Technical Literacy Research Articles

The Impact of Big Data and AI on Teacher Performance Reviews: A Study of Private Higher Vocational Colleges

In the quick-changing world of education, the integration of big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) has become a revolutionary force. However, it is still completely unknown how these technologies affect teacher performance, particularly in the setting of China's educational system. The purpose of this study was to thoroughly evaluate the effects of using big data analytics and implementing AI on teacher effectiveness in China. In order to provide a complete picture of the intricate dynamics at play, the study set out to clarify both direct effects and the potential interaction of mediating and moderating factors. To collect data, 750 teachers from various Chinese private higher vocational colleges were questioned using a cross-sectional methodology. Participants were chosen using convenience sampling, and data was collected using a standardized survey. To analyze the data, statistical tools were utilized along with descriptive statistics, multiple regression analysis, and moderation analysis. The findings demonstrated that big data analytics and AI adoption had a direct positive impact on teacher performance across multiple aspects of instructional effectiveness, student engagement, and professional development. Additionally, it was shown that data accuracy was a key mediator, suggesting that accurate data-driven insights can magnify the effects of technology on teacher performance. Furthermore, technical literacy appeared as an important moderator, impacting the amount to which technology integration translates to improved educator performance. This study contributes to academic discourse by resolving a research gap and highlighting the relationship between technology and teacher performance. For educators, administrators, and policymakers, the findings have real-world applications that may be used to inform integration plans for technology in the classroom. The study's limitations include potential sample bias due to restricted participant recruitment, reliance on self-reported data susceptible to social desirability bias, and the cross-sectional design, which hinders establishing causal relationships between variables. The study underscores the need for teacher training in technology and data literacy for optimal use of big data analytics and AI in education. Institutions must also prioritize accurate data infrastructure and equitable access to enhance teaching practices and student outcomes. The study shows how accurate data and technological literacy mediate and moderate technology's impact on teaching, providing new theoretical insights. It encourages research into the relationship between data correctness, technological skill, and effective teaching to better comprehend these dynamics.

СВІТОГЛЯДНО-ЦІННІСНІ АСПЕКТИ STEM-ОСВІТИ

STEM has established itself as an innovative technology of science and mathematics education designed to form logical thinking, technical literacy, solving problems, and mastering digital technologies. The main goal of implementing STEM education is to implement the state policy on strengthening the development of the scientific and technical direction in educational and methodological activities at all levels. Based on the definition of competencies formed by the informational and educational environment of STEM education, a model of the goals of selective disciplines for STEM education is proposed. At the same time, the main attention is paid to the definition of the structure of worldview values, which are formed by the content of natural sciences. The practical implementation of the value system for determining the results, content of practical and research activities of education seekers is proposed. A worldview-value approach to determining program learning outcomes can become the basis for the formation of STEM education standards at the substantive and material-technical level.

Tax Literacy and Tax Non-compliance Intention Among SME Owners in Malaysia: The Moderating Effect of Religiosity

The importance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the backbone in contributing to national income in Malaysia is undoubted. However, the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRBM) had reported statistical evidences pertaining to tax non-compliance among SMEs’ owners. Despite its importance, their tax non-compliance behaviour has not been given enough attention, particularly on their owners. Therefore, this study empirically investigates the tax literacy of SMEs’ owners on their tax non-compliance intention. This study intends to examine the relationship between the constructs of tax literacy and tax non-compliance intention as well as to test the moderating effect of religiosity. Employing survey design, questionnaires were randomly distributed to 580 SME owners in Malaysia, with 72.8 percent response rate. The data collected were analysed by using PLS-SEM statistical tool. Findings reveal that technical literacy positively influences tax non-compliance intention, whereas religiosity negatively influences tax non-compliance intention. Findings also indicate that the significant negative relationship between general literacy with tax non-compliance intention was stronger for SME owners with higher religiosity. These findings contribute theoretically and practically with imperative implications to academicians, government and tax authorities.

