Community Health Innovation through an Interprofessional Course

The broad goal of this interdisciplinary course is to allow pre-professional biology, pre-nursing, and engineering students to leverage MakerSpace technology to produce and communicate tangible solutions to current challenges in community health. For the past two iterations of the course students developed solutions to metabolic syndrome using MakerSpace technologies (3D printing, laser cutters/engravers, virtual reality, and related software). Communication between disciplines that impact each other, but may have different biases and goals, is important. This communication is facilitated through teamwork. In the course, students receive explicit training in problem solving techniques, teamwork, and communication. For example, students form their teams using the StrengthsFinders analysis to build on the individual strengths. Moreover, the teams watch a video on the challenger disaster to evaluate systemic reasons leading to failure in team decision making. Additionally, the MakerSpace is used to foster creative problem solving, collaboration skills, and knowledge of technologies that may shape their professions’ future. The instructor's’ role in the course is to serve as facilitators and guides while students work to develop their solutions. This process ensures that students take ownership of their project as an engaged team. It allows students to strengthen their problem-solving and collaboration skills. The interdisciplinary teaching team models the teamwork skills the students are learning. The aim is to promote interdisciplinary learning, foster teamwork, and improve student engagement. Other course objectives are to develop students’ creative problem solving, empathetic design practices, communication skills, prototyping skills, and ethical reasoning. Students are expected to become proficient at the empathetic design process as well as interdisciplinary communication and teamwork. Creative problem solving, ethical reasoning, and realization of a product through prototyping are expected to be emergent skills that will need further refinement after the course. Research was conducted with consenting participants from the course using qualitative content analysis of student responses to prompts with the aim of assessing course outcomes. Results indicate that the multidisciplinary experience and use of and maker technologies enhance student learning and engagement, foster teamwork and interdisciplinary skills, and increase students’ ability to innovate.