2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The COVID-19 pandemic required many laboratory classes to be conducted in an online or hybrid fashion which motivated many educators to explore ways to provide hands-on learning opportunities for students who are taking courses remotely. Feisel and Rosa [1] defined thirteen typical learning objectives for engineering laboratory courses. In a recent survey article, the universal key educational outcomes identified for a laboratory course are Design of Experiment, Analysis of Data, Effective Teamwork, Creativity, and Communication [2]. Although experience in a physical laboratory is critically important to become familiar with appropriate instrumentation and development of psychomotor skill and sensory awareness, most of the key outcomes can be achieved without requiring a physical laboratory space.

Here, a simple experiment is presented in which students were introduced to study the basic concepts of mass transfer by designing an at home drug delivery experiment by utilizing safe household items such as food dyes, cardboards, cell phones and no special equipment. For example, students had chosen a drug delivery matrix by carefully processing small cubes/spheres of potatoes, food dyes, and experimentally quantifying the dye (drug) released in the surrounding medium (water). The goal of the experiment was to deliver the most food dyes over the longest time (up to 7 days) from the drug matrix. After that, they fitted the experimental observation with the molecular diffusion models such as Fick's law to analyze the predictability of the theoretical models. The students were also tasked to pick a drug/tissue system and apply a two-compartment model to quantify the drug concentration in the central and peripheral compartments. This is the type of experiment that would be performed by a drug company to determine the rate of drug release from a dissolution-limited system.
Through this at-home experiment, students are exposed to the exciting field of drug delivery (which was very relevant during the time of COVID-19) and experimentally validate some basic principles of chemical engineering. They produced a calibration that enabled them to determine the concentration of drugs in their samples. Spreadsheets and MATLAB were used to perform calculations necessary to determine the release profile, and plots of the release profile of the drug. Finally, they evaluated what is needed to apply a model to their system, and they compared their experimental release profile to that described by the model.

Students were required to write the laboratory reports in the format of a research article by presenting appropriate technical background material, data in a clear and logical way, concisely interpret results and discuss the implications of data following the format of Journal of Controlled Release. Written and oral feedback were provided, and students wer required to revise the report if the level of communications were not satisfactory. At least four learning outcomes were measured which included: (i) design experiment, (ii) analyze and interpret the results, (iii) written communication, and (iv) use of modern tools, among which at least three major outcomes were achieved by more than 90% students.

[1] Feisel, L. D. and Rosa, A. J., The Role of the Laboratory in Undergraduate Engineering
Education, Journal of Engineering Education, 94(1), 2005, 121-130.
[2] Vigeant, M. A., Silverstein, D. L., Dahm, K. D., Ford, L. P., Cole, J., Landherr, L. J., How We teach: Unit Operations Laboratory, 2018, ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Salt Lake City, Utah.