Analysis of College Student Technology Literacy and Information Literacy Skills: E-Learning Activities Based on Online Platforms in Higher Education

Online platform-based e-learning makes use of a variety of technologies as communication and information mediums, encouraging students to engage in productive and worthwhile learning activitiesThis study intends to ascertain the abilities and impact of students' technological and informational literacy on their participation in online learning activities for e-learning. A descriptive quantitative research methodology is used here. Universitas Samudra and Universitas Islam Riau were the sites of the research, which took place from June to August of 2023. Students in the 155-student sample population of the Biology Education Study Program. Using google forms, interviews, and observations, a random sampling technique is used. Validation and reliability tests were conducted on the research instrument. The use of technological devices to obtain information falls into the very good category; locating available technological devices and using technological devices fall into the good category; while the use of technological devices for self-development falls into the moderate category, according to research on technological literacy skills. Information literacy among students in higher education is significantly influenced by technical literacy abilities, with an influence of 63.6%, according to the significance value (sig) 0.00 < (α) 0.05, which means that Ho is rejected and Ha is approved. According to the regression equation Y = 0.237 + 0.922X, the value of information literacy abilities will rise with each increase in the value of technology literacy skills. the significance of improving students' technology and information literacy skills in higher education to prepare them for the era of the digital revolution

The ReFiBot makers guide: Fostering academic open science and circularity with a robotic educational kit

The advent of robotics in schools and universities curricula are preparing students to encompass new didactic fields. This article presents ReFiBot which is an education robot that has been used to increase the technical literacy on robotics and bring more awareness to open science at Wageningen University. The ReFiBot combines open-source hardware and software, integrated with a chassis made from recycled plastic from fishnets. The ReFiBot was carefully designed to be easily assembled with off-the-shelf electronic parts and programmed using the Arduino IDE. Moreover, a software library is facilitated to ease its adoption in educational activities from any curricula level. The ReFiBot has been mainly used for education but can also be used for research on swarm robotics. The CAD files, components list, software files, and tutorial within this contribution will guide the reader through the assemblage and best practices of this circular robotics kit.

Developing Leaders of Character for Responsible Artificial Intelligence

Who is responsible for Responsible AI (RAI)? As the Department of Defense (DoD) invests in AI workforce education, this question serves as starting point for an argument that effective training for military RAI demands focused character development for officers. This essay makes that case in three parts. First, while norms around responsibility and AI are likely to evolve, there remains long-standing legal, ethical, and practical precedent to think of commissioned officers as the loci of responsibility for the application of military AI. Next, given DoD’s emphasis on responsibility, it should devote significant pedagogical attention to the subjective skills, motivations, and perceptions of operators who depend on AI to execute their mission, beyond merely promoting technical literacy. Finally, the significance of character for RAI entails the application of proven character development methodologies from pre-commissioning education onward: critical dialogue, hands-on practice applying AI in complex circumstances, and moral reminders about the relevance of the DoD’s ethical principles for AI.

“Small-scale aviation”: children’s technical working in the USSR in the 1920s

In the 1920s, the development of youth’s technical creativity became one of the important tasks undertaken by the Soviet authorities. This period is featured by numerous experiments diligently conducted by the Soviet government having its aim to set up a new world. Innovations affected, among the other things, the sphere of education and leisure. The reasons resulted in establishing of the children's technical stations network are discussed in this paper. Their activity is analysed having in mind the necessity to introduce young technicians to the heroic forms of socialist creating, one of which included the aviation. Enormous interest in the air force caused an influx of children and adolescents into aircraft modelling clubs. The authors consider the goals, objectives, organisational structure of children's technical stations and circles, evaluate their role in the development of Soviet aviation. The study led authors to the conclusion that children's technical stations and aircraft modelling clubs laid foundations to the technical literacy in general and acted as a “social lift” due to the interrelation of aircraft modelling and gliding sports with the professional pilots’ training system for the Air Force, and the USSR Civil Air Fleet.

