The effectiveness of integrating educational robotic activities into higher education Computer Science curricula: a case study in a developing country

In this paper, we present a case study to investigate the effects of educational robotics on a formal undergraduate Computer Science education in a developing country. The key contributions of this paper include a longitudinal study design, spanning the whole duration of one taught course, and its focus on continually assessing the effectiveness and the impact of robotic-based exercises. The study assessed the students' motivation, engagement and level of understanding in learning general computer programming. The survey results indicate that there are benefits which can be gained from such activities and educational robotics is a promising tool in developing engaging study curricula. We hope that our experience from this study together with the free materials and data available for download will be beneficial to other practitioners working with educational robotics in different parts of the world

Proceedings of the ANR ​#CreaMaker​ workshop: co-creativity, robotics and maker education.

International audienc

Makers at School, Educational Robotics and Innovative Learning Environments

This open access book contains observations, outlines, and analyses of educational robotics methodologies and activities, and developments in the field of educational robotics emerging from the findings presented at FabLearn Italy 2019, the international conference that brought together researchers, teachers, educators and practitioners to discuss the principles of Making and educational robotics in formal, non-formal and informal education. The editors’ analysis of these extended versions of papers presented at FabLearn Italy 2019 highlight the latest findings on learning models based on Making and educational robotics. The authors investigate how innovative educational tools and methodologies can support a novel, more effective and more inclusive learner-centered approach to education. The following key topics are the focus of discussion: Makerspaces and Fab Labs in schools, a maker approach to teaching and learning; laboratory teaching and the maker approach, models, methods and instruments; curricular and non-curricular robotics in formal, non-formal and informal education; social and assistive robotics in education; the effect of innovative spaces and learning environments on the innovation of teaching, good practices and pilot projects

Makers at School, Educational Robotics and Innovative Learning Environments

This open access book contains observations, outlines, and analyses of educational robotics methodologies and activities, and developments in the field of educational robotics emerging from the findings presented at FabLearn Italy 2019, the international conference that brought together researchers, teachers, educators and practitioners to discuss the principles of Making and educational robotics in formal, non-formal and informal education. The editors’ analysis of these extended versions of papers presented at FabLearn Italy 2019 highlight the latest findings on learning models based on Making and educational robotics. The authors investigate how innovative educational tools and methodologies can support a novel, more effective and more inclusive learner-centered approach to education. The following key topics are the focus of discussion: Makerspaces and Fab Labs in schools, a maker approach to teaching and learning; laboratory teaching and the maker approach, models, methods and instruments; curricular and non-curricular robotics in formal, non-formal and informal education; social and assistive robotics in education; the effect of innovative spaces and learning environments on the innovation of teaching, good practices and pilot projects

Constructing the Learning Environment in Classroom Convivial Computer Tools for Higher Education

New education technologies are coming on stream, enabling connectivity among teachers, facilitators and students. Students have to learn how to access Managed Learning Environments each time they move to different course websites. These barriers can hinder the real understanding of the subject matter for a course. This research calls for a rethink of pedagogical process towards blending together commonly used emerging social software and legacy educational tools rather than developing new tools for the classroom. Indeed, a learning tool should fit well to the learning model and philosophy of that course. Three case studies were conducted through different courses in the Digital Media master program and Informatik program at the University of Bremen, Germany. Students worked in small groups to design digital media and learning portal that should make learning more interesting and meaningful for them. At the end, this research proposes the concept of Constructing the Learning Environment in classroom and Convivial Computer Tools for higher education, where students and teachers, via dialogues in the class, can negotiate to deploy a set of selected tools and functions to match their learning needs. It is also to show that a tool with too many functions can cause confusion, rather than enhance effectiveness. To empower collaborative, interactive and personal learning, this work proposes the blended learning and classroom procedures for a convivial selection of educational tools. At the end, our innovative attempt is to bring constructionist learning into the higher education context

ANR #CreaMaker workshop : Co-creativity, robotics and maker educationProceedings

International audienceWe’re living exciting but also challenging times at the worldwide level. From one side, there are environmental challenges that can compromise our future as humanity and the socio economic tensions generated in a context of mass consumption within a model of fossil and nuclear energy which endangers a sustainable development. From the other side, we have a growing number of citizen-based initiatives aiming to improve the society and the technological infrastructures making possible to cooperate at large scale and not only at a small-group level. Younger becomes empowered for their future. In their initiatives such #FridaysForFuture they are no longer (interactive) media consumers but move forward as creative activists to make older generations change the system in order to save the planet. At the same time, we have observed in the last years the emergence of a wide diversity of third places (makerspace, fablab, living lab…) aiming to empower communities to design and develop their own creative solutions. In this context, maker-based projects have the potential to integrate tinkering, programming and educational robotics to engage the learner in the development of creativity both in individual and collaborative contexts (Kamga, Romero, Komis, & Mirsili, 2016). In this context, the ANR #CreaMaker project aims to analyse the development of creativity in the context of team-based maker activities combining tinkering and digital fabrication (Barma, Romero, & Deslandes, 2017; Fleming, 2015). This first workshop of the ANR #CreaMaker project aims to raise the question on the concept, activities and assessment of creativity in the context of maker education and its different approaches : computational thinking (Class’Code, AIDE), collective innovation (Invent@UCA), game design (Creative Cultures), problem solving (CreaCube), child-robot interactions and sustainable development activities. Researchers from Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Italy and Spain will reunite with LINE researchers and the MSc SmartEdTech students in order to advance in how we can design, orchestrate and evaluate co-creativity in technology enhanced learning (TEL) contexts, and more specifically, in maker based education

Robotika za djecu: nacionalne politike i inicijative u tri europske zemlje

This article explores the issue of introducing children between six and ten years of age ‎to robotics and investigates the use of robots in schools and in extracurricular activities. The central ‎questions are 1) whether and how the introduction of robotics is addressed in political strategies and‎ educational policies (RQ1), and 2) what the main actors in the introduction of robots in educational‎ settings are (RQ2). Therefore, a pilot study in three European countries (Austria, Lithuania, Romania)‎was conducted, which included an analysis of national policy strategies, as well as interviews with three‎ stakeholders per country. The article illustrates the specificities of the investigated countries presented as ‎case studies and discusses them in a comparative way. The findings show that the investigated countries’‎ educational policies aim at mirroring the Digital Agenda for Europe and that two opposite approaches ‎to implementation of robotics (bottom-up vs. top-down) can be identified.‎Ovaj članak istražuje upoznavanje djece u dobi od šest do deset godina s robotikom te ispituje‎ upotrebu robota u školama i izvannastavnim aktivnostima. Središnja pitanja su 1) je li uvođenje robotike ‎obuhvaćeno političkim strategijama i obrazovnim politikama i na koji način (RQ1) te 2) tko su glavni‎ akteri uvođenja robota u obrazovno okruženje (RQ2). Kako bi se odgovorilo na ova pitanja, provedena ‎je pilot studija u tri europske zemlje (Austriji, Litvi i Rumunjskoj) koja je uključivala analizu nacionalnih ‎policy strategija, kao i intervjue s po tri dionika u svakoj zemlji. Članak ilustrira specifičnosti istraživanih ‎zemalja prezentirane kao studije slučaja, raspravlja o njima i međusobno ih uspoređuje. Nalazi pokazuju ‎kako obrazovne politike u analiziranim zemljama imaju za cilj preslikati Digitalnu agendu za Europu ‎te da se mogu identificirati dva suprotna pristupa implementaciji robotike, odozdo prema gore i odozgo ‎prema dolje.