Who are we?
We are a group that began meeting in late 2018 and early 2019 to bring together the BME education community. We are a group of educators from The Ohio State University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Our goals are trying to assess interest and suggestions for a professional development virtual conference and to develop learning communities among teaching-focused faculty in Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering.
Who are we affiliated with?
We work closely with the Biomedical Engineering Division (BED) in the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).
Why the Biomedical Engineering Education Community (BEEC)?
The goal of this community is to create a network of educations that meets frequently, discusses ideas, and promotes the practice of engineering education in the biomedical engineering field. This idea came as a personal pursuit to understand better what other educators were doing in the classroom and enhance collaboration between seasoned educators and newer educators.
Why do I need a community of practice?
Communities of practice and education networks are shown to improve the broader implementation of evidence-based teaching pedagogies and practices. It also can benefit the idea generation and sense-of-belonging in the education community.
Why a virtual meeting instead of a physical meeting?
Initially, BEEC was going to be a physical meeting that would rotate between institutions. In the early stages of planning, the committee started to shift into virtual elements to allow for broader impact. We quickly realized that a completely virtual meeting would remove the cost barrier of entry that travel imposes in some members of the BME education community.
Is there a cost to belong to the BEEC?
At the moment, no. Being a virtual conference, this reduces the costs of organizing to only invested time by the committee. It is my goal to keep this as long as it is feasible.