What Should Students Learn and How Should Teachers Teach in the Age of Artificial Intelligence?

In the era of artificial intelligence, the traditional education model has been unable to meet the needs of students and society, and it is urgent to change and innovate. As an important branch of higher education, the traditional education model of the major in economics and management has some shortages, such as orientation in teachers, lack of individualized teaching, lack of practical ability, single evaluation system and lack of innovative thinking. Therefore, students of the major in economics and management should pay attention to improving technical literacy, innovative thinking, strategic analysis and practical ability. In order to realize the effective transformation of education, teachers of the major in economics and management should use artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT to enrich the teaching content and form, pay attention to students' individual needs and development goals, teach students in combination with their own knowledge and experience, to cultivate students' comprehensive quality and professional ability, taking students' actual employment needs into account, etc.

Students’ Preference in Online Learning Environment and Academic Resilience in Relation to Their Academic Performance in Mathematics

Students' online learning environment and academic resilience are indicators of academic success in online learning. This study determined the level of perception in an online learning environment and academic resilience concerning students' performance in Mathematics among Junior High School students at Misamis University, Ozamis City, during the first quarter of the school year 2021-2022. The researchers used the descriptive-correlational research design. The respondents were 148 Junior High School students chosen by simple random sampling. The instruments used were the Students' Online Learning Environment Questionnaire (SOLEQ) and the Students' Academic Resilience Questionnaire (SARQ). Mean, standard deviation, Pearson r, and Stepwise Regression Analysis were the statistical tools used. Findings revealed that students had a high level of perception in their online learning environment and had high academic resilience in their online learning. They performed very satisfactorily in their online class. There was a significant relationship between the students' online learning environment in terms of computer usage, teacher support, and student autonomy and their academic performance in Mathematics. In the students' online learning environment, there was no significant relationship between the other variables and their academic achievement in Mathematics. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between the students' academic resilience and their academic performance in Mathematics. Computer Usage predicted students' academic performance in Mathematics. Teachers need to be technologically proficient in using technology as an educational tool. School administrators conduct online seminars, trainings, and workshops regarding technical literacy. Future researchers must look into other factors contributing to the student's academic performance in online learning.

Prevention of Fraud in the Banking Sector

The author uses the conducted research to formulate suggestions on preventing fraud in the banking sector. The goal of the study is to develop practical recommendations on improving the existing system of preventing fraud and enhancing its effectiveness. Within organizational and managerial measures, it is recommended to improve the inter-agency cooperation between law enforcement bodies and banks and other credit organizations; to carry out a thorough selection, training and adaptation of employees for the financial-credit supervision bodies, as the usefulness of a well-trained bank employee is difficult to overestimate. Special attention is paid to the necessity of counteracting “leaks” of bank clients’ personal data. As technical measures make it possible to solve most problems of counteracting bank fraud, the systems capable of adaptation to the new fraud schemes should be designed and improved. Within criminal law measures, it is suggested that special crimes of Art. 159.1 and 159.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation should be excluded from criminal law, and liability for them should be transferred to the general crime of fraud. To improve the protection level for victims of bank fraud, it is recommended to conduct preventive work with persons characterized by age and role victimity; to raise the level of digital, financial and technical literacy of potential and actual victims in order to prevent repeat victimity; to provide information about new ways of committing crimes. It is stressed that both physical and juridical persons could be victims of bank fraud, so the specific features of the victim should be considered in the development of prevention measures. It is pointed out that active work in these directions is, according to the author, an important step towards effective identification and prevention of fraud in the banking sector.

Supporting Vulnerable Older Adults With Telehealth Through Wellness Calls and Tablet Distribution During COVID-19: Quality Improvement Project.

