Rethinking Higher Education: Closing the Gap Between Academics and Professional Practice
Thursday, March 18, 2021 12pm
About this Event
Register for the Topics in Bioengineering 2020-21 Series here (via Zoom). Registration is quick and easy; you only have to sign up once to receive the link that will be used for all TIB webinars this semester.
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Despite 20 years of focus on organizational change and effective educational best practices in STEM higher education, significant research findings have had minimal influences on practice. In 2016, the University of Michigan Biomedical Engineering (BME) Department sought to disrupt engineering education. Informed by organizational change theory, we asked: 1) Is there potential for change; 2) what strategies facilitate change; and 3) how can these strategies be implemented? As a result, we developed an Instructional Design Sequence, a new approach to instruction in which students, post docs, and faculty created short Modules that use evidence-based teaching practices to expose BME students to BME professional practice. Leveraging organizational change theory and student learning theory, this approach created a new model for integrating professional practice into undergraduate education in real time, while changing the way in which instructors think about engaging students in the classroom. This talk will address the conceptualization of the Incubator/BME-in-Practice Sequence, the implementation, impact on participants and how it will inform Dr. Huang-Saad’s new role at Northeastern University’s Roux Institute.