This award initiates "The Vanderbilt-Northwestern-Texas-Harvard/Mit (VaNTH) Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Bioengineering Educational Technologies." The lead institution is Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee; with Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; The University of Texas, Austin, Texas; and the joint Division of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Masachusetts as core partner institutions. This award funds the first five years of effort under a cooperative agreement, with a potential duration of eight years. Bioengineering continues to emerge at a rapid rate as one of the key industries of the 21st century. This ERC focuses teams of academic researchers and industrial personnel on the most effective pedagogy and educational technology needed to advance education in the complex, interdisciplinary field of bioengineering. This ERC's vision for next-generation educational technology in bioengineering education integrates knowledge in bioengineering and other engineering fields, cognitive science, computer science/engineering, education, psychology, and the life and physical sciences. The research program will advance asynchronous learning networks (ALN), visualization, simulation, and web-based learning as the major educational technology tools in bioengineering education. Overarching the research is a template for the development of modular, computer-based courseware designed to fit into a National/Digital Library database for Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education. Bioengineering will also be explored as a context to teach core science and mathematics skills to pre-college students. This ERC builds upon well-established expertise and facilities in bioengineering, learning science, and education technology at the participating institutions. Industrial partners include companies involved in computers and educational technology, scientific and engineering instrumentation, and bioengineering research and practice as well as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This ERC will outreach to Fisk University, Meharry Medical College, and The University of Texas System institutions in the border regions for research and education collaborations. The expected outcomes of this ERC's research include: (1) a taxonomy of the knowledge and skills that constitute the field of bioengineering; (2) research advances on learning, learners, educational technology, and pedagogy in bioengineering education; (3) tested modular, computer-based courseware forming adaptable core and specialized options for undergraduate and graduate bioengineering curricula; (4) a suite of tested pedagogical methods and faculty support for this courseware; (5) functioning technology for the delivery of learning/teaching materials through ALN; (6) a group of students better prepared for bioengineering practice and teaching and lifelong learning through educational technology; (7) national bioengineering curriculum committees; (8) broad dissemination of courseware and curricula to engineering educators; and (9) a standardized examination for use in bioengineering accreditation and licensure. This award is the outcome of the entry of this ERC's proposal in the FY 1998-1999 Engineering Research Centers competition under the ERC Program Announcement, NSF 98-68.
