Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the same engine used for Wikipedia [176]. This allows for many extensions and
widgets. Flanagan, lead developer for OWW, has implemented many of these
widgets, many of which attempt to make it easier to capture information into
a laboratory notebook. One of these allows easy embedding of a Google Docs
spreadsheet [177]. Junior laboratory students are encouraged to innovate and
try out different ways of using their laboratory notebook. In 2007 students
struggled with wiki or Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) tables for
recording data. By 2009, the majority of students used Google Docs spread-
sheets for recording data. A major advantage of this is easy recording of
information that is autosaved and easy to share with the world. A drawback
is that the information in the spreadsheets is currently not archived by OWW,
so an electronic laboratory notebook is not a self-contained entity.
Many students record data directly into Google Docs, into the wiki, or into
another electronic resource, such as Evernote [178]. However, it should be
noted that even in 2010, with the ubiquity of smart phones and Web-based
resources, a number of students resort to recording notes on paper and then
transferring them to electronic form later. One simple reason for this is that
some laboratories require dark-adjusted eyes which are not achievable when
using even a smartphone. Another reason is that some students continue to
fi nd pencil and paper the fastest, easiest, and/or most comfortable means of
recording information. These are the anecdotal observations of the instructor,
and in his opinion it remains a problem with ONS or electronic lab notebooks
more generally. The instructor does not require students to discontinue use of
paper, provided they subsequently copy their notes to the primary electronic
notebook.
25.5.2.5 Data Analysis
Students are required to record their data analysis
procedures and results in their primary laboratory notebook. It is stressed that
this information is an important component for reproducibility, including the
type of software used, spreadsheets, and code. For example, students will
embed or link to their spreadsheets (typically Microsoft Excel or Google Doc)
or they will upload their original Matlab code [179]. Important functions used
for processing the data (such as LINEST) are highlighted.
25.5.2.6 Informal Lab Summary
For most laboratories, in lieu of a formal
laboratory report in the style that would be submitted to a typical peer-
reviewed journal, students instead produce short, informal laboratory sum-
maries that are separate from their primary laboratory notebook [171]. As
described below, the students produce one formal report that includes a rough
draft with extensive instructor feedback. The informal summaries are on sepa-
rate wiki pages from the primary laboratory notebook. In the summaries, the
students give a brief overview of the laboratory, report their fi nal results, and
discuss any discrepancies with accepted values, sources of systematic and
random error, and ideas for improving future measurements. They link to their
primary laboratory notebooks as the underlying resource for any readers
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