Acceptance and Applicability of Educational Robots. Evaluating Factors Contributing to a Successful Introduction of Social Robots into Education

Reich-Stiebert N. Acceptance and Applicability of Educational Robots. Evaluating Factors Contributing to a Successful Introduction of Social Robots into Education. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2019.The use of robots in the area of education is rapidly gaining momentum. Education faces restructuring and modernization in the forthcoming age of robots, thus necessitating research meeting the requirements of this development. In this, focusing on robots’ acceptance and applicability in educational contexts, right from the very beginning, is crucial. Therefore, this dissertation thesis has addressed this issue. It has striven to evaluate factors which contribute to a successful introduction of robots into education in a systematic manner. The strengths of the current work lie in its interdisciplinary nature, theoretical fundament, and the application of empirical and experimental methods. In practical terms, a set of studies have offered insights on how the implementation and application of robots in education could be facilitated. To do so, they operated on three different levels: First, the focus was on end users’ attitudes toward educational robots. It was shown that their attitudes and willingness to use educational robots were moderate. However, the results also indicated that the acceptance of educational robots could be fostered by the promotion of people’s general technical interest and a targeted use of robots in individual or small-group learning activities, in domains related to science and technology. In addition, it was found that user involvement in an educational robot’s design process can increase people’s general acceptance of educational robots. Second, the work focused on how to effectively design a human-robot interaction (HRI) for learning purposes by building upon the cooperative learning paradigm found in educational literature. Actual HRI experiments confirmed that a robot’s physical presence was beneficial for the learning experience, and implied that positive interdependence with a robot, social support from it, and mutual feedback about the learning process were positively related to the learning experience and the learners’ perception of the robot. Third, when tackling the issue of the ideal educational robot design, it has become clear that people’s perception of robots is influenced by context- and person-specific factors. To trigger a higher acceptance of educational robots, robotics research should match potential end users’ educational robot design concepts, for example, machinelike appearance and functionality as well as privacy and safety requirements. Taken together, this dissertation presents a sound basis for identifying issues related to the implementation and application of educational robots. However, research is still far from having completed the development of strategies for implementing and using social robots in education meaningfully. Consequently, potential future research directions will be discussed in light of the obtained results

Robots in education : an introduction to high-tech social agents, intelligent tutors, and curricular Tools

Robots in Education is an accessible introduction to the use of robotics in formal learning, encompassing pedagogical and psychological theories as well as implementation in curricula. Today, a variety of communities across education are increasingly using robots as general classroom tutors, tools in STEM projects, and subjects of study. This volume explores how the unique physical and social-interactive capabilities of educational robots can generate bonds with students while freeing instructors to focus on their individualized approaches to teaching and learning. Authored by a uniquely interdisciplinary team of scholars, the book covers the basics of robotics and their supporting technologies; attitudes toward and ethical implications of robots in learning; research methods relevant to extending our knowledge of the field; and more

Robot education peers in a situated primary school study: personalisation promotes child learning

The benefit of social robots to support child learning in an educational context over an extended period of time is evaluated. Specifically, the effect of personalisation and adaptation of robot social behaviour is assessed. Two autonomous robots were embedded within two matched classrooms of a primary school for a continuous two week period without experimenter supervision to act as learning companions for the children for familiar and novel subjects. Results suggest that while children in both personalised and non-personalised conditions learned, there was increased child learning of a novel subject exhibited when interacting with a robot that personalised its behaviours, with indications that this benefit extended to other class-based performance. Additional evidence was obtained suggesting that there is increased acceptance of the personalised robot peer over a non-personalised version. These results provide the first evidence in support of peer-robot behavioural personalisation having a positive influence on learning when embedded in a learning environment for an extended period of time

Robots in education. Cooperative language learning with education robots

Reich-Stiebert N. Robots in education. Cooperative language learning with education robots. Presented at the 11th Workshop of the Fachgruppe Sozialpsychologie for doctoral students of Social Psychology, Zeppelin University

