Innovating Pedagogy 2015: Open University Innovation Report 4

This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This fourth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University collaborated with researchers from the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. We proposed a long list of new educational terms, theories, and practices. We then pared these down to ten that have the potential to provoke major shifts in educational practice, particularly in post-school education. Lastly, we drew on published and unpublished writings to compile the ten sketches of new pedagogies that might transform education. These are summarised below in an approximate order of immediacy and timescale to widespread implementation

A gentle transition from Java programming to Web Services using XML-RPC

Exposing students to leading edge vocational areas of relevance such as Web Services can be difficult. We show a lightweight approach by embedding a key component of Web Services within a Level 3 BSc module in Distributed Computing. We present a ready to use collection of lecture slides and student activities based on XML-RPC. In addition we show that this material addresses the central topics in the context of web services as identified by Draganova (2003)

Educational Robotics and Computational Thinking in Elementary School Students

This study examined the role of educational robotics in fostering computational thinking in elementary settings, both in classrooms and extracurricular programs. Among growing concerns over K–12 students’ computational thinking deficits, the research evaluated the impact of Lego EV3 and VEX IQ platforms. Data was sourced from lesson plans, student work surveys, and teacher interviews and then subjected to thematic analysis using a qualitative approach. The participants were Texas educators engaged in robotics instruction, even though specific robotics statistics are absent in the Texas Education Agency. Instructional strategies varied from hands-on experiences to translating mathematical concepts into robotic actions. A key finding was robotics’ role in advancing computational and critical thinking skills. Teachers believed that robotics went beyond a mere science, technology, engineering, and mathematics introduction, promoting advanced computational thinking and linking creativity to real-world application. Robotics challenges were seen to enhance students’ computational and critical thinking capabilities. The study drew from constructionism theory, which promotes learning through action and knowledge creation. In conclusion, educational robotics, reinforced by constructionism, is essential for equipping students for a technologically advanced future. Early exposure to robotics equips elementary students with vital 21st-century skills, enhancing their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics preparedness

Mobile MathTactics - Mathematics Game Based Learning

Mobile MathTactics is a mobile game-based application inspired to teach children on the subject of mathematics. Mathematics is a very interesting field as it can explain many of evidence to us through calculations and numbers. However, because it is too complex for a normal person to understand it, especially young kids, mathematics might draw “sour grapes” on their faces. Apart from that, the inefficient teachings models adopted by the academic educators have also worsened the case to even severe that what it already is. Lack of narration and meaning behind those numbers frightened people away from learning mathematics. Therefore to counter the problems, the author has come up with the idea of using games as the learning tool to capture the interest of small children. Games, for centuries (since the beginning of personal computer era) have renowned for its enjoyable and fun environment. Thus, by applying the same concept to the subject mathematics, the education industry can improves itself through a whole new teaching method. Moreover, it uses English language as the medium of interaction with the user apart leveraging the mobile technology as its core platform. The application focuses on three mathematical modules, which are addition, subtraction and lastly multiplication. The whole project is done with Rapid Application Development methodology, as it is much flexible and suitable for the short duration of development. After developed the simulator of the application, the prototype was tested with ten students. The final conclusion is that Mobile MathTactics is able to meet its objectives although improvements are still needed for better future commercial option

Irish Legal System.Com; An Educational Game about the Irish Legal System

The major project is about the design, development and implementation of an educational game which focuses on the Irish legal system. The written report describes how the idea for the game came about, how the project was managed and implemented, and how it works to provide the user with information about principal areas of law in Ireland. The project involved four phases across a fifteen week calendar schedule. Each phase was broken down into separate steps to enable easier management. Milestones were used to indicate progress and best practices were followed throughout each stage of the project. Research material and content was gathered and analysed. The information was used to determine the application’s visual metaphor and user gameplay experience. The two games within the application relate to conveyancing and tort. Land Law is an action maze game and Law of Torts is a game show based on legal knowledge. Once the application’s graphical user interface was designed it was used to build the ‘look and feel’ prototype which was redesigned and retested based on feedback from user testing. ActionScript, the authoring language built into Macromedia Flash, was used to programme the prototype. Each line of code was tested to its limits as it was authored to ensure clean execution. Sound was integrated into the application to enhance interactivity and user gameplay experience. The application was rigorously playtested to ensure that everything worked as intended. The files relating to the application were then uploaded to the web server for online distribution. The major project report describes the four phases of the project’s lifecycle in detail and evaluates the application and the reasoning behind all design and management decisions made during development

Cross platform development frameworks for start-ups

There are solutions to target the vast majority of mobile platforms in one single project. The different strategies to develop an app for multiple platforms are compared based on a case study: Lecter. Lecter is going to be an e-learning platform that is accessible from mobile devices. At least iOS and Android are targeted, in order to target the vast majority of mobile platforms. Xamarin Forms, React Native and PhoneGap are three free frameworks to create an app for Android and iOS in a single project. Based on implemented prototypes of Lecter with use of the three mentioned frameworks, Xamarin is the closest to native development and PhoneGap is the closest to web development. When adopting cross-platform development, the decision between the frameworks affects the app development, the product performance and the business. Xamarin Forms is recommended to use for Lecter based on the skill set of the development team and the unlimited possibilities of Xamarin Forms

Towards Human-centered Explainable AI: A Survey of User Studies for Model Explanations

Explainable AI (XAI) is widely viewed as a sine qua non for ever-expanding AI research. A better understanding of the needs of XAI users, as well as human-centered evaluations of explainable models are both a necessity and a challenge. In this paper, we explore how HCI and AI researchers conduct user studies in XAI applications based on a systematic literature review. After identifying and thoroughly analyzing 97core papers with human-based XAI evaluations over the past five years, we categorize them along the measured characteristics of explanatory methods, namely trust, understanding, usability, and human-AI collaboration performance. Our research shows that XAI is spreading more rapidly in certain application domains, such as recommender systems than in others, but that user evaluations are still rather sparse and incorporate hardly any insights from cognitive or social sciences. Based on a comprehensive discussion of best practices, i.e., common models, design choices, and measures in user studies, we propose practical guidelines on designing and conducting user studies for XAI researchers and practitioners. Lastly, this survey also highlights several open research directions, particularly linking psychological science and human-centered XAI