Loneliness, social isolation, and lack of technical literacy are associated with poorer health outcomes. To help improve social connection during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nova Southeastern University's South Florida Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program partnered with a community-based organization to provide educational resources to promote telehealth services. This study aimed to provide educational resources to older adults with limited resources and promote the use of telehealth services in this population. Through this pilot project, we contacted 66 vulnerable older adults who expressed interest in telehealth support through wellness calls, with 44 participants moving on to participate in tablet usage. All tablets were preloaded with educational information on using the device, COVID-19 resources, and accessing telehealth services for patients, caregivers, and families. Feedback from wellness assessments suggested a significant need for telehealth support. Participants used the tablets mainly for telehealth (n=6, 15%), to connect with friends and family (n=10, 26%), and to connect with faith communities (n=3, 8%). The findings from the pilot project suggest that wellness calls and telehealth education are beneficial to support telehealth usage among older adults.

Market Demand of Private University Graduates: An Empirical Analysis Using Skills Needed for Development Partner

In the onset of 1980, Government, educators, and employers prepared a series of reports identifying key skills and implementation strategies to guide students, workers towards meeting the demands of the changing world. Finally, the abridged list of skills refers to the learning skills, literacy skills, and life skills which are felt important for the success of students in the current situations. The students required these skills when shift to college, university, workplace and in full-aged life. The components of those skills were: creative thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity, technical literacy, media literacy, computer literacy, flexibility, initiatives, social-skills, productivity, and leadership. To provide knowledge and training on those skills individual academic institutions required standards capacity level for producing right graduates. In our society a significant level of gaps is persistently lying between the demand and supply of human resources. This may result large percentage of structural unemployment. As a result, it is felt to design the study for finding out the immediately needed skills, and skills to be made available in the moderate time frame, and skills to be made available in the remote time frame. These have been worked out by interviewing 300 passed out graduates from 10 selected universities functioning in our society. The study validates the data collected from the students holding discussions with employer’s representatives and organizing FGD. A binary logistic-regression model along with PCA techniques were deployed for grouping the skills into immediate, moderate time remote time frame. The estimated results of the parameters of the model are found very significant which means that the model fitted to the data significantly. On the basis of the estimated model, the immediately, needed skills are identified as communication, creativity, initiative and media literacy. The second group of skills that should be made available in the moderate time frame is included as: critical thinking, information literacy, leadership and productivity. Lastly, the study suggested that the skills on technology literacy, collaboration, flexibility and social-skills should be made available for building a complete man in the long time frame because these concepts, knowledge, and skills depend on learning and practices with sincerity.

Exploring the Role of Smartphone Apps for Livestock Farmers Data Management Extension and Informed Decision Making in Nigeria

This research explores the role of smartphone apps in supporting livestock farmers in data management, extension services, and informed decision-making. The study investigates the potential benefits and challenges associated with the adoption and use of smartphone apps in the livestock farming sector. The findings reveal that smartphone apps provide a convenient and efficient way for farmers to record and analyse data, enabling real-time monitoring and data-driven decision-making. These apps also act as effective tools for extending agricultural information to farmers, providing access to resources and creating virtual communities for knowledge sharing. Moreover, smartphone apps empower farmers to make informed decisions by providing real-time information on weather, market prices, and disease alerts. However, challenges such as reliable internet connectivity, technical literacy, and the accuracy of app-based information need to be addressed for successful app adoption. Overall, smartphone apps have the potential to revolutionize livestock farming by enhancing data management, extending agricultural knowledge, and enabling informed decision-making, requiring collaboration among farmers, app developers, extension services, and policymakers. However, it is important to note that while smartphone apps can supplement traditional extension services, they should not be seen as a complete replacement, as access to reliable internet connectivity and technical literacy can pose limitations in some rural areas. It is therefore, essential to ensure that the data and information provided by these apps are accurate, reliable, and context-specific. Farmers should be cautious of potential biases and limitations in the algorithms used by these apps and should supplement the app-based information with their own knowledge and experience.