Leben mit Robotern – Eine Online-Befragung im deutschen Sprachraum zur Akzeptanz von Servicerobotern im Alltag (Poster)

Reich-Stiebert N, Eyssel FA. Leben mit Robotern – Eine Online-Befragung im deutschen Sprachraum zur Akzeptanz von Servicerobotern im Alltag (Poster). Presented at the 14. Tagung der Fachgruppe Sozialpsychologie, Hagen

Learning with educational companion robots? Toward attitudes on education robots, predictors of attitudes, and application potentials for education robots

Reich-Stiebert N, Eyssel FA. Learning with educational companion robots? Toward attitudes on education robots, predictors of attitudes, and application potentials for education robots. International Journal of Social Robotics. 2015;7(5):875-888.Previous research on attitudes toward robots has emphasized the aspect of cultural differences regarding the acceptance of social robots in everyday life. Existing work has also focused on the importance of various other factors (e.g., demographic variables, interest in science and technology, prior robot experience) that predict robot acceptance. Specific robot types like service or healthcare robots have also been investigated. Nevertheless, more research is needed to substantiate the empirical evidence on the role of culture, robot type, and other predictors when researching attitudes toward robots. We did so by conducting a survey on attitudes toward education robots in the German context. Besides, in the present research, we investigated predictors of attitudes toward education robots. Contrary to previous findings, our results suggest that German respondents have neutral attitudes toward education robots. However, our data support the notion of relative reluctance to engage in learning processes that include robots. Regarding demographic variables and personality dispositions, our results show that gender, age, need for cognition , and technology commitment significantly predicted people's attitudes. Concerning potential areas of application, respondents could picture using education robots in domains related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and rejected education robots in fields of arts and social sciences

Do people want to learn with robots? Investigating attitudes toward education robots (Poster)

Reich-Stiebert N, Eyssel FA. Do people want to learn with robots? Investigating attitudes toward education robots (Poster). Presented at the 15. Tagung der Fachgruppe Sozialpsychologie, Potsdam University

Exploring University students’ preferences for educational robot design by means of a user-centered design approach

Reich-Stiebert N, Eyssel FA, Hohnemann C. Exploring University students’ preferences for educational robot design by means of a user-centered design approach. International Journal of Social Robotics. 2019;12(1):227-237

Involve the user! Changing attitudes toward robots by user participation in a robot prototyping process

Reich-Stiebert N, Eyssel FA, Hohnemann C. Involve the user! Changing attitudes toward robots by user participation in a robot prototyping process. Computers in Human Behavior. 2019;91:290-296.Are students willing to accept robotic support for learning when their attitudes toward educational robots are moderate? Probably not, as evidence from psychological research has suggested that attitudes predict how people will behave toward an attitude object. Consequently, a negative view of robots could represent a strong barrier to the deployment of robots in educational environments. Attitude change might facilitate a smooth introduction of educational robots into learning settings. Thus, the present research builds on the fact that actively including end users in the prototyping process of a robot might increase positive attitudes toward it. Indeed, our research is among the first works which demonstrate that participation in the prototyping process of an educational robot positively affected attitudes toward educational robots in general and significantly reduced educational robot anxiety. However, students' behavioral intentions toward educational robots were not influenced by participation. These findings raise intriguing questions regarding the relevance of user involvement in the development of robots. Therefore, the discussion focuses on how to improve this process and how user involvement in robot design processes provides a valuable contribution to the acceptance of social robots in everyday life

(Ir)relevance of Gender? On the Influence of Gender Stereotypes on Learning with a Robot

Reich-Stiebert N, Eyssel FA. (Ir)relevance of Gender? On the Influence of Gender Stereotypes on Learning with a Robot. In: Mutlu B, Tscheligi M, eds. Proceedings of the 2017 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2017). New York, USA: ACM; 2017: 166-176