Development of Educational Ontology for C-Programming

Development of educational ontologies is a step towards creation of sharable and reusable adaptive educational systems. Ontology as a conceptual courseware structure may work as a mind tool for effective teaching and as a visual navigation interface to the learning objects. The paper discusses an approach to the practical ontology development and presents the designed ontology for teaching/learning C programming

Using Building Blocks to Construct Effective Learning Objects

Technological developments over the past decade have had a strong impact on education bringing significant opportunities for changing teaching models. This has led to an interest in the development of shareable, scalable and reusable learning objects. This paper builds on the ideas of Parrish (2004) and other recognised theorists in this area who suggest that the production of educational materials needs to promote adaptive learning strategies. We broaden Parrish’s work by testing some of his propositions for object oriented instructional design in the domain of information systems. The contribution of this paper is an extended set of principles for creating multimedia building blocks and aggregating them into learning objects as well as engaging students in the development process. The principles can be used for creating and reusing multimedia building blocks for teaching in many discipline areas. We illustrate the use of these principles by developing and testing a set of learning objects for learning programming. We find that the high cost of creating learning objects noted by Parrish can be ameliorated by using readily available software and Web 2.0 technologies. This approach supports academics developing learning objects without involving professional educational designers and without the added overhead of learning complex software packages

PICA-PICA: Exploring a Customisable Smart STEAM Educational Approach via a Smooth Combination of Programming, Engineering and Art

The STEAM approach in education has been gaining increasing popularity over the last decade. This is due to its potential in enhancing students' learning, when teaching arts and scientific disciplines together. This paper introduces the PICA-PICA concept, where we aim to develop a smart customisable environment, combining, in a unique way, teaching programming in conjunction with the engineering of artworks. The PICA-PICA concept was implemented, used and tested in real-life, by upper primary school students in Japan, during a 4-day workshop. Initial results illustrated the quality of the solution proposed by PICA-PICA. We noted that the integration was perceived as smooth, and not contrived: all participants understood how to use the PICA-PICA environment to engineer programmable art objects. Furthermore, the PICA-PICA approach led to high motivation: children did not get bored and were fully engaged. Finally, the quality of their work as a learning outcome was high: by including a programming segment with the other expressive activities in the artwork, the children were able to design the electronics in a more concentrated and meaningful way than their curriculum-structured learning. This study also presents an innovative implementation of the STEAM approach using Micro:bits technology to create exciting artwork whilst using household recyclable items, which also teaches about sustainability. The involvement of parents and their interest in learning is another unique aspect of this study

Separable User Interface Architectures in Teaching Object Technology

This paper concerns the critical role of separable user interface design in teaching object-oriented systems. M206 "Computing: An Object-oriented Approach" is a large-scale university-level introduction to software development designed from scratch for distance learning, using an objects-first approach with Smalltalk. The course is degree-level, counting as one sixth, and is being offered in the UK, Western Europe and Singapore. To address the needs of industry we have developed a radical syllabus that adheres to the principle of designing complex systems by separating view and model, and have developed a programming and learning environment to support these ideas. In the paper we examine how separable user interface architectures have guided our teaching of object technology and the design of powerful microworlds that are both usable and extendible by neophytes. The course and relevant teaching with software is outlined and the technical design and pedagogic use of the microworlds and GUI builder tool are described

Pyro: A Python-Based Versatile Programming Environment For Teaching Robotics

In this article we describe a programming framework called Pyro, which provides a set of abstractions that allows students to write platform-independent robot programs. This project is unique because of its focus on the pedagogical implications of teaching mobile robotics via a top-down approach. We describe the background of the project, its novel abstractions, its library of objects, and the many learning modules that have been created from which curricula for different types of courses can be drawn. Finally, we explore Pyro from the students\u27 perspective in a case study

Pyro: A Python-based Versatile Programming Environment for Teaching Robotics

In this paper we describe a programming framework called Pyro which provides a set of abstractions that allows students to write platform­independent robot programs. This project is unique because of its focus on the pedagogical implications of teaching mobile robotics via a top­down approach. We describe the background of the project, novel abstractions created, its library of objects, and the many learning modules that have been created from which curricula for different types of courses can be drawn. Finally, we explore Pyro from the students\u27 perspective in a case study

Pyro: A Python-based Versatile Programming Environment for Teaching Robotics

In this paper we describe a programming framework called Pyro which provides a set of abstractions that allows students to write platform­independent robot programs. This project is unique because of its focus on the pedagogical implications of teaching mobile robotics via a top­down approach. We describe the background of the project, novel abstractions created, its library of objects, and the many learning modules that have been created from which curricula for different types of courses can be drawn. Finally, we explore Pyro from the students\u27 perspective in a case study

Web Based Robotics Program for Teaching Creativity

Creative thinking is one of the critical professional skills in this contemporary world that requires innovative approaches to problem solutions in response to constant changes. However our current educational system that is geared towards limiting mistakes is reducing students’ chances towards experiments with creative ideas. Educational research has rekindled the value of the kindergarten approach to learning which encourages diversity and creativity through students’ tinkering with learning objects. This paper presents a web-based robotics teaching program that develops learners’ programming and spatial skills and stimulates their creative thinking. It introduces a video-enhanced inductive teaching method in order to reach students of various cognitive capabilities at the primary school level. This program has been running successfully for over 6 years in Tasmania, Australia. The online free resources provided in DrGraeme.net have also attracted a large international audience

Introducing Java : the case for fundamentals-first

Java has increasingly become the language of choice for teaching introductory programming. In this paper, we examine the different approaches to teaching Java (Objects-first, Fundamentals-first and GUI-first) to ascertain whether there exists an agreed ordering of topics and difficulty levels between nine relatively basic Java topics. The results of our literature survey and student questionnaire suggests that the Fundamentals-first approach may have benefits from the student's point of view and an agreed ordering of the Java topics accompanying this approach has been established