Idea generation in biomedical engineering courses using Design Heuristics

ABSTRACT

With increasing demand for improved medical equipment and healthcare, next-generation biomedical engineers need strong design skills. Equipping biomedical engineering students with tools for idea generation and development can increase student design success. Design Heuristics are an ideation tool developed through empirical studies of product designs. While identified in the mechanical engineering space, Design Heuristics may be applicable in biomedical engineering design. In our study, we implemented a Design Heuristics session during upper-level undergraduate and first-year graduate biomedical engineering design courses. We examined the applicability of Design Heuristics within individual and team concept generation contexts. The findings demonstrated that biomedical engineering students were able to use Design Heuristics to generate multiple concepts, and that initial concepts produced using Design Heuristics were carried over into final team design. The results support the applicability of Design Heuristics to student idea generation in biomedical engineering design.     

Understanding value in the student experience through student–staff partnerships

ABSTRACT

Questions such as ‘what is value in the student experience?’ and ‘how do we measure or assess value in higher education?’ remain an under-researched area. However, in the context of marketisation and competitive forces in higher education, there is a need to unpack what is value in the student experience. In this article, a conceptualisation of value that can be applied in higher education (known as value-in-use) is introduced and applied to a specific and increasingly important aspect of the student experience – student–staff partnerships. Qualitative survey data (n?=?97) and interviews (n?=?35) from ten cases of various manifestations of student–staff partnerships in the Australasian context is presented and assessed in relation to value. The findings highlight that student–staff partnerships may enhance value in the student experience and that value-in-use may be an appropriate lens through which to continue to explore how value is created and measured in the student experience.