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Overview

Course Prescription

An engineering project requiring the application and integration of material taught in technical and professional engineering courses to the design of medical devices and software to meet client needs. The project also requires consideration of ethical issues, social impact, safety in design, and international regulations.

Course Overview

Lectures cover the medical industry; the product lifecycle; intellectual property; the regulatory environment and standards; ethical, societal, sustainability and risk issues in medical devices; software engineering practice; ergonomics, manufacturing and commercial considerations.
Design Project:
Each team of 4 to 6 students will consult with a commercial/clinical client to address a complex biomedical engineering problem, with guidance from an academic or industry mentor.
Philosophy:
A complex, integrative biomedical engineering design experience. Specifically, a successful design will require integration of knowledge from across the breadth of the biomedical engineering curriculum, including solid and fluid mechanics, instrumentation, mathematical modelling, and the medical sciences. In the real world, though, successful designs are about more than pure scientific and technical know-how; a good design must account for the social and political environment surrounding the problem. Thus, this course will aim to equip students with knowledge of the cultural and regulatory context for medical devices, and we expect this knowledge to be applied throughout the design process. Real designs are also created to solve complicated, messy problems; there is no one right answer, and there is no single clear question to answer. Thus, this course requires students to determine the parameters of the design problem through consultation with a clinical client, and the technical approach taken to solve it will be entirely up to the students.

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For this course, you can expect 24 hours of lectures and in-class assessments and 24 hours of scheduled time in the project laboratory. Since the course as a whole represents approximately 150 hours of study, that leaves a total of 102 hours across the entire semester for self-directed independent and group study, e.g. reading, reflection, studying for the exam, and working on the project.

Course Prerequisites, Corequisites and Restrictions

Prerequisite

Additional Advice on Prerequisites

Prerequisite: BIOMENG 341, and a further 45 points from non-elective courses listed in Part III of the BE(Hons) Schedule for Biomedical Engineering

Locations and Semesters Offered

LocationSemester
City

Teaching and Learning

Campus Experience

Attendance is expected at scheduled activities, including project meetings, to complete components of the course.
Lectures will be available as recordings. Other learning activities, including project meetings, will not be available as recordings.
The course will not include live online events.
Attendance on campus is required for the design review and final presentation.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.

Learning Resources

Taught courses use a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas to provide students with learning materials including reading lists and lecture recordings (where available). Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Additional Information on Learning Resources

We recommend, but do not require, the book "Medical Device Design: Innovation from Concept to Market". This book is available electronically (free to students) through the library.

Copyright

The content and delivery of content in this course are protected by copyright. Material belonging to others may have been used in this course and copied by and solely for the educational purposes of the University under license.


You may copy the course content for the purposes of private study or research, but you may not upload onto any third-party site, make a further copy or sell, alter or further reproduce or distribute any part of the course content to another person.

Health and Safety

Students must ensure they are familiar with their Health and Safety responsibilities, as described in the university's Health and Safety policy.
Workshop facilities will be available for device prototyping. Students should complete the relevant induction activities before using any workshop, which will outline any training and PPE usage required. These facilities are supervised by professional staff who will ensure that students follow the appropriate procedures to minimise risk.
Students will be designing and prototyping medical devices. To minimise risk, these devices are not to be tested on human participants as part of this course, and no other experiments are to be performed on human participants as part of this course. Any other experiments will be reviewed for risk prior to their commencement.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Other Information

Students are required to purchase a standard type 2B8 lecture book for use as a project notebook.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed for potential plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct, using computerised detection mechanisms.

Similarly, research students must meet the University’s expectations of good research practice. This requires:

  • Honesty - in all aspects of research work
  • Accountability - in the conduct of research
  • Professional courtesy and fairness – in working with others
  • Good stewardship – on behalf of others
  • Transparency – of research process and presentation of results
  • Clarity - communication to be understandable, explainable and accessible

For more information on the University’s expectations of academic integrity, please see the Academic Conduct section of the University policy hub.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about taught courses is made available to enrolled students in Canvas.

Students may be asked to submit assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.


Additional Information on Academic integrity

Students can use generative artificial intelligence text and art generation software, such as ChatGPT and DALL.E 2, on their assessments in this course, but only with prior permission from the instructor. Without permission, you are expected to complete assessments without substantial assistance, including from automated tools. If you are given permission to use such tools, you must acknowledge this. Please include information alongside any assessment that uses AI explaining what you used the tool for and what prompts you used to get the results.

Assessment and Learning Outcomes

Additional Information on Assessment

Students must sit the test to pass the course. Otherwise, a DNC (did not complete) result will be returned.

A passing mark is 50% or higher, according to University policy.

Late assignments are penalised at 4% of the total mark for each hour they are submitted late, unless prior arrangmenets are made for excused late submissions.

Course Learning Outcomes

CLO #OutcomeProgramme Capability Link
1
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10

Assessments

Assessment TypeAssessment PercentageAssessment Classification

Assessment to CLO Mapping

Assessment Type12345678910

Student Feedback, Support and Charter

Student Feedback

Feedback on taught courses is gathered from students at the end of each semester through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions. Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students. In addition, class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Additional Information on Student Feedback

In response to 2024 student feedback, for 2025 the marking rubrics will be clarified, as will the overall project requirements.

Class representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Tuākana

Tuākana is a multi-faceted programme for Māori and Pacific students providing topic specific tutorials, one-on-one sessions, test and exam preparation and more. Explore your options at Tuakana Learning Communities.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website.

Wellbeing

We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - please see the Support Services page for information on support services in the University and the wider community.

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed work is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due. If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page. This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter.

Student Academic Complaints and Disputes

Students with concerns about teaching including how a course is delivered, the resources provided, or supervision arrangements, have the right to express their concerns and seek resolution. The university encourages informal resolution where possible, as this is quicker and less stressful. For information on the informal and formal complaints processes, please refer to the Student Academic Complaints Statute in the Student Policies and Guidelines section of the Policy Hub.