From Study-Abroad to Study-at-Home: Teaching Cross-Cultural Design Thinking During COVID-19
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Biomedical Engineering Education ( 2020) https://doi.org/10.1007/s43683-020-00018-9
Teaching Tips - Special Issue (COVID)
From Study-Abroad to Study-at-Home: Teaching Cross-Cultural Design Thinking During COVID-19 MAE M. LEWIS and MIA K. MARKEY Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA (Received 8 July 2020; accepted 10 August 2020)
CHALLENGE STATEMENT Undergraduate degrees at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) require ‘‘Flags’’ in each of six areas: (1) Cultural Diversity in the United States; (2) Ethics; (3) Global Cultures; (4) Independent Inquiry; (5) Quantitative Reasoning; and (6) Writing. Courses that carry the Global Cultures Flag guide students in exploring the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one non-US cultural group, and encourage reflection on one’s own cultural experiences. Many engineering students are excited to learn about global cultures in the context of their discipline through faculty-led study-abroad.8 Currently, there are 11 engineering courses carrying a Global Cultures Flag, 10 of which are faculty-led study-abroad. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented almost 400 of our engineering students from participating in faculty-led study-abroad. Our challenge was to quickly transition a faculty-led study-abroad carrying a Global Cultures Flag to an online format.
NOVEL INITIATIVE The course ‘‘International Perspectives on Biomedical Engineering Design’’ prepares students for crosscultural design thinking.4 Students learn human-centered design methods to understand the people for whom they are designing and to identify actionable problem statements.3 The course theme is the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform breast cancer care. As a short-term faculty-led study-abroad in Address correspondence to Mia K. Markey, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. Electronic mail: [email protected]
Portugal, it facilitates students’ exploration of the impact of culture on healthcare delivery and the design of healthcare technologies. Reflective exercises are emphasized to help students develop intercultural competence.13 The primary course number is in Biomedical Engineering with cross-listings offered through Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Students plan, conduct, and interpret interviews with healthcare professionals who treat breast cancer patients at Champalimaud Clinical Center (Lisbon, Portugal) and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, US). In study-abroad, at least half of the interviews are conducted via videoconference since half the professionals are in US and half are in Portugal. As an online course, all of the interviews are via videoconference. Due to scheduling constraints for synchronous online delivery, the number of healthcare professionals interviewed was reduced from 14 in the 2019 study-abroad offering to 10 in the 2020 online offering, with a corresponding decrease from 7 to 5 specialties. Stu
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