Learning in the Age of Digital and Green Transition: Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL2022), Volume 1 3031261895, 9783031261893

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Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems 633

Michael E. Auer Wolfgang Pachatz Tiia Rüütmann   Editors

Learning in the Age of Digital and Green Transition Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL2022), Volume 1

Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems

633

Series Editor Janusz Kacprzyk, Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

Advisory Editors Fernando Gomide, Department of Computer Engineering and Automation—DCA, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering—FEEC, University of Campinas—UNICAMP, São Paulo, Brazil Okyay Kaynak, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Türkiye Derong Liu, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Witold Pedrycz, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland Marios M. Polycarpou, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, KIOS Research Center for Intelligent Systems and Networks, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus Imre J. Rudas, Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary Jun Wang, Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

The series “Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems” publishes the latest developments in Networks and Systems—quickly, informally and with high quality. Original research reported in proceedings and post-proceedings represents the core of LNNS. Volumes published in LNNS embrace all aspects and subfields of, as well as new challenges in, Networks and Systems. The series contains proceedings and edited volumes in systems and networks, spanning the areas of Cyber-Physical Systems, Autonomous Systems, Sensor Networks, Control Systems, Energy Systems, Automotive Systems, Biological Systems, Vehicular Networking and Connected Vehicles, Aerospace Systems, Automation, Manufacturing, Smart Grids, Nonlinear Systems, Power Systems, Robotics, Social Systems, Economic Systems and other. Of particular value to both the contributors and the readership are the short publication timeframe and the world-wide distribution and exposure which enable both a wide and rapid dissemination of research output. The series covers the theory, applications, and perspectives on the state of the art and future developments relevant to systems and networks, decision making, control, complex processes and related areas, as embedded in the fields of interdisciplinary and applied sciences, engineering, computer science, physics, economics, social, and life sciences, as well as the paradigms and methodologies behind them. Indexed by SCOPUS, INSPEC, WTI Frankfurt eG, zbMATH, SCImago. All books published in the series are submitted for consideration in Web of Science. For proposals from Asia please contact Aninda Bose ([email protected]).

Michael E. Auer · Wolfgang Pachatz · Tiia Rüütmann Editors

Learning in the Age of Digital and Green Transition Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL2022), Volume 1

Editors Michael E. Auer CTI Global Frankfurt, Germany

Wolfgang Pachatz Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research Vienna, Austria

Tiia Rüütmann Tallinn University of Technology Tallinn, Estonia

ISSN 2367-3370 ISSN 2367-3389 (electronic) Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ISBN 978-3-031-26875-5 ISBN 978-3-031-26876-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

ICL2022 was the 25th edition of the International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning and the 51st edition of the IGIP International Conference on Engineering Pedagogy. This interdisciplinary conference aims to focus on the exchange of relevant trends and research results as well as the presentation of practical experiences in Interactive Collaborative Learning and Engineering Pedagogy. ICL2022 has taken place in Vienna, Austria, from September 27 to 30, 2022, and was supported by TU Vienna and the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Vienna. This year’s theme of the conference was “Learning in the Age of Digital and Green Transition”. Again, outstanding scientists from around the world accepted the invitation:

Guest of Honor • Hans Juergen Hoyer, Secretary General of the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) and the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC)

Special Invited Guests • • • •

Jenna Carpenter, President, American Society of Engineering Education—ASEE David Guralnick, President, International E-Learning Association—IELA Dominik May, President, International Association of Online Engineering—IAOE Edmundo Tovar, President, IEEE Education Society

Keynotes Stephanie Farrell President, International Federation of Engineering Education Societies—IFEES Michael Fors Executive Leader, Corporate Division and Business Unit Development, Boeing Airplane Company Xavier Fouger Senior Director, Global Academia Programs, Dassault Systèmes Paul Gilbert CEO, Quanser, Canada Sabine Herlitschka CEO, Infineon Technologies Austria AG

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Tarmo Soomere Tallinn University of Technology, President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences Araceli Venegas-Gomez CEO of QURECA, European Industry Group on Skills and Education for Quantum Computing The following very interesting workshops have been held: The IEECP: A 180º Turnaround Towards Innovative STEAM Education Uriel Ruben Cukierman1 , Eduardo Vendrell Vidal2 1 Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Argentina; 2 Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain Augmented Reality in Business – Incorporating Innovative, Immersive Pedagogies to Engage 21st Century Learners Matt Glowatz, University College Dublin, Ireland Publish or Perish: Scientific Writing for a Top Journal Matthias Gottlieb, Matthias Utesch, TU Munich, Germany Peace Engineering (PENG) for a Sustainable Planet by 2030 Ramiro Jordan, University of New Mexico—ISTEC, USA OnLabEdu – Online Laboratories for School Education in Austria Christian Kreiter, Ingrid Krumphals, Thomas Klinger, Ruwan Perera, Thomas Steinmetz, FH Kaernten, Austria Hybrid Teaching and Learning in Mathematics and Physics: Technical Equipment, Use Cases, and Opportunities for the Future of Education Gerd Christian Krizek, FH Technikum Wien, Austria Implementing Scalable, Accessible, and Engaging Student Learning Experiences Peter Martin, Director of R&D, Quanser, Canada IAOE Special Topic Workshop: Overcoming Instructional Boundaries Through Online Laboratories in Engineering Education Dominik May, María Isabel Pozzo, Alexander A. Kist, Gustavo R. Alves, Igor M. Verner, Kristian Skytt, IAOE Vienna, Austria Programmatic Accreditation in the STEM Disciplines and the Assessment of Student Learning & Outcomes Michael Milligan, Executive Director, Chief Executive Officer, ABET, USA Workshop on Learning Objectives in Laboratories for Industry 4.0 Tobias R. Ortelt, Claudius Terkowsky, Konrad Boettcher, TU Dortmund University, Germany A Game-Based Approach to Teaching Calculus: Implications of the Research for STEM Courses Andre Thomas, Texas A&M University, Department of Visualization, USA

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The Future Engineering Classroom: Introducing New Types Of Learning, Executive Function Processes, and the Effective Use of Practical Strategies Genny Villa, Université de Montréal, Canada We would like to thank the organizers of the following Special Sessions: • Games in Engineering Education (GinEE) Chairs Andre Thomas, Department of Visualization, Texas A&M University, United States of America Matthias C. Utesch, Technical University of Munich, Germany • Entrepreneurship in Engineering Education 2020 (EiEE’20) Chairs Jürgen Jantschgi, Higher College for Engineering Wolfsberg, Austria Stefan Vorbach, Graz University of Technology Thomas Wala, FH Technikum Wien, Austria • DIGITALIZATION Trends in MASTER and DOCTORAL Research Chairs Doru Ursutiu, “Transilvania” University of Brasov, Romania Cornel Samoila, “Transilvania” University of Brasov, Romania • Technology Enhanced Learning Chairs Jyotsna Kumar Mandal, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, India, [email protected] Ranjan Dasgupta, National Institute of Technical Teachers Training & Research, Kolkata, India, [email protected] Saibal Sarkar, NIC, West Bengal, Kolkata, India • European Parameters of Engineering Pedagogy Chair Juraj Miština, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia • Advances in Machine and Technology Enhanced Learning Chairs Walid Hussein, The British University in Egypt, Egypt Samir El-Seoud, The British University in Egypt, Egypt Since its beginning, this conference is devoted to new approaches in learning with a focus to collaborative learning and engineering education. We are currently witnessing

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a significant transformation in the development of education. There are at least three essential and challenging elements of this transformation process that have to be tackled in education: • the impact of globalization and digitalization on all areas of human life, • the exponential acceleration of the developments in technology as well as of the global markets and the necessity of flexibility and agility in education, • the new generation of students, who are always online and don’t know live without Internet, • the increasing interdependence between the different sectors of education (secondary and post-secondary education, vocational education). Therefore, the following main themes have been discussed in detail: Collaborative Learning Digital Transition in Education Technology Enhanced Learning Advances in Machine and Technology Enhanced Learning Educational Virtual Environments Flipped Classrooms Games in Engineering Education New Learning Models and Applications Project Based Learning Engineering Pedagogy Education Entrepreneurship in Engineering Education Research in Engineering Pedagogy Teaching Best Practices Real World Experiences Academia-Industry Partnerships Trends in Master and Doctoral Research. As submission types have been accepted: • • • •

Full Paper, Short Paper Work in Progress, Poster Special Sessions Workshops, Tutorials.

All contributions were subject to a two-step double-blind review. The review process was very competitive. We had to review more than 500 submissions. A team of about 260 reviewers did this terrific job. Our special thanks go to all of them. Due to the time and conference schedule restrictions, we could finally accept only the best 141 submissions for presentation. The conference had more than 320 participants from 39 countries from all the continents.

Preface

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We thank Sebastian Schreiter for the technical editing of this proceedings. ICL2023 will be held in Madrid, Spain. Michael E. Auer ICL General Chair Tiia Rüütmann Wolfgang Pachatz ICL2021 Co-chairs

Committees

General Chair Michael E. Auer

CTI, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

ICL2022 Conference Chairs Wolfgang Pachatz Tiia Rüütmann

Ministry of Education, Science and Research, Austria Tallinn Technical University, Estonia

Honorary Advisors Sabine Seidler Sylvia Geyer Hans J. Hoyer Xavier Fougier Hanno Hortsch Manuel Castro Viacheslav Prikhodko

Rector, TU Vienna, Austria Rector, FH Technikum Vienna, Austria IFEES/GEDC General Secretary Dassaut Systems, France TU Dresden, Germany UNED, Spain Moscow Technical University, Russia

International Chairs Alaa Ashmawy Uriel Cukierman Samir A. El-Seoud David Guralnick Alexander Kist Deepak Waikar Xiao-Guang Yue

American University Dubai, Middle East UTN Buenos Aires Argentina, Latin America The British University in Egypt, Africa Kaleidoscope Learning New York, USA, North America University of Southern Queensland, Australia/Oceania EduEnergy, Singapore/Asia Wuhan, China

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Committees

Technical Program Chairs Axel Zafoschnig Sebastian Schreiter

IGIP, Austria IAOE, France

Workshop and Tutorial Chairs Barbara Kerr Gabriele Schachinger

Ottawa University, Canada Austria

Special Sessions Chair Matthias Utesch

TU Munich, Germany

Publication Chair Sebastian Schreiter

IAOE, France

Award Chair Andreas Pester

The British University in Egypt

Senior Program Committee Members Eleonore Lickl Andreas Pester Tatiana Polyakova Herwig Rehatschek Cornel Samoila Thrasovolous Tssiatsos Doru Ursutiu Axel Zafoschnig

IGIP Vienna, Austria The British University in Egypt Moscow State Technical University, Russia Medical University Graz, Austria Romania Aristotle University Thessaloniki, Greece University of Brasov, Romania IGIP, Austria

Committees

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Program Committee Members Pavel Andres Nael Barakat Santi Caballé Uriel Cukierman Christian Guetl Hants Kipper Despo Ktoridou Jürgen Mottok Stavros Nikou Stamatios Papadakis Rauno Pirinen Teresa Restivo Demetrios Sampson Istvan Simonics Ivana Simonova Alexander Soloviev Matthias Utesch James Wolfer

Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic University of Texas at Tyler, TX, USA Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain Universidad Tecnologica Nacional, Buenos Aires, Argentina Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria TalTech, Tallinn, Estonia University of Nicosia, Cyprus OTH Regensburg, Germany University of Strathclyde, UK University of Crete, Greece Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Espoo, Finland University of Porto, Portugal University of Piraeus, Greece Óbuda University, Hungary University of Ostrava, Czech Republic MADI, Moscow, Russia TU Munich, Germany Indiana University South Bend, IN, USA

Local Organizing Committee Gabriele Schachinger Gerald Kalteis Rudolf Razka Karl Heinz Zolda Thomas Wala

Federal Ministry of Defence, Austria Higher Technical College TGM, Austria Higher Technical College, Mödling, Austria Mas, Higher Technical College Mödling, Austria University of Applied Science Technikum Wien, Austria

Contents

Collaborative Learning Collaborative Learning Supported by a Brownfield Remediation Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norbert Ramaseder, Andreas Probst, Markus Lutz, Thomas Hribernig, and Maximilian Lackner Interactive Collaborative Learning with Explainable Artificial Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oksana Arnold, Sebastian Golchert, Michel Rennert, and Klaus P. Jantke Digital Global Classroom, a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Approach: An Innovative Pedagogical Strategy for Sustainable Competency Development and Dissemination of SDGs in Engineering Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jorge Membrillo-Hernández, William Javier Cuervo-Bejarano, and Patricia Vázquez-Villegas Digital Communication Tools in Private and Professional Environments . . . . . . Stephan Keller, Johanna Pirker, and Erin List

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Blended Assessment in Higher Education Collaborative Case Study Work – A Qualitative Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anne Jantos and Lisa-Marie Langesee

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Learning Units and Micro-contents in the Reinterpreted Online Teaching Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . András Benedek

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Learning from Agile Methods: Using a Kanban Board for Classroom Orchestration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sven Strickroth, Melanie Kreidenweis, and Zora Wurm

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Co-creation, Co-learning and Co-teaching Are Key – Developing Intercultural, Collaborative, and Digital Competences Through Virtual Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexander Knoth, Dagmar Willems, Eugen Schulz, and Katharina Engel

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STEM via Co-teaching. e-me Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aikaterini Goltsiou, Xanthi Kokkinou, Vasiliki Karapetsa, and Chryssa Sofianopoulou

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Collaborative Augmented Reality Tools for Behavioral Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ana Domínguez, Álvaro Cabrero, Bruno Simões, Giuseppe Chiazzese, Mariella Farella, Marco Arrigo, Luciano Seta, Antonella Chifari, Crispino Tosto, Sui Lin Goei, Eleni Mangina, and Stefano Masneri

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Perception of Collaborative Student-Led Tutorials with Laboratory Experiments in e-Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Konrad Boettcher and Sabrina Grünendahl Self-directed and Collaborative Learning in an Advanced Training Context: Conception and Implementation of an Innovative Online Teacher Qualification Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mariane Liebold, Michael Pluder, Nadine Schaarschmidt, Lisette Hofmann, Josefin Müller, Lydia Stark, Nicole Filz, Sohrab Hejazi, and Diana Schmidt

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Virtual Assistants (Chatbots) as Help to Teachers in Collaborative Learning Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bertrand David, René Chalon, and Xiaoheng Zhang

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An International Digital Learning Experience: The “Reinserta” Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ericka Uribe-Bravo and Sandra Lizzeth Hernández-Zelaya

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Application of Component Organized Learning Method for DIGSCM 4.0 Hybrid Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eduard Shevtshenko, Rene Maas, Tatjana Karaulova, Anna Truver, Anna Nikolajeva, Ritvars Revals, Janek Popell, Iveta Dembovska, Mindaugas Samuolaitis, and Asta Raupeliene A Scaffolding Strategy to Organize Collaborative Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patrícia Fernanda da Silva and Liane Margarida Rockenbach Tarouco Effect on the Competencies Development and Collaborative Learning During the COVID-19 Lock Down from a Student Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. E. Martínez-Cantón, M. A. Tienda-Vazquez, and C. J. Diliegros-Godines

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Understanding Collaboration in Virtual Labs: A Learning Analytics Framework Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hanna Birkeland, Mohammad Khalil, and Barbara Wasson

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Digital Transition in Education Augmented Reality in Engineering Education – A Comparison of Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reinhard Bernsteiner, Andreas Probst, Wolfgang Pachatz, Christian Ploder, and Thomas Dilger Digital Twins and Sustainability in Vocational Education and Training: The Case of Structural Environment and Architectural Design in Vocational High Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nikol Vrysouli, Dimitrios Kotsifakos, and Christos Douligeris Hands-On Firefighting Training Using a Remote-Controlled Extinguishing Laboratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Klinger, Jutta Isopp, Christian Kreiter, Hermann Oberwalder, Michèle Posch, Werner Schwab, and Klaus Tschabuschnig Formal Assessment at COVID19 Time via Laboratory Remoting: Solutions and Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marco Ronchetti Multiplatform Embedded Systems Extension Board - MARTA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C. Madritsch, L. Hummer, and W. Werth Challenges of Hybrid Flexible (HyFlex) Learning on the Example of a University of Applied Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kati Nõuakas, Britt Petjärv, Oksana Labanova, Vitali Retšnoi, and Anne Uukkivi Mentoring Opportunities for Students with Special Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tamás Kersánszki, Ildiko Holik, and Dániel Sanda Conception of a Machine Learning Driven Adaptive Learning Environment Using Three-Model Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sam Toorchi Roodsari, Sandra Schulz, Cornelia Schade, Antonia Stagge, and Björn Adelberg Education 4.0 in the New Normal – Higher Education Goes Agile with E-Portfolio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monica Ionit, a˘ Ciolacu, Tamara Rachbauer, and Christina Hansen

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An Analysis of Barriers and Facilitators for the Development of Digital Competencies of Engineering Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claudia Galarce-Miranda, Diego Gormaz-Lobos, Steffen Kersten, and Thomas Köhler The Impact of Virtual Learning on Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programmes: A Sri Lankan Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Neelakshi Chandrasena Premawardhena A Cloud Computing Service Framework for Guided Life Long Learning . . . . . Ranjan Dasgupta The Design and Implementation of the Cloud-Based System of Open Science for Teachers’ Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maiia Marienko and Mariya Shyshkina Education for Sustainability: Calculation of the Digital Carbon Footprint . . . . . Mariajulia Martínez-Acosta, Patricia Vázquez-Villegas, Patricia Caratozzolo, Vianney Lara-Prieto, Rebeca García-García, and Jorge Membrillo-Hernández Assessing Students’ Motivation in a University Course on Digital Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexandra Posekany, David Haselberger, and Fares Kayali Digital Transformation of Teaching and Perception at TU Graz from the Students’ Perspective: Developments from the Last 17 Years . . . . . . . . Martin Ebner, Bettina Mair, Christoph De Marinis, Hannes Müller, Walther Nagler, Sandra Schön, and Stefan Thurner

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Towards Virtualizing Structural Engineering Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Reichmann, Joerg Stoerzel, and Andreas Daniel Hartl

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Enhancing Media Literacy in Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yvonne Sedelmaier, Ercole Erculei, and Dieter Landes

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Use of Instant Messaging to Improve Communication Between Teachers and Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sebastian Gomez-Jaramillo and Julian Moreno-Cadavid

400

Machine Learning Based Emotion Recognition in a Digital Learning Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Natalja Ivleva, Avar Pentel, Olga Dunajeva, and Valeria Juštšenko

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Contents

Pocket Labs as a STEM Learning Tool and for Engineering Motivation . . . . . . Alberto Cardoso, Paulo Moura Oliveira, and João Sá

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Remote Virtual Laboratory Innovation on MIAP Engineering Teaching Model for Electrical Measurement Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N. Chumchuen and S. Akatimagool

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Teachers’ Readiness for Emergency Remote Teaching and Its Relation to Subject Area During the COVID-19 Pandemic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evija Mirke

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Exploring Engineering Students’ Perceptions About the Use of ICTs and Educational Technologies in VET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claudia Galarce-Miranda, Diego Gormaz-Lobos, and Thomas Köhler

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Educators and Digital Fit? A Diversity Study Based on the Person-Environment Fit Model in Times of Increasing Digitalization in Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Birgit Albaner and Barbara Sabitzer

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Work-in-Progress: Managing the Different Levels of Abstraction for University Courses in STEM Disciplines Using Interactive Scripts . . . . . . . . Peter Kersten and Katrin Temmen

460

Practical Aspects of Using 3D Technology to Disseminate Cultural Heritage Among Visually Impaired People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jerzy Montusiewicz, Marcin Barszcz, and Sylwester Korga

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Adapting Experiential E-learning in Engineering Education with Industry 4.0 Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Moein Mehrtash

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The Gaps and Strategies for Sustainable Digital Transition in Education . . . . . . Tatiana Vadimovna Vakhitova, Alfred Oti, Vasiliki Kioupi, and George Giannopoulos

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Technology Enhanced Learning Reshaping Teaching-Learning Process During COVID – 19 Pandemic . . . . . . . Rita Karmakar and Sukanta Kumar Naskar

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Automatic Short Answer Grading Using Universal Sentence Encoder . . . . . . . . Chandralika Chakraborty, Rohan Sethi, Vidushi Chauhan, Bhairab Sarma, and Udit Kumar Chakraborty

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Contents

What Determines Student Satisfaction in an eLearning Environment? An Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mihai Caramihai and Irina Severin

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Lego Technology as a Means of Enhancing the Learning Activities of Junior High School Students in the Condtions of the New Ukrainian School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nadiia Pasieka, Yulia Romanyshyn, Svitlana Chupakhina, Nataliia Matveieva, Nataliia Zakharasevych, and Mykola Pasieka

530

Enriching Teacher Training for Industry 4.0 Through Interaction with a High School Engineering Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Igor Verner, Huberth Perez, Dan Cuperman, Alex Polishuk, Moshe Greenholts, and Uzi Rosen Competency-Based Approach and Learning Plans in Moodle. A Case of International Engineering Educator Certification Program (IEECP) in Latin America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Juan María Palmieri

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Work in Progress: Technology Enhanced Learning – A View from “The Other Side” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ana M. B. Pavani and Guilherme P. Temporão

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The Internet of Digital Twins: Advances in Hyperscaling Virtual Labs with Hypervisor- and Container-Based Virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Dietz

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Perception Towards “Zoom” Live Lectures by Master’s Students of Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ziyad Elbanna and Manuel Mazzara

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Advances in Machine and Technology Enhanced Learning Studying the Spread of COVID-19 and Its Impact on E-learning: From a Deep Learning Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hosam F. El-Sofany and M. Samir Abou El-Seoud

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A Virtual Interactive Environment for Arts and Design Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . Engy Samir El-Shaer and Gerard T. McKee

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Agent Based Adaptive Interfaces for Extraversion and Introversion . . . . . . . . . . Dina A. Zekry and Gerard T. McKee

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From Explaining to Engaging: A Seventy-Thirty Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Toka Hassan and Gerard T. McKee

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A Comprehensive Review on Deep Learning-Based Generative Linguistic Steganography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Israa Lotfy Badawy, Khaled Nagaty, and Abeer Hamdy

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Mind Waves Time Series Analysis of Students’ Focusing and Relaxing Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mostafa A. Salama and M. Samir Abou El-Seoud

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Educational Virtual Environments Work-In-Progress: Development of a Virtual and Interactive Microgrids Learning Environment for Microgrids Sustainability – The Case of East Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul Bogere, Henrik Bode, and Katrin Temmen Experience with an Interdisciplinary Approach to Removing Barriers Related to IT Personalized Support for Teachers in the Creation and Transmission of Educational Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stefan Svetsky, Oliver Moravcik, Dariusz Mikulowski, Peter Galambos, and Martin Kotyrba Recent Developments on Apps Targeting Reading Difficulties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ana Sucena, Cátia Marques, João Falcão-Carneiro, Paulo Abreu, and Maria Teresa Restivo Analyzing the Impact of a Gamification Approach on Primary Students’ Motivation and Learning in Science Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stamatios Papadakis, Alkinoos-Ioannis Zourmpakis, and Michail Kalogiannakis Ensuring the Quality of Academic Computer Science Education Despite the Corona Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harald Wahl and Alexander Mense Teaching the Simple Network Management Protocol Using the Packet Tracer Anywhere Network Simulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ioannis Sarlis, Dimitrios Magetos, Dimitrios Kotsifakos, and Christos Douligeris

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Electromagnetic Waves and Their Quantum Nature. Starting from “Scratch” … . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nikolaos Mitrakas, Charilaos Tsihouridis, Marianthi Batsila, and Dennis Vavougios Automated Building of an Environment for Secure Software Development in Web Technologies Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Milen Petrov, Alexander Zarkov, and Adelina Aleksieva-Petrova Data Merging for Learning Analytics in Learning Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adelina Aleksieva-Petrova and Milen Petrov Fostering Awareness About Academic Success for First-Generation Students Through a Digital Serious Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Catherine Pons, Naima Marengo, Isabelle Belhaj, Christophe Romano, and Jean-Yves Plantec

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Analysis of the Learning Experience in a Chemical AR Application Using Process Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jessica Lizeth Domínguez Alfaro and Peter Van Puyvelde

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Teaching and Supporting Higher Education Students Affected by War, Conflict, or Displacement: Changes to the ELT Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hanna Korniush

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Poster: EduGraph: Dashboard for Personalised Feedback in Massive Open Online Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fredrik Haarde and Mohammad Khalil

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Prepare to Implement E-Learning Strategies and Shift into Resilience E-Learning Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fathia Lahwa, Tagreed Alsulimani, and Mohamed Amaimin

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Flipped Classrooms Flipping the Microwave Engineering Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Abdallah Al-Zoubi

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Real-Time Sensory Adaptive Learning for Engineering Students . . . . . . . . . . . . Roberto J. Mora-Salinas, Daniel Perez-Rojas, and Julio S. De La Trinidad-Rendon

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Implementation and Experiences of a Flipped Lecture Hall - A Fully Online Introductory Programming Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexander Steinmaurer and Christian Gütl

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Measuring Learners’ Stances to a Socratic Collaborative Flipped Teaching Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George S. Ypsilandis

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Poster: Language Education for Engineering Students – A Multi-dimensional Teaching Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nathalie Kirchmeyer and Kristina Knauff

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Games in Engineering Education A Serious Game as an Educational Tool to Teach Physics to High Functioning Autism Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antonios Karavasilis, Charilaos Tsihouridis, Marianthi Batsila, and Dennis Vavougios Developing Gamification Strategies for International, Interdisciplinary, Team-Based Online Courses in Engineering Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Kessing and Manuel Löwer A Serious Game for Learning Cell Biology Using Pedagogical Engineering Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lynda Ouchaouka, Zineb Laouina, Soumia Yamoul, Mohamed Moussetad, Mohammed Talbi, Soumia Mordane, and Mohamed Radid

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DC motor Analysis Based on Improvement of PID Coefficients Using PSO Algorithm for Educational Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enes Kumru and Necibe Fusun Oyman Serteller

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Non-game Incentives in Gamified Programming Education: More Marks or Prizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oscar Karnalim, Simon, and William Chivers

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A Game-Based Learning Project - Calculating Limit of Sequences with the Didactic Game LimStorm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Szilvia Szilágyi, Attila Körei, and Zsuzsanna Török

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Gamification Mobile Applications: A Literature Review of Empirical Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Liping Yang and Matthias Gottlieb

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Motivators Matter When Gamifying Learning Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christo Dichev, Darina Dicheva, and Rita Ismailova

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Towards the Implementation of a Digital Escape Room in a Higher Education (Java) Programming Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leon Freudenthaler and Michael Strommer Improvement and Evaluation of Serious Game “Friend Me” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Georgina Skraparli, Marios Akritidis, Lampros Karavidas, and Thrasyvoulos Tsiatsos Work-in-Progress: The Social Networks Users’ Behavior Change Using Gamified Education and Their Personality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mohammad Hajarian, Paloma Díaz, and Ignacio Aedo Addressing Online-Learning Challenges Through Smartphone-Based Gamified Learning Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sathya Prasad, Rahul Bhaumik, Suresh Jamadagni, and Madhukar Narasimha

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Entrepreneurship in Engineering Education Prototyping with Blockchain: A Case Study for Teaching Blockchain Application Development at University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005 Michael Froehlich, Jose Vega, Amelie Pahl, Sergej Lotz, Florian Alt, Albrecht Schmidt, and Isabell Welpe How to Manage Any Transition: History as a Teacher of Leadership Principles, and as a Booster to Student Engineers’ Careers, Education and Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018 Justinus Pieper Digital Learning for Enhancing Entrepreneurial Skills of Future Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1030 Emilia Pecheanu, Adina Cocu, Ioan Susnea, Luminita Dumitriu, and Adrian Istrate Entrepreneurship for Engineers Certifications at Higher Colleges for Engineering in Austria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038 Jürgen Jantschgi and Wolfgang Pachatz Promotion of Social Entrepreneurship Among Higher Educational Institutions in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050 Tuti Sandhya, Rohit Kandakatla, and Gogula Santhosh Reddy The Role of Student Teams in Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066 Stefan Vorbach

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Identification and Characterization of Entrepreneurship Related Touchpoints in Student Customer Journeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077 Jürgen Neubauer, Martin Glinik, and Mario Fallast Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087

Collaborative Learning

Collaborative Learning Supported by a Brownfield Remediation Case Study Norbert Ramaseder1 , Andreas Probst1(B) , Markus Lutz2 , Thomas Hribernig2 , and Maximilian Lackner2 1 HTL Linz LITEC, Paul-Hahn-Str.4, 4020 Linz, Austria

[email protected] 2 University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien, Hoechstädtplatz 6, 1200 Vienna, Austria

Abstract. Industrial activity of the past has created several contaminated brownfields, which, particularly in remote areas, are difficult to remedy from an economic point of view. In this project, a novel approach for in-situ removal of mineral hydrocarbons from soil was investigated. The underlying concept was to flush contaminated soil with emulsions of plant oil in water, to suck off the contaminantladen emulsion from the ground water level and to separate oil and water using oil-binding non-wovens. The process development was carried out in a research project, where students from a university of applied sciences and from a technical college were involved. Based on the specific case of brownfield remediation, a collaborative learning experience for the students was created. Environmental protection and safeguarding is a topic of high interest to students, and there was a high motivation to obtain results. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, most collaboration was handled remotely via virtual teams. The chosen brownfield for this case study was a former petroleum refinery site in Lower Austria, were up to 40 g/kg of mineral hydrocarbons were found in the soil in the non-saturated zone. Mineral hydrocarbons show good solubility in plant oils. Emulsions of 5–10% of rapeseed oil in water were prepared and chosen, to have better wettability of the ground materials and lower viscosity. The goal was to develop a process that can extract 80–90% of mineral hydrocarbons in the soil, and which leaves only a minor fraction of the plant oil in the soil. When the trials, which were carried out in the lab and in the field, showed that the permeability of soil is very low, it was decided to develop a prototype for on-site soil washing. The soil of the chosen brownfield is partly made from gravel and sand, where an in-situ flushing process is possible. However, there is also clay, and that material hardly lets water or emulsion penetrate. For the on-site washing process, a laboratory-scale prototype was developed. It was built by the Linzer Technikum (LITEC) and tested with different soils at the university of applied sciences. The prototype could be built by LITEC, with an extraction vessel made of steel and a mixer. Trials were done to determine the degree of extraction of mineral oil and the fraction of plant oil that is not recaptured. 500 g of soil were mixed intensely with 500 g of solvent (water and emulsions). Table 1 presents the results for sand and clay. The process of washing out mineral hydrocarbon contamination from soil was found to show a good potential. The ground material should be sieved to remove © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 3–12, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_1

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N. Ramaseder et al. coarse material (>10 mm), and the finer fraction can be subjected to the washing of plant oil in water, where the plant oil fraction can be between 5 and 50%, depending on degree of contamination. To reduce the amount of non-recaptured plant oil, a second and third washing cycle with a lower oil fraction, or with pure water, can be applied. Keywords: Collaborative learning · In-situ brownfield remediation · Case study · Green transition

1 Introduction In the academic year 2020/21, students of the Linz Technikum had the opportunity to cooperate with the UAS Technikum Wien during a research project. The Linzer Technikum (LITEC) is a Higher Technical Vocational Education in Austria so called HTL. In total there are 75 HTL in Austria [1] with about 60,000 students [2]. The Higher Technical Vocational schools in Austria consider it a central goal to teach entrepreneurial, innovative thinking and acting based on sound business and legal skills. In doing so, it imparts high-quality technical and methodological competence for further studies and the in-depth general and conceptual knowledge required for independent continuing education, as well as specialized knowledge and skills needed to practice a profession. In particular, it serves the acquisition of higher general and specialized education that qualifies students to pursue a higher profession in the technical field in the industrial or commercial economy and leads to university/college entrance qualification. The education at LITEC focuses on the fundamentals. Due to the high value placed on the fundamentals, graduates are given the opportunity to find their way in a short time in a wide variety of specialist areas and fields of activity in different companies and businesses.

2 Purpose and Goal In the joint research project, the technical solution of extracting pollutants from contaminated soil was research question 1. The research question investigated the extent to which the HTL students can work together with the researchers to find solutions and overcome problems that arise in a research environment. This was complicated by the fact that the collaboration took place in the middle of the Corona pandemic, so face-to-face meetings were not possible. In addition, research question 2 was to investigate what the literature suggests are the key factors for successful collaboration between academic institutions. The research project should investigate whether these key factors apply to the cooperation between the HTL Linz LITEC and the UAS Technikum Wien and what influence this had. A clear goal on the part of the Austrian HTL is to expand and intensify the cooperation with the AUS and technical universities.

