A workshop at the Seventeenth European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (ECTEL 2022)

Toulouse, France | 12-16 September 2022

The topic of this workshop is design and integration of distance learning alternatives for onsite Educational Robotics based on research outcomes of the Erasmus+ eROBSON project. Technological solutions based on Augmented Reality techniques and possible pedagogical scenario’s will be presented to workshop participants together with the outcomes of a Group Concept Mapping (GCM) study conducted to support the design process.

Workshop participants will be introduced to GCM methodology, will discuss and evaluate GCM outcomes and will take part in a demo of the working prototypes. Participants will be invited to join reporting of the workshop outcomes to the academic community.

We will present how Augmented Reality (AR) technology can be used to enhance learning with Educational Robotics (ER). The purpose of AR in our concept is to simulate (a) the necessary ER-equipment / ER kit components, including its appearance, behavior, and user interaction and (b) some of the ER learning processes and educational methods.

Augmented Reality enhances human perception with additional, computer-generated sensorial input to create a new user experience. 

Educational robotics teaches the design, analysis, application and operation of robots. Robots include articulated robots, mobile robots or autonomous vehicles. Educational robotics can be taught from elementary school to graduate programs. Robotics may also be used to motivate and facilitate the instruction other, often foundational, topics such as computer programming, artificial intelligence or engineering design.

Interactive discussion between the participants moderated by the workshop organizers. The introduction will be followed by short group tasks in an interactive world café format. Participants will be invited to share their thoughts on a particular component (cluster) of the eROBSON framework, think of missing points, investigate relations between components and respective constituent elements using visual representations created with Groupwisdom. Instructional prompts and a canvas will help structure interaction. A possibility to provide concrete feedback to the concept, methodology and the prototypes will be provided to the participants.

Hands-on activity by the participants with two eROBSON prototypes built on the MirageXR and AR Tutor platforms.

1. To inform the interested TEL community members about the concept of supporting teaching lab-based ER and STEM subjects at a distance using AR and the eROBSON approach under construction. 
2. To inform the interested TEL community members about applying the Group Concept Mapping methodology to TEL research design.
3. To demonstrate the prototypes of eROBSON ER-AR solutions, so that they can interpret and later discuss the eROBSON GCM outcomes with. The participants will also evaluate the prototypes by answering a short questionnaire.
4. To contribute to the “mapping” of relevant ideas collected in the eROBSON GCM by stimulating a structured in-depth discussion of the GCM outcomes per cluster and at an over-arching level as a conceptual framework. For this purpose workshop participants will be invited and prompted to discuss particular framework components or a set of “neighboring” components. Visual representations provided in the Groupwisdom tool will be used to support discussion. The participants will be able to explore relations between ideas, suggest additional or alternative add ideas, thus contributing to a more complete overview and a greater cohesion of the framework.

eROBSON GCM study demonstrated that there is a high level of consent on educational ideas and basic principles and substantial differences in the way partners view and evaluate both importance and feasibility of ideas on software and hardware design, platform selection and foremost on conceptual issues. While the generated conceptual model provided sufficient input for the project to form a point of departure in design of solution prototypes, differences in standpoints which the GCM study demonstrated require further elaboration and knowledge construction effort.

The EC-TEL workshop can contribute to such knowledge construction both at conceptual level and through feedback on the first prototypes demonstrated by eROBSON project members.