Incorporating peer assisted learning into a biomedical engineering instrumentation and measurement laboratory

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Abstract

The Biomedical Engineering (BME) 315 Instrumentation and Measurement Laboratory class was created to expose BME students to biological instrumentation and measurement laboratory modules. This is a time intensive laboratory class where both the instructor and teaching assistant are required in the laboratory at all times. Often times, having one teaching assistant is insufficient to interact with the more than 30 students (in multiple sections). In order to enhance the student experience, we introduced the principle of Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) into our laboratory class. The main objective of the PAL system is to provide a student-to-student support system. We invited six senior students who had completed the class to act as "BME mentors". The BME mentors' main responsibility was to interact with the students. They did not "teach" the subject and they were not to provide the students with "quick answers" but provide guidance. The mentors also played a key role in assisting the instructor in evaluating the effectiveness of the lab module. They enhanced the interactions with the students and promoted an effective cooperative and collaborative laboratory learning environment.

Original languageEnglish
JournalASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
StatePublished - 2006
Event113th Annual ASEE Conference and Exposition, 2006 - Chicago, IL, United States
Duration: 18 Jun 200621 Jun 2006

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