Support of a Remote-Only Biomedical Engineering Design Capstone Course

Abstract

The BME Design sequence at Carnegie Mellon University is an interdisciplinary, capstone, two-semester course that introduces Biomedical Engineering and Design students to the design of biomedical products.13 The course is based on the Biodesign textbook by Yock et al.12 The course sequence is comprised of two parts: 1. 42–401 is offered in the Fall semester and provides the students the opportunity to form project teams, select and define a project, and complete an initial prototype. 2. 42–402 is offered in the Spring semester and completes the plan that was developed in the fall semester. This course culminates in the completion of multiple prototypes, a poster and prototype presentation, and a written report. For Spring 2020, 51 students were enrolled and organized into nine teams. Prior to the transition to remote (online) classes on March 11, 2020, all of the technical lectures for Spring 2020 (including regulatory affairs, intellectual property, medical reimbursement, standards, and manufacturing) had been completed. In addition, Prototype #2 (out of 3 required prototypes) was completed in late February. Classes were restarted in the remote mode on 3/19/ 20. All regularly scheduled course activities continued in this remote mode. These included the following: 1. Lecture on communicating with general (nontechnical) audiences. 2. Two peer-review sessions of drafts of final report, poster, and website4,10 3. Oral Design Review presentations 4. Regular team meetings with instructor (bi-weekly) and TAs (teaching assistants) weekly 5. Final Presentations 6. Final Reports (based on Venture-well NIH DEBUT guidelines)2 In addition, each team completed a ‘‘pivot’’ plan which detailed the extent that their prototype could be completed in light of the shift to the remote mode. This plan was discussed extensively with the instructor and the TA. The completion of the prototypes was the primary challenge for the students, as they lost physical access to TechSpark (Makerspace)3 and lab test facilities on the Carnegie Mellon University campus due to the closure of campus to all undergraduates. This obviously had a significant impact on the quality and type of the final prototype, as these types of facilities are integral to capstone engineering courses.9,11 A secondary challenge was how final prototype demonstrations could be done in a remote format.