The nuances of the organizational preparation the electrification of the Kharkiv plant of the Russian Locomotive-building and Mechanical Society (1895–1896)

The transition to an electromechanical drive of equipment has become a new milestone in industrialization, which has led to significant: an increase in labor productivy and a decrease in the energy intensity of production processes. But on the Ukrainian lands of the Russian Empire, this innovation was not introduced until the mid-1890s, and only since that time the process of electrification of production at Ukrainian enterprises has been developed, however, with a simultaneous retain the steam-mechanical drive of equipment also. The Kharkiv plant of the Joint-Stock Company Russian Locomotive-building and Mechanical Society became the first enterprise not only in the Ukrainian provinces of the Russian Empire, but throughout the country, which used solely an electromechanical drive for all equipment. Taking into account this priority, the organizational preparation for the process of electrification of this enterprise also became the first experience in the country of introducing such an innovation, comparable, perhaps, only with the experience of switching from a mechanical to a steam-mechanical drive, which, however, was not studied in the Russian Empire. Simultaneously, the level of technical literacy of a part of the management of the Joint-Stock Company Russian Locomotive-building and Mechanical Society was not high enough to give a technical and economic assessment of the relevant innovations. Therefore, the organizational preparation for the electrification of the Kharkov plant of this Society was carried out without any clear methodological approaches, which in the discussion regarding the electrification scheme of the enterprise led to the replacement of the issue of choosing the best option from the most effective ones to the question of choosing the best one from the cheap ones. As a result, the Society's experts developed terms of reference for a compromise version of the electrification project, the essence of which was to install relatively new electrical equipment in terms of technical level, but operated according to an already outdated scheme, which made this electrification option neither efficient nor cheap, but politically acceptable for the entire leadership of Society. Eventually, it was possible to achieve the expected benefits from the electrification of the plant not from the implantation of the chosen scheme for its implementation, but by concluding strategic agreements with Siemens & Halske, according to which the Company's Management Board ensured it won the competition for the electrification of Society's enterprise at an affordable price, and Siemens & Halske, in turn, subsequently supplied the Company with its products at significant discounts.

Introducing patient-centric electronic medicine leaflets in the European Union

Despite numerous advances in their content and structure over recent years, paper information leaflets for medicines are often hard to read for people with visual impairments, contain a lot of technical information, and people suffering from chronic conditions may find it challenging to identify all side-effects or dangers of taking a drug in their situation. Likewise, for people already taking different drugs, identifying contraindications may be time-intensive and easily overlooked, posing a risk for affected patients. Electronic product information (ePI), or eLeaflets, provide an opportunity for improvements in how patients interact with the information provided. We summarise opportunities of ePI and experiences from a co-creation process of such an app together with patients as part of the Pharmaledger project and put it into context of the current policy environment in the EU in light of EMA’s key principles for the adoption of ePI in medicine. While more patient-friendly information remains a significant ask, ePI has the potential to make leaflets easier and quicker to read through search and zoom functions, provide a safe digital medicine cabinet employing blockchain technology, enables patients to identify falsified product boxes, receive real-time updates when a product expires or is being recalled by the manufacturer, and potentially even include a reminder function to increase adherence. We present a potential research agenda across disciplines for interested researchers. While many welcome the benefits of ePI, we urge policymakers to keep in mind that some groups, specifically people with low technical literacy, should not be left without alternatives. We recommend early initiatives to ensure a widespread understanding of how ePI works across populations while also taking this opportunity to use new insights to improve leaflets on paper.

