Innovative teaching of IC design and manufacture using the Superchip platform

In this paper we describe how an intelligent chip architecture has allowed a large cohort of undergraduate students to be given effective practical insight into IC design by designing and manufacturing their own ICs. To achieve this, an efficient chip architecture, the “Superchip”, has been developed, which allows multiple student designs to be fabricated on a single IC, and encapsulated in a standard package without excessive cost in terms of time or resources. We demonstrate how the practical process has been tightly coupled with theoretical aspects of the degree course and how transferable skills are incorporated into the design exercise. Furthermore, the students are introduced at an early stage to the key concepts of team working, exposure to real deadlines and collaborative report writing. This paper provides details of the teaching rationale, design exercise overview, design process, chip architecture and test regime

Is it time for integration of surgical skills simulation into the United Kingdom undergraduate medical curriculum? A perspective from King’s College London School of Medicine

PURPOSE: Changes in undergraduate medical curricula, combined with reforms in postgraduate education, have training implications for surgical skills acquisition in a climate of reduced clinical exposure. Confidence and prior experience influences the educational impact of learning. Currently there is no basic surgical skills (BSS) programme integrated into undergraduate curricula in the United Kingdom. We explored the role of a dedicated BSS programme for undergraduates in improving confidence and influencing careers in King's College London School of Medicine, and the programme was evaluated. METHODS: A programme was designed in-line with the established Royal College of Surgeons course. Undergraduates were taught four key skills over four weeks: knot-tying, basic-suturing, tying-at-depth and chest-drain insertion, using low-fidelity bench-top models. A Likert-style questionnaire was designed to determine educational value and influence on career choice. Qualitative data was collected. RESULTS: Only 29% and 42% of students had undertaken previous practice in knot-tying and basic suturing, respectively. 96% agreed that skills exposure prior to starting surgical rotations was essential and felt a dedicated course would augment undergraduate training. There was a significant increase in confidence in the practice and knowledge of all skills taught (p<0.01), with a greater motivation to be actively involved in the surgical firm and theatres. CONCLUSION: A simple, structured BSS programme can increase the confidence and motivation of students. Early surgical skills targeting is valuable for students entering surgical, related allied, and even traditionally non-surgical specialties such as general practice. Such experience can increase the confidence of future junior doctors and trainees. We advocate the introduction of a BSS programme into United Kingdom undergraduate curricula

Anti-gout potential of selected Malaysian local fruits

This study aimed to investigate the in vitro xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitory activity and phytochemical content of guava, water rose apple, Malay gooseberry, pineapple and ambarella. The xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity was measured spectrophotometrically at 295 nm. The phytochemical analysis tested were total phenolic, total flavonoid and total anthocyanin contents of each methanolic extract of the fruits. The highest amount of phenolic was found in ambarella (0.245 mg GAE/g) while guava had the highest amount of flavonoid (0.472 mg RE/g). Meanwhile, water rose apple had the highest anthocyanin content (5.001 mg c-3-gE/g). For the XO inhibitory activity, water rose apple displayed the lowest IC50 value (26.86 μg/mL), showing better anti-gout activity as compared to that of other fruit samples. Positive correlation between total phenolic content and XO inhibitory activity was also observed in this study. Further study on the isolation of bioactive compounds from the fruit samples that act as XO inhibitor is greatly needed in the future

SLR - Análisis del Aprendizaje Basado en Juegos Serios en las Prácticas de los Estudios de Ingeniería

Este trabajo se trata de un Análisis Sistemático de la Literatura del uso de los juegos serios en los estudios de ingeniería.15 página

A STUDENT-TO-STUDENT PROGRAM: THE POLICY FAIR

Student participation in such instructional activities as presentations, panel discussions, and projects can be used to stimulate interest and learning. Such activities need not be limiting to a single class. This paper describes potential linkages between selected classes in which students from upper level or graduate classes are used as instructional resources in other classes. The general approach, which is described as a student-to-student program, has been applied in a Policy Fair. The Policy Fair is described and evaluated in this paper. There was a widespread support among faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate for the general concept and this specific application.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Collaborative Student Centred Learning: Intellectual Property for Product Designers

This paper fits into the topics of student centred learning and learning spaces and explores the question - How will the academic/industrial interface develop? At least a basic understanding of intellectual property (IP) rights is essential for practice as a professional engineer and/or designer to ensure commercial success. Yet it is recognised that there are barriers to incorporating learning and teaching of IP within the Higher Education design and engineering curriculum. These barriers include an already ‘over-packed’ curriculum and no established pedagogy. This paper reports on an example of collaborative student centred learning activity between BA/BSc Product Design (PD) and LLB Law (Intellectual Property Practice option) (LLB) final year students at Bournemouth University (BU). The final year product design students are required to design and produce a working prototype of a marketable product. The LLB students advise on the intellectual property aspects of the design. This learning activity has been ongoing for a number of years, however, last academic year changes were made to incorporate an assessed element for both sets of students and make the learning space almost entirely virtual using the BU virtual learning environment (VLE) called myBU. It is the outcome of these changes that are reported in this paper, using data gathered from the on-line discussion forums and the feedback from students. The activity has proved to be an extremely valuable learning experience for both sets of students, providing simulation of real life for both designers and IP lawyers and bridging the academic/industrial interface

Evaluating Teaching Methods: Is It Worth Doing Right?

Reviewers of manuscripts on classroom experiments often ask the authors to provide evidence of the effectiveness of the method, presumably to justify substituting experiments for lectures. After reviewing the current state of evaluation methodology, we argue that such evidence may be neither sufficient nor even necessary for the purpose.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,