Abstract:

Introduction:
Ensuring acquisition of practical, instrumental and professional competences while maintaining profound learning of fundamental concepts is a critical axis of the European Higher Education Space (EHES). Innovative teaching methodologies and resources promoting implication and autonomous work from the students are essential in health-related and STEM courses. In this regard, teaching constructive competences to achieve complex concepts developing simultaneously professional as well as soft skills is of utmost interest. Nowadays, all-in-one science platforms and open educational resources have grown interest to support the learning progress. Web-based and meaningful realistic interactive applications allow for real time analyses and computer supported collaborative project interpretation and reporting. This becomes extremely relevant when teaching complex concepts holding a challenge to critically integrate from prior knowledge.

Methods:
Instructors prepared a session with pre- and post-laboratory tests addressing fundamentals of sympathovagal balance, cardiovascular test responses and beat-to-beat variability relevant markers as well as their analytical interpretation. Live scripts and e-notebooks were proposed to illustrate meaningful adaptations such real-time evaluation of respiratory modifications of beat-to-beat patterns. Holter devices were used to track cardiac electrical activity in working-groups: 1) at rest, 2) to quantify responses to well-known manoeuvres and autonomic tests, and, 3) to analyse stress-recovery responses after aerobic exercise. Relevant variability statistics and autonomic metrics were discussed. Specialized software for tracking beat-to-beat patterns was used for dynamic and interactive quantification of autonomic markers, visualization, interpretation and discussion. A follow-up dashboard was used so that each student was able to track his or her own progress. Student’s perspective to the experience and technology used was evaluated using web-based forms. Finally, correlating these results with their performance allowed assessing the impact on the learning progress and final outcomes.

Results:
Live notebooks allowed direct interpretation of data representing physiological and pathophysiological responses supporting analytical demonstrations. Pre-lab questionnaires showed misconceptions and lack of profound learning when conceptual integration was necessary. Tracked progress showed that 94% of students completed all tasks. Once the responses to each manoeuvre and autonomic tests were acquired, an interactive application automatically allowed for determination of descriptive statistics from beat-to-beat time-course series, extracting relevant standard metrics, and quantifying sympathovagal balance in the epochs selected for analyses. Computer-assisted collaborative work improved interpretation of the results, promoting soft-skills in the process. Post-lab questionnaires results showed significantly increased average scores (p<0.01), which correlated well with the course outcomes (p<0.001).

Conclusion:
Interactive ICT-tools such as guided notebooks and analytical applications allowed for conceptual follow-up, real-time collaborative project reporting and explaining complex concepts in the classroom and laboratory, obtaining continuous feedback, which in turn enhanced autonomous learning and students engagement.

Keywords:

Innovations in Higher Education, Technology enhanced learning, Autonomic testing and variability analyses, Collaborative teamwork, Soft skills.