Attitude and Readiness of Special Education Teachers in Blended Teaching: Basis for A Training Development Program

As the world progresses towards digitalization in education, innovations have been embraced rapidly. Blended teaching (a combination of in-person and online classes) has been introduced to enhance the teaching and learning process amidst challenges and threats brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated special education teachers’ attitude and readiness to implement blended learning modalities. The study used purposive sampling employing a total enumeration of 40 SPED teachers in 10 public SPED schools in Sarangani province. The results revealed that with all the indicators in teachers’ attitude towards blended teaching, an overall mean of 3.22 was obtained, which corresponds to an overall descriptive value of “Favorable’. This means that teachers portrayed positive attitudes and practices that prompted them to develop their knowledge and skills in the shift from traditional education to blended instruction. Overall, the relationship between teachers’ attitudes and the level of readiness toward blended teaching is “Highly Significant.” The correlation between the teachers’ attitude and the teachers’ level of readiness in six areas (i.e., Technical Literacy, Planning Blended Activities, Personalizing Instruction, Facilitating Student-Student Interaction, Facilitating Teacher-Student Interaction, Planning Blended Assessments) is “Highly Significant” while only one of the seven areas (i.e., Implementing Blended Assessments) is “Not Significant. Thus, this study proposed an action plan to support teachers in blended teaching. Further, a pool of experts in blended teaching and learning reviewed and evaluated the proposed action plan. They rated the proposed action plan as “highly valid.”

DIGITAL MEDIA USE IN PUBLIC SPACE – AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF SELF-SERVICE TECHNOLOGY DURING COVID19-PANDEMIC.

The spread of digital media and devices in public spaces, so-called self-service technology (SST), is reaching more and more areas, so that it is now possible to interact with them for example when shopping, ordering or sending parcels. The use of SST is mostly supposed to be self-explanatory and intuitive, nevertheless it implicitly presupposes a certain degree of technical literacy. If this is not the case, digital stress can be triggered. But how do people deal with these devices, what role does the presence of others, the device itself and how it works, and the situational context plays? What influence do the measures to deal with the Covid-19 virus and the pandemic-related constraints have on the nexus of device, users and situation? This was investigated qualitatively in the present study by conducting participant observations. The advantage of this methodological approach is the consideration of contextual factors of the different practices and the direct observation of subjective evaluation processes on the use or even non-use of SST. This shows that characteristics of the devices – e.g. functionality, initiation and optionality – , situational contextual conditions – e.g. time and social pressure and spatial conditions –, and the subject themselves – e.g. age, routinisation and carried along baggage– play a role in dealing with SST and moderate the emergence of digital stress.

Implementation Science Perspectives on Implementing Telemedicine Interventions for Hypertension or Diabetes Management: Scoping Review.

Hypertension and diabetes are becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide. Telemedicine is an accessible and cost-effective means of supporting hypertension and diabetes management, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of technological solutions for care. However, to date, no review has examined the contextual factors that influence the implementation of telemedicine interventions for hypertension or diabetes worldwide. We adopted a comprehensive implementation research perspective to synthesize the barriers to and facilitators of implementing telemedicine interventions for the management of hypertension, diabetes, or both. We performed a scoping review involving searches in Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Google Scholar to identify studies published in English from 2017 to 2022 describing barriers and facilitators related to the implementation of telemedicine interventions for hypertension and diabetes management. The coding and synthesis of barriers and facilitators were guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Of the 17,687 records identified, 35 (0.2%) studies were included in our scoping review. We found that facilitators of and barriers to implementation were dispersed across the constructs of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Barriers related to cost, patient needs and resources (eg, lack of consideration of language needs, culture, and rural residency), and personal attributes of patients (eg, demographics and priorities) were the most common. Facilitators related to the design and packaging of the intervention (eg, user-friendliness), patient needs and resources (eg, personalized information that leveraged existing strengths), implementation climate (eg, intervention embedded into existing infrastructure), knowledge of and beliefs about the intervention (eg, convenience of telemedicine), and other personal attributes (eg, technical literacy) were the most common. Our findings suggest that the successful implementation of telemedicine interventions for hypertension and diabetes requires comprehensive efforts at the planning, execution, engagement, and reflection and evaluation stages of intervention implementation to address challenges at the individual, interpersonal, organizational, and environmental levels.