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3 Research Project Cooperation and Collaboration In the literature [3–5] on relationships between organizations, three types of relationship processes are distinguished: cooperation, coordination and collaboration. According to Hord [4], cooperation is a simple verbal agreement between organizations, a kind of a joint action to make their independent programs more successful, this is exactly the case in the cooperation between the Linz Technikum and the UAS Technikum Wien. Each of the two organizations remain independent and in agreement [5]. Coordination involves a low degree of joint planning and use of shared resources [5]. Regarding collaboration, Murray-Close and Monsey [5] define collaboration in their meta-analysis of the research literature as “…a mutually beneficial and clearly defined relationship entered into by two or more organizations to achieve common goals”. According to Czajkowski [6], the key factors for successful collaboration are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Trust and partner compatibility Common and unique purpose Shared governance and joint decision making Clear understanding of roles and responsibilities Open and frequent communication Adequate financial and human resources

For the project under consideration, it can be concluded that these 6 factors have been implemented very well. 1. The project partners know each other very well and both come from technical institutions 2. Common and unique purpose was given at the beginning of the project 3. The fact that the contact person from UAS is the Program Director Industrial Engineering & Business and at the Linzer Technikum the Headmaster, the point was implemented very well 4. Roles and responsibilities were clarified at the beginning of the project 5. Open and frequent communication was given with regular coordination of the whole team as well as on the side of the professors 6. 11 students and 2 supervising professors were assigned by LITEC, so that the personnel components could be more than fulfilled. The financial aspects were covered by the framework of a diploma thesis of the LITEC students

4 Research Project – Environmental Aspects In Austria, and in any other country, former industrial activity has led to many contaminated sites, were inadvertent use and spills of chemicals have caused long-lasting and detrimental concentrations of toxic compounds. These substances pose significant hazards, not only to humans, through different exposure routes. Mineral hydrocarbons are a

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particularly frequently encountered type of soil contamination. Human activity had led to widespread soil contamination. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and mineral or petroleum hydrocarbons (MH, PH) can reach the ground through immission, from remote sources, or by e.g. industrial activity such as petroleum refining, tar production, coke production, cleaning and washing operations in the direct vicinity through spills. Petroleum hydrocarbons can be considered amongst the most widespread contaminants in the modern environment [7]. PHA contamination in soil of industrial regions was measured to be between 7 and over 16,500 mg/kg, and in non-industrial regions (agriculture and forests) between 0.2 and 2 mg/kg [8]. Soil can be classified as “contaminated” above 0.2 mg/kg of PHA. The extent of the problem is huge; In Europe alone, local soil contamination in 2011 was estimated at 2.5 million potentially contaminated sites in the EEA-39 (EEA = European Economic Area). About one third of an estimated total of 342 000 contaminated sites in the EEA-39 have already been identified and about 15% of them have been remediated. Contaminated soil continues to be commonly managed using “traditional” techniques, e.g. excavation and off-site disposal, which accounts for about one third of management practices. In-situ and ex-situ remediation techniques for contaminated soil are applied more or less equally [9]. Figure 1 compares 11 European countries in their annual expenditures for contaminated sites management.

Fig. 1. Annual national expenditures for the management of contaminated sites. GDP = gross domestic product. Source: [9]

As it can be inferred from Fig. 1, the average spending is in the order of 0.5% of GDP.

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5 Research Project – Technical Aspects In this project, a multi-stage “cascaded” approach was developed to treat aged hydrocarbons in contaminated soil. The concept is shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. The project “Cleanup-Cascade” has 2 steps. See text for details.

The project is based on the idea of sequential pollutant extraction from the soil. The first stage is “pollutant removal”, as described in this paper. To this end, plant oil in water emulsions are introduced both into the saturated and unsaturated zone. Upon their passage, they absorb mineral hydrocarbons from the ground. The mixture is then pumped from the groundwater level to the surface. This removal step is followed by oil/water separation on the surface, where non-wovens were tested. For the experimental setup, see [10] and [11]. The second stage in the project is an “enzymatic degradation”, where an enzyme suspension is added to the saturated and non-saturated zone, in order to cleave the remaining hydrocarbons. These enzymes are introduced in solution, and adsorbed onto non-wovens. That second stage is not part of this paper, but described elsewhere [12]. After stage 2, the native microorganisms should be able to degrade the broken-down, remaining hydrocarbons. Stage 2 hence makes the aged hydrocarbons “accessible” for natural attenuation/degradation. The site was cleared for vegetation on an area of approx. 500 m2 , and 5 wells were prepared for the experiments. The central well was used to continuously suck groundwater so that a “funnel” approx. 0.5 to 0.75 m deep was produced, in order to avoid any mobilized contaminants to leave the site. The well located most downstream was used as “security well”, to pump off mobilized contaminants in case anything went

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wrong in the experiments. The other 3 wells had openings in both the saturated and the unsaturated zone, so that emulsion could be supplied as desired. Prior to starting the trials, approval was obtained from the local authorities, and the state of the groundwater was monitored by a third party before and after the field trials.

6 Research Work of LITEC Students The object of the research is the cleaning of contaminated sites, and since this is to be carried out at the lowest possible cost, mechanical processes are also the subject of investigation in addition to chemical processes. This is exactly where the 11 students, including 3 female students at the HTL Linz LITEC, School of the Mechanical Engineering Department came into play. The first objective was to find a mechanical process that would allow the contaminated soil to be cleaned. The contaminated soil is mixed with relatively inexpensive rapeseed oil, which is then extracted to remove the residues from the soil. The students investigated various possibilities and methods to carry out the extraction. In addition to squeezing, the possibility of using a centrifuge was also investigated.

Fig. 3. Students’ sketches of the investigated procedures

Figure 3 shows some sketches of the investigated procedures. After some preliminary tests, the students were able to decide on 2 processes:

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• Pressing out the rapeseed oil by means of a hydraulic press • Stirring with subsequent filtration of the rapeseed oil. It was decided to carry out preliminary tests for both processes and then to build a test plant for the UAS Technikum Wien for the best variant. After several experiments and in coordination with the UAS Technikum Wien, the students were able to find out that the best method was stirring followed by filtration. The planning and construction of the filtration variant presented the students with great challenges. On the one hand, no meeting was possible even among the students, all project meetings had to be held by teams. Secondly, due to the pandemic, few parts and semi-finished products were available. Therefore, the students had to improvise a lot. For example, the cut-off lower part of an oxyacetylene gas cylinder was used as the stirring tank for the experimental unit. Here, the students were able to draw on the experience and know-how of their teachers in the practical classes at the Linzer Technikum, without whose support the construction of the pilot plant would not have been possible (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. The CAD model of the final construction (left) and the built pilot plant (right)

After the students had successfully completed the planning, the plant was completely manufactured, built, and commissioned at the Linzer Technikum.

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In parallel, experiments were conducted by the students in coordination with UAS Technikum Wien to determine the optimal parameters of the plant, such as stirring time and water temperature. The samples were then sent to UAS to carry out the appropriate experiments with them and to incorporate the findings into the construction of the plant.

Fig. 5. Presentation and handover of the pilot plant

Finally, with a lot of commitment from the LITEC students and the support of the teachers, a finished plant was presented and handed over to the UAS Technikum Wien, see Fig. 5.

7 Use of the Machine in Research Work The prototype could be built by LITEC, with an extraction vessel made of steel and a mixer. Trials were done to determine the degree of extraction of mineral oil and the fraction of plant oil that is not recaptured. 500 g of soil were mixed intensely with 500 g of solvent (water and emulsions). Table 1 presents the results for sand and clay.

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Table 1. Extraction experiments with sand (left) and clay (right). Parameter

Method

Unit

Value

Dry matter

EN 14346:2006

%

96.9

Hydrocarbons (C10-C40)

EN 14039:2004

mg/kg

1020

Sand, untreated

Sand, extracted with emulsion (50% rapeseed oil in water) Dry matter

EN 14346:2006

%

87.9

Hydrocarbons (C10-C40)

EN 14039:2004

mg/kg

468

Dry matter

EN 14346:2006

%

97.7

Hydrocarbons (C10-C40)

EN 14039:2004

mg/kg

12100

Clay, untreated

Clay, extracted with emulsion (50% rapeseed oil in water) Dry matter

EN 14346:2006

%

88.1

Hydrocarbons (C10-C40)

EN 14039:2004

mg/kg

2090

The experiments were repeated 3 times and the results averaged. The sand sample contained 1020 ppm of hydrocarbons prior to the flushing experiments. The trails were done at room temperature and ambient pressure. Agitation was performed for 30 min.

8 Summary and Outcome This project gave students from LITEC and FH Technikum Wien the opportunity to be part of a research project. Main aspects of why such a project was undertaken by the 2 institutions are as follows: • Education should be practical, with a connection to real-world examples • Joint work on a project by students of different education level allows everyone to contribute and to value the expertise of co-workers. • Sustainability is a very important aspect that needs to be incorporated into curricula even stronger; Brownfield remediation is such an area of sustainable practice. The process of washing out mineral hydrocarbon contamination from soil was found to show a good potential. The ground material should be sieved to remove coarse material (>10 mm), and the finer fraction can be subjected to the washing of plant oil in water, where the plant oil fraction can be between 5 and 50%, depending on degree of contamination. To reduce the amount of non-recaptured plant oil, a second and third washing cycle with a lower oil fraction, or with pure water, can be applied. For the students at LITEC and Technikum Wien, being part of an ongoing research project was a worthwhile experience, particularly because it was related to sustainability.

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References 1. Höhere Technische Lehranstalt: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B6here_Techni sche_Lehranstalt. Accessed: 5 Jun 2022 2. Pachatz, W., Zafoschnig, A.: Education standards and competence-oriented curricula – the austrian technical colleges take a new approach to excellence. Int. J. Eng. Ped. 1(3), 20 (2011). https://doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v1i3.1818 3. Mattessich, P.W., Monsey, B.R.: Collaboration—What Makes it Work: A Review of Research Literature on Factors Influencing Successful Collaboration. Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, St. Paul, Minn (1998) 4. Hord, S.M.: A synthesis of research on organizational collaboration. Educ. Leadersh. 43(5), 22–26 (1986). https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ334200 5. Mattessich, P.W., Murray-Close, M., Monsey, B.R.: Collaboration: What Makes it Work, 2nd edn. Fielsstone Alliance, Saint Paul, Minn (2008) 6. Czajkowski, J.M.: Success factors in higher education collaborations: A collaboration success measurement model. Dissertation, Capella University. https://search.proquest.com/openview/ 68fb9fee0d1feb6b751d1c78b1399a61/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y (2006) 7. Mansur, A.A., Taha, M., Shahsavari, E., Haleyur, N., Adetutu, E.M., Ball, A.S.: An effective soil slurry bioremediation protocol for the treatment of Libyan soil contaminated with crude oil tank bottom sludge. Int. Biodeterior. Biodegradation 115, 179–185 (2016) 8. Gou, Y., et al.: Enhanced degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aged subsurface soil using integrated persulfate oxidation and anoxic biodegradation. Chem. Eng. J. 394, 125040 (2020) 9. https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/progress-in-management-of-contam inated-sites-3/assessment 10. Lackner, M., Hribernig, T., Braunschmid, V., Hasinger, M.S., Müllern, K., Ribitsch, D.: Soils using plant oil extraction followed by enzymatic cleavage and microbial degradation, WiPP (work in progress poster). In: 38th International Symposium on Combustion, The Combustion Institute, Adelaide, Australia, 24–29 Jan 2021 11. Lackner, M., et al.: Vegetable oil extraction of hydrocarbons from soil and subsequent separation via non-woven fabrics. Recy & DepoTech. (2020) 12. Braunschmid, V., et al.: Enzymatic degradation of weathered petroleum hydrocarbons. Recy. & DepoTech. (2020)

Interactive Collaborative Learning with Explainable Artificial Intelligence Oksana Arnold1 , Sebastian Golchert1 , Michel Rennert1 , and Klaus P. Jantke2(B) 1

Erfurt University of Applied Sciences, Altonaer Str. 25, 99085 Erfurt, Germany [email protected] 2 ADICOM Software, Frauentorstr. 11, 99423 Weimar, Germany [email protected]

Abstract. In the summer term 2021, students of computer science have developed and implemented several variants of an Artificial Intelligence that is able to learn string patterns from examples. Every AI is able to answer questions about its behavior, thus, being Explainable AI (XAI). In the summer term 2022, such an XAI is deployed in higher education. Students are encouraged to collaboratively experiment with the XAI. The learning goal is to find out what the XAI is doing and why it is acting in the way observed. There is no need of a human teacher interference. Students learn collaboratively by interacting with the XAI and from chatting with the system about the way it is doing its job. In a sense, the XAI is a domain expert introducing students to its business and disseminating its topical knowledge when being asked to do so. The recent XAI deployment demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach. Keywords: Artificial intelligence · Explainable artificial intelligence XAI · Exploratory learning · Interactive collaborative learning · Pattern inference

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The Background – Explainability of AI

Because the present contribution puts emphasis on issues of education and on technology enhanced collaborative learning, in particular, but not on problems of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the authors keep this introductory section short. However, a few words on Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) are considered important to provide a background of the novelty within the authors’ approach, implementation, and experimental application. Artificial Intelligence projects are mushrooming and, hence, AI is prospering. This is accompanied by a very urgent request for explainability [1], because “many machine decisions are still poorly understood” [2]. As Arieta et al. put it, “the entire community stands in front of the barrier of explainability” ([3], p. 82). According to Wilson and Keil, sadly, “explanation remains one of the most underexplored topics in the cognitive sciences” (see [4], p. 137; see also [5]). The first handbook of cognitive sciences published 1996 in German contains a section about the term, but explanation is not explained therein (see [6], p. 161). c The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023  M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 13–24, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_2

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Explainability of Black Boxes

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is frequently confused with Machine Learning (ML) based on technologies such as artificial neural networks that mostly appear as black boxes by nature [7]. Wahlster bemoans the state of affair and advocates hybrid models to overcome the limitations of black boxes [8]. For the purpose of this contribution, the authors confine themselves to only a few words on the black box case and, afterwards, turn the focus to the ideas of explainability by design relevant to the present implementation and application. For understanding the behavior of a given black box, Lipton suggests that “a human should be able to take the input data together with the parameters of the model and in reasonable time step through every calculation required to produce a prediction” ([9], p. 13). Similarly ambitious is the suggestion the human, to understand an AI’s behavior, should look at word vectors with 300 or more numerical entries and, in case the behavior still remains somehow unclear, should investigate varying linear combinations of selected values ([10], p. 202). Others who do not believe in approaches such as the two referenced here suggest to pair off an incomprehensible black box with a twin built upon technologies of symbolic AI (see [11] based on [12–15]). Symbolic AI is considered the way out. 1.2

Explainability by Design

Explainability by design as discussed in [16] means an interdisciplinary process of designing intelligent systems that has the system’s intelligence in focus and gets explainability as a side-effect. The dynamics of intelligent behavior reflects the intelligence of members of the design team such as educators, domain experts, learning psychologists, AR, VR and IT specialists, game designers, and the like. They negotiate variants of system’s behavior in dependence on the history of human-system interaction and on varying context conditions. The design technology is digital storyboarding seen as the organization of experience [17]. This is an approach to dynamic plan generation adopted and adapted from [18] that may be seen from different perspectives as program synthesis [19] and as inductive learning [20]. Storyboarding of time travel exploratory games is exemplified in [21] and storyboarding of conceptually slightly more intriguing time travel prevention games occurs in [22,23]. In time travel educational games, one of the tasks of the system intelligence is to offer and to arrange time travel in such a way that every player is guided to success. The game play shall be affective and effective. The interdisciplinary team of designers determines what the AI is doing and why this is suggested. The storyboard as a whole is a hierarchically structured family of graphs [24]. The interaction that really takes place emerges from graph substitution at execution time, i.e., at the time of playing and learning/training. What is going on is represented in the storyboard. Why the one or the other variant is included in the storyboard is an issue negotiated by the designer team. If the reasons of design decisions are documented in the form of annotations to graphs in the storyboard, this contains all knowledge needed for explainability.

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The Application Domain – Learning of String Patterns

Subsequently, the authors’ approach and its effectiveness will be demonstrated in a particular application domain presented in a nutshell within this section. The domain in focus is learning of string patterns according to Angluin [25]. Learning patterns a` la Angluin has proven successful for applications such as synthesizing computer programs for tedious transformations of structures [26], for high reliability classification of transmembrane proteins [27], and for tasks of automated assessment in game-based learning [28]. The diversity of application areas demonstrates the generality of Angluin’s conceptualization and the power of her original algorithmic solution. At Erfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany, those master students of Applied Computer Science (in German: Angewandte Informatik) who specialize in the profile line of Intelligent and Networked Systems investigate in the module MAAI 2130 “Learning Systems”, among other topics, Dana Angluin’s approach and her ingenious results. The remaining part of this section is dedicated to an introduction with a few illustrations of the essentials. We assume any finite, non-empty alphabet A and denote, as usual, the set of strings over A by A∗ . The empty string is ε. The set of interest is A+ = A∗ \ {ε}. In a sense, string patterns are grammars able to generate strings of A+ . For this purpose, we need some flexibility. X denotes a set of variables. For readability, we assume X = {x1 , x2 , x3 , . . . }. In case this might cause confusions, one may go for another convention. Necessarily, we require A ∩ X = ∅. The set of all patterns is P = (A ∪ X)+ . Loosely speaking, patterns are strings of constants from A and variables from X. At least one symbol must occur, but it may happen that there are either only constants or only variables. By way of illustration, simple examples are p1 = aba, p2 = x1 bx1 , p3 = x1 bx2 , p4 = acx1 acx2 ac, p5 = x3 , and p6 = x4 x33 x1 x11 . Patterns like this generate formal languages by variable substitution. A substitution is a mapping σ that replaces variables by non-empty strings. More formally, σ : X → A+ . Every substitution σ may be generalized to map from P into A+ . For all constants a ∈ A, set σ(a) = a. The equation σ(zw) = σ(z)σ(w) for z ∈ A ∪ X and w ∈ (A ∪ X)+ defines the canonical extension σ : P → A+ . Given any p ∈ P , L(p) = {w | ∃ substitution σ such that w = σ(p)} is the formal language generated by p. More informally, L(p) contains all the strings that may be generated from p by variable substitution. They are instances of p. Notice that no instance in L(p) can be shorter than its pattern p. Having a closer look at the examples above, it is quite easy to see, amongst others, that it holds L(p1 ) = {aba}, L(p1 ) ⊂ L(p2 ) ⊂ L(p3 ), L(p5 ) = X + , and that L(p6 ) contains all strings of A+ that consist of at least 4 symbols. A pattern is something general that is hidden under the hood, so to speak. What occurs in practice are a pattern’s instances. When observing instances, it is an inductive learning problem to find their pattern. Angluin describes an algorithm able to learn every pattern from only finitely many of its instances.

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Learning Goals and Didactic Concepts

Conventionally, students learn about the pattern inference problem and study Angluin’s universal learning algorithm. A core subroutine that occurs in every learning step is checking for some pattern p ∈ P and for some string s ∈ A+ whether or not it holds s ∈ L(p). Theoreticians call this the word problem of pattern languages. Unfortunately, the word problem of pattern languages decisive to Angluin’s learning algorithm is of extreme computational complexity: it is NP-complete [29]. Therefore, Angluin’s algorithm works in principle, but is infeasible for big data. In response, Lange and Wiehagen have developed a remarkably more efficient learning algorithm [30] that is of polynomial time complexity [31]. 3.1

Learning Goals

For the purpose of an introductory case study (see Sect. 4), the second and the third author have developed a learning system implementing the algorithmic ideas of Lange and Wiehagen [30]. Furthermore, they have equipped this AI with the ability to answer questions about its behavior, thus, turning it into an XAI. Assume students familiar with Angluin’s learning algorithm and knowing about the crux of NP-completeness of the word problem for pattern languages. For the students getting access to our XAI, the following learning goals are set. – Students understand the Lange/Wiehagen algorithm, i.e., the XAI’s core. – Students understand the essential difference from Angluin’s algorithm. – Students understand why the Lange/Wiehagen algorithm succeeds. A more informal and, so to speak, social or societal goal is that – students develop appreciation for the explainability of AI. 3.2

Didactic Approach

The goals set above shall be achieved without any human teacher interference. Learners get the instruction to explore the XAI’s behavior and to talk with the XAI about what it is doing and why. Students are encouraged to engage in the endeavor collaboratively. Apparently, collaboration has a twofold meaning in this educational approach. Students shall collaborate both with other students and with the XAI. The XAI is not seen as a teacher. It might be more appropriate to consider the XAI a domain expert. When asked, the expert explains the actions performed. And when asking back, the expert provides reasons for the own learning behavior. At a first glance, the XAI shows a somehow surprising behavior and gives seemingly strange explanations. This bears the potential of awaking curiosity. Random learner-system interaction is unlikely to reveal the XAI’s secrets. Learners easily experience the necessity of a systematic exploration. Learners are lead to the question of how to interact more goal-driven and systematically. The insight in the need of systematic exploration is a methodological side-effect.

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Case Study of Collaborative Learning with XAI

The present contribution is aiming at an introduction of learning with and from an Explainable Artificial Intelligence. The authors’ intention is to discuss the peculiarities of this novel approach. This requires some experience and certain knowledge of a few details. This section is intended to provide what is needed. 4.1

Unsystematic Exploration

For simplicity, we assume the alphabet A = {a, b, c} and feed in any string, say s1 = abababababababab. The XAI returns the input as its output named p1 . Feeding in s2 = ababababababababab next, the XAI sticks with p1 as its second hypothesis p2 as shown in the background of the screenshot in Fig. 1 where the beginning of an explanation dialogue is on display.

Fig. 1. After feeding in two strings and asking the question “What did you do . . . ?”, the XAI returns an answer (in German) in the box with white background appr. saying “I had a look at your input, but I did not do anything”.

When asking next “Why did you do so . . . ?”, the XAI’s answer is (translated appr.): “Because your input is longer than my prior hypothesis, I had to check the word problem. But this is too much work.” If we were feeding in another string longer than the hypothesis, we would receive the same answers. This does not accomplish anything. Instead of stabbing around in the dark, it seems advisible to make a plan, preferably in collaboration with other learners.

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Systematic Exploration

We choose a target pattern p. Based on p, we are able to check hypotheses and to detect the moment when the XAI has achieved its learning goal. Test Data Generation. The target pattern should meet certain conditions. First, it should be small enough such that experimenters can always keep the overview and that collaborating learners have communication difficulties as little as possible. Second, the pattern should contain different variables to allow for the generation of a single instance in different ways. Third, it should contain the repetition of at least one variable to allow for context-sensitivity going beyond the limits of regular languages. For the purpose of this demonstration, we stick with the alphabet {a, b, c} and choose the sufficiently interesting pattern p = abx1 x2 abx1 x3 ab. One may generate instances s1 , s2 , s3 , s4 , ... of p. In other words, s1 , s2 , s3 , s4 , ... ∈ L(p). Table 1 contains the test data of a students’ experiment in this Summer term. Table 1. Test data for the learning target abx1 x2 abx1 x3 ab Abbr Target pattern instance Motivation for the choice of the test data s1

abababababababab

Just a string, not too long, not too short

s2

ababababababababab

An attempt to replicate the case of Sect. 4.1

s3

abababccabababab

Trying out an instance of the hypothesis’ length, a phenomenon not yet investigated

s4

ababababababab

Trying for the first time a shorter input

s5

abababababab

Once more a shorter input for comparison whether or not the system’s action is as before

s6

abbabbabbabbab

A longer instance to see whether or not the (re-)action is still the same

s7

ababababccab

Similar to the case of s3 , but shorter (length of s5 )

s8

ababababab

An instance as short as possible

s9

abccabccab

Approaching the target pattern by another instance as short as possible; still to weak information

s10

abccabcaab

A third shortest instance more specific than s9 bringing us closer to the target

Based on these test data, human learners may undertake the endeavor of experimenting with the XAI and chatting with the system about the What and the Why of its behavior. Because this publication is, according to the authors’ very best knowledge, the first one world-wide on learning with and from an XAI, they keep the focus narrow and confine themselves to the discussion of just one systematic inquiry. One may easily imagine more flexible scenarios of modifying data dynamically.

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Systematic Inquiry. The present subsection – the main part of Sect. 4 – demonstrates the test data at work, a session that took place in higher education in the first author’s 2022 Summer term module MAAI 2130 on Learning Systems moderated by the last author. After the first two steps reported in Sect. 4.1, the systematic exploration based on the generated test data proceeds with s3 . The prior hypothesis p2 , the current input s3 , and the new hypothesis p3 are on display in the background of Fig. 2. For the first time, the hypothesis contains variables. It is not difficult to see that p3 is able to generate both p2 and s3 .

Fig. 2. After feeding in s3 , the XAI is first asked what it did. Next, it is asked why and it returns an answer (in German) in the box with white background appr. saying “The input provided new information, so I have been able to learn a new pattern”.

When s4 and s5 are fed in subsequently, the hypothesis before is given up and the current input is adopted as a new hypothesis. The why question is always answered by the XAI in the same way appr. saying: “Your input is shorter than my prior hypothesis and, thus, all I have learned so far is no longer relevant.” This reoccurs later after processing the input s8 . When after s5 the string s6 is fed in next, the XAI sticks with its hypothesis. When being asked what it did, the XAI returns exactly the same answer as the one in Fig. 1. When being asked for the reason, as before, the XAI refers to the word problem and refuses to process the input. At this point of exploration, at the latest, especially when exploring the XAI’s behavior together with other learners, many learners discover the importance of comparing the length of the new input to the length of the current hypothesis.

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The length of s7 coincides with the length of p6 . The situation is similar to the earlier one when feeding in s3 and the XAI’s explanations are the same (see Fig. 2). When s9 and s10 are fed in, this situations reoccurs (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. The XAI’s learning process completed after processing input string s10 ; the XAI asked for what it did answers “Thanks, I have received your input and processed it”.

The other two cases are even simpler. If a new input string sn+1 is longer than the current hypothesis pn , the input is ignored. This applies to s2 and s6 . Vice versa, if the input string sn+1 is shorter than the current hypothesis pn , the hypothesis is abandoned and the input is adopted as the new hypothesis pn+1 . This applies to s3 , s4 , s5 , and s8 . The core of the Lange & Wiehagen algorithm may be represented like this, with the very first hypothesis p1 always being equal to the initial input string s1 . ⎧ : | pn | < | sn+1 | ⎨ pn : | pn | > | sn+1 | pn+1 = sn+1 (1) ⎩ some generalization of pn and sn+1 : | pn | = | sn+1 | Students who collaboratively explore the XAI and chat with the system about the what and the why of its behavior have good chances to arrive at essential insights and to express their findings more or less similar to Eq. (1). As documented by the screenshot in Fig. 3, throughout the students’ exploration of the XAI’s behavior, the system processing the test data of Table 1 has successfully learned the target pattern. What the students have been able to learn with and from the XAI is briefly reflected in the following Sect. 5.

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Toward an Evaluation

The first deployment of the authors’ XAI took place within the required elective course “Learning Systems” with 12 students enrolled in the Summer term 2022. 8 of the students participated in the experiment and filled a short questionnaire. With only these 8 subjects involved, it makes no sense to engage in statistics. The figures are not yet representative, but worth telling. The students have undertaken experiments with the XAI as described above. After the final experiment, they have been asked for their opinion concerning four questions briefly discussed subsequently. For response, their had been prepared a 5 point Likert scale for every question. The answers are processed anonymously. The first two questions have the learning process and the results of learning in focus. Question 1: Interacting with the XAI, how would you describe the difficulty of exploration and of communication? Question 2: After interacting with the XAI and learning about its behavior, how would yourself describe your understanding of the XAI’s work? (Table 2). Table 2. Learning with an XAI and its effectiveness Self-assessment

Question 1

Very easy/Excellent

1

Easy/Good

5

Fair

1

Difficult/Poor

1

Very difficult/Very poor 0

Question 2 0 6 2 0 0

Apparently, experiments with an XAI are not trivial as the students’ answers reflect. But it clearly works. The work of the XAI has been discussed in detail afterwards in the course. The discussion confirmed the subjects’ self-assessment. Question 3: How important is explainability of AI to the society? Question 4: How relevant is the topic to higher education, especially to computer science? (Table 3) Table 3. Importance of explainability in general and relevance to higher education Subjects’ opinion

Question 3

Question 4

Very important

3

Important

4

2 5

Moderately important

1

1

Slightly important

0

0

Unimportant

0

0

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Conclusions and Outlook

In Sect. 5, the results on display in the first table demonstrate that learning with and from an XAI by means of exploration, collaborative experimentation, and interrogation does really work. The result on display in the second table explicates that learning with and from an XAI bears the potential of impact on the learners’ opinions about the relevance of explainability. The answers to the fourth question carry a message to educators in the area of Computer Science. It is the present authors’ main intention – by means of this publication – to introduce the idea of learning with and from Explainable Artificial Intelligence and to demonstrate how to do so. Hopefully, this contribution is becoming a launch pad, so to speak, for a movement toward XAI in education. By nature, learning with and from an XAI is interactive and exploratory. Doing it collaboratively has the potential of making it an affective experience. The present contribution has side-effects concerning the concept of XAI. First, the principle of explainability by design is introduced and illustrated. Second, it becomes clear that explainability of an AI system cannot be reduced to one-shot questions and answers. In the condition of complicated applications, an explanation becomes a human-system dialogue. Last but not least, this contributes to our understanding of explanation as an interactive process of collaboration ([32], p. 262) – be it human-human or humancomputer collaboration – substantially different from astonishing suggestions (see Sect. 1.1) by Lipton ([9], p. 13), by Lane et al. ([10], p. 202), and the like. Currently, there are several students’ projects of design, development, and implementation of XAIs for purposes of learning ongoing. Definitely, learning with and from an XAI is going to be established as a new educational paradigm. One may expect further functionalities and the ability of deeper communication. By way of illustration, imagine an XAI similar to the one you have seen in Sect. 4 implementing the Lange & Wiehagen algorithm and being able to discuss issues of NP-completeness. It might offer a human dialogue partner to explain more about the crucial background of NP-completeness. Furthermore, the XAI might be able to explain the concept of a least general generalization. Based on a domain ontology, an XAI may turn into a partner of in-depth studies. However promising, those are features seen only in the authors’ cristal ball. Acknowledgement. The German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has supported this work by an award for the authors’ concept of “Hypothesizing Explainable AI”. The authors gratefully acknowledge the inspiring and productive exchange of ideas with Leonhard Bollmann, Hannes Dr¨ ose, Justin Kraft, Pascal Pfl¨ ugner, Johannes Veith, Markus Weißflog, and Stefan Woyde. They all contributed to the XAI endeavor within the framework of our Learning Systems module in 2021. They all implemented their own XAI more or less similar to the one demonstrated in the present paper. In this way, they contributed abundant evidence for the possibility to provide Explainable AI to learn with and to learn from.

