Developing pedagogy to achieve the balance between foundations of biomedical informatics and data science skills continues to be a perennial challenge for educators. This is especially challenging at the undergraduate level, where conventional transdisciplinary training modalities are anathema for students focused on disciplinary excellence. Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience CURE courses embody the Understanding by Design (UbD) approach for supporting pragmatic instillation of theoretical principles using real world examples. We modified a conventional methodology course to a CURE that teaches informatics concepts that leverage data science for addressing actual biomedical and health challenges. Our experience suggests that the UbD approach, which espouses a “backward design,” enables undergraduate students to embrace key aspects for success in biomedical informatics, beyond data science skills. This presentation will introduce the UbD approach, its implementation in the context of a CURE course, and share the evaluation of its success for supporting biomedical informatics and data science education at the undergraduate level.

Authors:

Indra Sarkar (Presenter)
Brown University

Elizabeth Chen, Brown University

Presentation Materials:

• Abstract/Manuscript - 1