User Testing of the Veteran Delegation Tool: Qualitative Inquiry

Informal caregivers, or care partners, provide critical support to care recipients when managing health care. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) priorities identify care partners as vital in supporting veterans' care management. The Veteran Delegation Tool (VDT) is VHA's Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant solution for care partners to comanage veterans' care through VHA's electronic health portal. Human-centered design approaches in VDT development are needed to inform enhancements aimed at promoting uptake and sustained use. The objective of this prospective descriptive quality improvement project was to use a human-centered design approach to examine VDT use perceptions and practical experiences. This project was conducted using a 4-phase approach: frame, discover, design, and deliver. The frame phase designed the protocol and prepared the VDT system for testing. This paper reports on the discover phase, which used semistructured and follow-up interviews and user testing to examine VDT's benefits, facilitators, and barriers. The discover phase data informed the design and deliver phases, which are underway. Veterans (24/54, 44%), care partners (21/54, 39%), and individuals who represented dual roles (9/54, 17%)-namely veteran care partner (4/54, 7%), veteran clinical provider (2/54, 4%), and care partner provider (3/54, 6%)-participated in semistructured interviews in the discover phase. A subsample of these participants (3/54, 6%) participated in the follow-up interviews and user testing. Analysis of the semistructured interviews indicated convergence on the respondents' perceptions of VDT's benefits, facilitators, and barriers and recommendations for improving VDT. The perceived benefits were authorized access, comanagement of care needs on the web, communication with the clinical team, access to resources, and ease of burden. Perceived barriers were nonrecognition of the benefits of VDT, technical literacy access issues, increased stress in or burden on care partners, and personal health information security. Participant experiences across 4 VDT activity domains were upgrade to My HealtheVet Premium account, registration, sign-in, and use. User testing demonstrated users' challenges to register, navigate, and use VDT. Findings informed VDT development enhancements and recommendations. Care partners need Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant access to electronic health portals to assist with care management. VDT is VHA's solution, allowing communication among delegates, veterans, and clinical care teams. Users value VDT's potential use and benefits, while access and navigation improvements to ensure uptake and sustained use are needed. Future efforts need to iteratively evaluate the human-centered phases, design and deliver, of VDT to target audiences. Continued efforts to understand and respond to care partners' needs are warranted.

A Hands-on Medical Mechatronics Exercise to Pump Up Student Learnings

Best practices in Biomedical Engineering education seek to connect classroom knowledge to practical applications. MIT’s Medical Device Design course is comprised of in-class didactics, individual laboratory assignments, and a semester-long, team- based design and prototyping challenge, based in real unmet biomedical need. Students in the course represent a broad set of undergraduate and graduate students, from diverse educational backgrounds, with different levels of training and expertise. This year, as a precursor to the semester-long project, we designed, piloted, and evaluated a new experiential learning lab based around a syringe pump, selected because of its prevalence in the clinical setting, exemplification of core, multidisciplinary biomedical engineering concepts, and suitability for a team-based learning exercise. Students individually calculated patient dosing requirements and translated desired volume and flow rate into stepper motor commands. Then, during a single in-class session, teams worked from a custom-designed and fabricated kit to assemble a syringe pump, breadboard electronics, implement software controls, and finally close the design loop by evaluating their pumps' dispensing performance. A post-lab survey of the student cohort indicated that this pilot lab provided a sound biomedical learning and teamwork opportunity that improved technical literacy. The survey also identified key opportunities for improvement – students wanted more time and instructor-guided learning to increase their understanding of the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and software subtopics. Consequently, next year we will expand the lab into a multi-class exercise, with enhanced lectures and supplementary materials. Overall, we share this problem-based learning exercise, designed to exemplify key concepts, improve teamwork, and foster hands-on tinkering skills, with other biomedical engineering instructors.