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Digital Global Classroom, a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Approach: An Innovative Pedagogical Strategy for Sustainable Competency Development and Dissemination of SDGs in Engineering Higher Education Jorge Membrillo-Hernández1(B) , William Javier Cuervo-Bejarano2 and Patricia Vázquez-Villegas1

,

1 Institute for the Future Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City, Mexico

[email protected] 2 Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios – UNIMINUTO, Zipaquira, Colombia

Abstract. One of the most popular strategies to develop skills such as collaborative work, critical thinking, and problem-solving is the application of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), in which Professors from at least two universities from different countries and cultures develop a period known as “Global Classroom” (GC) in which, through the Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) approach, they solve a real challenge, using digital communication tools. This study held four-week global courses between groups from the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico and groups from the Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios in Colombia. The challenges were related to two fundamental issues in sustainability: 1) Management of natural resources and climate change and 2) Biomimetics. Students were able to solve the challenges, develop skills to communicate effectively through online interaction with people from different cultures and disciplines, and use technological tools that facilitate distance learning in multicultural virtual environments. Current teaching models involve active and experiential learning, developing soft and hard skills. The GC experience is a tool that allowed continuity in the preparation of students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of GC is available to those interested as a valuable tool to provide students with the opportunity to live sustainable international experiences and promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Keywords: Digital competencies badge · Educational innovation · Higher education · Socially-oriented education · STEM

1 Introduction Currently, the concept of sustainability in its three dimensions (social, economic, and environmental) has been established in the discussion of society. From being a concept, it © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 25–35, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_3

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has become a public policy of extreme urgency in its application to a lifelong competence [1]. Sustainability transcends disciplines and has become a graduation skill for any undergraduate degree, whether in arts, social sciences, natural sciences, or engineering. Many Higher Education (HE) programs have not systematically established sustainability as competence. There have been isolated efforts by universities that have created programs such as Environmental Engineering, Renewable Energy Engineering, Sustainable Cities Engineering, Circular Economy, and Sustainable Development Engineering. There is no doubt that sustainable skills are a must in educational programs. More and more universities are developing programs that consider the formation of sustainable skills. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), closer to educational programs, have tried to make sustainability transcend all programs, regardless of the career, through sustainability skills as a graduation requirement. In this research, we wanted to examine if similar work is being done in other universities or if we could transfer the competence to other universities through our educational strategies. Various tools were used for this purpose. The primary instrument was the Global Classroom (GC), an educational approach through technological communication tools that allow students to develop other skills such as collaborative work, critical thinking, and oral and written expression. GC typically consists of a collaborative international online learning (COIL) strategy. In this case, the Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) didactic technique was used to establish a challenge with a sustainable character and try to solve it in hybrid teams with students from both universities. On the one hand, a GC interaction was conducted to establish if the same conceptualization existed on sustainable development and climate change. On the other, the environmental problems of both geographical regions were analyzed, a joint plan was established, and the corresponding SDGs were addressed. The pedagogical structures included guest speakers, a collaborative workspace, solution construction, and a final reflection. In one of the courses, called “The Nepenthes Challenge”, where basic knowledge modules, topics of plant properties, concepts of sustainability, and biomimetics were discussed, and then tried to use some properties of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes as a guide to solving a social problem. This course was held twice. Students’ perspectives and skill acquisition were indicators of successful interactions. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the potential of the GC in achieving sustainable skills attached to the development of the SDGs in an international environment with two distant higher education institutions. The competency development indicators to be used would be the development of deliverables, collaborative work, problem-solving, and a final reflection on the resolution of the challenge and the experience in general. Very interestingly, we can report that the students indeed appreciated that the conceptualization of sustainability could give a better perspective for the professional questions they will face in the future. The expansion in the number of views on sustainability principles increased awareness and appreciation of sustainable processes. Our results strongly suggest that COIL strategies, such as GC, are essential to developing sustainability competencies globally.

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2 Methodology 2.1 Global Classroom This Global Classroom (GC) experience is based on COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning), a teaching and learning methodology developed by Jon Rubin at the State University of New York (SUNY) (Fig. 1). The COIL consists of three very well-defined stages, the icebreaker, a stage of presentation of the challenge, a personal introduction, and an international interaction between the students and the teachers involved. Once the collaborative work is established, the solution strategies of the problem are then designed; this stage includes several physical deliverables that verify that there was collaborative work between team members and, in the end, a reflection using the Padlet application where a video of reflection and self-assessment of both the course and the student himself is uploaded.

Fig. 1. COIL methodology is implemented in this work.

An additional benefit to the GC experience is the obtention of an international GC badge, determining that the experience brings together students from different cultures, nationalities, and academic profiles, where they collaborate closely through elements that promote the development of skills and meaningful learning. In intercultural online environments. Skills reinforced: critical thinking, ethics, decision making, global perspective, collaborative work in intercultural online environments, and effective communication. The Vice-Rectory for International Affairs at Tecnológico de Monterrey issues the badge, establishing that the earning criteria are that the recipients must complete the GC experience through the COIL methodology as part of the Biomimetics and Sustainable Development courses or the Natural Resources course of the Tecnologico

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de Monterrey (Mexico) and the Soil Ecology course of the UNIMINUTO University (Colombia). 2.2 GC Natural Resources and Climate Change Activities were implemented to establish the characteristics of natural resources in Mexican and Colombian ecosystems, detecting the importance of environmental services. From March 25 to April 22, 2021, the action took place with students divided into mixed teams. The didactic strategy consisted of an icebreaker activity, didactic presentations, and a final reflection, together with the delivery of documents, posters, and videos evaluated through rubrics to award a digital badge. Digital tools such as zoom, Padlet, and Kahoot were utilized. A four-week course was carried out using the Global Classroom (GC) tool of the Tecnologico de Monterrey, with students from the Mexico City Campus and the Zipaquirá Campus of the UNIMINUTO University in Colombia. Work was carried out through the pedagogical technique of challenge-based learning (CBL) so that the student, as the challenge, could design an ecosystem management plan respecting the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals, applying the concepts of climate change, causes, consequences, and mitigation actions. 2.3 GC Biomimetics Course The Biomimetics challenge was carried out similarly to the natural resources course. However, two courses were held for seven weeks in the spring and fall semesters of 2021, 1 class per week. The specific challenge of these two courses was to answer the question: What can we solve with the knowledge of the properties of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes? First, students had to understand what biomimicry applications existed with other plant systems and propose a new application for the assigned plant system, considering the nature-inspired design spiral [2] SDGs and environmental responsibility. 2.4 Skills to Develop in COIL Courses The skills that were assessed during the courses, for more than 150 students, using rubrics with specific technical criteria, such as (delivery on time, format, and grammar), other than sustainability competencies, were: • To communicate effectively through online interaction with people from different cultures and disciplines • Respect reasoned arguments • Recognize how multicultural and multidisciplinary differences impact the same situation. • Develop critical and analytical thinking by recognizing and emphasizing the existence and validity of other types of thinking and by reflecting, coexisting, dialoguing, sharing, acting, and solving problems in contexts marked by social and cultural diversity. • Promote technological tools that facilitate communication and distance learning in multicultural virtual environments.

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3 Results 3.1 Global Classroom and COIL When digital systems began to appear at the end of the 20th century, getting to know different cultures and places in the world through the internet became feasible for many people. This also facilitated the globalization of many markets, trade, and the economy. At the same time, the opportunities for the internationalization of higher education studies began to appear as a competitive opportunity. However, only students with financial capacity or access to scholarships could afford great stories. It is then that the alternative of being able to have a digital international educational experience begins to take shape. Doing a search for reports using Global classroom [3, 4] in SCOPUS indicates that the idea is not new (Fig. 2A), but it was not until the development of the international collaborative online learning theory [5] (Fig. 2B) and since the COVID pandemic [6], the technologies developed for this purpose have begun a blossom.

Fig. 2. Results of documents in SCOPUS by year of the search sequence A) global classroom and B) Collaborative Online International Learning.

Before the pandemic, educational platforms such as Zoom, Teams, and Google Meets were underused in teaching-learning. Learning management systems (such as Blackboard, CANVAS, and Moodle) were only used to manage face-to-face classes. In blended learning (face-to-face and digital), the best approach to a global classroom, the digital part was only used for team collaboration. There were no guidelines to define the necessary elements for online experiential learning. Little by little, with the increasing information available online, autonomous learning began to become evident. It is curious that in SCOPUS, only 50 results of “international collaborative online learning” appear, while in Google Scholar, they seem to appear 1160 results, of which 1070 are from 2015. This means that COIL is an approach that can make education more equitable. COIL is a valuable tool in promoting the sustainable development agenda that universities from the first world or the northern hemisphere mainly can use when collaborating with universities from the southern hemisphere. In this sense, COIL’s non-monetary return on investment is very high [7]. Other benefits and shortages of COIL can be seen in Table 1. All these elements were also observed in the development of this work.

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J. Membrillo-Hernández et al. Table 1. Benefits and shortages of COIL [7].

Benefits

Shortages

- Engagement - Interdisciplinary nature - Students and staff development - International and professional collaboration - Leading to other forms of collaboration

- Issues of technology - Lack of quality assurance systems - Lack of technical and administrative support - Different time zones, languages, institutional cultures and expectations, academic semester and requirements, courses contents, assessment of learning

3.2 Natural Resources Global Classroom Experience A critical part of the natural resources is the environmental services that refer to the benefits that biodiversity generates for us. From maintaining the climate, renewing farmland, and pollination, to ecotourism, human beings benefit from these services [8]. Just because they are provided by nature does not mean they are free. Because we humans have not been willing to pay for services, on the contrary, we have taken advantage; it is that little by little, biodiversity has diminished its supplies. The different links generated by natural resources about the human being, such as energy-water-food or growth-poverty-inequality, and the paradigms that emanate from them, have direct application to the objectives of sustainable development [9] and help develop an awareness of self and others and anticipation skills. Knowledge of the value of environmental services and asking questions regarding the uncertainty of their destiny can promote the emergence of strategic plans or at least the development of strategic skills to deal with today’s challenges. A particular case of environmental services is the Integrated Urban hydrometeorological, climate, and environmental Services (IUS) initiative of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), within the framework of SDG 11: sustainable cities and communities, to produce and provide said services for the development of smart cities [10]. The initiative studies the possible natural hazards in a city (i.e., typhoons) to understand the cascade of events that it can trigger, make informed decisions, and assign shared responsibilities to act in that case. Currently, there are more than 22 cities, including Mexico City, in which IUS has been implemented. It has been shown that the participation of the entire society (scientific disciplines, jurisdictions, organizations, authorities, and government) is necessary, as well as open data, infrastructure, communication, and long-term planning, to overcome the challenges that nature is currently facing [10]. Another case is urban environmental services, such as solid waste disposal, recycling, public transportation, drainage water treatment, and maintenance of green areas. It is necessary to recognize the educational value of such services, for example, in protecting cultural heritage, to assign an economic value to it. This will be achieved over the years, beginning with their recognition and compensation at the behavioral and intellectual levels [11]. Specifically, at the end of this challenge, the students’ teams delivered a scientific manuscript-type document in which, after having carried out the research and analysis of

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both ecosystems (Mexican and Colombian), they reaffirmed the importance of ecosystems as a means of balance for life on the planet. As one of these documents affirms: “Our life and human activities depend totally on the ecosystems that surround us; when these are in danger, it presents a great disruption in the environment that threatens the various forms of life and the human being. It is essential to redouble efforts to conserve the planet’s ecosystems and mitigate human activities’ effects on them to ensure the survival of all species on earth”. 3.3 Biomimicry Global Classroom Experience Biomimetics (from the ancient Greek bios, life, and m¯ım¯esis, imitation), it could be said, is one of the benefits we have obtained from the environment surrounding us. It is considered an ecosystem service to achieve the SDGs [12]. Biomimicry is the science that studies how nature has survived for 3.8 billion years to obtain from its elements that we can use for our survival. Biomimicry has been used from insects as enemies, allies, and solutions [12] to the development of theories for the use of natural principles for survival [13]; It has been considered a scientific discipline, problem-solving strategy, creativity technique, or innovation strategy [14]. Specific examples are [15]: bacteria, plants, aquatic animals, birds, seashells, and biological systems. Just as these examples were developed by university-trained biologists or engineers asking themselves research questions, universities also take these inventions as a model to teach students how nature works [16]. Competencies such as life cycle, values, and system thinking are developed in this case. In biomimicry, knowledge of biology and engineering is required, as well as the development of creativity competence, to develop solutions based on nature [16]. Courses related to biomimicry are usually given in certificates or postgraduate studies. Understanding and creating are the main dimensions of the cognitive process that involve learning objectives of design courses based on biodiversity, which intersect with conceptual and meta-cognitive knowledge [17]. Most classes have design processes. Some researchers mention that products developed from biomimetics can contribute to more sustainable development at the time of the human being on earth [17]. At this stage, the engagement of stakeholders plays a vital role in developing sustainable solutions to society’s problems. A particular case of biomimetics is a branch of research that seeks to accelerate biomedical innovation in life-burden diseases related to aging, such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, coronary and neurodegenerative diseases, aging, and cancer [18]. Case studies of long-lived animals, such as the elephant, or some types of rats, bats, and sharks, which through their evolution have adapted to environmental conditions, are suitable for biomimetic studies of this nature. Current climatic conditions suggest this type of study, for example, to survive a lack of oxygen, or oxidative stress, that we can learn from nature [18]. Specifically, the students involved in this challenge studied tropical pitcher carnivorous plants (Nepenthes spp.) and generated a Biomimetic application to solve a problem in their region (Fig. 3).

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Fig. 3. Images of the Icebreaker activity of the Nephites Challenge students.

Some responses, which can be a source of future research projects, from the students were as follows: • Place bacteria like Nepenthes in soils used in agriculture to prevent soil contamination, improving crop quality. • Generate a natural and beneficial food preservative for the health from the enzymes that can be found in the digestive cocktail of Nepenthes. • Germinate Nepenthes seeds in these agricultural areas since these attract insects to your vases, thus decreasing the use of chemicals in soils. • Development of a sole with topography inspired by the surface of the Nepenthes plant, and to use this same property for the coating of the footwear, to repel the water that may fall on them, • Creation and manufacture of a biodegradable mask made with nanofibers extracted from the serum of milk and polyethylene oxide, based on the macroscopic structure of Nepenthes. • Manufacture a compound that can be applied on the surface of the lenses that avoids the adhesion of liquid compounds that can affect the field of vision. 3.4 The Takeout of this Experience, a New Step in Green Education This work aimed to address a just, enriching, multicultural and multidisciplinary experience through COIL and other digital tools during the COVID-19 pandemic to pursue the development of sustainability competencies. The students were able to understand and transmit the knowledge and importance of natural resources and biomimetics in their respective countries in a global context, identifying the most significant sustainability problems and how, from their area of study, they can contribute to eradicating them, generating informative material on environmental services and biomimetics. In the environmental systems class, only two students did not receive the digital badge due to poor participation in the activities.

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Some educational outcomes of this work are that the planning of the experiences by both parties is crucial for the success of the GC courses. Since students come from diverse backgrounds, COIL can be used to revisit social justice in college courses. A GC course develops digital and communication skills in students and teachers. The COIL tool can disseminate the sustainable development goals among university students from different countries and contexts for a more sustainable future. Many students were not used to the CBL approach. In the beginning, some of them were overwhelmed by uncertainty. Thus, the guiding role of the professors as mentors towards the resolution of the challenges was highlighted. Students had to use the skills learned in previous courses. There was a lasting satisfaction in seeing students being able to solve a challenge and learn through solving the challenges. The students did not stay with the superficiality of the concept but went further. Finally, students prefer COIL courses because they consider that international collaboration and online coexistence with students from other countries are fun, they like learning this way and the concepts are solid for the future. Also, GC is more valuable for understanding similar social problems in other parts of the world. In the students’ final reflection, more than 100 positive comments about the GC experience were earned. Students were asked to respond to at least two peer comments using the Padlet platform. These comments are in videos in Spanish, so they are not included in this work but can be shared on-demand. Many of the words were about the experience of learning about a different culture, joint problems, and how to work together to solve those problems. For future work, a survey will be developed to analyze the student’s perceptions anonymously. The motivational component in COIL courses will also be studied through a mixed evaluation strategy.

4 Conclusion Currently, the use of COIL in the university is scarce to promote a sustainable agenda. In this work, a COIL approach is presented. The use of Global Classroom in their respective areas of study is made available to stakeholders as a valuable tool to provide students with the opportunity to live sustainable international experiences. During the development of this work, students were able to develop sustainability competencies and skills to communicate effectively through online interaction with people from different cultures and disciplines, showing pride in their national identity and respect for the richness and characteristics of other cultures and the use of technological tools that facilitate communication and distance learning in multicultural virtual environments. The students were also instructed in the generation of challenges. We believe that this type of pedagogy is going to be the next step in higher education, where more schemes of experiential and adaptive education “à la carte” will be necessary to face increasingly complex and interdisciplinary challenges. We foresee the era where society’s problems most likely determine the skills of higher education graduates; what we experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic was a dramatic example where digital skills, almost ignored before, were required in many jobs. Understanding and attending to the problems and tasks we have at the door is necessary and solving them. The best tool, without a doubt, is education.

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Regarding sustainability, even though there are isolated efforts to create sustainable skills in students, a systematic education or some subject related to the various dimensions of sustainability is required. It is intended that the issue of Biomimetics and sustainability be transversal. However, it is not very well promoted in non-engineering careers. Because they think that sustainability only has to do with green. Sustainability is always associated with something green; here, it has dimensions that must be seen. In the Socially Oriented Interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (SOI-STEM) group of the Institute for the Future of Education (IFE), this is one of the fundamental areas of study. Acknowledgments. The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support of Writing Lab, Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, in the production of this work.

References 1. Membrillo-Hernández, J., Lara-Prieto, V., Caratozzolo, P.: Sustainability: a public policy, a concept, or a competence? efforts on the implementation of sustainability as a transversal competence throughout higher education programs. Sustainability 13(24), 13989 (2021) 2. De Pauw, I., Kandachar, P., Karana, E., Peck, D., Wever, R.: Nature Inspired Design: Strategies Towards Sustainability. Delft Academic Press, Delft, The Netherlands (2010) 3. Bee-Lay, S., Yee-Ping, S.: English by e-mail: creating a global classroom via the medium of computer technology. ELT J. 45(4), 287–292 (1991) 4. Thumlert, I., Charles, G.: The concept of the global classroom in child and youth care training: an experiment in international education by a Canadian Community College. Child Youth Care Quarterly 19(3), 143–159 (1990) 5. Rubin, J., Guth, S.: Collaborative online international learning: An emerging format for internationalizing curricula. In: Schultheis Moore, A., Simon S.: Globally networked teaching in the humanities, pp. 27–39. Routledge, UK (2015) 6. Liu, Y., Shirley, T.: Without crossing a border: exploring the impact of shifting study abroad online on students’ learning and intercultural competence development during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online Learn. 25(1), 182–194 (2021) 7. Bianchi, G.: Sustainability competencies: A systematic literature review. Publications Office of the European Union (2020) 8. Myers, N.: Environmental services of biodiversity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93(7), 2764–2769 (1996) 9. Knight, J.: Environmental services: a new approach toward addressing sustainable development goals in sub-saharan africa. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 5, 687863 (2021) 10. Grimmond, S., et al.: Integrated urban hydrometeorological, climate and environmental services: concept, methodology and key messages. Urban Climate 33, 100623 (2020) 11. Shoji Junior, F., Pinto, F.R., de Alencar, D.B., Bezerra, I.F.O.: Valuation of environmental education applied to payment for urban environmental services in state of amazonas legislation. Int. J. Adv. Eng. Res. Sci. 6(11), 72–79 (2019) 12. Dangles, O., Casas, J.: Ecosystem services provided by insects for achieving sustainable development goals. Ecosyst. Serv. 35, 109–115 (2019) 13. Collado-Ruano, J.: Co-evolution in big history: a transdisciplinary and biomimetic approach to the sustainable development goals. Soc. Evol. Hist. 17(2), 27–41 (2018)

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14. Wanieck, K., Ritzinger, D., Zollfrank, C., Jacobs, S.: Biomimetics: teaching the tools of the trade. FEBS Open Bio 10(11), 2250–2267 (2020) 15. Bhushan, B.: Biomimetics: lessons from nature–an overview. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A: Math., Phys. Eng. Sci. 367(1893), 1445–1486 (2009) 16. Speck, O., Speck, T.: Biomimetics and education in Europe: challenges, opportunities, and variety. Biomimetics 6(3), 49 (2021) 17. Möller, M., Höfele, P., Kiesel, A., Speck, O.: Reactions of sciences to the Anthropocene. Elementa: Sci. Anthropocene 9(1), 35 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2021.035 18. Stenvinkel, P., Painer, J., Johnson, R.J., Natterson-Horowitz, B.: Biomimetics – Nature’s roadmap to insights and solutions for burden of lifestyle diseases. J. Intern. Med. 287(3), 238–251 (2020)

Digital Communication Tools in Private and Professional Environments Stephan Keller(B) , Johanna Pirker, and Erin List Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria {stephan.keller,johanna.pirker,erin.list}@tugraz.at https://gamelabgraz.com/

Abstract. In this exploratory study we assess tools for digital communication and the underlying motivation of the users to employ them. We analyse important aspects and the differences between private and professional applications and overlaps. Further, the participants reflect upon the use of digital communication tools before and during the pandemic and whether virtual worlds could provide additional benefits for them. We identified the preferred tools and the reasons why they were chosen. The results show that different tools are used in private and in professional settings. This exploratory study reflects the current state of our participant group and provides ideas for further research on digital communication tools. Keywords: Communication tools Multimedia

1

· Messenger · Interaction ·

Introduction

The past two years have highlighted the crucial role of digital communication tools in our everyday private and professional lives. Due to the rapidly evolving nature of these tools, only very recent research can reflect the current status in this area. The pandemic and the related social distancing that was introduced during this period increased the need for digital communication [1]. The quality of this communication and the user experience it brings depend on the tools that are used. We are interested in these tools, the diverse settings, and the relevant factors for an enjoyable experience. Furthermore, we sought to explore user perspectives on virtual worlds as means of communication. With our exploratory study, we would like to add some guiding directions of interest and provide thoughts for further research. In this context, we have designed and conducted an online survey on digital communication tools with 50 participants.

2

Objectives

The primary objective of this exploratory study was to identify reasons for or against the usage of diverse digital communication tools in private and professional environments. In addition, we are interested in finding out if usages may c The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023  M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 36–43, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_4

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have changed during the pandemic and whether virtual worlds are an interesting addition/option to compensate for shortcomings of more common digital communication tools (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Which tool is used more likely for what purpose.

3

Method

The survey was conducted with the online tool limesurvey1 . All parts of the survey were localized in German and English, so participants could choose a preferred language. A link to the survey was distributed online through various channels. Recipients could freely decide to take part and could choose time and place on their own. We have not specified any restrictions or requirements for participating in the survey. The survey was structured in the five following sections: (1) General, (2) Private, (3) Professional, (4) Covid, (5) Tools in general & virtual worlds. In sections (2) and (3), we focused on widely used digital communication tools [2,3] for private and professional communication. The distinction between private and professional communication is made by the participants and is not explicitly specified in the survey. The participants could always add other tools as answers as well in the free text section, which are analyzed manually. As this is an exploratory study to investigate individual thoughts, much freedom was given to the participants in the form of free-text answers. This helped us to achieve a better understanding of the reasoning behind the why or why not a person likes to use a specific tool. On the other hand, this decision implied more overhead for the evaluation and limited the feasible amount of participants.

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https://www.limesurvey.org/.

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In section (4), we aim to gain an understanding of how participants describe the changes that have taken place in their digital communication behaviour and skills since the beginning of the pandemic. Section (5) covers personal preferences on tools, partially reflected in sections (2) and (3). Further, the awareness and anticipated potential of virtual worlds is reflected.

(a) Privately used tools.

(b) Professionally used tools.

Fig. 2. Tools used by participants.

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Outcomes

Fifty participants took part in this exploratory study; 31 male, 16 female, 1 non-binary and 2 without answer. The average participant age is 30.68 (SD 9,83). The occupations of the participants are distributed as follows: 28 students, 32 employed, 1 self-employed. Over half of the participants are in IT-related employment and/or degree courses. We identified a difference in the choice of tools between private and professional use cases (see Fig. 2). In private communication, Whatsapp and Signal are the most widely used tools (see Fig. 2a). Whereas for professional settings, eMail, MS Teams and Webex are the leading tools (see Fig. 2b). Interestingly, 34 participants report overlaps in their private and professional communication. The difference in choice is connected to a multitude of factors. These include privacy, usability, reliability, multimedia, working structure and social affiliation as repeatedly stated arguments for the choice of digital communication tools. Figure 3 shows a schematic overview of the tendencies in which contexts the corresponding tools were mentioned.

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Free-text answers to the question “What do you like most about these tools?” led to the following clustered tendencies in descending order (first is mentioned the most): private simplicity, privacy, community, multimedia, reliability, costs, x-platform professional simplicity, reliability, structure The users report the same arguments when underrepresented as the downside of a tool. The answers given by our participants for the main activities when using the tools can be grouped into: private chat, video call, voice call professional meetings, collaboration, chat, exchange of information The answers to the question “Which tool do you enjoy least?” lead to the following ranking in descending order: MS Teams, Webex, mail, skype, Facebook messenger, Zoom, WhatsApp and Signal. The “why” is answered mostly in terms of absent factors, as mentioned earlier, led by usability and reliability. Interestingly, when asked which tool they really enjoy using, Discord was the most popular tool among our participants, followed by Telegram and Whatsapp. The participants highlight the broad functionality and usability of Discord. When asked, “What is important for you in order to enjoy using a digital tool for communication?” the most regularly mentioned factors here were: simplicity/usability, open-source, cross-platform, privacy, free of cost, and reliability. As expected, during the pandemic, the usage of digital communication tools increased both in private and professional environments. This slightly increased the self-reflected digital communication skills of a few participants. 18 participants considered that virtual worlds provided an additional layer of interaction, while only 14 have already experienced virtual worlds. These participants mention immersion, interactivity and more “real” communication as potential benefits compared to other digital communication tools.

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Discussion

The broad spectrum of digital communication tools and their applications form a complex environment in which the users embed themselves depending on diverse factors. We strive to better understand these diverse settings and to establish the potential for innovative technologies. We must underline that this exploratory study is limited to the small sample size of 50 participants and that more than half of these people are engaged in IT-related degrees or occupations. Further, we assume that different market shares in other regions influence the choice of tools. We recommend differentiating regions by means of a study on a broader scale. Despite this premise, we assume our conclusion will translate to a non-IT-biased larger group.

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Fig. 3. Schematic visualization of factors for (non)choice of tools.

5.1

Private versus Professional Environment

We identified a clear difference between the tools used in private contexts and those used in professional settings. The preferred tools for private communication offer good usability, privacy, multimedia functionality and are free of charge. The whole range of contributing decision factors is discussed in Sect. 5.2. In professional environments, the participants expect usability, a good working structure and reliability. The tools are expected to support productivity and collaboration rather than entertain. The main activity for private communication is chatting, while having online meetings is more important for professional communication. The most widely enjoyed tool, Discord, is reported to offer everything the participants expect. The tools that are enjoyed the least, on the other hand, point towards the most work-related tools MS Teams, Webex and Mail. We assume this is partially caused by the non-optional choice of using these tools. However, the large number of 34 reported overlaps between private and professional communication is a very interesting aspect, which should be examined more closely in future work. We assume that social communication between colleagues mainly takes place with tools, which are also used in a private context. 5.2

Decision Factors

We identified several clusters of factors that support the decision to use or not use a tool, which we now refer to as decision factors. Examining these decision factors in an isolated manner is a difficult task. The answers we were given led us to assume that, in most cases, multiple factors play a role in the decision about which tool is used. In a professional environment, however, the choice of a communication tool is often not made by the employee, making the decision factors either less or not relevant. This, however, strongly influences user satisfaction. After all, the most important factor is whom we want or need to communicate

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with, what tool(s) they are using and how much they are willing to adapt to our preferences. This determines the relevance of other decision factors. Community. As mentioned above, the people we want to communicate with play a huge role in our choice of communication tool. Some people will go so far as to use a tool they otherwise dislike if it is the only one that will enable them to reach a certain person. Other reasons for tool adoption might be personal recommendations from friends and role models or even peer pressure. A related factor is the number of other people using the tool, including both those people the user knows personally and the total user base, as reflected in some of the answers from our evaluation group. The latter shows signs of a bandwagon effect [4], although a larger user base does have clear advantages for the individual since it means there are potentially more people to communicate with. Usability and Simplicity. The most frequently mentioned arguments by far are those related to usability and simplicity. It may seem obvious that good usability is crucial, and most of the established tools offer a high level of usability. However, the fact that this is explicitly mentioned so often indicates that the (dis)satisfaction in using a tool really makes a difference. Accordingly, participants report a lack of usability and excessively complicated usage with some tools. Multimedia Functionality. The participants report positive arguments regarding the functionality of sharing photos, videos and other files as well as text messaging, voice chat, and video calls. The means of communication differ greatly among the diverse use cases. Hence, broader functionality and multimedia integration are welcomed by most participants. We assume the more diverse the functionality a tool provides, the more likely it will be applied for multiple use cases, thus possibly leading to an overlap between private and professional communication. Future work could closely investigate the different types and their importance inside their tools. Reliability. According to our participants, reliability is an important factor for enjoying the use of a tool. This is especially the case in real-time communications such as voice, video chat or conferences, where a stable, reliable connection is crucial. Participants mention the factor reliability on both sides. They appreciate a tool that provides constant working reliability, but they also notice when functionality is less reliable than expected/in other comparable tools. Privacy, Security and Trustworthiness. Another set of important features reported by the participants can be clustered to privacy, security and trustworthiness. The high number of mentions here might be related to the strong “IT

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bias” among our participants. However, these topics have also gained more public interest through international GDPR2 laws or popular media appearances such as Wikileaks. For instance, when Whatsapp changed the user conditions in 2021, there was a huge media echo followed by growth for alternative tools such as Signal. Costs. Most of the tools used in private environments involve no direct financial cost, at least for using their primary communication features. This is most likely a factor that contributes much to their ready adoption, as is reflected in some of the reports from our evaluation group. Business-tailored packages are mostly available for tools that are more frequently used in professional environments. The costs for this are usually calculated on a per user and month basis, and paid for by the employer. Miscellaneous. Other less often mentioned aspects include e.g. availability on multiple platforms. This leads us to the assumption that there is a group of influencing factors which go mostly unnoticed. We presume there is a set of factors that are not explicitly mentioned (or at least not often) because these are taken for granted. For instance, most tools have the ability to create “groups” in one way or another. The only mentions here relate to a more structured approach, such as channels in Discord. Other aspects, such as accessibility for example, are probably not mentioned because the participants were not concerned about them. These will need to be reviewed and taken into consideration for a largerscale study. Some participants explicitly stated the wish for a “one-tool solution”, because they were unhappy with the need for multiple tools. Since no such tool is currently available, this signifies the need for interoperability between tools. This, however, would interfere with the business models of some tool providers and does not appear to be realistic. 5.3

Covid and Virtual Worlds

As anticipated, the participants confirmed the increased use of digital communication tools during the pandemic. An open question is whether this increase will prove to be temporary or not. A shift on remote working in corporate mentality indicates that the travel-, time- and cost- overhead of meetings in person or being physically at the office can be reduced as a result of increased digital communication. Hence this solution could prove to be efficient in the long term. How does this translate to private communication? This raises the question of when an in-person meeting is really necessary? Can virtual worlds provide a more efficient yet close-to-real solution? This must be investigated in more detail, e.g. evaluating a specific virtual world with a group of participants to gather more hands-on data. Some of the participants see potential benefits in the immersion 2

https://gdpr.eu/.

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and being able to have more personal interactions. However, a large proportion of the participants had never heard of virtual worlds. Perhaps virtual worlds are still too experimental for everyday communications and are more likely used by a curious, gaming-experienced target group. However, virtual worlds will continue to evolve and offer potential to different fields, including education [5].

6

Conclusion

We can conclude that the usage of digital communication tools is relevant for all the participants in both their private and professional lives. The pandemic has provided an even further boost to this development. We identified a difference in the tools used for these two settings. However, a large proportion of the participants reported an overlap between private and professional communication. This might be related to the strong IT representation in the group. Nevertheless, we assume the trend would be similar in a larger, more diverse group. The answers indicate that usability, reliability, social affiliation and other factors play an important role in tool choices for digital communication. We assessed qualitative data in order to better understand why tools are used with or without enjoyment. According to our results, Discord seems to be the optimal tool. The broad functionality and the structure it provides also make it a useful tool for technology-enhanced education. Moreover, participants mention the lack of real-life experience, interactivity and immersion. Virtual worlds would appear to be promising for enhancing digital communication in ways that are not yet present in most tools. Based on our exploratory outcomes, we will continue to investigate which aspects are relevant or disturbing for user-friendly, enjoyable and efficient interaction and how these can be supported or mitigated.

