Designing and delivering bioinformatics project-based learning in East Africa

BACKGROUND

The Eastern Africa Network for Bioinformatics Training (EANBiT) has matured through continuous evaluation, feedback, and codesign. We highlight how the program has evolved to meet challenges and achieve its goals and how experiential learning through mini projects enhances the acquisition of skills and collaboration. We continued to learn and grow through honest feedback and evaluation of the program, trainers, and modules, enabling us to provide robust training even during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, when we had to redesign the program due to restricted travel and in person group meetings.

RESULTS

In response to the pandemic, we developed a program to maintain "residential" training experiences and benefits remotely. We had to answer the following questions: What must change to still achieve the RT goals? What optimal platforms should be used? How would we manage connectivity and data challenges? How could we avoid online fatigue? Going virtual presented an opportunity to reflect on the essence and uniqueness of the program and its ability to meet the objective of strengthening bioinformatics skills among the cohorts of students using different delivery approaches. It allowed an increase in the number of participants. Evaluating each program component is critical for improvement, primarily when feedback feeds into the program's continuous amendment. Initially, the participants noted that there were too many modules, insufficient time, and a lack of hands-on training as a result of too much focus on theory. In the subsequent iterations, we reduced the number of modules from 27 to five, created a harmonized repository for the materials on GitHub, and introduced project-based learning through the mini projects.

CONCLUSION

We demonstrate that implementing a program design through detailed monitoring and evaluation leads to success, especially when participants who are the best fit for the program are selected on an appropriate level of skills, motivation, and commitment.

The «Museum and Inclusive Fashion» Project. A Design for All Experience at the Balearic School of Art and Design

International regulations about Accessibility and Design for All are clear. They provide two guidelines to ensure equality, autonomy, and non-discrimination, such as Reasonable Accommodation and Universal Design (or Design for All). Reasonable Accommodation leads to Adapted Fashion, which adjusts clothing to the body (average clothes for the average consumer). Universal Design leads to Inclusive Fashion, which creates clothes for everybody even if you have a body issue. Design for All (or Universal Design) implies projecting from the beginning to the end of the design process based on inclusion. In this context, the Museum-Foundation Juan March in Palma was the starting point to conceive, develop and communicate a collaborative and transdisciplinary design project; it was designed under the principle of Universal Design. This transdisciplinary co-design project took place during the first semester of the 2019-2020 academic year with a third-year BA in Fashion Design students. They designed an inclusive ready-to-wear fashion micro-collection, which focused on sensitizing BA in Fashion Design students, promoting a change of attitude, and fostering a better understanding of the challenges clothing design process. Students were invited to complete two online questionnaires to collect data on the project. The first survey was used to assess alumni's perception of acquisition, development, and/or consolidation of key competences in participating students and control groups. The second survey was used to assess alumni's activity on the project among participating students. This project was aimed at sensitizing BA in Fashion Design students, promoting a change of attitude, and a better understanding of the challenges clothing design process. After visiting the museum, getting inspired by their artists and their works of art, creating a mood board, and drawing the first sketches, two groups were created to develop an inclusive, ready-to-wear fashion micro-collection. Each collection focused on a different users' profile: one group worked with a model with achondroplasia (woman), and the other group worked with two wheelchair models (man, woman). Despite the mixed results, the main objectives of the project were reached. As members of a school community, students must learn about other realities that differ from their everyday environment. As members of a school of design, students must be aware of an important prospective market niche and expand their fields of action that must include Design for All. In any case, human diversity is the key concept to approach user-centred design in the twenty-first century. The «Museum and Inclusive Fashion» project was part of an ongoing academic research project funded by the Balearic Government (2017-2020). This article reflects the views only of the authors, and the Balearic Government cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Healthcare Informatics Project-Based Learning: An Example of a Technology Management Graduation Project Focusing on Veterinary Medicine

Teaching Healthcare Informatics using Project-Based Learning focuses students on active and inquiry-based learning and allows them to gain some knowledge and skills in the field. From the perspective of Technology Management, which is at the cross-road of Sciences, Engineering and Business Administration studies, Healthcare Informatics is an interesting application domain for developing both innovation and management capabilities. However, the specificities of Healthcare Informatics (standards, methodologies, human- or animal-focused information) require an additional involvement from the students to deliver projects that fit real-world needs and constraints. In this paper, we initially define the Technology Management field and describe how it is related to Healthcare Informatics, then we introduce Project-Based Learning and finally we present an example of a graduation project that focuses on Veterinary Medicine.

Cultivating Mars: A Project-Based Learning Lab Analyzing an Oxygen Based Redox Reaction in Order to Design an Oxygen-Rich Environment on the Red Planet

In a series of activities/labs, designed in a building block approach, whereas each subsequent lab builds into the next, students will explore the reactivity and production of oxygen in various biological and chemical systems. Through student-constructed analyses, participants will optimize oxygen-generating systems for the colonization of Mars, wherein their system will be used as part of a narrative to construct a livable habitat for future astronauts. Use of remote access technology to a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with elemental analysis capabilities allows students to investigate their oxygen reaction via formation of iron oxide, resulting in rich multidimensional and contextualized scientific exploration in the chemistry classroom.