of the systems approach to instructional development, and discusses the project's mission, trainees, training environment, training programs, needs assessment, student learning units, group training techniques, effectiveness in preparing trainees for jobs, and cost…

Describes the use of an instructional model for composition involving five procedures: a rationale, instructional objectives, pre-assessment, learning activities, and evaluation. (MKM)

Describes the advantages of an ecological and active approach to classroom management, presents an analysis of how such an approach might be developed, and discusses several issues which need to be addressed in order to improve classroom management. Twenty-nine references are listed. (Author/CHC)

Proposes the benefits of instructional design reforms for college courses. Design steps include how to evaluate needs, establish goals, and make changes. A detailed example is provided of a restructured art history course which was changed from a large lecture format to self-paced learning activities. (Contains 22 references.) (SLW)