References 1. Nguyen, M.H., et al.: Staying connected while physically apart: digital communication when face-to-face interactions are limited. New Media Soc. (2021). https://doi. org/10.1177/1461444820985442 2. We are Social, Hootsuite, DataReportal, 26 January 2022. Most popular global mobile messenger apps as of January 2022, based on number of monthly active users (in millions) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved May 2022. https://www.statista. com/statistics/258749/most-popular-global-mobile-messenger-apps/ 3. Datanyze. (2. Juli, 2021). Marktanteile der f¨ uhrenden Unternehmen f¨ ur Video- und Audiokonferenzsysteme (Stand 2. Juli 2021) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved May 2022. https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1228015/umfrage/marktanteileder-fuehrenden-unternehmen-fuer-video-und-audiokonferenzsysteme/ 4. Sullivan, L.E.: Bandwagon effect. In: The SAGE Glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 1, pp. 41–41. SAGE Publications, Inc., Thounsand Oaks (2009) 5. Mystakidis, S.M.: Encyclopedia 2022, vol. 2, pp. 486–497 (2022). https://doi.org/ 10.3390/encyclopedia2010031, https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412972024.n201

Blended Assessment in Higher Education Collaborative Case Study Work – A Qualitative Study Anne Jantos1(B) and Lisa-Marie Langesee2 1 Center for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden,

Germany [email protected] 2 Chair of Business Information Systems, Esp. Information Management, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany [email protected]

Abstract. Standard assessment methods in higher education are one-dimensional and leave students and teachers dissatisfied. We propose a blended assessment approach to foster student engagement, self-efficacy, and overall satisfaction by guiding teachers to find sensible assessment combinations to create their courses. We designed, implemented, and evaluated a course adapted with a case study based on the blended assessment approach specially created to address a multitude of assessment methods. We found that a diverse assessment strategy engages students better, furthers their self-organization and self-efficacy, increases their learning outcome, and leaves them generally more satisfied. Based on our findings, we derive a guideline to implement a blended assessment in a course in higher education that enables teachers to use the blended assessment approach in the future effectively. Transparent communication of the rules of assessment, preventing overload and offering a wide range of assessments are some of the guidelines we will show. Keywords: E-assessment · Higher education · Virtual collaborative learning · Blended learning

1 Introduction The current method of awarding grades and degrees via summative assessment in higher education is didactically outdated and leaves students stressed and dissatisfied (Traub and MacRury 1990; Jantos 2021). In contrast to summative assessment, formative assessment has a transforming influence on the learning process because it allows for feedback throughout the learning process and not only at the end (Andrade 2010; Andrade and Cizek 2010). However, this can only be achieved with a considerable effort from the educator and, therefore, cannot be implemented comprehensively due to a lack of time and resources. The solution could be a blended approach that combines formative and © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 44–56, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_5

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summative assessment and uses digital media to assess students’ performance in a meaningful and comprehensive way. Currently, approaches to this method are being explored in various courses, but there is no standard method for structuring assessment forms and proposing a combined approach (Heritage 2007). It is well known that broadening assessment opportunities will increase student engagement and satisfaction in general (Schütze et al. 2018). However, we have yet to determine which combinations of different assessment formats offer the most significant opportunities and how educators can be provided with material to make informed decisions in their course creation and implementation. Overall, we aim to foster student engagement, self-efficacy, and self-reflection competencies, shift from teacher to moderator and partner in learning, deepen student-teacher trust, and improve academic honesty in students and lifelong learning. The scientific goal is to develop, implement and evaluate a blended assessment model that represents the diversity of assessment methods in higher education and serves as a basis for combining different assessment forms. The model has three dimensions with the following characteristics: individual or group, analog or virtual, and summative or formative. The model shows the different methods found in each combination and serves as a decision-making basis for teachers to plan and implement their blended assessment. For example, the group – virtual – summative combination includes the online lecture assessment method or submission of a final report. In the combination individual – analog – formative, the learning diary is used for reflection or a consultation with the lecturer. We analyzed the success of the didactical change from a single summative assessment to a blended assessment approach throughout a university course. Gaytan and McEwen (2007) argue that good exams should involve a wide variety of well-stated assignments and that one-dimensional assessment leaves students uninspired and unmotivated to participate actively in class. As a result, assessment activities that allow learners with varying needs, skills, and capacities equal opportunities to exhibit their abilities and speak their requirements are beneficial and create more engagement (Gikandi et al. 2011). Therefore, we formulate the following research proposition: RP1: Offering blended assessment formats throughout the course raises student engagement. Furthermore, students are dissatisfied with summative assessment being the only offered assessment method (Jantos 2021; Traub and MacRury 1990). Research shows that broader assessment opportunities increase student satisfaction (Schütze et al. 2018). We, therefore, present the following research proposition: RP2: Offering blended assessment formats throughout the course raises student satisfaction. Researchers discuss that assessing summatively is inferior to formative assessment on many accounts (Boud and Falchikov 2006). Yet, other sources explain that there is no single assessment method that is, from a student’s point of view, considered to be objectively more sensible and effective than others (Panadero et al. 2012). We formulate the following research proposition accordingly: RP3: Students have various preferences, and no assessment method fits all.

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2 Methodology We first conducted extensive research to analyze and structure existing assessment strategies in higher education. This resulted in creating the Blended Assessment Cube as a framework to guide teachers in designing sensible assessment strategies for their courses in higher education. Based on this and using Didactical Design Patterns (Haufe et al. 2010) and corresponding guidelines (Jödicke et al. 2014), we created a case study for a specific master-level course called “Designing E-Learning Arrangements”, a group work-centered flipped classroom arrangement that offers various assessment formats and media support. The course was conducted in the winter semester of 2021/2022 at Technische Universität Dresden. After the course was finished, we interviewed participants in a focus group discussion to analyze their learning experience, satisfaction, and challenges during the course (Krueger and Casey 2015). The transcripts of the discussion were processed and interpreted by summarizing key aspects (Ruddat 2012), using a condensed version of the four steps of formulating, reflecting interpretation, case description, and typing proposed by Bohnsack (2000), and utilizing the qualitative content analysis described by Mayring (2015). We then created a guidebook to further improve the implementation of Blended Assessment to a course in higher education. This process is visualized in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Research design for the implementation and evaluation of the blended assessment approach.

3 Blended Assessment Higher education’s primary endpoint is to give a foundation for a lifetime of learning in the workplace and other social situations. Whatever it accomplishes, it must prepare students to study outside of the academy once teachers, courses, and formal evaluation

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are no longer available (Boud and Falchikov 2006). Because it is becoming the final systematic level of education for the bulk of the population and the critical stage for all those continuing to professional labor, higher education plays a vital role in preparing students for what is to come, say Boud and Falchikov (2006). They further stated that present assessment procedures in higher education were not adequately preparing students for a lifetime of learning and future assessment issues and that evaluation procedures should be examined on whether they properly prepare students to assess their learning for the rest of their lives (Boud and Falchikov 2006). The requirements for a new way of thinking about assessment were defined, and assessment demands in a learning society were highlighted. Boud (2000) stated that present assessment procedures in higher education were not adequately preparing students for a lifetime of learning and future assessment issues. Those evaluation procedures should be examined on whether they properly prepare students to assess their learning for the rest of their lives. According to Shepard (2006), summative assessment should achieve its primary goal of documenting what students know and can perform. Still, it should also accomplish the additional purpose of providing learning help if appropriately designed. There are at least three ways to provide such assistance. Preparation for the summative test can be a worthwhile learning experience if the content, format, and design of the test provide a sufficiently rich domain representation (Shepard 2006). According to new research, taking a test can improve learning and slow forgetting by reinforcing the presentation of information acquired during the test (Rohrer and Pashler 2010). The summative evaluation results are generally used to assess the overall worth of an educational program compared to some alternatives. The formative evaluation results in aid program improvement (Scriven 1967). According to Bloom (1969), the goal of formative evaluation was to offer feedback at various stages of the teaching-learning process, while summative evaluation was used to determine what a student had accomplished after a course or program. Formative assessment, therefore, is not a test but a process (Popham 2006) utilized by teachers and students during class to provide feedback on ongoing teaching and learning to increase students’ accomplishment of desired instructional outcomes (McManus 2008) and adjust the instruction to the requirements of the students (Black and Wiliam 1998). The role of summative assessment and its adverse impacts on student learning has also been heavily criticized (Knight and Yorke 2003; Ecclestone 1999; Knight 2002). Yet, we find that both assessment forms offer different advantages. It is not feasible to test purely formatively, so we propose a combination of assessment methods to maximize success for teachers and learners. To offer guidance to teachers in creating sensible assessment combinations, we created the following Blended Assessment Cube (see Fig. 2), which shows specific assessment methods that can be combined. Derived from the Blended Learning Cube by Schoop et al. (2006), we refocused the axes on assessment processes towards the following three dimensions: Personal Dimension – addresses whether a person is assessed individually or as part of a group, Physical Dimension – addresses whether the learning situation, respective assessment, is taking place virtually or in person, Methodological Dimension – distinguishes between formative and summative assessment.

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Fig. 2. Blended assessment cube

Based on the characteristics of their course aims and the conditions of the general teaching circumstances, teachers can now use the Blended Assessment Cube to determine which assessment methods are possible. Furthermore, the teacher can overview the available assessment forms and decide on the broadest possible combination to offer his learners a comprehensive assessment experience based on their diversity. With different characteristics or combinations, a teacher identifies assessment methods based on the dimensions of their courses. For example, teachers who want to work in groups in a virtual space and can formatively assess their participants will find the option of online presentation or speeches and formative assessment methods, such as the Rubrics matrix by Andrade 2010 to assess themselves, each other or to support teacher assessment with guidelines.

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4 Case Study The case study was implemented in the course in addition to a virtual oral group exam. The course “Designing E-Learning Arrangements” credits 5ECTS to students who successfully participate in the seminar and exercise and the oral exam at the end. Two parallel parts had to be fulfilled by students to be eligible for the oral exam. Firstly, the seminar included viewing six e-lectures and the subsequent tasks, such as a presentation of the summary of the shown contents and the classification of a current publication on this topic. The seminar contents were deepened during the exercise by practically elaborating them based on the case study. For this purpose, there were six synchronous sessions in which the tasks were handed out, the results were presented and discussed, and the assessment was carried out. The following list shows the tasks built on a case description. Students and teachers were supplied with a rubrics matrix (Andrade 2010) to guide the feedback and review process. The following list shows the main content of the case study but leaves out various additional information such as diagrams, brochures, overviews, and photos. FABE University – A Case Study for Higher Education Courses The case study consists of an introduction and six tasks. It should take six sessions, each 90 min, to finish. It is suitable for undergraduate students in various fields of study and follows a flipped approach. Per session, students start with an individual reading or research activity in their group. After that, the groups present their progress and receive feedback from their peers or the teacher, which will be integrated into the final artifact. Feedback and peer review are created following a rubrics matrix. Introduction: FABE University has a rector’s office for central management, consisting of a rector, three vice-rectors, and two chief officers who perform representative academic tasks. The administration is responsible for the university’s budget, investment, and planning. The Chancellor leads the administration, which is divided into five departments and is a member of the Rectorate College. The University Council is an advisory and supervisory body. It participates in strategy formation and the structural and development planning of the university. In addition to the Chairperson, ten other members belong to the Council, two of whom are members of the University. The Senate is responsible for academic matters in teaching, studies, further education, and research that affect the entire university or are of fundamental importance. For this purpose, the Senate forms commissions, usually chaired by a Prorector. The chairman of the Senate, whose members also come from all four interest groups, is the Rector. Under the chairmanship of the Rector, the Senate consists of eleven university professors, four representatives of the academic mid-level staff, two other employees, and one student member for each of the four faculties of FABE University. The Student Council handles student matters, and it is elected by the students every two years. Each faculty has a dean’s office with a dean and one or more deans of studies. The faculties administer their study matters in their own examination offices, committees, and faculty councils. The student representatives at the faculty level are the student councils. FABE University is one of the third most funded universities in the region. It has been able to acquire projects worth 250 million euros per year. Partners from business and politics endowed more than twelve professorships.

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The FABE University can build on historical ties to the scientific landscape, especially in linguistics, economics, and education. In addition to these research foci, which are typical of the character of FABE University, the university has other fields with exemplary research achievements, especially in the field of e-learning in recent years. Task 1: Get together in your group and familiarize yourself with your role and your place at FABE University. Agree on your understanding of your role in the group and the associated expectations and duties. Draw up the group contract accordingly. (30 + 30 + 30 min) Task 2: Create an organizational chart of stakeholders and their needs. Present this chart to the whole group and clarify the interrelationships and dependencies. Discuss your results as a group and find a common result that creates the basis for the next steps. (30 + 30 + 30 min) Task 3: Analyze the current technical opportunities and discuss options to address the stakeholders’ needs. Focus on didactical and pedagogical aspects of possible solutions. Create an overview that you will bring to the Rector’s office for a decision. Show your results in a short presentation and discuss them with your peers. Integrate the feedback you received to create the finalized result. (30 + 30 + 30 min) Task 4: Well, the rector’s office is impressed with your progress, but unfortunately, they have a tight budget, and they are interested in a low-cost option. They are also concerned with data security. Form two groups. Group 1: Create a chart to list all possible tools and/or tool combinations that may bring a solution and focus on the cost/ benefit ratio. Group 2: List all possible tools and consider the legal ramifications. Show your results and suggestions to each other and peer review your colleagues’ results and reasoning methods using the following rubrics matrix. (30 + 30 + 30 min) Task 5: Combine your suggestions and show your results in a short presentation to the rector’s office to enable them to make an informed decision. Present arguments for and against the implication of the suggested methods and tools. Discuss your recommendations with your peers. (30 + 30 + 30 min) Task 6: Since FABE University proudly offers excellent training to faculty staff to keep up with the new tools and methods, you are asked to add a media competency module to educate teachers and enable them to use media effectively and impress upon their students to work and learn with multimedia tools and to organize themselves. Brainstorm ideas on what topics to focus on. Keep in mind the perspective of teachers and learners and what they might already know or use. Create a list of topics that need to be addressed vs. additional topics and reflect on what can be left out. Present to the group. (60 + 30 min) These tasks enrich the seminar with a variety of assessment methods. For any tasks the students’ performance was assessed via peer review using rubrics matrix (Andrade 2010), feedback by the teacher, as well as self-reflection in a learning diary that was handed in to the teacher. The case study focusses on live presentations and discussions in the group. The teacher hereby assesses continuously how well students maneuvered the discussions with their input and how reflective, communicative and creative they acted and formulated their opinions. These assessment formats were explicitly introduced to engage students on a higher taxonomy level (Bloom 1969) to further their self-efficacy and reflective competencies and motivate them to participate actively and

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be more successful in their learning progress. The following figure shows how the case study addresses Bloom’s taxonomy levels (Fig. 3):

Fig. 3. Bloom’s Taxonomy levels with application option implemented within the FABE University Case Study

5 Results After taking the focus-group discussion (Krueger and Casey 2015), the discussion points were condensed to key statements (Bohnsack 2000). Table 1 shows the key statements that were identified. We found that students feel more engaged and satisfied with a broader assessment strategy and perform better due to the improved learning situation. Thus, we can affirm RP1 and RP2. Students argue that by being urged to assess themselves and others during their learning process, they prepare better and reflect more on their individual and group progress and challenges. They describe active learning as beneficial to their learning outcome and feel empowered and self-efficacious. However, it can already be observed with three students that their preferences diverge significantly. Which also lets us verify RP3. Whether virtual vs. analog, summative vs. formative and group or individual work – each method has advantages and disadvantages. Regardless of the setting, one assessment method alone cannot test all course participants equally meaningfully. There is also no consensus among the three students on the scope of the tasks, time horizon, transparency, and feedback. The heterogeneity of the learners is therefore very high and must be addressed with variable settings.

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Item

Person blue

Person green

Person orange

How did you find the course?

Very, very satisfied

Very, very good

Very satisfied

How did you find Agree with person the time that was Green. I have never given for each task? felt overworked. The work was done in the weekly 90 min

Compared to other courses, it was a fair workload

I was not overwhelmed at all. I felt well engaged and motivated

How did you perceive the assessment methods?

I struggle to articulate to this aspect

I preferred the discussions and presentations. For me, activity and participation were best. Creating artifacts was gratifying. When creating the artifact, it worked best with peer feedback. I don’t know how the teachers assessed that. I wish for transparency

Very, very good in comparison to other courses. I felt well informed about the rules and grades. I disagree with Person Green that there was a need for more transparency. I felt this course conducted all assessments very fairly and with students as partners

Did you find a favorite assessment method you encountered here?

I prefer presentations and lectures because you must prepare the content, and I personally learn best that way. This assessment also shows the work directly, and the result is solely based on one’s work. I feel most in control of presentations because it’s not dependent on other people or a single moment like an oral exam

I liked the artifacts we created most. The interaction and discussions were close to real life. The weekly tasks built incremental pressure, and we could iterate on the results in the next session. Exams are unpredictable, and in presentations, people feel insecure, and it depends on the audience and their questions

Presentations and mind map artifacts. I liked the new challenges in the various assessment methods as I find presentations to be used a lot. I feel that a flipped classroom with many opportunities to work independently is the best method for me

Was there enough incentive to self-reflect?

That was enough for me. But I wish for more transparency on how self-assessment counts for the course grade

In the exercise, we did Yes, I felt engaged to active self-assessment self-assess and reflect and gave feedback to frequently each other. I feel that’s enough (continued)

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Table 1. (continued) Item

Person blue

Person green

Person orange

Did you feel enabled and self-efficacious?

Self-efficacy was fostered. In contrast to other courses, this course encouraged self-organization

I agree with Person blue. Self-organization was fostered

Yes, I totally felt the course boosted my self-efficacy

Did you learn better?

Yes

Yes, I learned deeper and more effectively

I learned more effectively and generally better

Are oral exams better than written exams?

Yes

Yes

The oral exam is generally a sensible assessment method, but I feel rushed. That is why I prefer written exams

Do you prefer virtual or face-to-face exams?

Face-to-face

Face-to-face but virtual I liked the oral exam does the job as it was (virtual)

6 Guidelines to Implement Blended Assessment Create Transparency: Students feel irritated and unsure of how to participate in the assessment if the rules and grading system are not clear. Therefore, teachers must create transparent communications concerning all assessment methods and mixes so that students can maneuver tasks safely. Mix: Students show variable preferences for assessment forms and describe different advantages and disadvantages of individual options. Therefore, it is advisable to offer as wide a range of assessment forms as possible. Preventing Overload: Students can benefit from a wide selection of assessment forms. However, good observation is needed to detect whether students can maneuver this complex situation. It is necessary to give an overview of what is offered and how the different methods interact and to observe their behavior to avoid overload early in the learning process. Prepare Interaction: For assessment forms that take place in a group, students need rules of cooperation to build trust together to communicate effectively. For this purpose, a group contract is suitable, for example, in the processing of a case study or the agreement on common rules of communication and interaction. Recognize the Learner: Experienced learners can usually work independently and flexibly. Less experienced learners need more guidance and explanation. To improve

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learning, the choice and combination of assessment forms can be helpful. Still, they need to be introduced in varying degrees of detail and comprehensiveness depending on the learner’s experience level. Encourage Iteration: It is advisable to plan and encourage further work on individual and group artifacts. Students were particularly motivated when they could refine their work results in subsequent steps. These methods promote self-reflection, motivation, organizational planning skills, and self-efficacy. Find the Balance: The combination and variance of assessment methods can overwhelm not only the learners but also the teacher. Supervising different methods and frequently changing media and forms of cooperation requires a lot of effort on the part of the teacher. Depending on experience, the teacher should make a sensible decision as to what can be usefully represented and combined in the course. Be Open to Different Results: For some forms of assessment, it is suitable to assign tasks whose results can be individual for each person or group. In this case, the way of working leads to the outcome that should be assessed, not the result itself.

7 Conclusion and Discussion We see great potential in the blended assessment method due to its extensive range of applications and high demand. This research shows that Blended Assessment can promote student engagement and satisfaction. A new assessment mentality is needed to educate students with higher satisfaction, thus improving drop-out rates and cheating behavior and preparing them for the job market in the long term. With the concept of blended assessment, the case study as an explicit implementation strategy and the enclosed guidelines, we can contribute to higher education didactics that can initiate and support this change in mentality. The next step is a quantitative analysis of student satisfaction on a larger scale and a direct comparison to other courses with regular one-dimensional assessment. Building on the insights gained here, we will work and research iteratively on its further development. It has also become clear that motivating and activating students with this method involves a lot of effort, so we want to encourage teachers and faculty staff to invest more time and effort in the preparation and follow-up of teaching to create and anchor learning-centered programs in the long-term. We will publish all artifacts as open educational resources to enable others to use the material to further their didactical creation process.

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Schütze, B., Souvignier, E., Hasselhorn, M.: Stichwort – formatives assessment. Z. Erziehungswissenschaften 21(4), 697–715 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-018-0838-7 Scriven, M.: The methodology of evaluation. In: Perspectives of curriculum evaluation, pp. 39–83 (1967) Shepard, L.A.: Classroom assessment. Educ. Meas. 4, 623–646 (2006) Traub, R.E., MacRury, K.: Multiple choice vs. free response in the testing of scholastic achievement. In: Tests Und Trends 8: Jahrbuch Der Pädagogischen Diagnostik, pp. 128–159 (1990)

Learning Units and Micro-contents in the Reinterpreted Online Teaching Space András Benedek(B) Budapest University of Technology and Economics, M˝uegyetem blv. 2, Budapest 1117, Hungary [email protected]

Abstract. One of the essential design elements of learning processes based on modern Digital Transition in Education principles is the formulation of educational content and requirements in learning units [1]. In the model curriculum theory, the learning unit is essential to the documentation describing the educational process (curricula, programs). As a result of the developments during the latest decade, the creation of adaptive micro-contents [2] and the analysis of their operations in the digital teaching-learning space have become one of the crucial focuses of content development and methodological renewal. This research-based on theoretical and international comparisons has had a significant research impact, resulting in an innovation model that affects teacher education, which was tested in practice. Open content development methods can also be successfully used in VET practice. These results and further dissemination may act as considerable innovation motivation and support for vocational teachers’ training, further training, and broader educational practice. Keywords: Collaborative learning · Digital transition in education · Technical teacher training (TTT)

1 Introduction Concerning international tendencies, VET (Vocational Education and Training) has experienced that after the economic drop of the latest decade, flourishing economies, especially those leading in technical development (the USA, Japan, the UK, or Germany), have come over the crisis. As a result, an extraordinarily intense and target-focused process took place that included the renewal of education and vocational training. This process impacted the attitudes about technical culture, VET systems, and their inner distribution and research period [3]. In this research, we first substantiated and debated the basic concept and then the detailed program of the core concept of our research in the given topic by the documented analysis of the professional literature and by summing up the results of international workshops and conferences requiring active participation (EDEN 2016,2017,2018,2019; EADU 2017, EDULEARN 2018, ECER 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, ICL 2018). During this communication process, it was proved and made up-to-date by the pandemic during the last year that content development, the construction of new teaching © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 57–67, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_6

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resources, and the elaboration and rapid introduction of new-type electronic learning content appeared as a fundamental trend. In this dynamic process, besides vindicating interdisciplinary attitudes, the development of the ICT education environment is gaining more expansive space, and VET, built on traditional and inflexible subject systems, is trying to find more flexible solutions concerning both content and organizational frameworks. Taking VET development as a Hungarian priority offered good ground for the research. On the one hand, it could be explained by the highly dynamic pace of professional content development and the inflexibility of the subject structures. On the other hand, from a theoretical educational view, during the methodological modernization of VET, our research group sought the answer to content and broader pedagogical problems. The original research question was: how can rapidly changing professional content be turned into learning resources, and how could learning be made more effective by increasing student activity within relatively narrow time frames? All this initiated a complete renewal of content at the reorganizing VET institutions (centers and affiliated schools) in 2019–2020, which created (owing to the pandemic but independently of it, as well) the constraint and possibility of methodological change. In this process, the development of VET became a general priority in which the demand for methodological modernization meant a significant innovation potential from the aspect of using the project results [4, 5]. Currently, this process is dominated by top-down and centralized developments and content development directed administratively of the rapid transformation [6]. However, from the aspect of local innovations, the project results reflecting the diverse methodological demands offer new possibilities. This paper undertakes to present the academic education development project results aimed at modernizing Technical Teacher Training (TTT) between 2016–2021 and analyzes the theoretical and practical connections within this process. In line with the radical renewing of Hungarian VET, the research group undertook to develop methodological training within complex school subjects. Our concrete objective was the methodological renewal of vocational teacher training and practical training by creating and applying complex learning content units online by utilizing their new concept. As a result of the research, a new methodological learning content development model aimed at the practical utilization of open content development (OCD) and processes evolving during student/teacher activities could be established and introduced in practice. Concerning the complex subject nature, new types of electronic learning materials were elaborated and tested, restfulness was checked, and the research results were evaluated in terms of the subjects of mid-level vocational education in a broad spectrum of VET [7–9]. Using cloud services was an essential feature of the research from a methodological point of view. The original research question focused on making content development more differentiated within online frameworks by encouraging collaborative activities and publishing the results at the elementary level as micro-content [10]. By the term micro-content, in the present context, we mean the elementary content units representing the learning units, which can be introduced by images, short text descriptions, and mathematical formulas. In addition to the empirical context presented, this research-based on theoretical and

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international comparisons has had a strong research impact. As a result, an innovation model impacting teacher education was created and tested in practice. Unfortunately, although the applied methods of open content development can be used in training practice outstandingly successfully, owing to the dynamic transformation of the educational system directed by halfway measures and the crisis caused by the pandemic, the innovation transfer slowed down at a rate higher than expected. So it requires further endeavors and initiations to move the process on. Nevertheless, these results and further dissemination may act as considerable innovation motivation and support for vocational teacher training, further training, and a more comprehensive educational practice.

2 Background and Approach Our concept is based on the progressive international literature [11–13] on the innovation and modernization of vocational education with new technologies (collaborative online teaching-learning, application of cloud techniques), which is shown in Fig. 1. Focusing on relevant characteristic elements, we defined the units of VET learning as input factors, which we considered to be constructive elements in the training process of teachers. From the aspect of student reception, it was essential to break down the content into micro-elements from which thematic groups and project materials could be developed in cooperation between teachers and students. In addition, we wanted to provide specific online support forms via portals, educational framework apps, and cloud services.

Fig. 1. The characteristic elements of open content development

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In our methodological proposal, accepted at the beginning of the project, we undertook, according to the unique features of the Hungarian VET system, to develop methodological training in complex school subjects. Realizing this tendency, we set our methodological development program as a task-focused on the micro-contents aiming to modernize methodological developments. Some of our undertaken and implemented tasks were methodological support provided for vocational teacher training connected to technical and economic fields, i.e., training and content development implemented within the training of teachers of engineering and economics; development necessary for the field practice of the teacher-to-be attending the training and the development of the research and service network of TTT. This endeavor was verified by the fundamental transformation of domestic VET and the reduction in the number of primary vocations by app. 60 percent (currently, the number of vocations taught in school vocational education is limited to 174 primary professions). The new subject solutions introduced in vocational teacher training (Theory of Education, System Theory) made it possible to test it in practice. By 2021, a new methodological learning content development model had been created and tested in pilot schools and integrated into vocational teacher training. The learning content development process evolving during student/teacher activities was applied within this model. The research was methodologically complex. One aspect was based on the analysis and comparative analysis of international trends, resulting in developing a new theoretical model. The empirical backward essence of research and development was action research. In this process, network structures consisted of pilot institutions and development groups of educators and pedagogical students. Contrary to what was previously planned, in the context of the pandemic changes of the latest two years, this paper presentation also raises the need to reinterpret the online teaching space. An empirical basis for this idea was the development of pilot curriculum network activities that took place between 2018 and 2021. The main point of our project was to involve TTT students in the open content development process formed according to the principles of interactive and collaborative online learning and teaching content development. “The Open Content Development (OCD) model, based on the results of several learning content digitalizing projects, was built upon recognizing the change in the teaching-learning paradigm presented above. Some input factors were the descriptions of the Learning Outcomes worded by the current formal education; these descriptions connected to the European Framework for Education and Training requirements, and it was easy to achieve their operationalization at the itemization level. The output factors can be arranged into micro-content, case studies, or practical problem solutions elaborated by the teachers/students [14]. The creation of half a thousand micro-content developed in professional teacher training has been implemented. Within the teachers’ further education program, in 2020– 2021, the program was applied at several VET centers, and the feedbacks were positive. However, during the pandemic, the theoretical training activity considerably decreased. It was also a result that the concerned vocational teachers were withdrawn from the teacher staff (public employee status), and their participation in the future training system within the vocational training structure has not yet been fixed.

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3 Objectives and Outcomes 3.1 Creation of Open Learning Material Structure This objective is characterized by the constructive participation of those actively involved in learning and has become an essential thread in international content-methodological education development. Our concept sought to actively involve the students/teachers by showing openness and readiness in constructing learning materials with an openaccess approach, offering the opportunity for community content development for the concerned student groups/classes. A further innovation possibility appeared in the provision of cloud services, assuring the background storage capacity necessary for this process. It has become a general development trend during the last decade, which strengthened considerably during the pandemic to provide mass access to educational content supported by practical and interactive online platforms. Creating open learning resources (OLR) with student participation means content and methodological potential. The applied IT solutions (closed and open LMS systems and the flexible use of micro contents) can traditionally exceed workbook/schoolbook-based teaching through the elaborated pilot learning resource development. 3.2 Learning Resource Development and its Practical Implementation Owing to the conclusions drawn from the international tendencies, our methodological research implemented amongst the specific domestic frameworks was focused on the differentiated direction of the vocational teachers’ classroom work and the application of effective pedagogical methods and processes. Using the new methodology, the participating vocational teachers played an influential multiplier role in the highlighted development programs and local innovation implemented at the institutional level. The domestic regulatory frameworks changed, preferably during the project period. As a result, new conditions appeared amongst the qualification and output requirements of the vocational teacher training programs in terms of the competence field related to methodological and vocational knowledge, the planning of the pedagogical process, the support, organization, and direction of learning, and the evaluation of the educational processes. Within the vocational teacher training program, new subject constructions allowing the use of the online collaborative teaching methodology via the micro-content structure were introduced. In parallel with this, new and complex methods of the other teacher training programs were elaborated, tested, licensed, and introduced in practice. These were certified by the Hungarian Educational Authority. Concerning the content modernization of vocational teacher training, the renewal of its output requirements and the school subjects system, as well as its integration into the new framework systems supporting electronic learning, new courses (Theory of Education and System Theory) were introduced that made it possible to acquire the system of aspects of online collaborative content development, the content development of micro-content related to learning units apt to be organized into thematic networks as well as the methods and techniques relevant in this field.

