Poster R3 - Elevating Biomedical Engineering Education: Integrating Intercultural Skills in Professionalization in Biomedical Engineering Seminar

Introduction: Designing equitable and accessible medical systems and products requires engineers to embrace an inclusive mindset. Inclusive mindset development cannot be achieved without self-awareness, intercultural skill acquisition, and attitude and behavioral change. The biomedical engineering curriculum has little to no room for adding courses related to intercultural competency development. Consequently, curriculum integration is necessary to address the needs of the engineers in a way that allows them to develop cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills that enable them to thrive at a professional and personal level in diverse contexts with an inclusive mindset. This paper presents lessons learned from the fall 2023 Professionalization In Biomedical Engineering seminar.

Materials and

Methods: 166 Junior students taking the seminar experienced six interventions corresponding to one of the American Association for Colleges &Universities (AAC&U) Intercultural Knowledge & Competence VALUE Rubric constructs (Openness, Curiosity, Communication, Empathy, Knowledge of cultural worldview frameworks, and Cultural Self-Awareness). For each construct, the students had an in-class introduction, discussion, and experiential learning exercise followed by a reflection. Direct and indirect assessments were used to understand the effectiveness of the learning during and after the semester. The indirect assessment was done through the Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge (ASKS2) Survey— an instrument constructed by Purdue University's Center for Instructional Excellence, at 3 stages: Pre (Pre-Intervention), Retro (In retrospection after intervention), and After (Post-Intervention). For direct assessment, only the Openness construct was evaluated through a sample of 15 students. These students were selected from 3 groups based on their Openness change from Retro to After ASK2 Surveys: Increase, No change, and Decrease. The sample's rich data from the reflection assignments were thematically coded and assigned to the performance level of the VALUE Rubric, dividing openness (behavior) into receptiveness to interactions with different others and reserving judgment.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: Comparing ASKS2 survey time points, Shapiro-Wilk's and Levene's test showed the data was not normal, and therefore, differences were evaluated with Games Howell post-hoc test to identify differences between groups. As shown in Figure 1, students scored their internalization of the constructs higher in the Pre vs Retro for all constructs, excluding empathy. They indicated that students overestimated construct internalization before the intervention but could recognize these patterns through the activities and evaluate their behavior more accurately by the end of the semester. Similarly, retro vs. after comparison showed increased internalization, relevance, and integration for all constructs. Fifteen case studies were analyzed to determine whether this increase was accompanied by skill acquisition and attitude change. These case studies reflect initial reluctance and evolution to be receptive to someone different and suspend judgment effectively. Most students expressed that they found value in openness in understanding others. The increase in the ASKS2 openness group showed growth in suspending judgment and intent to be more receptive (Figure 2). Students with no change in openness showed the relevance of the construct but were more reserved in their desire to apply it, supporting the survey. Those who reported decreased engagement of openness had insightful reflections applying these behaviors, contrasting to the survey scores. Overall, the experiential learning activities to support intercultural learning showed students' internalization of intercultural constructs, attributing higher relevance to these constructs to their everyday lives. The findings of this study also highlighted the opportunity for curriculum design improvement to meet the students' varying competency levels. For future directions, we recognize the need to revise the reflection prompts and train teaching assistants to identify how students interpret the construct and give actionable feedback, allowing for greater introspection or self-awareness.

Acknowledgements (Optional): We acknowledge Purdue University's Center for Intercultural Learning and Mentoring (CILMAR) for the ELEVATE grant.