2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Assessing Sociotechnical and Justice Learning in a Community Partnership-Based Biomedical Engineering Capstone Course

Presented at Equity, Identity, and Sociotechnical Learning in BME

Undergraduate engineering students are increasingly engaged in community-partnered and global health design, yet there remain limited approaches for exploring how capstone courses support learning related to sociotechnical reasoning (the connection between humans and technology), justice (giving others what they are owed), and ethical responsibility (doing what is right). This exploratory study examines learning outcomes in a senior biomedical engineering capstone course that integrates human-centered design, project-based learning, and anti-oppressive pedagogy through sustained community partnerships. Building on prior work that established the course’s pedagogical framework, the present study shifts focus to assessment. Using a mixed-methods approach, we analyze matched pre/post survey responses and structured student reflections to explore changes in how students frame design problems, integrate social considerations, and reason about power and responsibility over the semester. Findings suggest developmental movement in sociotechnical and justice-oriented reasoning, while values-based orientations remain relatively stable. Qualitative analysis provides additional insight into how technical and ethical reasoning co-develop in practice. This work demonstrates the feasibility of exploring justice-oriented learning in capstone design and informs future assessment and course development efforts.

Authors

Kerry Eller Duke University [biography]

Kerry Eller is a 5th year PhD Candidate in the Center for Global Women's Health Technologies in Duke University's Biomedical Engineering Department. Kerry is working to develop cervical cancer screening technologies that are more accessible for both patients and providers, as well as incorporate this kind of design thinking into engineering education and design pedagogy.
Nirmala Ramanujam Duke University [biography]

Nirmala (Nimmi) Ramanujam is the Robert W. Carr Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Cancer Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, and Global Health at Duke University. She founded the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies (GWHT) in 2013 to reshape women’s health through technology innovation. Her translation program in cervical and breast cancer has brought together multiple partners across U.S. and international academic institutions, hospitals, companies, non-governmental organizations, and ministries of health. Prof. Ramanujam values co-creating solutions with those that are at the level of the problem. This led to the creation of a global education program Ignite in 2013 that intersects engineering design thinking, STEM concepts, and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.
Megan Madonna http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8297-7672 Duke University [biography]

Megan Madonna is an Assistant Research Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, studying human-centered design and student resilience and identity. She serves as the Director of Ignite, a human-centered design-based engineering program that links engineering and local, community-based issues to encourage empathic and creative thinkers and broaden participation in engineering. Additionally, she serves as the Assistant Director of Education for the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies at Duke University.

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