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These structures were created and introduced within economist and engineer-teacher training, and the project documentation allows long-term and sustainable methodological developments. In TTT, namely, in the distance, online education during the pandemic, some thematic constructions (sustainability in pedagogy or digitalization in education) using micro-content-based solutions (Micropedia – www.mikropedia.hu) were introduced. In line with the characteristics of vocational teacher training, each graduating teacher (237 persons) has learned this technique since 2018 and can use it in local content innovations. 3.3 Development of Methodological and Subject Knowledge Collaborative learning was put into the focus of our work as the development of open learning resources with active student participation was one of our core goals, and collaborative learning is apt to improve subject knowledge (on the student and the teacher side, as well). According to our experiences, this new type of learning support can considerably improve learning effectiveness, organization, and direction. In the second part of the research period, we published, primarily in foreign language papers, the empiric results that presented the experiences of the methodological elements, mainly of the introduction of micro-content-based learning resource development. The development of teacher cooperation in modernizing methodological culture is essential – and this is an important feature when comparing this work to research connecting to the methodology of general education. Vocational teachers can teach in the school system VET and outside the school system; besides teaching the 14–18-yearold age group, they must also be prepared to provide vocational education for youngsters and adults and work with pupils with special needs. In this respect, our research program represented the aspects of life-long learning. In addition to formal education, it also dealt with the development of non-formal learning and permanent training. 3.4 The Construction System of the Learning Units – Micro-content Framework Our project was consciously built on the worldwide phenomenon of spreading content management in VET systems, which offered new forms and the possibility of continuously renewing the teaching content. This innovation is taking open educational content development as one of the approaches to renewing teacher training connected to an acknowledged technical university’s vocational teacher training program. The methodological specialty of the research was model creation based on theoretical analyses, which served as the ground for implementing learning resource development tasks with the involvement of engineer and economist teacher students. In this process, during the construction of the online teaching resources, they implemented professional functions that led to creating the content management model. The survey and interviews made with these students and the management of the micro-content developed by the students can be considered a new method. Therefore, it was essential to involve the students (future vocational teachers) in the open learning resource development process and equip them with methodological knowledge suitable for the permanent development of active learning (with community content development

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elements). Therefore, we introduced our model at several significant international conferences and disseminated it primarily in the volumes issued by the VETNET researcher network after the ECER 2017–2019 meetings, and named the presented open learning resource development process OCD (Open Content Development). We strived to provide the infrastructural conditions of online communication and networking via cloud services within the project frames. In the project’s second part, several schools could connect to the cloud services maintained by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. This possibility made the operation of the content development databases, which were platforms demanding significant memory capacities, much more manageable. During the pandemic, the narrowness of bandwidth was a compassionate issue. In terms of online teaching and learning, the institutions faced difficulties due to the storage space demand of the content units to be uploaded. Therefore, the highlighted objective of this temporary period was to connect our services to cloud technologies and platforms already developed for mobile communication tools. The situation that evolved in March 2020 probably valorized this feature since atypical learning and training, which were relatively common in VET, faced the challenges and problems the researchers had already met by the beginning of the pandemic. The cancellation of the direct meetings and events between the research group members caused considerable limitations. However, the general practice of online communication did not limit the typical activities of the researchers. Nevertheless, the work order of school education changed significantly, and this has significantly impacted our activities in several cases during the latest years. Maximizing the possibilities of online dissemination, we attended the most significant Hungarian Educational Conference for the fourth time, where we organized two independent symposiums. In the autumn of 2020, we introduced the final volume of the project to the broader professional public at an online event extending over the size of a workshop conference. Building on the experiences gained in our courses introduced in vocational teacher training within the frameworks of our project and applying new online collaborative method-based subjects (Digital Pedagogy, Educational Theory, and System Theory), we integrated the content development of TTT into the BME Moodle framework system that was renewed in 2020–2021. We made the experiences gained about the application part of the general practice in the methodological modernization of the TTT.

4 Conclusions and Recommendations To have our methodological development results utilized in practice as widely as possible, we organized our teachers’ further training program (OCD training) authorized by the Educational Authority in new VET centers and online. Furthermore, to strengthen their future sustainability and broader use, we also cooperated with the Institute for Engineers’ Further Training of the BME. Thus, we were an integrative part of the transition processes urged within the VET system by the changes in the legal regulations, the introduction of electronic educational frameworks, and the use of online learning resources. Furthermore, we offered further utilization of the professional and scientific potentials we had successfully created during the project at methodological and VET development fora and tenders managed by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology.

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Concerning the content modernization of vocational teacher training, the renewal of its output requirements and the school subjects system, as well as its integration into the new framework systems supporting electronic learning, new courses (Theory of Education and System Theory) were introduced that made it possible to acquire the system of aspects of online collaborative content development, the content development of micro-content related to learning units apt to be organized into thematic networks as well as the methods and techniques relevant in this field. As a result, these structures were created and introduced into economist and engineer-teacher training, and the project’s documentation allows long-term and sustainable methodological developments. According to our original undertakings, in 2017, we elaborated, and the Educational Authority certified the methodological training program that allowed vocational teachers to learn the new complex methodology. We introduced the methodological process supporting online collaborative learning and the creation of the related micro-content at each of the schools involved in the pilot network, and we also kept workshops. Within the teachers’ in-service training program, in 2019–2020, the program was applied at several VET centers, and the feedbacks were positive. According to the existing professional references, it will be possible to continue the other training program and continue its development in line with the new system demands. In addition to our continuously maintained website, the project results are promoted online by several other platforms supporting micro-content-based learning unit development (SysBook, Micropedia). Furthermore, the mobile application (McApp) promoting pupils’ activity during online collaborative development work was ready in the final project year. Furthermore, the bulletin series (Papers of the HAS-BME Open Content Development Research Group) was published in print to enhance the dissemination of the results. At the same time, in the pandemic situation, the later ones online and are also available on our web page bear great importance. Finally, according to our original plans, in October 2020, the edited volume summarizing the project process and the main results of the first four years of the research was published. The Hungarian VET structure and content system considerably changed during the project period. These changes formed the frameworks for applying the unique methodology in a complex (and preferable) way; however, the extremely rapid changes, especially the impacts of the pandemic measures during the latest years, strongly limited the mass expansion of the new methodology. Moreover, due to the educational system’s dynamic transformation directed by halfway measures and the crisis caused by the pandemic, the innovation transfer slowed down at a rate higher than expected. So it requires further endeavors and initiations. Analyzing the implementation effects of the research and development results, which initially had a methodological character, it can be stated that our ideas regarding the online teaching space also changed radically. Our experiences have clearly shown that the content methodological solutions derived from the system of hierarchical training goals work only to a limited extent in the case of traditional vocational training structures. The traditionally closed educational plots during the pandemic forced two alternatives in which crisis-specific solutions had to be found in vocational training sites and situations. Furthermore, traditional solutions significantly limited the quality of training in the

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process. If all this is shown in a figure (Fig. 2.), the graphical arrangement also shows the dynamics of the process.

Fig. 2. Towards the reinterpreted online teaching space – Starting point

At the same time, based on the experiences of our project, an alternative paradigm can be outlined (Fig. 3), according to which the methodological culture of vocational teachers can be built on the differentiation of VET goals and requirements, and that says that the innovative potential grows in parallel with the strengthening of online collaboration. In this case, the essential requirement is to provide broadband internet, current cloud services, and unique educational apps for online training. The general application of online collaborative learning solutions as a paradigm also presupposes that the methodological culture of the learners (everyone) will be significantly developed. The description of and the debate on the theoretical results of the project and the open content development model were presented at several international experts fora. We introduced the project results in the three first volumes of the series published by the European educational researchers’ VETNET network in 2017. Furthermore, we presented the implemented developments and our empiric results at several significant international conferences, lectures, and publications. The publication activities connecting to the measurement and evaluation of the empiric results and the applied methods have been launched, and several paper drafts and initiations are being prepared. To assure the sustainability of the project results and the work done, it is reasonable that despite the secession of VET from the public education system, the electronic solutions managing

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Fig. 3. Towards the reinterpreted online teaching space – On the Go.

the use of mobile communication tools and cloud services and the evaluation and analysis of the learning resource units and micro-contents. They are created via collaborative processes and transmitted through network structures to be applied in a later phase of the complex methodological research. Based on the trends in our half-decade project history, we can conclude that the construction process of the learning units and micro-contents is a new challenge for teachers and students. According to our experience, developing methodological learning competencies effectively in the longer term is a real challenge. That is why serious consideration needs to be given to reinterpreting the online teaching paradigm and shifting the learning processes organized in a field setting towards the new online space. An essential precondition for this new paradigm is the availability of an IT infrastructure, including access to broadband internet for all trainees, cloud services, open learning content repositories, and unique learning apps. In this virtual service-rich space, the paradigm of online teaching depends less on exclusive providers and systems but on the attitude and activity system in which the online environment’s microelements of active content development appear. Presumably, we are still in the first phase of this process. Still, collaborative development is decisive despite the shock caused by the pandemic, the complex systems of hybrid solutions used in crisis management, the good and negative experiences, and the bumpy transition path. Acknowledgment. This research project of the MTA-BME Open Content Development Research Group is funded by the Content Pedagogy Research Program of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS).

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References 1. Benedek, A.: New content development for and by VET teachers. In: Nägele, C.; Stalder, B. E.; Kersh, N. (eds.) Trends in vocational education and training research, vol. III. Proceedings of the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), Vocational Education and Training Network (VETNET): Vocational Education and Training Network, pp. 43–51 (2020). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4008077 Last accessed 27 May 2022 2. Sun G. Shen, J., Lin, J.: Adaptive Micro Learning - Using Fragmented Time to Learn (Intelligent Information Systems), vol. 152. World Scientific Pub Co. Inc. (2020) 3. Cedefop: Vocational education and training in Europe, 1995–2035: scenarios for European vocational education and training in the 21st century. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Cedefop reference series; No 114. (2020). http://data.europa.eu/doi/10. 2801/794471. Last accessed 27 May 2022 4. Liao, C.W., Chen, C.H., Shih, S.J.: The interactivity of video and collaboration for learning achievement, intristic motivation, cognitive load, and behavior patterns in a digital game-based learning environment. Comput. Educ. 133, 43–55 (2019) 5. Rabiman, R., Nurtanto, M., Kholifah, N.: Design and development e-learning system by learning management system (LMS) in vocational education. Online Submission 9(1), 1059– 1063 (2020) 6. Keviczky, L., et al.: Innovative methods of teaching the basic control course. In: Arabnia, H.R., Deligiannidis, L., Tinetti, F.G., Tran, Q.-N. (eds.) Advances in Software Engineering, Education, and e-Learning. TCSCI, pp. 249–262. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/10. 1007/978-3-030-70873-3_17 7. Hamutoglu, N.B., et al.: Evaluating students experiences using a virtual learning environment: satisfaction and preferences. Educ. Technol. Res. Dev. 68, 437–462 (2020). https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s11423-019-09705-zlastaccessed2022/05/27 8. Hod, Y., Sagy, O.: Conceptualizing the designs of authentic computer-supported collaborative learning environments in schools. Int. J. Comput.-Support. Collab. Learn. 14(2), 143–164 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-019-09300-7 9. Molnár Gy., Orosz B.: Collaborating networks in the cloud supported byexperience-oriented devices. In: Turˇcáni; M.; Balogh. Z.,; Munk. M.,;, Magdin, M.;, Benko, L. (eds.) 13th International Scientific Conference on Distance Learning in Applied Informatics – Conference Proceedings: DIVAI 2020, Štúrovo, Wolters Kluwer s.r.o., Slovakia, 595 p. pp. 421–431 (2020) 10. Sik, D.: Introduction and implementation of a multi-leveled e-learning environment based on the open content development model principles. Adv. Intell. Syst. Comput. 716(2), 64–70 (2018) 11. Collins, A.M.: Rethinking education in the age of technology. In: Woolf, B.P., Aïmeur, E., Nkambou, R., Lajoie, S. (eds.) ITS 2008. LNCS, vol. 5091, pp. 1–2. Springer, Heidelberg (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69132-7_1 12. Gessler, M., Herrera, L.M.: Vocational didactics: core assumptions and approaches from Denmark, Germany, Norway, Spain and Sweden. Int. J. Res. Vocat. Educ. Training 2(3), 152–160 (2015) 13. Nore, H.: Re-contextualizing vocational didactics in norwegian vocational education and training. Int. J. Res. Vocat. Educ. Training 2(3), 182–194 (2015). https://doi.org/10.13152/ IJRVET.2.3.4 14. Benedek, A.: New paths to online teaching – how can we manage knowledge transfer and make the learning more enjoyable? Central Eur. J. Educ. Res. 3(3), 55–62 (2021). https://doi. org/10.37441/cejer/2021/3/3/10015

Learning from Agile Methods: Using a Kanban Board for Classroom Orchestration Sven Strickroth(B)

, Melanie Kreidenweis , and Zora Wurm

Institute for Informatics, LMU Munich, Oettingenstraße 67, 80538 Munich, Germany [email protected]

Abstract. Task-driven learning arrangements have shown to be a good learning opportunity for students and provide a viable way for differentiation and selfpaced learning. However, existing approaches do not provide an overview of the current status of tasks to the teacher in collaborative settings at the same time. This overview is a crucial prerequisite for effective mentoring and guiding the students. Agile methods have shown to successfully address similar issues for planning, structuring, and visualizing the work in software engineering. In this paper a teaching method based on a Kanban board is presented which transfers the principles and advantages of agile methods to the domain of teaching for classroom orchestration. Furthermore, an offline usable digital prototype for supporting agile teaching scenarios was developed that allows teachers to easily prepare such scenarios and students to document and visualize the current work status. Lessons learned and recommendations for the agile teaching method are discussed. A preliminary study shows that the digital tool supports students and teachers on their learning/teaching path and has a good useability. Keywords: Collaboration · Agile teaching · Teaching method · Teaching support tool · CSCL · Kanban

1 Introduction Orchestrating classroom activities and tasks is one of the main duties of a teacher in schools. Task-driven learning arrangements have shown to be a good learning opportunity for students. Oftentimes station teaching or other work plans are used to orchestrate tasks for single students or group work. A central advantage of such methods is to enable students to self-regulate and pace their learning [1, 2]. However, the main problem with these approaches is that the teacher cannot easily get an overview of the current status of the tasks (open, being worked on, and done), especially when several students are working collaboratively or cooperatively in multi-step learning settings. This overview, however, is crucial for mentoring and guiding the students in their learning because feedback (or different forms such as feed back and feed forward) is a driving factor for learning [3]. The approach for supporting teachers and students presented in this article relies on agile methods that are widely used in the software development industry to structure a © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 68–79, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_7

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project and provide a “simple” framework (such as Kanban or Scrum) which puts a focus on visualizing the workflow, communication, and reflection on past work amongst the team members [4, 5]. The research questions addressed in this article are: (1) How can the mentioned agile principles and methods be mapped to the school context to orchestrate tasks to support self-regulated learning? and (2) How can such an agile teaching method be supported by technology? These research questions are investigated in the context on computer science classes but should be generalizable to other subjects as well. The key contributions of this paper are: • proposal of an agile teaching method, • proposal of a free digital support tool prototype for teachers and students, • lessons learned of the teaching method and evaluation of the digital tool. We applied a Design-Science approach [6] to develop the proposed teaching method, tested it in case studies, and refined it in several iterations over the last five years. During the first iterations the basic model was developed and optimized. Here, fitting agile methods for the classroom were selected and it was investigated on how to implement these (e.g., iterations, definition of finished work, selection of tasks). In further iterations several workshops were held with training teachers (mentors), teachers and (student) teachers to present and discuss the approach. Finally, a specialized digital tool was designed and evaluated to support the agile teaching method (preparation and in-class support). New ideas and lessons learned were fed back into the next iteration (for example resulting in a new variant of the method or guidelines for preparation of fitting educational material design). The remainder of this article is structured as follows: First, the related research is discussed and the research gap is identified. Second, the general approach and the digital tool are described. Third, the lessons learned and the qualitative evaluation of the digital tool are presented. The paper ends with a discussion and conclusions.

2 Related Research In this section the related work for classroom activity orchestration, agile methods, usage of agile methods in universities/schools, and approaches for computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) settings are presented. There are different teaching methods such as project work and station work to enable self-paced and self-regulated learning [1]. In the case of station work, the teacher prepares the learning content as tasks that the students should work on and spaces these out on different tables in the classroom. Then, the students can work freely on these tasks according to specific rules in a given time frame (i.e., there might be dependencies of the tasks or some tasks are optional, etc.). Project work is usually conducted in groups whereas station work can be either conducted in groups or by individual students working on the tasks. As outlined in the introduction, a drawback is that the teacher might not be aware of the progress of all students. To improve the overview for the teacher, there were approaches proposed that use special devices (e.g., called ‘Lantern’ in a project) that indicate the progress of students [7]. This requires, however, special equipment that is not common in regular classrooms.

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Agile methods support the organization and execution of software development projects and are widely used in the professional sector nowadays [4]. The roots lie in the “Manifesto for Agile Software Development” which defines 12 basic principles [8]. Key features of agile approaches are continuous learning, a high flexibility, focus on the product, and an iterative procedure containing a planning and a testing/reflection phase. There are different agile frameworks such as Kanban or Scrum that can be used to structure the development, visualize workflows, and promote communication and reflection on past work amongst the team members [5]. The Kanban board approach works as follows (simplified): It is based on a board with three columns that gives an overview on the “backlog” (tasks to do), tasks actively worked on and finished tasks where tasks (e.g., symbolized as cards) “travel” from the “to do” to the “done” column using a well-defined procedure. This visualization as well as regular meetings help to orchestrate the work and improve communication between the developers. Teaching agile practices are part of the software engineering curricula in many universities worldwide [9]. Agile methods have also been used for software development projects in schools in computer science classes for learning programming and/or training agile competencies [10, 11], however, not as a generic orchestration tool or teaching method that can be applied in other subjects. There are also applications outside teaching for supporting school development [12]. Existing web-based professional software tools for agile management such as Atlassian Trello that uses a Kanban board or more generic tools such as the collaborative bulletin board Padlet turned out to be not usable in the school context: These web-based tools require an account and are not compatible to German privacy laws (based on the GDPR, especially as the students are not of legal age). Additionally, such tools are not designed for the school context as they do not allow to prepare a “board” and clone it (e.g., for several groups working independently on the same tasks), contain too many professional features, and also require an active internet connection which is not always available in schools [13]. There are also specialized tools to plan lessons and, more generally in the context of CSCL, also conduct concrete teaching scenarios. All such tools, however, are not optimized for using agile teaching methods and/or have different limitations: In general, existing lesson planning tools such as PLATON provide no specific support for specific teaching methods [14] or are limited to a specific teaching method such as Collage with the Jigsaw method [15]. Furthermore, other lesson planning and Learning Design tools such as LAMS [16] allow to model lessons with predefined activities, conditions, and groupings. During the lesson students need to log-in in LAMS and work through the steps to the end of the sequence (collaboratively) on their own computers. Hence, such tools are often restricted to scenarios in that computers are required for all students and used for most steps [14]. The very same restriction also applies to other Learning Design tools and, additionally, Learning Designs or CSCL scripts are also often not easy to model for teachers [14, 17]. Summing up: There is a research gap for the application of agile methods in generic teaching scenarios as a self-regulated learning orchestration tool which makes students’ progress visible, and availability of a tailored digital tool to support teachers and students.

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3 Applying Agile Methods as General Teaching Methods To address the identified research gap, the main idea of the proposed teaching method is to transfer the agile project management’s benefits of prioritizing tasks, selecting tasks, discussing how to work on these, the self-paced working on tasks, visualization of the workflow, as well as the defined process for testing/assessing the correctness of the solution, and the reflection on the process after an iteration to the school context. The proposed agile teaching method is based on the Kanban board and the Scrum frameworks (cf. [5, 18]). The teacher takes the role of the customer who creates the user stories (i.e., the tasks) and prepares the sprints (i.e., iterations with different sets of tasks) in which products (i.e., solutions) are developed and/or refined. The students take the role of the “developers” and can work in groups or as single students on the tasks. Each round is supposed to have an outcome that is finished (a potentially shippable product increment) in the sense of a learning product. There are seven central principles for the agile teaching method (cf. [18–21]): transparency, definition of Done, pull-principle, commitment, self-organization of the team, continuous improvement and timeboxing. Transparency is the key concept to visualize the workflow and the progress of the students’ work. Typically, the Kanban board has three columns “to do”, “in progress” and “done” that visualize the current iteration. As boards magnetic blackboards, pin boards, glass fronts, windows etc. can be used. On the board, the tasks can be symbolized by cards or post-it notes and are assigned to one of the three columns (cf. Fig. 1). Students can work in groups or as single students on the tasks by having their own board. The Kanban board provides information about the state of tasks (which students work on which tasks and the engagement of the students). This information is visible to the students who can see their own progress (and maybe the progress of other students) as well as the teacher who is able to monitor the progress from the distance without interrupting the students in their work. A range of problems can be identified easily, e.g. skipping of tasks, when students are working on a task for too long or when too many tasks are worked on in parallel. The teacher acts as a Scrum Master and can recommend splitting a task into smaller subtasks or limiting the number of parallel tasks by moving tasks back to the backlog.

Fig. 1. Two examples of agile boards in teaching situations

The definition of Done is summarized by the agile saying “Done is Done”. Tasks can only be moved to the “done” column when the acceptance criteria specified by the teacher are met. This means that there is no additional work needed to finish the task

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and that tasks should only move in one direction from “to do” to “done”. The definition of Done resp. the acceptance criteria for completing a task needs to be clearly specified by the teacher, e.g. bugfree/tested software, spell-checked text, practiced presentation, prepared notes for verbal contributions, etc. The clear specification of expectations and clear communication of the scope of the task help students to direct their actions and learning. The assessment on whether the acceptance criteria are met can be conducted by the teacher (as the customer) or by other fellow students (i.e., peer review). The Pull-Principle allows the students to self-select a task from the backlog of the current round, taking into account the general prioritization and distinction between mandatory and optional tasks as defined by the teacher. Predetermined orders of tasks or dependencies should be explicitly labeled such as 1a, 1b, 1c. Teachers and other students can make suggestions, but it is up to the students on which tasks they individually want to work on. This freedom is supposed to be an empowering experience, especially in school settings that are often shaped by the opposite – the push-principle. The pull-principle of the tasks should encourage self-regulated learning and support differentiating instruction (e.g., by providing tasks with different priorities, “must” vs. “can” requirements, difficulty, or different sets of guiding material). Particularly, optional tasks are supposed to personalize the students’ learning experience in dependence of personal interests and ability. Whereas mandatory tasks are those which ensure that the required underlying objectives are met or artifacts are ready for following tasks/rounds. Sets of tasks for different rounds can be provided in (closed) envelopes. Closely linked to the pull-principle is the Commitment [19] to the chosen task(s). This means that the students take responsibility for the completion of the tasks they chose and work on them until they fulfill the acceptance criteria (i.e., are finished). This does not mean, however, that the students cannot or should not ask the teacher or other students for help. In group work scenarios the selected task resp. the card on the Kanban board is marked with the name of the student who picked it. Self-organization of the team addresses the agile principle that teams have the power to organize themselves. This is not only an expectation, but also a right to set limits to top-down micromanagement styles. Agile teamwork can be immensely encouraging and motivating [22]. When transferring this principle to school settings, students get an empowering permission to make their own decisions within the setting. This requires, however, certain skills which are also required in classic project work that need to be trained. Students who self-organize their team will need to address the steps necessary to complete a task, such as collecting materials, looking things up, distributing tasks within the group, or simply asking for help/direction. Once students work in this spirit of self-organization and engagement, both the sense of accomplishment and the teambuilding factor should increase. Still, students should regularly have the possibility to ask for guidance. Continuous Improvement (Inspect and Adapt! Fail Fast! [23]) is the original key concept for the iterative-incremental agile process in contrast to waterfall model approaches. The students are supposed to start with a basic version of products/solutions and then refine or extend these in following iterations (cf. prototyping). This iterative refinement can be achieved either by repeating the same or similar steps with more insight and lessons learned from previous attempts, taking up the continuous learning principle of

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the agile manifesto [8]. Hence, students start with smaller, better manageable tasks and can better work towards the goal of the tasks (maybe employing try-and-error strategies) without working towards a wrong direction for a longer time. This strategy is not limited to software prototypes/products but can be applied for a variety of products such as sketches, storyboards, mind maps, lists, experiments, or textual descriptions. Agile frameworks such as Scrum are structured into (often so-called) sprints. A sprint (iteration or timebox) is a basic unit that represents an agreed fixed period of time between one and four weeks in which the teams work on the product [5]. Agile timeboxes are used for planning sprints and meetings [18]. Such timeboxes are a helpful concept to get things done, to structure the work, and to select adequate tasks. The iterations are called rounds here to provide a more intuitive understanding by students and teachers who are not familiar with agile software engineering. A typical timebox/iteration can be a lesson or a fraction on a lesson that might be indicated by an alarm clock. Typically, all mandatory tasks of an iteration should be finished by the communicated end of the round and are removed from the board when a new round starts, and the new tasks are placed into the “to do” column. Optional tasks can be selected additionally by the students based on their estimation whether they fit their competencies and available time. Furthermore, timeboxes can also be used for specific tasks. The teacher can indicate a recommended time or even a strict time limit in the task description to further support students in their choice and assessment of their progress by comparing it to the time already spent. After each round there should be a short retrospective (with the teacher) in which the workflow, teamwork and achievements should be reflected to improve future learning (cf. self-regulated learning process [2]). Based on these seven principles different variants are possible. For example, there could be restrictions of how many tasks a group or single student is allowed to work on in parallel. Instead of having a Kanban board per student or group, it is also possible to have a global, shared class board in which each student/group has their “own” row (so-called “swim lanes”). This way also other students can see the progress of the other fellow students. Another alternative is to have a class board and to use it in a more traditional way to distribute tasks to groups working cooperatively on distinct tasks towards the common learning outcomes of the lesson (e.g., to discuss a topic from different viewpoints). Also, the teacher can use a Kanban board to visualize the lesson structure similar to an advance organizer [24]. All topics that are addressed within a lesson are put into the “to do” column and are moved accordingly. It is also possible to decide together with the students based on interests or pre-knowledge which topics should be added to the “to do” column at the beginning of a lesson.

4 A Digital Tool for Supporting Agile Teaching Using blackboards, sheets of paper, sticky notes and push pins or magnets as a platform for agile teaching is not optimal. Preparing, duplicating, and storing the boards and cards is time-consuming, material-intensive, and error-prone. A digital tool can provide major advantages: Saving of intermediate results, independence of specific (class)rooms, easy preparation, and duplication of boards for multiple groups. Still, the teacher should be there to mentor the students and also to work pedagogically.

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In this section the developed prototype is presented. In the current version it supports the basic variant of the agile teaching method discussed in the previous section. It is developed as an interactive web-application based on the JavaScript React framework and can be used without internet connection and without installation with modern webbrowsers on various devices. The reasons for this are the oftentimes limited availability of internet in schools and privacy considerations to not store data on external servers. The application as well as the data files can simply be duplicated and stored on USB keys and distributed to students. Only one computer per group or Kanban board is needed. The prototype is open source and can be downloaded as well as the handout on https:// www.tel.ifi.lmu.de/software/agileboard4teaching/.

Fig. 2. Screenshot of the student view of the digital prototype

The tool is split into two modes of operation: First, an authoring mode for teachers in which they can prepare/edit the initial Kanban boards and tasks for different groups and rounds. The tasks consist of a title, a description, inserted images, links, and attached files, and can be assigned to groups and rounds. The prepared board can then be saved to a file. Second, there is the classroom mode for the students (cf. Fig. 2). Here, the students can load the prepared data and select their group (and the current iteration; see the buttons at the top). Below there are the three columns of the Kanban board and the tasks for the selected group and iteration are displayed. By clicking on the tasks, the students can see the detailed task description and can distribute the tasks among themselves. Moving them to the “right” columns is possible using drag’n’drop. At the bottom of the page there is the option to save the current state of the board to a file for later re-usage. The simple design and minimalistic structure shall ensure an intuitive use and high usability.

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5 Lessons Learned and Evaluation of the Prototype As outlined in the introduction, we applied an iterative Design-Science approach [6] to develop the agile teaching method. During the last five years there were several workshops conducted with training teachers (mentors), teachers and (student) teachers to present and discuss the approach as well as real implementations of the teaching method in different schools by different experienced computer science teachers for different topics. This section presents general lessons learned and recommendations for the teaching approach as well as a more formal usability evaluation of the developed digital prototype. The initial workshops used wordings and concepts more closely aligned with the Scrum framework. This caused frustration and confusion among the participants and was cited as a barrier to motivation to learn the method. Hence, more natural terms were chosen/developed for key concepts and elements (e.g., rounds vs. sprints, tasks vs. user stories, agile board vs. Kanban board). Following workshops were held for three hours each and also applied the proposed agile teaching method. The workshops used an agile board, were segmented into rounds between the breaks and provided an overview of being a scrum master. After providing an initial introduction of the teaching method, the participants could pick optional content to be discussed from the backlog. In this way, the method was not only presented, but directly applied by the participants so that they could make their own experiences. Based on the feedback of the participants, the chosen format was suitable for the workshops, however, the presentation of the introduction should be as short as possible and the educational material should be highly simplified, e.g. as a sheet which sums up the central rules which are necessary to get started quickly. As a consequence, the complete introduction on agile methods and Scrum was drastically reduced and a short handout developed. Also, a digital tool for the teaching method was requested. Furthermore, there was much feedback from experienced teachers for guidelines on how to design tasks and additional practical examples. In sum, the agile method was presented to and discussed with more than 100 teachers and additionally 15 teacher trainers, who train the computer science student teachers in Bavarian schools (Realschule) and around 25 head computer science teachers of a district (Fachbetreuer Gymnasium). The feedback to the agile method was mostly positive or neutral but the teachers often pointed out the long preparation time as a major disadvantage. Again, a digital tool for resolving this issue was requested that respects privacy regulations at schools. The teacher trainers also worked as multipliers. 5.1 Lesson Learned from In-Class Usage of the Teaching Method The proposed agile teaching method could be successfully applied to various teaching settings by different teachers and different classes in real computer science classes. The ages of the involved students range from 11 to 15 years. Two experienced teachers were selected and worked with for a longer period. These two teachers developed different learning settings on the basis of the proposed agile method and were observed during the implementations in the classroom. In addition, three participants of the workshops provided explicit feedback that they applied the agile teaching method in a classroom setting successfully and rated it as useful.

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The variant comparable to the advanced organizer [24] was successfully applied quite often and has shown to be a good start for using more agile methods in class. In general, the students did not need much time for training before they could use this method – just a few minutes of introduction was sufficient. The willingness to play by the rules and to apply the agile method was high in most cases, despite that sporadically students tried to avoid working on the tasks (as in regular teaching situations). However, teachers needed some more training on how to design and use material easily and effectively in the classroom. Each task needs to be specified with enough detail to represent a “self-contained” step contributing to building a final product which is the result of an iteration and should contain activities that can be actively performed. We recommend to design tasks that encourage prototyping and using the iterations to improve done work (i.e., continuous improvement; e.g., for the development of a computer game start with an “ugly” avatar and program the main functionality and later-on design the avatar in more detail). Students then have a visible outcome/result at the end of each round (even if it is not perfect, yet) that also documents their learning. This has shown to be particularly helpful for longer projects. Furthermore, this method simplifies the monitoring of the process for the teacher. Timeboxes have shown to be particularly helpful because teachers can plan the time similar to a traditional lesson and students get more orientation on how much time to invest in a task (e.g., for designing the avatar). There should also be time limits for choosing the tasks to work on so that not more time is spent on the management than working on the task. Tasks should have a scope of 3 to 15 min. In class the visualization showed to be effective for both, the teacher and the students, to get an overview of the overall progress and also to identify students/groups lagging behind. A public board can be motivating to see other students’ progress, as it can be perceived as competition among students. This can, however, also have negative effects such as demotivation for students lagging behind. Here, an alternative might be group/personal boards. The (acceptance test) procedure for moving a task from the “working on” to the “done” column, helped the students to move on to the next task(s) instead of working again on finished ones. 5.2 Evaluation of the Prototype The digital teaching tool was evaluated for its usability on two levels: First, three experienced teachers (two computer science and one German teacher) were asked in a theoretical work-trough think-aloud study to evaluate the tool from the student perspective whether or not it is suitable in class. Second, the tool was used in a field case study in the classroom in a computer science lesson by one teacher while being observed by a researcher. In both settings semi-structured interviews with the teachers were conducted to collect impressions, feedback, and further suggestions. During the studies no technical problems occurred and the participants (teachers as well as students) were able to use the prototype in the intended way. In the first study, the teachers rated the tool as usable for the students for an inclass setting. Two teachers who were already familiar with the agile teaching method mentioned positively the possibilities of saving and archiving the boards as well as transportability, expandability and re-usability compared to the non-digital version. The

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very limited or yet unsupported possibilities for providing feedback, performing a review, and control on the teacher’s end during the process were identified as improvements. Also, the wishes to synchronize the board over several computers (e.g., having a teacher dashboard) and for having an authoring mode was noted. In the field study, the teacher stated that the tool supported her a lot because the students were able to work independently at their own pace and only asked for help when needed. The students considered the tool to be very intuitive and suitable for the task. Only one group of two had problems integrating into the new situation. Here, a sense of uncertainty could be observed but with a little support of the teacher, this group was also able to work on the tasks. All other students felt very confident in using the tool right from the beginning. The main reactions were positive excitement and interest. After the initial difficulties of the one group had been overcome, concentrated work on the tasks by all students could be observed.

