Virtual Flipped Class and Laboratories for Medical Electronics Course
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Biomedical Engineering Education ( 2020) https://doi.org/10.1007/s43683-020-00037-6
Teaching Tips - Special Issue (COVID)
Virtual Flipped Class and Laboratories for Medical Electronics Course JEAN-MICHEL I. MAAREK Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, 1042 Downey Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA (Received 19 June 2020; accepted 13 October 2020)
Abstract—This paper describes the adaptation of a flipped Biomedical Electronics course with laboratories to remote learning at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In class collaborative work on problem sets was replaced by group work (4–5 students) in Zoom breakout sessions. When the groups assembled at random for each class had sufficiently progressed on a problem, a detailed solution was typed on the Multisim circuit simulator desktop (National Instruments) shared on the instructor screen. A laboratory project dealing with the development of an electromyograph (EMG) was redesigned for in-depth exploration of each circuit block composing the EMG circuit that was only feasible with the circuit simulator. The students progressed through the remote section of the course at the same rate as they had in the physical classroom in prior years. Student pairs finished a more complete virtual EMG laboratory project without being hampered by manipulation errors that are typical of novices when assembling hardware circuits. We conclude that a flipped biomedical electronics course can successfully be offered remotely and that virtual electronics laboratories that make use of a circuit simulator can provide a complete and meaningful learning experience. Keywords—Remote learning, Flipped classroom, Electronics laboratories, Circuit simulator.
BACKGROUND The Medical Electronics course at our institution is organized as a flipped class (two 80-min sessions/week) with design-based laboratories (one 3-h lab/ week—morning or afternoon times) in which junior and senior students analyze, design, assemble, and test prototypes of medical instruments.14,15 Online video
lessons posted on the learning management system (LMS) Blackboard present methods of analysis and design of fundamental electronic circuits encountered in these instruments, e.g. amplifiers assembled with operational amplifiers, active filters, comparators, diode circuits, and transistor switches. In class, students practice in small groups analyzing variants of these circuits. The labs are mainly devoted to two multi-week projects (dual-supply electrocardiograph amplifier and single-supply electromyograph amplifier) divided into self-contained functional blocks which are based on circuits studied in class. Students design and implement a functional block each week to satisfy specified requirements and use as reference documentation application notes and professional tutorials.11,5,16 Preparation for the labs includes developing and testing a model of each circuit block with the simulation software Multisim (National Instruments). In lab, student pairs assemble and test the circuit block on a breadboard
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