Electronic Lab Notebooks Impact Biomedical Engineering Students’ Quality of Documentation and Technical Communication

Abstract

Laboratory notebooks have long been used as a tool to develop student documentation and technical communication skills in laboratory courses. Given the presence of social media as well as other methods of electronic communication, computer mediated activities provide an opportunity to educate students in a familiar setting. For this reason, we have pursued a study to measure the impact of electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs, LabArchives Classroom Edition) on the quality of upper-level biomedical engineering students' documentation and technical communication skills. A total of thirty-three ELNs submitted by students enrolled in a biomechanics lab course during autumn 2016 and thirty-three paper-based notebooks submitted by students enrolled in the same course during autumn 2015 were selected for this study. Notebooks were quantitatively analyzed against a rubric designed to measure how well the selected notebooks met assessment criteria in the categories of communication, documentation and presentation. Results showed significantly higher overall mean and category-specific scores for ELNs compared to paper-based notebook submissions (p < 0.05). It was concluded that lab notebook keeping in an electronic format may be an effective medium for aiding students in improving documentation and technical communication skills.

Supporting Team Based Learning Using Electronic Laboratory Notebooks: Perspectives From Transnational Students

“…In fact, 91% of students felt that ELN products helped them maintain a well-documented notebook with all the embedded text, graphs and figures. This result is in agreement with those from a previous study that involved the use of LabArchives for a biomedical engineering lab, where the ELN scored 29.2 points out of 32 for its ability to document data, graphs and relevant discussions [42]. Further confirmation that student experience with ELNs was generally positive is evidenced from their responses when asked whether they will continue to use them the following year for their capstone project, as shown from the responses in Table 2.…”

“…After consulting with other staff members in pedagogical research within the College of Science and Engineering, we developed an online survey to evaluate the effectiveness of ELNs via 20 carefully constructed questions, which were tested for clarity and relevance. Our survey questions were adapted from validated ELN questionnaires by Walsh [37], Riley [39], Puccinelli [41] and Okon [42], as well as general software questionnaires developed by Conde [5] and Jung [43]. Each of the previous ELN investigations relied on testing a particular ELN product.…”

“…The fifth and final section consisted of three MCQs that aimed to understand student recommendations for the future via a Yes/No response. Similar to the investigations by Okon [42], students were asked whether ELNs enabled them to maintain a well-organised notebook with all the embedded text, maths, graphics and figures. The second question asked students whether they would continue to use ELNs for their final year (capstone) project.…”

A Review of Electronic Engineering Logbooks Throughout the Electrical Engineering Curriculum

“…In response to this trend, over the past decade educators have been studying the efficacy of electronic logbooks, [5], [6], [7], though typically within the narrow context of a single course [8], [9], [8], [6], [10]. The electronic logbook format has also opened the door to unique methods of assessing student learning through comprehensive electronic student work portfolios [11], [12].…”