6 Discussion The development of the teaching method was carried out in the context of computer science and, therefore, mainly computer science teachers were involved. This might look like a major limitation, however, in Germany teachers teach at least two subjects. Hence, the involved teachers could also bring in their experiences from their other subjects. The authors argue that it can certainly be used at least for other STEM subjects or other learning settings outside school (e.g., workshops or vocational trainings) as well to orchestrate tasks and group work. The proposed approach does not have the goal to teach agile methods as a computer science or software development method but to use it for classroom orchestration. It is, however, likely a proper way to introduce agile methods for computer science lessons and to teach basic agile management competencies. The evaluation of the prototype with only one class is rather small. The main reason for this is the COVID-19 pandemic as the tool was designed to be used offline in a classroom and not in decentralized scenarios. Offline usability was a hard constraint for compliance with data protection regulations in Germany. Further evaluations are planned. However, this evaluation showed that the prototype fulfills the major requirements and has no significant usability issues. In the studies, most students were enthusiastic about the agile teaching method and the prototype, but this could be due to the novelty effect. Also, effects of teacher personality are possible. But even when that enthusiasm declines, the benefits of structuring work and making progress visible will remain as the phases of the proposed teaching method of planning, performance and reflection match the three phases of Zimmerman’s self-regulated learning process [2] as long as the tasks are prepared sensibly and allow certain choices.

7 Conclusions and Outlook In this paper an agile teaching method for generic task-driven learning arrangements is presented. The main disadvantage of current approaches is that the teacher does not

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have an overview of the progress of all students. Agile methods have shown to be very helpful for structuring workflows and providing an overview in software development. The main research questions addressed are how agile principles and methods can be mapped to the school context to orchestrate tasks to support self-regulated learning and how this approach can be supported by technology. The results indicate that the agile Kanban board and Scrum based teaching method can be used for classroom orchestration and meets the goals for differentiation and providing a quick overview over the status of the tasks of all students. Hence, agile methods cannot only be used in a (software development) project setting, but also for various products that are created by using a certain set of steps. Products can vary from simple task solutions to complex projects ranging from closed tasks such as underlining text, steps to perform in a software, and calculations to open-ended task such as simulations, software products, and essays. The approach can be used in both, collaborative and cooperative learning settings in which students are working together on a product and settings in which all students work on a product on their own. In general, the proposed agile teaching method can be used without the developed tool, e.g. with a real blackboard and sticky cards. However, the tool allows to save the current state and resume open sessions in other physical rooms, automatically enforce restrictions, measure the time, and to document the results. An extended client-server version of the tool is planned which provides Learning Analytics capabilities such as automatic statistics, identification of hanging tasks, specific recommendations, and a dashboard for the teacher displaying all student boards at once for a quick overview – even in remote settings such as during the COVID pandemic. Further developments could include an integration into existing Learning Management Systems for digitally submitting solutions and providing feedback by the teacher. Recording learning data during use could also increase the value of the tool especially in evaluating teaching lessons and the field of educational research. However, this may only be done in compliance with the data protection guidelines at schools. In general, agile frameworks such as Scrum may have more to offer to teaching settings. Starting from the presented agile teaching method there are more agile practices to discover (e.g., planning meetings, values, team vision) with students who are used to work with the presented method. Therefore, it might also be a good starting point to introduce more authentic agile project work in computer science.

References 1. Bönsch, M.: Die Differenziertheit der Lernprozesse. Praxis Schule 21(1), 8–12 (2011) 2. Zimmerman, B.J.: Attaining self-regulation: a social cognitive perspective. In: Handbook of Self-Regulation, pp. 13–41. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, USA (2000) 3. Hattie, J., Timperley, H.: The power of feedback. Rev. Educ. Res. 77(1), 81–112 (2007). https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487 4. Hoda, R., Salleh, N., Grundy, J.: The rise and evolution of agile software development. IEEE Softw. 35(5), 58–63 (2018) 5. Kniberg, H., Skarin, M.: Kanban and Scrum – Making the Most of Both. C4Media Incorporated (2010) 6. Bichler, M.: Design science in information systems research. Wirtschaftsinformatik 48(2), 133–135 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11576-006-0028-8

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7. Alavi, H.S., Kaplan, F., Dillenbourg, P.: Distributed awareness for class orchestration. In: EC-TEL 2009. LNCS, vol. 5794, pp. 211–225. Springer, Heidelberg (2009) 8. Beck, K. et al.: Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Agile Alliance (2001) 9. Masood, Z., Hoda, R., Blincoe, K.: Adapting agile practices in university contexts. J. Syst. Softw. 144, 501–510 (2018) 10. Kerber, L., Kastl, P., Romeike, R.: Agiler Informatikunterricht als Anfangsunterricht. In: Proc. INFOS, pp. 211–218. Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V., Bonn (2015) 11. Kastl, P., Romeike, R.: Agile projects to foster cooperative learning in heterogeneous classes. In: Proc. EDUCON, pp. 1182–1191. IEEE (2018) 12. Philippi, D.: Agile Schulentwicklung. https://www.eduagile.de/. Last accessed 29 May 2022 13. Elfreich, H., Strickroth, S.: Bedarfs-und Anforderungsanalyse für ein mobiles, unterrichtsbegleitendes Unterstützungssystem für angehende Lehrpersonen. In Proc. MuC, pp. 210–214, ACM, New York, NY, USA (2021). https://doi.org/10.1145/3473856.3474025 14. Strickroth, S.: PLATON: developing a graphical lesson planning system for prospective teachers. Educ. Sci. 9, 254 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci9040254 15. Hernández-Leo, D., et al.: COLLAGE: a collaborative learning design editor based on patterns. J. Educ. Technol. Soc. 9(1), 58–71 (2006) 16. Campbell, C., Cameron, L.: Using Learning Activity Management Systems (LAMS) with pre-service secondary teachers: an authentic task. In: Proc. Ascilite, Auckland (2009) 17. Koper, R.: Editorial: current research in learning design. J. Educ. Technol. Soc. 9, 13–22 (2006) 18. Gloger, B.: Scrum: Produkte zuverlässig und schnell entwickeln. Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co KG, München (2016) 19. Scrum Guide: https://scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v2020/2020-Scrum-Guide-US.pdf. Last accessed 29 May 2022 20. Sutherland, J., Sutherland, J. V.: Scrum: the art of doing twice the work in half the time. Currency (2014) 21. Schwaber, K., Beedle, M.: Agile Software Development with Scrum. Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River (2002) 22. Whitworth, E., Biddle, R.: Motivation and cohesion in agile teams. In: Concas, G., Damiani, E., Scotto, M., Succi, G. (eds.) XP 2007. LNCS, vol. 4536, pp. 62–69. Springer, Heidelberg (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73101-6_9 23. Schwaber, K., Sutherland, J.: Software in 30 Days: How Agile Managers Beat the Odds, Delight Their Customers, and Leave Competitors in the Dust. John Wiley & Sons (2012) 24. Ausubel, D.: The use of advance organizers in the learning and retention of meaningful verbal material. J. Educ. Psychol. 51, 267–272 (1960)

Co-creation, Co-learning and Co-teaching Are Key – Developing Intercultural, Collaborative, and Digital Competences Through Virtual Exchange Alexander Knoth, Dagmar Willems, Eugen Schulz(B) , and Katharina Engel Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, Kennedyallee 50, 53175 Bonn, Germany {knoth,d.willems}@daad.de, [email protected]

Abstract. Collaboration is Key. Co-creation, co-learning and co-teaching are essential in acquiring collaboration skills and problem-solving competences for research and education. An educational framework that enables students and educators to collaboratively work together in international and intercultural teams is Virtual Exchange (VE). This article provides an overview of the possibilities VE offers to acquire intercultural, collaborative, and digital competences. The development of these skills will be analyzed and critically examined based on selected learning scenarios from DAAD-funded VE projects. The article concludes with an outline of the lessons learned regarding skill development and a discussion of VE’s impact on Higher Education Institutions’ internationalization, digitalization, and sustainability strategies. Keywords: Virtual exchange · Intercultural collaboration · Skill development

1 Introduction Higher education is becoming increasingly international. The number of international students in Germany has risen from approximately 190.000 students in 2011 to 325.000 students in 2021 [6]. Thanks to digitalization, higher education institutions (HEIs) can further expand their internationalization efforts: Digital technologies open a wide range of collaboration opportunities which extend the geographical, political, and social boundaries of traditional teaching and learning scenarios. Physical mobility is no longer a requirement to work together across international borders. Numbers from DAAD’s yearly survey among internationally mobile students indicates that 11% of international exchange students conducted their exchange via digital means in the summer term of 2021, compared to only 4% in the summer term 2020 [8]. Enhancing international student exchange by digital means is a strategic decision for HEI in a world where global challenges like climate change and sustainable resource management require strong international cooperation. Offering learners opportunities to develop their set of essential intercultural, collaborative, and digital skills, can be © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 80–91, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_8

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regarded as a way of providing the prerequisites to address the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the context of higher education. At the same time, virtual international learning frameworks promote a broader, more equal, and ecologically sustainable approach to quality higher education and international (learning) experiences at HEIs. An educational framework that enables students and educators to collaboratively create and learn in an international and intercultural setting is Virtual Exchange (VE). “Virtual exchange is an umbrella term used to refer to the many different ways in which students are engaged in online collaborative learning with partners from other cultures as part of their educational programmes” [25]. While VE has gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as a substitute to physical mobility, many HE educators wish to return to on-site or blended learning courses after the pandemic [7]. How effectively participants gain international experience depends on the context and on the intensity of the immersion that is reached – both in physical, virtual, and blended forms of international exchange. VE can be an effective format for international education and provide substantial benefits for students and educators. In this paper the authors will therefore take a closer look at these benefits. Can VE improve specific skills necessary to jointly work on global challenges? Which skills do students and educators need, and which skills did they develop? How can VE support the internationalization, digitalization, and sustainability strategies of HEIs? The following section provides a general overview of VE in HE and illustrates VEs contribution regarding skill development for addressing global challenges. In Sect. 3 selected good-practice scenarios from DAAD-funded projects will be depicted to elaborate on skill development and VEs contribution to HEIs above mentioned strategies. After a summary of our findings, we want to initiate further discussion on the applicability of different VE scenarios and their effect on students’ skill development as well as the need for further research.

2 Virtual Exchange in Higher Education The use of technology in the international higher education system has accelerated. While many e-learning programs specifically focus on content (in digital format), VEs focus lies primarily on people-to-people interaction and dialogue. VE “uses technology to connect people for education and exchange” [35]. Facilitation of VEs is regarded as an important factor for successful implementation [35]. VEs can be supervised by trained facilitators who guide the participating groups through the entire course. These facilitator-led exchanges can be organized by external service-provider, like e.g. Soliya, the Stevens Initiative, or Sharing Perspective Foundation. Subject-specific class-to-class virtual exchanges on the other hand are created and led by HE educators in cooperation with at least one international partner across universities and (potentially) even disciplines [27]. While supervision of VEs by trained facilitators or educators is necessary, co-learning, co-creation and student centeredness are important aspects which ensure students to experience intercultural dialogue, interaction, and collaboration [13, 27]. VE is a low-threshold method which enables students to gain international experiences. Moreover, HEIs can use VEs to reach new target groups and especially people,

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who cannot take part in physical exchange programs due to various individual reasons [13]. It is therefore an option to create more inclusive, equal, and diverse participation learning possibilities for students who want to receive an international experience. The collaborative learning framework can complement classical ways of student mobility in different ways. It can be implemented as a blended-learning scenario, e.g., as a preparatory, follow-up, or intertwined activity to an outgoing mobility scheme. This gives students the chance to meet their peers before traveling abroad or intensify their exchange after having worked together for a few weeks. VE can also be implemented as a fully online standalone activity or as a component of an online course [2]. VEs use synchronous and asynchronous collaboration tools, or a blend of both. According to the 2021 field report by the Stevens Initiative with more than 3000 participating VE programs worldwide, over 87% of VE programs stated to have used a blend of synchronous and asynchronous tools. Depending on the instructional design and varying time zones of a VE course, the educators rely on different communication and collaboration software thus making a blend of both modes a popular method. Furthermore, 2/3 of the field report study’s VEs lasted from one to six weeks [35]. One reason could be that it requires less administrative work to implement shorter VE modules into existing curricula than developing and accrediting VEs which last a whole semester. O’Dowd [28] labelled VE as an “umbrella term” that refers to “different ways in which groups of learners are engaged in online intercultural interaction and collaboration with partners from other cultural contexts or geographical locations as an integrated part of course work and under the guidance of educators and/or expert facilitators”. As demonstrated above, the scope of VE and its level of applicability for individual disciplines is large. In recent years, its benefits for students and educators’ skill development have been studied and more and more recent large-scale studies being published. 2.1 Competence Development Through Virtual Exchange According to a study by Jager et al. [21], the majority of educators and educational supporters expect VE to be “a means of teaching and learning innovation, intercultural competence development, language development and teacher professional development” regarding HEIs educators. These expectations are supported by the study on VEs impact on teachers’ pedagogical competences by Nissen and Kurek [24], who found that VE has a clear impact on the development of educator’s foreign language and intercultural communication skills, their digital competences, and their pedagogical competences. Regarding the latter, educators stressed that they refined their instructional design skills and the constructive alignment of their teaching, and further enhanced their teaching methods towards more learner-centeredness. This enabled students to open to a global world thus enhancing their level of employability [24]. The EVOLVE Project Team studied the impact of VE on students’ skill development [14]. Through students’ participation in VEs, they learn to place value in each other’s contributions and develop their flexibility, adaptability, and empathy. They improve in dealing with conflicts, make compromises, and promote mutual understanding. However, there are barriers like students overgeneralizing and minimizing cultural differences or using culture as an excuse when misunderstandings in intercultural teams

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occur. Nonetheless, students improved in communicating and working within a culturally diverse team throughout their VE journey. They advanced in open and effective interaction with people from different cultures and developed mediation skills like translation, interpretation, or explanation of subject-specific topics in a foreign language [14]. Knowledge of, and openness towards, other cultures are key benefits of VE [28]. An improvement in foreign language proficiency and a reduction in foreign language anxiety has also been found which can further support intercultural collaboration [12, 16]. Regarding digital competences, there is evidence that VEs helped students to increase their ability to use digital tools and applications appropriate to their communication context, curate and create online resources to communicate with a wider audience, and critically evaluate online resources [14]. Through participating in VE students and educators can develop skills necessary to professionally work together in an international setting. Skills, which are also depicted in frameworks outlining competences needed in the future to navigate an increasingly international, digital, and complex world with severe global challenges lying ahead. 2.2 No Change Without Exchange – Solving Global Challenges Requires Collaborating Global Citizens Global challenges often require international cooperation to be solved. The Council of Europes “Competences for Democratic Culture Framework” defined skills students need to act as competent democratic citizens as cooperative skills, including the skill to express oneself appropriately and effectively, actively listen to others, value, and encourage their contributions to the group, show adaptability and empathy, plurilingual skills, and respond appropriately to conflict within a group [1]. According to the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp 2.2) published by the European Commission, digital competences consist of information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, safety, and problem solving [45]. VE contributes to the development of digital, intercultural, and collaborative skills and therefore supports the above-mentioned skill frameworks. Global Citizenship, defined by the UN as a term which refers “to the belief that individuals are members of multiple, diverse, local and non-local networks rather than single actors affecting isolated societies” [40], will become an essential prerequisite for young people to promote global sustainable development in their work and actions. HEIs need to establish new training and exchange possibilities for future experts, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers that enable them to professionally engage in a virtual, multinational, and multicultural working environment. VE contributes to the development of digital, intercultural, and collaborative skills and therefore supports adapting higher education to the above-mentioned skill frameworks. Various stakeholders in the field of HE have recognized the potential that VE holds for adapting education practice to the demands and challenges of the future. They regard VE as a learning framework that can promote HEIs internationalization strategies as well as the internationalization of their curricula [24]. As fully online VEs do not require travel, it enables international exchange with comparatively low GHG emissions. For HEIs, VE therefore appears as a possibility to enhance HEIs internationalization strategies by creating broader access to international experiences and, at the same time, to decrease

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their ecological footprint. In the following we will present good practice examples of VEs from the DAAD’s digitalization programs IMKD, IP Digital and IVAC in order to showcase the diversity of scenarios. These programs aim to digitalize HEIs processes throughout the whole student journey (IMKD), master programs (IP Digital), and the curricula (IVAC).

3 Lessons Learned: VE Good Practice Examples As shown in section two, VE can develop students’ and educators’ collaborative, intercultural and digital skills. Combining VE with existing didactic methods, innovative learning technologies and environments, or learning content that deals with global challenges, can enhance students international learning experience as well as HEIs internationalization and digitalization strategies. 3.1 Project Based Virtual Exchanges Some of the DAAD-funded VE projects from the International Virtual Academic Collaboration (IVAC) program have been adopting project-based learning (PBL) as their didactic method. In PBL students work together in project teams. They jointly define their project goals, acquire subject-specific knowledge, and utilize it to solve a problem. They collaboratively work on a problem, create learning artifacts or a product as a solution to their problem and present their result at the end of their project [19]. The general participation in technology enhanced PBL can motivate students to engage in their learning process on a deeper level [10, 31, 33]. A similarity PBL shares with VE [14, 35]. PBL develops students’ entrepreneurial skills [3], subject-specific practical skills [11, 23], as well as their collaborative and problem-solving competences [18]. The cultural diversity of international virtual teams should be considered at an early stage in the project and proper communication modes should be chosen. This benefits the formation of a team identity, which results in lower team conflicts and an increase in overall satisfaction [34]. By complementing PBL with VE to become a project based virtual exchange (PBVE), students learn how to work on an abstract problem together with culturally diverse team members. This experience will help them to work in an international environment in their future. In the project “DIGS”, educators of the TH Nürnberg (THN) in Germany and Ritsumeikan University (RU) in Japan co-created a PBVE on “Global Software Engineering”. The students at each university participate in this digital course where they will work in international teams and use digital tools to collaboratively develop software. The project relies on cloud-based collaborative tools as a code hosting platform, a project management software, and further brainstorming and communication tools. By working remotely with students from a different country, all participants learn theoretical and practical knowledge of distributed software engineering, while additional intercultural communication techniques which will be taught in the lectures. These intercultural skills become necessary when working in globally distributed teams: “Today’s IT graduates need to learn both international project management methods as well as the intercultural skills necessary to collaborate world-wide as part of globally distributed

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teams. Geographic distance, different time zones, languages and especially cultural differences can make it much more difficult to establish trust between team members” [17]. In DIGS the student groups communicate in English, which also increases their foreign language proficiency. Increasing intercultural competences and foreign language skills of their students, educators, and HEI employees are specifically mentioned in the THNs internationalization strategy. One activity to achieve this is to develop more English-speaking courses [37], which is also an activity in Ritsumeikan University’s Education Reform [30]. The development of students’ digital competences (according to DigComp 2.2) regarding the acquisition of subject-specific digital competencies (e.g. application knowledge of subject-specific programs) is also part of THNs digitalization strategy [38]. The DIGS contributes to achieving the strategic goals of the institutions. A similar PBVE project conducted between the Jade University (JU) in Germany and Bourdeaux University (BU) in France is “JaBoVi”. Here, up to 60 students from engineering faculties work together in internationally mixed teams to jointly develop cross-platform smartphone applications. The project will be guided by three French and three German lecturers and can be conducted fully online or in a hybrid model. The course will be implemented into both universities’ engineering curricula and the students receive credit points after successful completion. The educators and students use programming software as well as synchronous and asynchronous communication tools for their work. Through that, they acquire subject-specific technical and digital skills. They also improve their foreign language efficiency as well as their intercultural skills, the latter being additionally improved through extra-curricular trainings, which intensify the intercultural dialogue between students besides their compulsory course. Extra-curricular activities, e.g., VE clubs or virtual buddy programs have also been implemented in other VE projects from the IVAC program. JaBoVi supports the implementation of the internationalization strategy of the JU, in which, among other things, an increase in the international mobility of all students and the increase of virtual teaching offers are stipulated. Further goals of the JUs strategy are an increase in international and intercultural comprehension, expansion of international and multilingual course offers, and integration of intercultural competence training into the curricula. Additionally, for their international work the JU aims to specifically support group and project work by utilizing digital tools [20]. Besides the above presented VEs in software development, VE is also widely adopted in foreign (teacher) language education, e.g., as “technology-enhanced project-based language learning” [26]. In the project “VELAD” between the University of Leipzig (UL), Germany and the universities of Auckland (AU) and Dunedin (DU), New Zealand, foreign language teaching students work together in e-tandems with the aim of collaboratively creating multimodal project products. The binational e-tandems examine contemporary topics of social relevance like multilingualism, sustainability, and diversity. Using their researched knowledge, they then produce two types of project products, “digital linguistic & cultural maps” and “Open Educational Recourses” (OERs) for teachers and learners of English and German. These OERs will be shared on the platform of the UL while further dissemination on other platforms is planned. Besides digital and intercultural, this PBVE especially develops foreign language efficiency, contributes to

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the development of critical multilingual awareness [15]. ULs internationalization and digitalization strategies state the development of “skills needed for the globalised labour market in business, society and science”, as well as the integration of “international components in studies and teaching” [42] as goals. Further aims of the ULs and AUs digitalization strategies are digital competence and self-learning competence development [41, 43]. VELAD gives students the space to collaboratively create digital learning artifacts in an intercultural environment, thus promotes both, the internationalization and digitalization strategies of UL and AU. 3.2 Simulation and Collaboration in Virtual Laboratories Virtual Reality (VR) can be utilized throughout different learning scenarios. Its potential reaches from VR teacher and classroom training, simulation of practice situations, or the replicability of experiments [46]. VR learning environments offer students and educators a virtual space, that can be designed for their specific learning and teaching purposes. In this space they can collaboratively work on learning artifacts or exercise subject-specific practical skills independent from their physical location. VR is an immersive experience. The higher the degree of immersion, the more effective students perceive their presence in the virtual environment [4]. VR benefits students’ motivation, self-efficacy [29], and collaboration [22]. Although there is no evidence on the development of intercultural competences through international collaboration in VR, VR scenarios can increase participants level of empathy [5]. As empathy is one of the internal outcomes regarding the development of intercultural competences [9], further research on this topic could shed light on the cohesion between using VR in international settings and the development of intercultural competences. The IVAC project “DigiChemLab” between the University of Paderborn and two partners from China, aims at creating a virtual reality chemistry laboratory for technical education. The virtual laboratory aims at mapping experiments as exactly as possible with their physical realities, to create authentic simulations of chemistry experiments. These simulated, practical exercises of a technical procedure can reveal errors in practice despite existing theoretical knowledge, while the consequences of what happens when making a mistake can also be experienced in a safe environment. This immersive feedback enables a hazard-free, resource-saving, and secure learning environment for chemistry beginners. As the VR laboratory is a save environment, access to the virtual lab doesn’t have to be restricted and supervised thus students can train their practical skills in the VR lab from wherever and whenever they want. As chemistry experiments are standardized worldwide, they can be rapidly disseminated to international universities, while at the same time address certain cultural differences when execution experiments (e.g. culturally divergent definitions of the term “safety”). Regarding HEIs internationalization strategies, the virtual laboratory can be a complementary (and in some cases necessary) training offer for students who want to prepare for an international study program but have no access to a real laboratory in their home country. Such offers can therefore provide more students with necessary qualifications to study internationally after having trained in a virtual laboratory first. However, the DigiChemLab project per se is no VE project. Besides the possibility to remotely use the VR lab, students are not collaborating nor gaining intercultural competences in this

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scenario. A VR environment therefore requires further elements that make synchronous collaboration, communication, and co-creation possible. A project that provides these elements is the “MyScore” project by RWTH Aachen, funded through DAADs IMKD program. Here, many different university sectors work together to enhance the digital learning experience and use the potential of digitalization for internationalization throughout the university. One of many aspects in their project is the development of an Open-Source VR software which includes an avatar-based teaching and learning system with an avatar of each user being recreated in VR. Avatarbased systems can enhance the degree of immersion in VR systems [32]. Different learning and teaching scenarios have been developed for the MyScore software. Firstly, a role-playing scenario in which educators become directly criticized during their class. The educators must deal with this difficult social situation through fitting communication techniques, which eventually improve their communicative and conflict resolution competences. Secondly, a virtual conference cube with virtual laptops and big screens has been constructed, where people can synchronously work together, interact, and communicate across international borders via their avatars. Thirdly, a VR scenario was constructed to build and test a flood protection wall. Like in the DigiChemLab project, students can practice their technical skills in a safe environment and without using up real physical resources necessary to build a real wall. In October 2021 the RWTH continued adopting their developed VR software in the IVAC project “SWEM” in cooperation with the Politecnico de Milano. This co-teaching course contains a joint water-energy project within the master program “Sustainable Management – Water and Energy”. Students attend multidisciplinary lectures from both universities and use the VR tool to gain knowledge on various country-specific water and energy challenges, thus learning about diverse perspectives on the topic. Depending on the constructed learning scenario, VR has the potential to develop technical and conflict resolution competences. As VR can also be used to jointly work and design in a virtual space, it makes collaborative work possible. Additionally, the question if students and educators can develop their intercultural competences through the immersive and empathy fostering character of VR needs to be further researched in the future. Finally, simulation of practice situations and the replicability of VR-experiments promote the access to quality education (SDG 4), as it enables students with no access to a physical training environment to exercise their practical skills. 3.3 Augmenting One’s Own Cultural Perceptions Through Virtual Exchange “Intercultural competence is the ability to develop targeted knowledge, skills and attitudes that lead to visible behaviour and communication that are both effective and appropriate in intercultural interactions” [9]. Encountering different patterns of behaviour and communication can lead to a change of perspectives when discussing mutual learning subjects or real-life global challenges [27]. 17 of these global challenges are depicted in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [39]. VE offers a virtual learning environment where culturally diverse perspectives and experiences are shared and students learn to empathize with their international peers and their differing point of views, an asset students need to become global citizens.

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The IP Digital project “ADaePT” of TH Köln aims to create fully digitalized learning tracks for the three masters’ programs “International Water Resources Management”, “Renewable Energy Management”, and “Natural Resources Management”. The learning content of these master programs can be linked to various SDGs, like zero hunger (SDG 2), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), and climate action (SDG 13). The digitalization of the master programs “allows students to customize their study roadmap to better suit their individual needs. The aim is to enable greater accessibility in an already diverse study program by granting access to a targeted group of students who are unable to attend in-class studies due to financial, socio-cultural, or personal reasons” [37]. Besides the digitalization of administrative processes in ADaePT, learning frameworks also need to be digitalized. Therefore, through fundings of the IVAC program, VE courses are developed in the IVAC project “HyTLC” together with partners from Sudan and Vietnam. The VEs will then be integrated into the digitized master programs of ADaePT. In HyTLCs VE courses, students learn technical knowledge on sustainability issues, and they develop intercultural competences and empathy towards different cultural perspectives regarding sustainability subjects. This empowers them to effectively work on the SDGs in an international environment in the future. Knowledge on sustainability issues can be gained in subject specific VEs like the above mentioned or through interdisciplinary and extra-curricular VEs. The (virtual) Green Camp Summer School is such a VE project with partners from Germany, Israel, Norway, Canada, and Vietnam. It includes three modules, namely “basics of sustainability, economics and technology, and society and politics”. Through the large number of international partners, students benefit by the diverse perspectives. When successfully completing the virtual summer school students receive a sustainability certificate by their university, which can then be attached to the diploma and is proof for acquired intercultural competence and knowledge on specific sustainability issues in an internationally conducted program, which finally benefits students’ own employability. In the VE project “(In)visible Women in Social Sciences and Social Work” between Germany, Finland, and Austria addresses SDG 5 “Gender Equality”. International student groups examine biographies of (female) scientists in the social sciences and social work. They co-create educational comics as a learning artefact. In another project “Digital, Sustainable, Cycle Oriented”, sustainable real estate management is examined through a cultural lens of the three project partners from Germany, Latvia, and Cuba. Teams of three students with one of each country will develop a sustainability concept for real estate and urban quarters with special consideration on life cycle management. This project can be linked to SDG 11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities”.

4 Conclusion VE is an educational framework that can help to provide students with intercultural, digital, and collaborative competences. VE can be combined with existing learning frameworks and environments, and it can also be used to address topics related to sustainability from different perspectives. This combination adds an intercultural component to existing learning experiences.

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Project-based learning and VR-simulations in VE e.g., both have a positive impact on students’ motivation, their collaboration skills, as well as their subject-specific practical skills. Project-based learnings’ key characteristic is the collaboration in a project team where learning artefacts or products are being created. The featured examples however differ in the degree of virtualization. While mainly e-learning tools and traditional information and communication technologies are used in project-based learning to facilitation exchange and communication, VR labs in itself are the tool and space for students to co-create and co-learn in. VRs strength lies in this high level of immersion. This can increase students’ levels of empathy, which is also one of many characteristics of intercultural competence. Using the proven capability of designated VR settings to support empathy-development seems worth exploring in future research. Therefore, further studies on VR-enhanced VEs and their benefits for the development of intercultural competences need to be conducted. VE is a format that can help HEIs to reach the goals laid out in their internationalization and digitalization strategies, as well as improve research and learning regarding the SDGs. VE is therefore an effective digital and international learning framework which can lead worldwide HEIs towards a digital and green transition. Nevertheless, although VE has gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has not yet systematically been adapted to HEIs internationalization or digitalization portfolio to provide access to manifold collaborative learning scenarios along the student journey. However, as outlined in this paper, VE can be applied in a broad range of educational scenarios and complement existing learning frameworks which develop different skills by adding an intercultural and digital component. Therefore, future research should concentrate on the following questions: Which exact skills can be developed in PBVE, which skills can be developed in VR exchanges? What other learning frameworks exist and can be combined with VE? What are the limitations of VE compared to physical exchange programs, especially regarding skill development of students and educators? How can educators be trained to effectively measure the growth of intercultural, collaborative, and digital competences of their students throughout VEs?

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STEM via Co-teaching. e-me Case Study Aikaterini Goltsiou1(B) , Xanthi Kokkinou2 , Vasiliki Karapetsa2 and Chryssa Sofianopoulou1

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1 Harokopio University, Athens, Greece

[email protected] 2 Primary School, Larisa, Greece

Abstract. Protecting the environment through energy saving and the use of alternative energy sources is everyone’s main concern. Students are activated by implementing STEM methodology, in order to provide sustainable solutions and save energy in their school environment, which directly concerns them. The purpose of the paper is to present the implementation of STEM activities by utilizing the digital e-me classroom. e-me is a Greek digital educational environment for students and teachers in primary and secondary education and the connection of its members is done through the Panhellenic School Network. The teaching concerns the blended learning, synchronous, asynchronous and experiential learning via co-teaching as a case study, in the context of the Skills Laboratory, which is an initiative in Greek curriculum and focus to cultivate students’ skills. The activation of the students during the synchronous, asynchronous and experiential learning via co-teaching in the digital environment of e -me, the self-evaluation of students with rubrics, the portfolios of the students, the survey of students’ views with a questionnaire, the final knowledge tests and the observation by the teachers showed that students seem to have acquired knowledge of programming through STEM, cultivated their critical thinking in the environment of the digital classroom e-me, where the visualization and the collaborative environment favored the co-construction of knowledge. Keywords: STEM · Blended learning · Co-teaching

1 Introduction The design of the Skills Laboratory aims at the gradual cultivation of students’ skills, where in each school year the students’ skills are enhanced and cultivated based on the previous year of study. The skills’ Laboratories [1] are structured in four axes, “I live well”, “I take care and act”, “I take care of the environment”, “Create-innovate”. The development of the axes does not follow a specific order. Each axis can act as an amplifier of the previous axis to cultivate skills. The integration and use of ICT in teaching practice cultivates students’ critical thinking. Digital applications offer visualization, the students receive immediate feedback; the intervention of each student is visible and mobilizes team members. In collaborative teaching and learning the teaching can be implemented via blended learning and co-teaching [2]. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 92–101, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_9

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1.1 Pedagogical Use of Digital Tools A wide variety of digital media is used in education, such as Web 2.0 applications and classroom environments as e-me (https://auth.e-me.edu.gr/). Membership in e-me is done through the Panhellenic School Network. It is an educational space for students and teachers, who communicate, collaborate, create and share content. Members in Hives, as the digital classroom is called, utilize shared files, applications and the Wall in a collaborative environment [3]. It is possible to share links and integrate digital applications, such as concept maps mindmeister (https://www.mindmeister.com/), links for synchronous learning Cisco WebEx (https: //www.webex.com/), YouTube, Fotodentro (http://photodentro.edu.gr/aggregator/), Learning apps, Lego Builder (http://www.pub lishyourdesign.com/design), Scratch, Google Docs on the Wall. Digital concept maps are used in many cognitive subjects in education due to the visualization they offer and the collaborative negotiation [4, 5]. Scratch is a programming language and is utilized in Primary and Secondary education, is based on guided discovery [6–8] and play-centered learning [9], whereupon greater student participation is achieved. Lego Education WeDo 2.0 is programmed with Scratch [10–12], contributing to the cultivation of children’s computational thinking and be utilized in the STEM methodology [13–15]. The activation of the students in the teaching is achieved especially with the utilization of.H5P files [16, 17] and imagination and creativity of the students are cultivated with Lego Builder construction simulations. The aim of the paper is to present the implementation of STEM activities by utilizing the digital e -me classroom. Teaching was implemented in blended learning, synchronous, asynchronous, experiential learning with co-teaching. The research questions are: • How can STEM activities be implemented in e-me? • How can the e-me environment be utilized in co-teaching and teachers’ collaboration in blended learning and in experiential learning? • What are the results of the implementation?

