WORKSHOP: Stop lecturing about active learning: integrating good teaching practices into AAEE conference sessions

Although the research favouring active learning strategies over traditional instruction is compelling, many conference presentations nevertheless take a very didactic approach. Indeed, much of the research presented at AAEE Conferences describes different modifications we have made to students’ traditional learning experiences to make them more engaging and effective. Inspired by the session of the same name held at this year’s American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Conference, in this workshop we will explore different strategies for implementing active learning approaches in our conference presentations. Additionally, we will workshop suggestions for alternative presentation formats for future AAEE conferences. OVERVIEW OF WORKSHOP In this workshop, we will brainstorm, share, and discuss different techniques for making our AAEE presentations more engaging and audience-focused. These will then be compiled and subsequently shared with the AAEE community. ACTIVITIES In both plenary and small-group discussions, participants will have opportunities to brainstorm, share, and build on different ideas for making conference presentations more interactive and engaging. Discussion will also focus on how different contextual issues can inform which strategies are most effective in different situations. TARGET AUDIENCE Any researcher considering presenting at AAEE or other conferences in the future. OUTCOMES Participants will be more familiar with a greater repertoire of skills and strategies for making their conference presentations more engaging. Conversely, AAEE will develop a clearer understanding of delegates’ preferences regarding presentation formats

Guest Editorial Special Issue on Using Enquiry-and-Design-Based Learning to Spur Epistemological and Identity Development of Engineering Students

This Special Issue of the IEEE Transactions on Education focuses on using enquiry-based design projects to spur engineering students’ development, so as to increase understanding and application of the relevant theories, foster higher rates of student development and achieve this in healthy and productive ways

Shotgun Proteomics Identifies Serum Fibronectin as a Candidate Diagnostic Biomarker for Inclusion in Future Multiplex Tests for Ectopic Pregnancy

Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is difficult to diagnose early and accurately. Women often present at emergency departments in early pregnancy with a 'pregnancy of unknown location' (PUL), and diagnosis and exclusion of EP is challenging due to a lack of reliable biomarkers. The objective of this study was to identify novel diagnostic biomarkers for EP. Shotgun proteomics, incorporating combinatorial-ligand library pre-fractionation, was used to interrogate pooled sera (n = 40) from women undergoing surgery for EP, termination of viable intrauterine pregnancy and management of non-viable intrauterine pregnancy. Western blot was used to validate results in individual sera. ELISAs were developed to interrogate sera from women with PUL (n = 120). Sera were collected at time of first symptomatic presentation and categorized according to pregnancy outcome. The main outcome measures were differences between groups and area under the receiver operating curve (ROC). Proteomics identified six biomarker candidates. Western blot detected significant differences in levels of two of these candidates. ELISA of sera from second cohort revealed that these differences were only significant for one of these candidates, fibronectin. ROC analysis of ability of fibronectin to discriminate EP from other pregnancy outcomes suggested that fibronectin has diagnostic potential (ROC 0.6439; 95% CI 0.5090 to 0.7788; P>0.05), becoming significant when 'ambiguous' medically managed PUL excluded from analysis (ROC 0.6538; 95% CI 0.5158 to 0.7918; P<0.05). Fibronectin may make a useful adjunct to future multiplex EP diagnostic tests

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P &lt; 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Leadership transcending borders: Building bridges to integrate technical and professional knowledge

Engineering knowledge is characterized by an artificial “border” that distinguishes technical expertise from the professional skills needed to solve society’s most pressing problems. Scholars of engineering leadership argue that students who are provided opportunities to blur that distinction and integrate their technical and professional training are better prepared for interdisciplinary and transnational engineering work. This “Lightning Talk” session brings together engineering leadership researchers from universities in Australia, Canada, and the United States to explore an array of approaches to understanding and developing engineering leadership. Best practices are presented followed by a panel discussion of the implications for internationalizing work on engineering leadership.Funding and support for parts of this work come from several sources, including from members of the Engineering Leadership Community of Practice, institutional support from the University of Toronto, SSHRC, OHCRIF and the National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF support comes under Grant Number EEC- 1664231 through the Research in the Formation of Engineers program

Adaptive tutorials to target Threshold Concepts in Mechanics – a community of practice approach

We present our work on introducing Adaptive Tutorials in first and second year mechanics courses in Engineering. Adaptive Tutorials are interactive online modules where an Intelligent Tutoring System adapts the instruction level to learners, based on their individual performance. Through an ALTC-funded project, we formed a community of practice of Engineering Mechanics educators from a range of Australian universities. As a team, we began by identifying Threshold Concepts that if they are not grasped inhibit students’ learning before developing a set of Adaptive on-line Tutorials to target them. These Adaptive Tutorials were used by students throughout the first half of 2011, and were found to be both engaging and conducive to learning. In this paper, we present our approach and findings and discuss our strategy of giving educators pedagogical control over such advanced technologically-based instructional methods with the goal of increasing adoption and ultimately improving students learning