2 Methodology The action was implemented in 5th grade students of a Greek primary school, aged 10 years, within the framework of the Skills Laboratory, which was recently integrated in the curriculum of Primary Education, but also with diffusion in the other cognitive subjects related to STEM. Specifically, one hour per week of the Skills Laboratory and then integration into the cognitive subjects of mathematics, physics, computer science, language, for seven (7) weeks. The digital environments of synchronous and asynchronous learning were WebEx meetings and e – me respectively. From e -me digital environment applications and resources were utilized and in addition link were inserted to the WebEx e -learning room, in questionnaire and Google spreadsheets, concept map, construction simulation, Scratch class. Throughout the action, communication and collaboration between teachers and students took place in e -me environment. Two consecutive hours were used, one of the Skills Laboratory and one of Informatics.

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Three teachers collaborated and co-designed the material and the flow of the Skills Laboiratory, two (2) schoolteachers, which were the classroom primary teacher with the ICT teacher, and one primary teacher in synchronous connection. The two participating teachers of the school in experiential learning had split the students into two groups, where each teacher was responsible for supporting one student group. The remote teacher has made the posts on the e-me and supported the flow of activities synchronously. The synchronous learning made from the WebEx accounts of the two teachers, ICT and remote teacher, by using video projector. The students’ activity was related to the study of the conversion of their school into a bioclimatic one, utilizing the sciences of STEM in blended learning in the digital educational environment of e-me and with co-teaching. Access to study material and research was possible through computers in computer lab at school and from home. The students had previously been active in groups, had no experience in synchronous learning and co-teaching. Students participated individually in asynchronous learning and in groups in experiential learning in combination with synchronous learning and co-teaching. Specifically, experiential learning concerned activities at the school, in the computer lab and in the classroom. The topic of the action was to explore the concept “bioclimatic building”, the proposals that had made by the students for the conversion of the school building into a bioclimatic one. The evaluation of the action was made via self-evaluation of the students with rubrics, portfolios of the students, the pre and post questionnaire of students’ views, the final knowledge test of the students and the observation by the teachers. 2.1 Implementation of the SKill’s Lab The students were active in digital and experiential environments and had to make proposals for the conversion of their school building into a bioclimatic one, to research on the environmental conditions of their school, to combine knowledge of physics and mathematics, to draw conclusions and to confirm the possibility of implementing their proposals with models of constructions and robotics. E-me was defined as an environment for collaboration and communication, where students utilized its resources during the process of study and material creation. In e-me the students had accounts from the beginning of the school year, as well as in the online classroom of scratch.mit.edu. All the activities on the Wall of e-me were divided into two parts: A. In the computer lab or in the classroom (synchronous, experiential learning). B. At home (asynchronous learning) where took place further engagement with the sources and submission of assignments. Each post included: • Activity of psychological and cognitive preparation • Teaching activities (oral speech development, exploration, experimentation, collaboration, team and plenary conclusions, programming, constructions.) • Implementation-expansion activity (assignments submission, creation of posts on the Wall of e-me) • Evaluation activity

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The students have dealt with the energy and its effects on the school environment. They searched for concepts, recorded environmental impacts, compared diagrams, proposed solutions for converting their school building to a bioclimatic one, utilized robotic automations and evaluated their effectiveness. Following is the flow of Skills Laboratory on the Wall of the Hive: 1. Completion of a student self-assessment rubric. Conceptual mapping of bioclimatic building concept on mind map (https://www.mindmeister.com/ exploration of prior knowledge). Watching videos about bioclimatic buildings and how to convert traditional buildings to bioclimatic/ oral and written speech (formative assessment). 2. Constructions in a simulator with Lego builder. Utilization of online resources for bioclimatic buildings (cultivation written speech). 3. Story telling on Scratch for the bioclimatic building concept /Scratch class. Temperature and light recording research (Lux Meter app) from classrooms with different orientation and number of students. Recording values in Excel. Files.H5P (drag and drop/ formative assessment). 4. Charts in.H5P files, comparison of results, conclusions, suggestions of solutions. Constructions with Lego WeDo 2.0 and automations in a bioclimatic building as a result of students’ research. 5. Import results into the e-me Files folder. Lego Education WeDo 2.0 constructions and programming with Scratch. Tangible constructions of bioclimatic school. 6. Presentations of students’ work, e-me poll to record students’ views regarding Skills Laboratories. 7. Presentation students’ portfolios, awarding the STEM axis completion title to the students, after their presentations. Students’ self-assessment rubric. In the STEM axis, the cultivation of 21st century learning skills (collaboration, communication, innovation, creativity), social life skills, mind skills with thought routines (feel, observe, act, evaluate), digital skills and programming skills was attempted in digital and experiential learning.

3 Results The results of the action were gradually posted on the e-me and concerned the Scratch projects, the robotic constructions created by the students, the photographic items, the activity of the students as a whole. Teachers and students communicated via e-me messages. In each teacher’s weekly post, students posted their work as comments on the Wall post and received feedback from teachers. The mindmeister concept map was used as initial survey of students’ knowledge about bioclimatic building. Students co-created content in collaborative documents after searching online sources. They posted Scratch works with explanatory speech development, photos of their paintings, text files and their views on the Skills Laboratory. Figure 1 presents the e-me environment (Fig. 1).

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Fig. 1. The top of e-me’s Wall at the Skill’s Lab

Students shared chart e-me content (.H5P files) by comparing temperatures and light levels in different classrooms and locations within the classrooms (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Classroom light levels (Lux) during the day, near a window, door, at the back of the classroom. Students’ Chart e-me content.

They created Scratch projects, made proposals to change their school into a bioclimatic one, painted how they would like their school to be, made simulation and tactile constructions with Lego WeDo 2.0. They suggested placing photovoltaics on the roof of the school and injecting heat into the school building, depending on the needs arising from the orientation of the classrooms. They made automations for the utilization of

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photovoltaics in the regulation of the lighting levels in the building, depending on the solar radiation. The automations also regulated the temperature levels with fans (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Fan with tilt automation

In the context of the overall work, the students explored their topic, made different constructions, experimenting and evaluating the results, improving their constructions, made conclusions, applying exploratory learning. Lego WeDo 2.0 educational material was available at the school, where the software function was discovered. The library of the Lego Education WeDo 2.0 kit was utilized, so that students could explore how to make structures, plan their creations, reject or accept solutions, and then make their own constructions [10]. In addition, students experimented with learning the Scratch programming language and using it to program Lego WeDo 2.0. In each team a Hive assistant was appointed, who understood better the digital environment and applications and worked in support of his team too. All students’ works were presented in plenary. The third teacher remotely watched the experiential work. 3.1 Evaluation of the SKill’s Lab-Quantitative Research The activity of the students during the implementation, the results of the action (digital and tangible material) and the.H5P files were used were the formative assessment. The

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self-assessment of students with rubrics (pre and post) related to STEM, the investigation of students ‘previous experience in the e-me environment and their views on the use of the platform with pre and post questionnaire, the knowledge test about programming, the students’ portfolios, were the final evaluation. In addition, the project calendar and the observation made by the teachers were used. Frequencies of the variables were calculated in the questionnaires and rubrics and are presented in the following tables. From the initial rubric it emerged that the students had no STEM experience. The pre survey questionnaire of the 17 students highlighted students’ lack of experience in co-teaching and blended learning. In addition, they had no knowledge of robotics and programming in Scratch. They had used the e-me environment and worked in groups experientially. The views of 14 students about e-me were recorded in a final questionnaire and the results are presented in Table 1. The recording was done in Google forms on a five-point Likert scale (1 Not at all -5 Very well), and it emerged that students are familiar with e-learning and e-me. Students believe that e-me is easy to use, it helps interaction, it is enjoyable and the content structure of the Skills Laboratory is understandable. Students also like to use e-me. Table 1. Post questionnaire of students’ views about e-me. Post questionnaire of students’ views about e-me

1–2 3–5 (Not at all- (Quite -Well-Very well) a little) % %

Do you have experience in e-learning?

0

100

How well do you know e-me?

14.3

85.7

The e-me platform is easy to use

7.1

92.9

In e-me I can deal with Skills Lab at any time

14.3

85.7

It is understandable how to work in the e-me Skills Lab

7.1

92.9

The content of the Skills Lab in e-me is clear

14.3

85.7

The e-me platform helps me interact with my classmates 7.1 and teachers

92.9

I like to use the e-me platform

92.9

7.1

From the initial rubric of student self-assessment and teachers’ observation, it emerged that students had no STEM experience. In addition, they had no knowledge of robotics and programming on Scratch, nor did they develop digital skills, collaboration and team communication. With the final rubric of self-assessment, the investigation of the students’ views on the action with a final questionnaire, the portfolios, the evaluation of the knowledge that the students gained from the action, the observation by the teachers was evaluated the achievement of the objectives of the action, which concerned the utilization of the e-me environment for the implementation of the Skills Laboratory with orientation in STEM and in fact as a blended learning environment and with co-teaching. The Table 2 presents

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the results of the recordings of the initial and final rubric of teacher observation, which shows that students have made progress in cultivating the skills of robotics, programming, collaboration and communication in the team. There was a small discrepancy in the recording of indicators between students ‘self-assessment and teachers’ observation, which means that students also need to cultivate self-assessment skills. Table 2. Pre and Post rubric observation by the teachers. STEM tasks

1–2 (Not at alla little) %

3–5 (Quite -Well-Very well) %

Pre

Post

Pre

Post

Internet research

70.5

11.7

29.5

88.3

Recording of internet search results (text)

100

11.7

0

88.3

Presentation of results in Scratch

100

11.7

0

88.3

Measurement study

100

11.7

0

88.3

Communication of conclusions in the group

100

23.6

0

76.4

Team collaboration

100

23.6

0

76.4

Proposals of solutions

100

23.6

0

76.4

Robotics model construction

100

23.6

0

76.4

Creating automations

100

29.5

0

70.5

Code writing for automation

100

82.4

0

17.6

Presentation of the results of the study

92.3

82.4

7.7

17.6

The students’ assessment test for programming and robotics knowledge was done two (2) months after the end of the STEM axis, in order to establish the knowledge. It showed that most of the students have acquired programming knowledge, know how to create scripts in Scratch, how to connect the programming language with Lego WeDo 2.0. However, they need extra practice. The combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning with co-teaching in experiential learning contributed to the acquisition of knowledge in STEM action, to the acquisition of programming knowledge in robotics, to the utilization of the e-me environment, to the cultivation of digital skills.

4 Conclusions The research concerned the utilization of the e-me environment for the implementation of the Skills Laboratory oriented to STEM, via blended learning with co-teaching. The evaluation of the action as a whole highlighted the following. From the observation by the teachers, the portfolios of the students, the exploration of the views of the students, it emerged that the students cultivated their digital skills through the activity in e-me,

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gained knowledge of programming and robotics, realized the value of mathematics and physics in authentic learning situations. In addition, students developed the skills of collaboration, communication, self-assessment, critical thinking and creativity in trying to solve a problem in the school environment. The creation of a pleasant atmosphere between students and teachers was recorded by the teachers in the digital classroom, evident in the communication area of the plenary. The combination of synchronous, asynchronous and experiential learning with coteaching has benefited the students in activation and creativity. The e-me environment was utilized with positive results in remote co-teaching and teacher collaboration activities, supporting STEM action. The acquisition of knowledge was the result of students’ interaction and activation both digitally and experientially through visualization of the result [6–8] in the digital classroom and with robotics models [10–12]. The work supports the studies related to the utilization of STEM [13–15] by contributing to learning through a pleasant atmosphere of student creation and collaboration. It is proposed the distance collaboration of schools for the Skills Laboratories as an action research for improving students’skills and the improvement of e-me, which concerns the possibilities of communication between teachers and students, the possibility of assigning tasks by all participating teachers and ensuring the preservation of Hives’ Files from permanent deletion. Furthermore as part of the formative assessment, the existence of statistics on the use of classroom resources by students would contribute to the supportive intervention of teachers.

References 1. IEP Homepage. http://iep.edu.gr/en/psifiako-apothetirio/skill-labs. Last accessed 24 May 2022 2. Al-Maroof, R., Al-Qaysi, N., Salloum, S.A., Al-Emran, M.: Blended learning acceptance: A systematic review of information systems models. Technology, Knowledge and Learning 1–36 (2021) 3. Megalou, E., Koutoumanos, A., Tsilivigos, Y., Kaklamanis, C.: Introducing “e-me”, the hellenic digital educational platform for pupils and teachers. edulearn15 Proceedings, pp. 4858–4868 (2015). https://library.iated.org/view/MEGALOU2015INT 4. Arulchelvan, P., Veramuthu, P., Singh, P., Yunus, M.: iGen Digital Learners: Let’s Collaborate via Coggle. Creat. Educ. 10, 178–189 (2019). https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2019.101014 5. Arulselvi, E.: Mind maps in classroom teaching and learning. Excellence in Education Journal 6(2) (2017). Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1210135.pdf 6. Fagerlund, J., Häkkinen, P., Vesisenaho, M., Viiri, J.: Computational thinking in programming with Scratch in primary schools: A systematic review. Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ. 29(1), 12–28 (2021) 7. Pekta¸s, E., Sullivan, F.R.: Storytelling through Programming in Scratch: Interdisciplinary Integration in the Elementary English Language Arts Classroom (2021). Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352260595 8. Pérez-Marín, D., Hijón-Neira, R., Bacelo, A., Pizarro, C.: Can computational thinking be improved by using a methodology based on metaphors and scratch to teach computer programming to children? Comput. Hum. Behav. 105, 105849 (2020) 9. Vygotsky, L.S.: Play and its role in the mental development of the child. Sov. Psychol. 5(3), 6–18 (1967). https://doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-040505036

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10. Pinto-Llorente, A.M.: Developing computational thinking using lego education WeDo at 4th grade of primary education: a case study. In: Research Anthology on Computational Thinking, Programming, and Robotics in the Classroom, pp. 156–174. IGI Global (2022) 11. Khodabandelou, R., Alhoqani, K.: The effects of WeDo 2.0 robot workshop on Omani grade 5 students’ acquisition of the computational thinking concepts and acceptance of the robot technology. Education 3–13, 1–17 (2022) 12. Çakır, R., Korkmaz, Ö., ˙Idil, Ö., Erdo˘gmu¸s, F.U.: The effect of robotic coding education on preschoolers’ problem solving and creative thinking skills. Thinking Skills and Creativity 40, 100812 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2021.100812 13. Angeli, C.: The effects of scaffolded programming scripts on pre-service teachers’ computational thinking: Developing algorithmic thinking through programming robots. Int. J. Child-Computer Intera. 31, 100329 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2021.100329 14. Fragou, O., Goumopoulos, C., Tsompanos, C.: STEM oriented online platforms embracing the community of practice model: a comparative study and design guidelines. J. Univ. Comp. Sci. 25(12), 1554–1588 (2019). Retrieved from: http://jucs.org/jucs_25_12/stem_oriented_o nline_platforms/jucs_25_12_1554_1588_fragou.pdf 15. Komis, V., Misirli, A.: The environments of educational robotics in Early Childhood Education: towards a didactical analysis. Edu. J. Univ. Patras UNESCO Chair 3(2), 238–246 (2016). Retrieved from: http://academia.lis.upatras.gr/index.php/ejupUNESCOchair/article/ view/2751/3017 16. Singleton, R., Charlton, A.: Creating H5P content for active learning. Pacific J. Technol. Enhanced Learn. 2(1), 13–14 (2020) 17. Unsworth, A.J., Posner, M.G.: Case study: using H5P to design and deliver interactive laboratory practicals. Essays Biochem. 66(1), 19–27 (2022)

Collaborative Augmented Reality Tools for Behavioral Lessons ´ Ana Dom´ınguez1(B) , Alvaro Cabrero1 , Bruno Sim˜ oes1 , Giuseppe Chiazzese2 , 2 2 Mariella Farella , Marco Arrigo , Luciano Seta2 , Antonella Chifari2 , Crispino Tosto2 , Sui Lin Goei3 , Eleni Mangina4 , and Stefano Masneri5 1

2

Vicomtech Foundation, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), San Sebasti´ an, Spain [email protected] National Research Council of Italy - Institute for Educational Technology, Palermo, Italy 3 Vrije Universiteit (VU), Amsterdam, Netherlands 4 University College of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland 5 University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), San Sebasti´ an, Spain

Abstract. Multi-user Augmented Reality experiences have proven useful in increasing user engagement and facilitating the learning of new concepts. Thanks to the new generation of Augmented Reality frameworks for smartphones and tablets, their daily use in the classroom is becoming more common. In this paper, we present the work done towards the implementation of classroom-based behavioural lessons based on collaborative Augmented Reality environments. We have developed a library that enables multi-user Augmented Reality applications and have used it to implement some scenarios developed in the context Positive Behaviour Intervention and Support framework. Keywords: Augmented Reality · Collaborative learning applications · Education · Behavioural lessons · PBIS

1

· Multi-user

Introduction

Augmented Reality (AR) experiences are thriving and becoming increasingly important in the educational landscape to increase student motivation, engagement and knowledge retention. In fact, AR can be a breakthrough in education by transforming the entire learning experience. AR makes it possible to visualise computer-generated objects on a device while viewing the real world with a camera in real time. This allows students to learn in an immersive environment where 3D augmentations and rich visual animations complement textbooks with interactive content. AR makes learning more engaging and effortless by simplifying concepts. All this makes students’ attitudes more positive and increases their willingness to collaborate with other students and the teacher. Given the above benefits and its increasing popularity, AR has become an active research topic. However, the possibilities for interaction and collaboration c The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023  M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 102–109, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_10

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still need much improvement. In this context, the ARETE1 H2020 project is working on a set of tools and applications with a strong focus on interactivity, collaboration and multi-user capabilities. The project is investigating the impact of AR in different subjects, including the acquisition and learning of behavioural routines in the classroom. In this paper, we describe novel multi-user AR activities that relate collaborative behaviour lessons developed within the framework of Positive Behaviour Interventions and Support (PBIS2 ). PBIS, often referred to as School-wide PBIS (Sw-PBIS) when implemented as a school-wide approach, is a framework originating in the United States for creating positive school climates. It has also been implemented in many other countries such as Australia, Canada, Norway, and the Netherlands [1]. Collaboration and interaction are essential factors in the achievement of behavioural skills as they allow students to reach a goal as a team. This work demonstrates the potential of multi-user mechanisms in the augmented space, that enable students to interact and practise a behaviour lesson together. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 describes the related work. Section 3 presents the PBIS framework and the PBIS AR learning experience designed in the project. Section 4 describes the mechanisms that enable students collaboration through three examples. Finally, Sect. 5 presents the conclusions and future work.

2

Related Work

A systematic literature review [2] on interactive, multi-user and collaborative apps for education shows that AR apps are used in many settings. This is due to the importance of the intrinsic motivation of students that comes from playing the applications [3,4]. Some of the applications focus on promoting positive behaviour in kids, like SeAdventure [5], which focus on environmental education and management, while others focus directly on a specific school subject (e.g., ASTRA EAGLE [6,7] for math, or [8] for learning properties of light). Other examples include the work of [9], where students take turns moving the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and solving it together, or [10], which describes a whole-body interactive learning game for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) where participants work together to find a solution. However, most of the studies neglect the human collaboration factor and very few AR apps focus on proactively promoting positive behaviour. To address this gap, we identified, designed and implemented a set of classroom-based behavioural lessons that could foster interaction and collaboration.

3

PBIS and Behavioural Lessons

PBIS supports schools in creating (school-wide) systems that establish the social climate and individualized behavior supports needed for a safe and effective 1 2

https://www.areteproject.eu/. https://www.pbis.org/.

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learning environment for all students [11]. Research has shown that PBIS contributes to a better classroom learning climate, reduced student segregation and improved academic achievement [12–14]. Behavioural expectations are taught directly and continuously in the same manner as academic skills. They are defined, modelled, practised, provided with corrective and positive feedback, and encouraged in the natural and applied setting. In addition, behavioural expectations are taught using real-life behaviour examples that are observable, relevant, and doable, in real contexts or settings within the school. The template we propose for a scripted behavioural PBIS lesson is described in Table 1 and is based on the practises defined in [15]. This template is also the basis for the technological affordances of PBIS lessons using the AR application developed in the ARETE project, described in Sect. 3.1. Table 1. Behavioural PBIS lesson structure (Schoolwide) Behavioural expectation (expected behaviour): This entails the following specific behaviour in this setting: Lesson objective: Subgoals: PBIS value: Starter/prompt/remind Short and tangible, attract attention by showing/telling (approx.1 min). Teach: instruction and explain Includes stating lesson objectives and making them visible. Modeling Teacher models expected behaviour: 3 example behaviour, 1 non-example behaviour. Practice A set of evidence-based interventions and strategies used to teach, supervise and monitor both non-classroom and classroom settings. Reflection/review Give and solicit the students feedback and deliver consequences as necessary. Acquirement and retention Post-lesson: call attention to practice behavioural expectation daily during one week. Evaluation Post-lesson: evaluate learned behaviour with students after one week

3.1

The PBIS AR Learning Experience

The PBIS AR learning experience consists of embedding AR in the learning process of the behavioural lessons explained above and use it as a support for behavioural teaching, practice and reinforce phases. Figure 1 shows the principal characteristics of the PBIS AR learning experience. The student is facilitated in using AR to gain autonomy in managing expected behaviours in school settings and applying different social skills according to the school values. In our vision,

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AR technologies can be effectively integrated in PBIS learning phases to allow a new PBIS AR Learning experience. To achieve this, we introduce the concept of AR Behavioural Learning Space (AR-BLS), a physical learning space enriched with AR Behavioural Learning Resources (AR-BLRs) specifically created by the teacher and uploaded to the ARETE 3D digital repository3 for behavioural teaching. The PBIS AR learning experience, is supported by the following equipment: XR ready-to-use mobile devices, a PBIS-AR mobile App and support for the ARLEM-compliant [16] Authoring toolkit MirageXR4 for the creation of AR-BLRs by teachers. These AR-BLRs are created in specific school settings to provide a more realistic learning experience for students. The PBIS-AR mobile App allows students to play marker-less AR-BLRs collected in the ARETE repository and created through the MirageXR Autoring toolkit but also to engage them in AR marker-based quiz games for practising and reinforcing the behaviour learned. The AR-markers required by this second activity are distributed among different settings of the school allowing student to retain the behaviour in the right context, and gain points and badges, according to a reward system. The app also provides students with interactive and collaborative learning activities with multiple users to improve their behavioural skills. Finally, student interactions and experiences are tracked using the Experience API (xAPI)5 , which tracks students interaction with the system and provides feedback on the learning process [17]. The combination of these technologies creates an example of a technological ecosystem for the creation of AR behavioural lessons. Section 4 presents the first prototypes of AR-BLRs for the creation of interactive and collaborative multiuser activities that allow students to test and reinforce the behavioural skills they have learned.

4

Multi-user Activities Within Behavioural Lessons

In order to give the students the opportunity to practice the behavioural skills described in Sect. 3 and to analyse the benefits of collaboration in the learning process, three AR multi-user examples were developed: – Greeting others: Greeting others is a role-play game in which students learn how to greet others through a quiz (see Fig. 2 (A)). Two students participate in the same session with their own devices, one as a teacher and the other as a student. They then scan a marker and see the augmented characters along with a question asking them to choose how to greet the other. Only when both have chosen their answer the characters show the greetings through synchronised animations. If the animations are played and the answer is wrong, they are asked to try again. Otherwise, students are rewarded and the game is completed. 3 4 5

https://arete.ucd.ie. Enriched Mirage XR for creating AR-BLRs https://wekit-ecs.com/documents/ miragexr. https://xapi.com.

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PBIS AR Learning Experience Learning outcomes The ability to manage one’s expected behaviour in accordance with the school’s values. An improvement in social skills. A decrease in the emission of problem behaviour. A more relaxed and calmer attitude in the school settings.

Equipment • Tablet/mobile devices XR ready. • PBIS-AR mobile App. • MirageXR Authoring toolkit. • Internet connection.

Audience Professional training of teachers in the creation of AR-BLR. Creation of new skills in the use of the MirageXR Authoring toolkit. About five meetings were held to train the teachers. The PBIS-AR mobile App can be used by students without any specific technological skills. Apps can be used in collaborative activities. Supported languages: Italian and English.There are no security risks. Ux Design Self-paced and multi-user. Used at school by a student during the lesson studies. Playing of a scene to model expected behavior. Examples of behavioral scenarios specifically used in the actual school setting in which AR characters perform good or bad example of behavior. Using AR marker-based quiz games for practicing and reinforcing the behaviour learned and multi-user interactions tasks between users, where two students can interpret a character’s role to perform expected behavioral actions. Distribution PBIS-AR mobile App install required. The AR contents can be distributed in the ARETE AR repository.

Media production Building of Augmented Reality Behavioral Learning Resources (AR-BLR), scenes in the school location according to good and bad story-boards of behaviour, using 3D characters with atomic action associated. The teacher could create new AR behavioural contents according to the behavioural lesson publish them in the ARETE repository and organizing them according to their group of students. Multi-user interaction activities on specific behaviours integrated in the PBIS-AR mobile App.

Success metrics Scales about teacher experience, sense of efficacy, usability; teacher ratings of students’ behaviors; # of expected behaviors emitted; # of interactions with AR contents; # of successful AR multi-user interaction activated; xAPI data.

Expectations The learning of behavioral expectations playing different 3D AR behavioral learning resources, practicing behavioral learning engaging in AR quiz games and performing multi-user interactive AR behavioral activities It’s possible to think about the possibility to realize in real-time behavioral scenes localized in specific setting at the schools. The author of the scene will thus be able to demonstrate effective mastery of behavioural practice and be able to compare himself with his peers engaged in other similar activities. It is necessary to think about the possibility of making AR objects interact with each other in order to increase the possibilities of implementing more complex and realistic scenarios. ROI The opportunity of creating new open and reusable educational behavioural resources, the AR-BLRs, to be included within behavioural lessons. The use of the application makes it possible to enrich behavioural lessons without having to resort to rather expensive and complicated video modelling techniques. It also allows examples of behavioural expectations to be disseminated easily and cheaply.

Fig. 1. The PBIS AR Learning Experience canvas covers all the aspects related to the PBIS Learning experience, including the skills that the students achieve, the equipment needed to carry out the lesson, the target audience and the creation of the media content. It also describes the user experience, the distribution of the content, the metrics used to evaluate the students, the expectations and the benefits of implementing the experience.

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– Stand up for others: This is another role-play activity in which two students learn how to behave when they see a group of students laughing at other (see Fig. 2 (B)). First, both students choose a character and scan a marker to visualise some animations showing a group of students laughing at a victim. Both students are considered as helpers and decide through a quiz how they would help the other. When both choose an answer, the characters show their choice through synchronised animations on both devices. If the answer is wrong, they are asked to try again. Otherwise, the students are rewarded and the game is over. – Keep the workspace organised: The third scenario differs from the previous ones both in the type of interaction and in the resources needed. In this case, two students learn how to organise the workspace by interacting with virtual objects that they visualise on a real surface (see Fig. 2 (C)). First, they choose a surface on which they can place a drawer with different objects stacked on it. Then, they are asked to take the Maths book that is at the bottom of the drawer. So to take it, they have to take out all objects. Therefore, the students take turns to drag the objects and put them on the surface. Then, they answer a quiz and think about how much time it took them to find the materials they need because of the lack of order in the drawer. When they both answer the question, they are requested to tidy up the unnecessary items and they take turns again to put them away. Finally, when only the maths book is left on the surface, the application tells them they are ready for the lesson. The complete sequences can be visualised in this demo videos6 and the code of each example can be found in GitHub7 . As can be seen, these examples have been designed to allow students to work in pairs, each with their own device, to allow multiple users to interact in the augmented space. This is done through the Orkestra library [18], which provides technology-agnostic communication between users connected to the same session. The library is based on web technologies and uses websocket server to manage all connections and provide data persistence. However, most of the logic is on the client side, and a Unity port is available to simplify its use in different mobile devices.

Fig. 2. Multi-user scenarios 6 7

https://vicomtech.box.com/s/rws1er6dp0uum3ei0x9ren4n42ircwu7. https://github.com/tv-vicomtech/PBIS-AR-Demos/.

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The mechanisms necessary to enable communication between the students’ devices and maintain data coherence are: detecting the connection of both users, adapting the visualisation of the characters to the respective user perspective, synchronising the interaction and animations, and tracking the movement of the scene objects. In order to enable all these requirements, Orkestra sends specific notifications between the users at different dispatch rates. In this sense, the third scenario represents much more complex interactions, as the second student has to perceive the movement of the dragged object in real time, which requires a high number of messages per second. Therefore, it was necessary to find a balance between the smoothness of the object movements and the number of messages to avoid low performance of the application. The tests carried out have shown that Orkestra is able to generate and receive events up to a rate of 30 times per second with an average latency (time between sending and receiving) of 205 milliseconds, allowing users to experience fluid interactions. In addition, the library can be used on both Android and iOS devices without any significant difference in performance.

5

Conclusions and Future Work

In this work we described an application of multi-user AR technology in the context of the PBIS framework. The examples developed are used to promote positive behaviour between students by letting them to interact with each other and by showing them the expected behaviour when they do not perform the appropriate and expected action. The activities described here are currently being integrated into a single AR app, which will be validated in a pilot with several PBIS schools in the Netherlands and Italy by comparing the progress of pupils with a control group not using the AR application. Acknowledgments. This research has been supported by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 856533, project ARETE (Augmented Reality Interactive Educational System).

References 1. Nelen, M.J., Willemse, T.M., van Oudheusden, M.A., Goei, S.L.: Cultural challenges in adapting SWPBIS to a dutch context. J. Posit. Behav. Interv. 22(2), 105–115 (2020) 2. Masneri, S., Dom´ınguez, A., Zorrilla, M., Larra˜ naga, M., Arruarte, A.: Interactive, collaborative and multi-user augmented reality applications in primary and secondary education. a systematic review. Accepted Publicat. JUCS - J. Univ. Comput. Sci. 28(6), 564–590 (2022) 3. Johnson, W.L., Rickel, J.W., Lester, J.C., et al.: Animated pedagogical agents: Face-to-face interaction in interactive learning environments. Int. J. Artif. Intell. Educ. 11(1), 47–78 (2000) 4. Laal, M., Ghodsi, S.M.: Benefits of collaborative learning. Procedia. Soc. Behav. Sci. 31, 486–490 (2012)

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5. Veronica, R., Calvano, G.: Promoting sustainable behavior using serious games: Seadventure for ocean literacy. IEEE Access 8, 196931–196939 (2020) 6. Ke, F.: A case study of computer gaming for math: Engaged learning from gameplay? Comput. Educ. 51(4), 1609–1620 (2008) 7. de Oliveira Malaquias, F.F., Malaquias, R.F., Lamounier Jr,, E.A., Cardoso, A.: Virtualmat: A serious game to teach logical-mathematical concepts for students with intellectual disability. Technol. Disability 25(2), 107–116 (2013) 8. Oh, S., Park, K., Kwon, S., So, H.-J.: Designing a multi-user interactive simulation using ar glasses. In: roceedings of the TEI 2016: Tenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, pp. 539–544 (2016) 9. Boonbrahm, P., Kaewrat, C., Boonbrahm, S.: Interactive augmented reality: a new approach for collaborative learning. In: Zaphiris, P., Ioannou, A. (eds.) LCT 2016. LNCS, vol. 9753, pp. 115–124. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978-3-319-39483-1 11 10. Takahashi, I., Oki, M., Bourreau, B., Kitahara, I., Suzuki, K.: An empathic design approach to an augmented gymnasium in a special needs school setting. Int. J. Design 12(3) (2018) 11. Greenwood, C.R., Kratochwill, T.R., Clements, M.: Schoolwide prevention models: Lessons learned in elementary schools. Guilford Press (2008) 12. Bradshaw, C.P., Mitchell, M.M., Leaf, P.J.: Examining the effects of schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports on student outcomes: Results from a randomized controlled effectiveness trial in elementary schools. J. Posit. Behav. Interv. 12(3), 133–148 (2010) 13. Sørlie, M.-A., Ogden, T.: School-wide positive behavior support-norway: Impacts on problem behavior and classroom climate. Int. J. School Educ. Psychol. 3(3), 202–217 (2015) 14. McIntosh, K., Reinke, W.M., Kelm, J.L., Sadler, C.A.: Gender differences in reading skill and problem behavior in elementary school. J. Posit. Behav. Interv. 15(1), 51–60 (2013) 15. Newcomer, L., Colvin, G., Lewis, T.J.: Behavior supports in nonclassroom settings. In: Handbook of Positive Behavior Support, pp. 497–520. Springer (2009). https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09632-2 21 16. Wild, F., Perey, C., Hensen, B., Klamma, R.: IEEE standard for augmented reality learning experience models. In: 2020 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE), pp. 1–3. IEEE (2020) 17. Farella, M., Arrigo, M., Chiazzese, G., Tosto, C., Seta, L., Taibi, D.: Integrating xapi in ar applications for positive behaviour intervention and support. In: 2021 International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT), pp. 406– 408. IEEE (2021) 18. Masneri, S., et al.: Collaborative multi-user augmented reality solutions in the classroom. In: Auer, M.E., Hortsch, H., Michler, O., K¨ ohler, T. (eds.) ICL 2021. LNNS, vol. 390, pp. 1004–1011. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978-3-030-93907-6 106

Perception of Collaborative Student-Led Tutorials with Laboratory Experiments in e-Learning Konrad Boettcher(B)

and Sabrina Grünendahl

TU Dortmund University, 44227 Dortmund, Germany [email protected]

Abstract. In university teaching of fluid mechanics, student-led tutorials are often offered in addition to lectures, exercises, and laboratory experiments. In these, students learn collaboratively in small groups by working together on problems and tutors provide assistance. Due to the Corona pandemic, it was necessary to switch to an online format. Students rated the tutorials very highly and slightly better online than on-site. Conducting real and virtual experiments was rated relatively slightly better in the on-site format. A faculty-wide survey comparing different online tutorial formats shows a clear dependence on available hardware. With optimal equipment, collaborative online formats are rated as well as on-site. Perception and implementation thus also clearly depend on the hardware equipment, but more clearly on the educational setting. Students like student tutors best in online formats with the ability to ask live questions. The tutors coped very well with the requirements. Thus, after some initial additional effort due to the technical challenge, an effective replacement for the presence tutorials could be created, which were evaluated as a good starting point. Keywords: Collaborative learning · Remote and virtual laboratories · Digital transition in education

1 Introduction Process engineering is a fundamental engineering discipline and deals with technical and economical conversion processes. Lectures, exercises, laboratory experiments and student-led tutorials are mainly used in university teaching. Constructive Alignment is a suitable basis for the pedagogical design of such courses [1]. With this framework, learning outcomes, teaching-learning activity, and learning achievement assessment are thought of holistically and made transparent to students. The elaboration of this concept was deprived of its basis by lockdowns in the Corona pandemic, because the lack of presence prevented some teaching-learning activities. This is especially relevant to the collaborative work and learning of students in small tutorial groups. Due to the lockdown announced at short notice, no mature, new technical or pedagogical concepts were possible. Nevertheless, many students also recognized advantages in distance teaching in process engineering [2]. This paper presents an ad hoc solution of the Fundamentals of © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 110–122, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_11

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Fluid Mechanics course in which student-led tutorials could continue with collaborative learning. In these tutorials, students work together in small groups on fluid mechanical problems under supervision and guidance of the tutors. During the Corona pandemic, the usual format was not possible due to a lockdown of the university. An effort was made to make collaborative learning possible via videoconferencing software such as Webex or Zoom, the use of breakout rooms, and collaborative working tools like MS Whiteboard. Several research questions are addressed in this contribution and collected in Table 1, numbered with the code RQ. Table 1. Addressed research questions Method RQ1

What is students’ perception of on-site and online tutorials and what are the differences?

RQ2

How was the transformation of simple experiments in the student-led tutorials into a online version perceived by the students?

RQ3

How do the evaluations differ with other ways of conducting student-led tutorials at distance learning?

RQ4

How well did the tutors manage in the distance format?

These results provide insight into how mathematically-challenging engineering education can be conducted collaboratively online and what limitations or advantages it faces compared to on-site formats. This is not limited to tutorials but also gives an insight into collaborative work in distance laboratory experiments such as remote labs or virtual labs. The on-site and online tutorials are described. Following this, the methods used to obtain information to answer the research questions will be described and the results presented. The research questions are answered in the last section.

2 Education in Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics 2.1 Lecture, Exercise, and Laboratory Experiments: On-site and Online Fluid mechanics is an important sub-field in process engineering, as it provides important basic knowledge for other courses. It is taught in the third semester of the bachelor’s program of biochemical and chemical engineering with approx. 200 students. Since the processes have to be modeled mathematically for optimization, teaching often takes place more intensively at the mathematical level and at the same semester as the lectures on higher mathematics required for fluid mechanics. This places a significant demand on many students. To facilitate the learning process a textbook is used [3], an Advance Organizer [4], and integrated laboratories [5] enable experiments.

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2.2 Student-Led Tutorials: On-Site At many universities in Germany, besides the lecture, exercise and laboratory courses, student-led tutorials are offered so that students can practice collaboratively the complex subject matter in small groups. Those tutorials are under guidance and supervision by students from a higher semester. Nevertheless, the students get other explanations at a more closely hierarchical level and level of knowledge. The on-site course was extended by weekly tutorials in eight groups of about 20 students each, which was led by graduate or undergraduate students of higher semesters. There were two tutors in each tutorial group. A sample solution, explanations and a didactic concept for specific tasks were provided to the tutors by the employees at the fluid mechanics working group. Due to the smaller size of the tutorial groups, didactic methods from normal pedagogy were used for action-oriented teaching. The concepts used to strengthen cooperative work were Station learning, gallery walk, group mix method or group puzzle and students teaching students [6]. In the tutorials students worked collaboratively in small groups of two to five students on one or two tables. The tutors were instructed not to write down complete solutions but only the approaches. The students also had the possibility to conduct simple experiments. The integrated laboratories [5] in virtual reality of [7, 8] were used, but all labs here were at level 2 of the classification (guided inquiry) by [9, 10]. 2.3 Student-Led Tutorials: Online An attempt was made to enable as much of the collaborative nature of the tutorial as possible during the Corona pandemic. In the student-led tutorial, 8 groups were offered, each with two tutors at different times. Students were able to sign up for the groups, with a maximum of 30 students now allowed per group. The students were given the tasks to be worked on by the research assistants of fluid mechanics. The tasks were discussed in advance with the tutors via video conferencing tool. Technical solutions were explored with the tutors, which should enable as many students as possible to actively participate in the tutorial. The students were supposed to calculate and discuss the tasks together on a worksheet in a breakout room. According to the authors, this cooperative form of learning could be better in online than in on-site format, because all students could see what was written and nothing would be covered up, and they could write and work on a worksheet at the same time together. Technical realization appeared to be the biggest hurdle. The students’ supposed hardware was divided into four groups and is given in Table 2, coded with H. To bring the students with H3 up to H2, a workaround was worked out. The students should connect a tablet to the computer. Apps were recommended with which the tablet can be used as a graphic board of the PC. Students with H4 should follow the collaborative work via smartphone and solve the tasks on a paper, take photos and put the photos in the shared worksheet. Tutors tried to assign students of the same hardware level to the same breakout rooms. Experiments conducted on portable experimental rigs in pre-Corona tutorials were shown via video and discussed according to the pre-Corona course (Level 0: demonstration inquiry). The tutors used the VR lab in distance teaching. Simple experiments

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were planned in the way of a build-at-home lab, which students could construct themselves using household items. These were experiments on displacement and Archimedes buoyancy. Table 2. Considered levels of students’ hardware Supposed levels of students’ hardware H1 Conference-ready hardware (micro and audio output) with an active stylus. Students should be able to write, highlight, and work collaboratively in the shared worksheet without difficulty H2 Conference-ready hardware with passive stylus. Students should be able to highlight without problems in the shared worksheet but write less well and thus will be still able to participate acceptably in the collaborative format H3 Conference-ready hardware without a stylus. Students cannot write and can only mark with the mouse and thus only participate with problems H4 No conference-ready hardware but a smartphone. Students have significant difficulty participating in collaborative work

3 Results The evaluation is based on surveys of students in the course and faculty, as well as impressions of tutors and tutorial instructors of the academic staff. Unfortunately, the influence on the exam results is not evaluated because the exams in the Corona pandemic are not comparable due to the subject content, the pandemic situation, the hygiene regulations and especially due to organizational peculiarities: The exams written in the Corona pandemic did not count for the maximum number of attempts allowed, as a result of which many students attended the exam without preparation in order to get another sample exam. All evaluation is based on mean values, free text answers and the qualitative impression of the authors. A list of methods is given in Table 3.

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M1 A short single-choice survey with several questions was distributed in each on-site tutorial group at the end of each tutorial, in which students could indicate their perceptions of the tutorial in a tally sheet on a voluntary basis. Qualitative opinions could be added by handwritten comments. In the final tutorial, a more extensive single-choice evaluation was also conducted on each tutorial group and the tutorial itself M2 A short single-choice survey with several questions in each online tutorial group at the end of each tutorial. Thus, in the distance tutorial, the tutorial-related surveys were conducted via the video conferencing tool M3 A faculty-wide single-choice online survey in the LCMS Moodle about online teaching and the comparison of different formats, which was conducted after the first semester in the Corona pandemic. Faculty chairs and research groups adopted different approaches to maintaining tutorials, distance, and e-learning, which were compared in the survey. The evaluation is more detailed than in the literature [2] and is focused on the tutorials M4 Interview of tutors after the completion of the course. Since the tutors were also briefed on the tutorials, pedagogical methods, technology, and assignments while the course was in progress, impressions from the supervisors of the tutorials are available. The same applies to the kick-off meetings between tutorial supervisors and tutors

3.1 Results of M1 The mean values of the results of the survey on the tutorials are shown in Fig. 1 for all 13 tutorials. There are 4 rating levels: 1 = very good, 2 = good, 3 = moderate, 4 = poor. The questions asked were about the professional expertise of the tutors and the understandability and comprehensibility of the explanations. The third question refers to the planning, implementation, and materials of the tutorial. An average of N = 88 students participated in the survey per tutorial session. Experiments were conducted in tutorial no. 3 (Archimedean buoyancy) and no. 5 (Bernoulli’s principle and continuity). Qualitative free text comments were partially added to the survey forms: great experiment (N = 3), more experiments (3), experiments were: very good (5), good (3) and not good (1), experiments promote understanding (1). VR experiments took place in tutorials no. 6 (visualization types) and in no. 12 (ratios of forces). The tutorials in which experiments were used are in the average of all tutorials, the evaluation of the VR experiments slightly better, which can also be explained by the “aha effect” of an unusual technique [11]. The best tutorial no. 13 dealt with an old exam task including the allocation of points and the explanation that no calculation paths and final results, but mainly physically correct approaches are rated. This reflects the approach to implement Constructive Alignment, as the learning outcome is not calculator skills or memorization of definitions, but interpretation and application of fluid physics. This was obviously well received by the students.

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Fig. 1. Average student ratings for the student-guided collaborative on-site tutorials no. 1–13 for the questions about professional expertise, comprehensibility of tutor explanations, and tutorial content, with an average of 88 students for each. 1 = very good, 2 = good, 3 = moderate, 4 = poor.

3.2 Results of M2 The mean values of the results of the online survey on the tutorial sessions are shown in Fig. 2 for all 13 tutorial sessions. An average of N = 51 students per tutorial session participated in the survey. The experiments in the VR environment were conducted on session no. 1 (ratio of forces) and no. 5 (visualization types). The experiments were on no. 4 (Archimedean buoyancy) and no. 7 (Bernoulli’s principle and continuity). The ratings of tutorials with use of the VR environment and experiments were within the average of the other ratings. If the ratings are averaged and weighted by the number of ratings given per tutorial session, the mean values are as shown in Table 4. 3.3 Results of M3 The results of the voluntary survey of the faculty students on online teaching are shown in Table 2. The following formats were implemented in the faculty tutorials: Straight video formats (like YouTube), in which assignments are calculated without the possibility of direct questioning. Live formats, in which tasks are presented to students using video conferencing tools and where students could ask questions. This corresponds to the usual format of a blackboard exercise. This was divided into without a recording (no rec) and with recording (rec). In addition, there are cooperative formats, as discussed here. In the tasks format, task sheets were provided, which students worked on at home, sent in the solution, and received it back corrected. In addition to the mean values, a breakdown of the ratings into hardware levels H1, H2 and H3 together with H4 is shown (ref. Table 5). The survey included an open-ended question asking if students had any other comments about the tutorials. The comments that do not merely reflect the mean values are

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Fig. 2. Average student ratings for the student-guided collaborative online tutorials 1–13 for the questions about professional expertise, comprehensibility of tutor explanations, and tutorial content, with an average of N = 51 students for each session. 1 = very good, 2 = good, 3 = moderate, 4 = poor. Table 4. Mean values of survey results of on-site and online collaborative tutorials. Question: “How do you rate…”

Online

On-site

… Professional expertise of tutors?

1.29

1.40

… Comprehensibility of tutors’ explanations?

1.49

1.59

… Tutorial content (…)?

1.49

1.64

shown in Table 6 and marked with the code C. Comments from the authors are indicated in square brackets at the end of the comment. 3.4 Results of M4 When hiring the tutors, a slight inhibition about the technical challenge of the first online tutorials was noticeable. After the initial skepticism, however, the motivation was strong to design the tutorials effectively for the students online as well. Thus, the tutors were involved in the selection of suitable software and the proposals were tested together in online meetings. This also allowed different equipment variants to be run through, so that every student could participate effectively in the tutorial and the tutors were prepared for all equipment situations. The involvement of the tutors in the technical preparation of the tutorials was highly appreciated. The feedback in the discussion rounds with the tutors was also fundamentally positive and the communication with the tutors ran smoothly as usual.

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Table 5. Mean values of the ratings of different forms of tutorials related to the hardware of the input device in grades (1 = very good, 6 = very poor) and number of answers given N. Online

On-site

Stylus hard-ware

Hardware level

N

Video

Live no rec

Live rec

Cooperative no rec

Tasks

Pre-Corona: cooperative or exercise-like

Active

H1

23

3.13

2.44

1.67

1.64

1.85

1.67

Passive

H2

19

2.36

3.38

1.86

2.70

2.62

1.73

Nothing

H3&H4

57

2.21

3.00

1.50

2.50

2.62

1.96

Mean

H1 – H4

99

2.45

2.94

1.61

2.34

2.44

1.85

Table 6. Code and comments of free text responses regarding tutorials in the faculty-wide online survey. Comments C1 In fluid mechanics II great done with the cooperative online tutorials. It would be nice if this would be adopted by other modules as well. A Tutorial is not really replaced by submission [task] and a complete cancellation of the tutorial is also a pity C2 A lot of valuable time is wasted in on-site courses and little benefit is gained. Digital teaching has greatly facilitated and improved my learning process C3 Unfortunately, tutorials are completely canceled in some courses. Direct collaboration with fellow students is lacking, but of course there is nothing that can be done about that. [marked cooperative format is not known] C4 Tutorials where tasks are just handed in and you get a solution afterwards is the most unsuitable way of all. If you don’t get the right approach to an task, you don’t have a direct contact person to ask. Also, the solutions are sometimes difficult to understand. Background information and explanations are missing! With very small groups (approx. 5 students + 1 tutor) I rate live format very good. After everyone has prepared the tasks we can talk about ambiguities for 2 h in peace … Nevertheless I think on-site tutorials are best!:-) Nothing can replace a personal contact. [marked cooperative format is not known] C5 The fluid mechanics team performs it very well! C6 In my opinion, tutorials unfortunately lose some of their power, because they thrived on the combination of being able to ask questions and working together with fellow students. [rated cooperative and on-site with best grade 1.] C7 Tutorials are largely used to clarify questions, so live is most useful for clarifying submitted and spontaneous questions. Cooperative formats are fine, but these are limited by technical requirements, such as a microphone for online tutorials

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As a kick-off event, a Zoom meeting was held to clarify final organizational issues. The rest of the communication took place, as before, via a group created especially for the tutorials in the messenger service WhatsApp. The Moodle room for material exchange was also used. Question and answer sessions in preparation for the tutorials also took place via Zoom and were just as well received as in presence. It was even easier to find appointments. Overall, the situation for tutors in terms of technical preparation was the same as in the face-to-face formats. The tutorials themselves ran without any major problems. After a few weeks, the tutors reported positive feedback from the students on the methodology of the online live format. Implementing the pedagogical methods in the online format as well was initially viewed critically but was found to be feasible with a few discussions about possible implementation in the break-out rooms. Again, the tutors were involved in brainstorming. Nevertheless, the effort here was significantly increased, so that time was missing in the editing or presentation time. In a final discussion, the format was rated overall as a good start to online tutorials. In addition, two highly experienced tutors who held the tutorials both in presence and online provided detailed written feedback. The comments are summarized in Table 7 with the code T. Table 7. Code T and comments of tutor feedback regarding tutorials. Comments T1 Online has the advantage for the tutors that it is easier for them to come to their next appointment (lecture, exercise,…), because it is only a click away. On-site is of course great against the background, as you get direct feedback when explaining, in the form of facial expressions, restlessness,… T2 Pedagogical methods limited. Group mix method, for example, is also possible online, but the organization is more time-consuming than if the students can simply change places on site T3 Communication with the students was flawless, perhaps the barriers were even lower because the cameras were not switched on (anonymity in contrast to on-site). Just like in on-site tutorials, the attendance became more active in the run of the semester. However, it is on-site easier to encourage people to ask questions. You can often tell by looking at the students if questions come up. You can’t tell from black tiles. The interaction even increased when the tutors turned on their own camera. However, encouraging interaction was also possible here in breakout rooms T4 Experience was also gained on the part of tutors and used in subsequent online semesters: Breakout rooms. Summer term 2020: Asking who, how, where; If no answer, asked if x, y, and z may be packed into one room (often no answer came and silent black tiles were in a room; sometimes, however, the tiles did talk to each other) Summer term 2021: Breakout rooms laid out for students to enter and change freely (continued)

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Table 7. (continued) Comments T5 Interactive live solving: asking students for next steps, assumptions, important transformations (e.g. product rule backwards) and answering questions directly was well possible T6 Communication with supervisors remains good. This also took place beforehand on a large scale digitally in the WhatsApp groups. A particularly positive aspect was that the tutors were also able to contribute ideas to the technical challenges, as the programs were tried out together. This created a pleasant atmosphere in which the tutors felt taken seriously T7 Assignment of the tutor pairs: it was always tried to assign an experienced tutor together with a new tutor (if available). In the online semesters, more attention was paid to this since the technical challenge was added to the professional challenge T8 The general time required to prepare the online tutorials was comparable to the time required to prepare the on-site sessions. However, the presentation of the solution sketch was digitally more time-consuming than in on-site sessions T9 The students had the advantage of being able to use screenshots and thus to get more of the explanations or to be able to write them down. On-site, the students were busier copying the solution sketch from the blackboard. The processing of the tasks by the students also took longer digitally

4 Discussion 4.1 Perception of On-Site and On-Line Tutorials Their Differences (RQ1) The students’ evaluations (M1 and M2) are very good for the tutorials in terms of content and the subject and explanatory competence of the tutors (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). The online format actually scores better in all three categories over the course (see Table 1), which may be biased by the Corona pandemic, as many other tutorial substitute formats were rated lower. The free-text responses of the faculty-wide survey and the tutors’ feedback provide possible explanations in a much more effective learning process due to less time wasting (C2, T1). Another explanation is provided by tutor feedback T9: screenshots and recording of the procedure facilitates the anticipation of explanations, since important sketches etc. can be saved by screenshot and only remaining remarks must be made. Explicit appreciation is given to the approach of the presented tutorial (C1 and C5) and reference is made to the need for direct communication with tutors (C3, C4, C6, C7, T3) and a need for hardware level H3 or better (C7) for a collaborative format. 4.2 Perception of Laboratory Experiments by Students (RQ2) The experiments were rated very positively in the free text of the surveys in the onsite tutorials. Because of this, they were not to be simply omitted in the online format. Simple experiments with materials available in the tutors’ household (scale, container, water, rubber glove) could also be demonstrated live in the online format. Even though

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the students could not perform the experiment themselves, the feedback was positive. The more complicated setups, on the other hand, could not be demonstrated live. Here, previously recorded videos of the experiment including explanations served as a substitute. This effort was appreciated by the students, and it was positively evaluated that the experiments were not simply canceled, although it would of course have been better to be able to try them out themselves. Overall, the tutorials with the experiments are in the average of the other tutorials in terms of evaluation. Maintaining the VR tutorials was less of a challenging, as they were digital anyway. The on-site VR tutorials were rated better than the online tutorials. This could be due to the fact that the VR environment is not completely intuitive, and the tutors could on-site immediately assist by taking control. Online, the screen may have to be shared and help provided via verbal instruction. 4.3 Comparison of Different Formats of Student-Led Tutorials (RQ3) According to Table 2, the formats tasks, video and live, no rec perform significantly worse on average than the normal cooperative tutorial on site (pre-corona). Live online tutorials with recording perform best on average, even better than on-site tutorials, as in all other survey results (cf. [2]). Students were faced with additional hurdles in the online format for collaborative work. New software and in some cases, hardware had to be mastered and a new way of working. Students with bad web connections and no microphones were at a significant disadvantage. The same is especially true for students without a tablet and especially without an active stylus, which allows writing on a shared worksheet. In contrast to the other online formats (except live with recording) collaborative is rated to be superior. Videos and live sessions perform significantly worse among students with styluses, as they are maybe aware of the technical possibilities offered by such devices. Therefore, for students with active styluses, the collaborative online format performs as well as onsite. The tasks to be solved and handed in are also much easier to conduct, digitize and send by e-mail with a stylus than without one. However, in the mean the on-site formats are superior to the online version, at least in the current technical state of hardware equipment, and the dismantling of hierarchical hurdles on the side of the students is more difficult in the online format than in the on-site format. Perception and implementation thus also clearly depend on the hardware equipment, but more clearly on the educational setting. The students considered the demonstration of real and the conduction of virtual experiments to be good, but the learning effect may be rated lower in this simple implementation compared to on-site, hands-on lab experiments. 4.4 How Well did the Tutors Manage in the Distance Format (RQ4) The initial skepticism about the online format in the tutorials and the associated technical challenges quickly disappeared. By involving the tutors in the decision, e.g. on software, the tutors felt more self-confident to use them. Communication between tutors and supervisors remained good via digital services such as Zoom or WhatsApp (T6).

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Communication with students, on the other hand, was initially sluggish. On-site, emerging questions during the tutorial can be easily perceived by facial expressions and noise level; this is not possible with “black tiles” due to the absence or a switched-off camera. This makes it much more difficult to encourage students to ask questions. With the tutors’ camera switched on communication and interaction became more lively (T3). The suggestions for interaction were accepted in the same way as in the on-site tutorials. The interactive presentation of the solution concept was then also easy to implement online. The students were involved in the development of this through questions from the tutors, for example about assumptions or the most important steps. In addition, questions about the solution sketch could be answered directly (T5). Turning on the cameras also brought immense progress in the presentation of the solution sketch (T3). Where previously direct feedback by facial expression or behavior of the students was missing (T1), in order to be able to estimate the comprehensibility of the own explanations, this was then similarly well possible as in the on-site format. The time required for the tutors to prepare the individual tutorials was of the same order of magnitude as previously in the face-to-face formats. However, the processing of the tasks by the students (T9) and the presentation of the solution concept took considerably more time than on-site (T8). Accordingly, the time management had to be different here. The feedback from the students towards the tutors was fundamentally positive, especially in comparison with other online formats. In the middle of the following winter semester, the infection figures increased. At the request of the students as well as the tutors, there was a voluntary switch from the on-site to the online format. The initial skepticism as to whether online tutorials could be designed in a meaningful way at all without personal contact was thus disproved, even though personal contact would continue to be preferred over digital contact. Acknowledgment. The work is partly included in the project CrossLab - flexibly combinable cross-reality labs in university teaching: future-proof competence development for a learning and working 4.0 funded by the Foundation Innovation in der Hochschullehre.

References 1. Biggs, J.: Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. High. Educ. 32, 347–364 (1996) 2. Kockmann, N.: The Kick-Start into Digital Teaching Under COVID-19 Conditions. Chemie Ingenieur Technik. Special Issue: Flexible Apparate und Prozesse 92(12), 1877–1886 (2020) 3. Zierep, J., Bühler, K.: Grundzüge der Strömungslehre, 11th. Edn. Springer Vieweg, Wiesbaden (2018) 4. Asubel, D.P.: The use of advance organizers in the learning and retention of meaningful verbal material. J. Educ. Psychol. 51, 267–272 (1960) 5. Terkowsky, C., May, D., Frye, S.: Forschendes Lernen im Labor: Labordidaktische Ansätze zwischen Hands-on und Cross-Reality. Labore in der Hochschullehre, Didaktik, Digitalisierung, Organisation (2020) 6. Mattes, W.: Methoden für den Unterricht: Kompakte Übersichten für Lehrende und Lernende (2011, Westermann Verlag) ISBN 978-3-14-023812-0

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7. Boettcher, K.E.R., Behr, A.S.: Using virtual reality for teaching the derivation of conservation laws in fluid mechanics. Int. J. Eng. Pedagogy 11, 42–57 (2021) 8. Boettcher, K.E.R., Behr, A.S.: Usage of a virtual Environment to improve the teaching of fluid mechanics. Int. J. Online and Biomed. Eng. (iJOE) 16(14) (2020) 9. Herron, M.D.: The Nature of Scientific Enquiry. The School Review 79(2), 171–212 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1086/442968 10. Kirschner, P.A., Meester, M.A.M.: The laboratory in higher science education: problems, premises and objectives. High. Educ. 17(1), 81–98 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF0013 0901 11. Campbell, M.E.: Oh, Now I Get it! J. Eng. Educ. 88(4), 381–383 (1999)

Self-directed and Collaborative Learning in an Advanced Training Context: Conception and Implementation of an Innovative Online Teacher Qualification Program Mariane Liebold(B) , Michael Pluder, Nadine Schaarschmidt, Lisette Hofmann, Josefin Müller, Lydia Stark, Nicole Filz, Sohrab Hejazi, and Diana Schmidt Center for Open Digital Innovation and Participation (CODIP), Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany [email protected]

Abstract. The paper details the development and implementation of an online training course for teachers that combines self-directed and collaborative learning. It describes how the multi-stage development process was designed in a scientifically sound manner. The focus of the chapter lies on the conception and implementation of the advanced training program which consists of two elements: self-paced asynchronous modules for independent learning and an online community for exchange, discussion and peer review among German teachers. This involves an in-depth look at the underlying competence framework for media education and its development as a basis for creating the content of the modules of which the training program consists. The goal of the training is the further development of both the media pedagogical competence of the participating teachers and their ability to use digital media in the classroom in a didactically purposive manner. Keywords: Online qualification program · Self-directed learning · Collaborative learning

1 Introduction The deliberate use of digital media both in school education and in the context of processes of school development has by now become one of the central demands that teachers of all school types are supposed to meet. In light of the current changes concerning key media and the gradual implementation of a “Culture of Digitality” in society as a whole, this specific demand proves to be highly multifaceted. It not only pertains to individual aspects of processes of teaching and learning in schools, but also includes implications for the broader culture of school education which among other aspects aim at an increase in self-directed learning. In order to successfully master the tasks that teachers face in this context, media competence as well as knowledge and skills in the field of media education are a necessary © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 123–134, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_12

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prerequisite. The identification of the specific aspects of these areas of competence that are relevant for teachers as well as the conceptualization of their target group-oriented and benefit-oriented conveyance and the development and implementation of a corresponding online training program are the goals of the BMBF-funded project “UndiMeS - Unterrichten mit digitalen Medien in Sachsen”. In accordance with the concept of the pedagogical double-decker1 , a self-directed online program is being developed in the project which is designed as an in-service training and whose contents can be accessed individually according to one’s own needs. This training is supplemented by a community, within which collegial exchange and cooperative work between the training participants is possible and which should promote a sustainable transfer into teaching practice. Due to the interaction between the training content and the community platform, self-directed and collaborative learning are combined in this way. The following article outlines the underlying development process on the one hand and the structure of the two learning tools on the other. The overall project UndiMeS is realized in cooperation with the University of Leipzig and the Technical University of Dresden. The joint goal is the training of media didactic and pedagogical competence of teachers in Saxony. In order to achieve this goal, the project integrates the two different sub-projects2 . Both pursue the vision of a school that functions as a future-oriented place of learning. The advanced training presented here, which is being developed in the sub-project of the TU Dresden, is planned to become firmly anchored in Saxony’s educational landscape. This will be ensured through the cooperation with relevant partners in the network3 . This article will first look at the development process of the aforementioned online training program for teachers. This is followed by a second chapter, which takes a look at the concept and structure of the training, before the community is discussed in more detail in section three. Finally, the interplay between the two elements will be presented, which ensures the interaction between self-directed and collaborative learning.

2 Insights into the Multi-stage Development Process of the Program The development and planning of the training proceeded along a multi-stage process. First, the general social framework and the demographic characteristics of the target 1 In the sense of the pedagogical double-decker [16] it is assumed that the teaching of content

and the promotion of competences in the area of media education and teaching with digital media is best done using the digital tools described. 2 The sub-project at the CODIP at the TU Dresden has the task of setting up teaching labs as a further output. Here, state-of-the-art technical resources are made available for teaching directly at the institute. Throughout the sub-project at the University of Leipzig, sample scenarios for teaching will be created for the subjects of mathematics and computer science, which differ from existing teaching-learning scenarios due to the increased use of digital media. 3 Various practical partners are involved in the implementation of the project. These include: Center for Teacher Education, School and Vocational Training Research at the TU Dresden, the Saxon State Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, the State Office for Schools and Education, the Media Education Centers in Saxony, Bildungsportal Sachsen GmbH and Dresden International University, as well as other stakeholders.

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group were examined. The goal was to develop qualitative criteria and conditions for the success of the training by means of a literature analysis and a survey of experts. 2.1 Social Conditions and Demographic Characteristics of the Target Group The target group of the training primarily consists of teachers from all types of schools in Saxony. There are also intersections with university teacher education. Furthermore, the training can be used as an offer by other actors in the school context, such as school administrators, consultants or trainers. Overall, the target group is characterized by a high degree of diversity with regard to their own support needs4 , which had to be taken into account in the conception of the training. While the training is currently aimed at representatives of the target group in Saxony, it is intended to be used throughout Germany in the future5 . For this reason, studies in Saxony as well as from all over Germany were taken into account as an empirical basis in order to gain an insight into the social framework conditions and to record the demographic characteristics of the target group. According to the heterogeneity of the target group, the future participants have an equally diverse repertoire of prior knowledge and media biographies. The distribution in the age groups is also striking; the group of older teachers in particular is very strongly represented in Saxony in a nationwide comparison [1]. As a result of the accompanying demographic changes, it can be assumed that the further time pressure on teachers will continue to increase and that, in the future, less time will be available for individual training and continuing education of teachers. These circumstances were ultimately the basis for the decision to design the inservice training in such a way that it enables flexible, self-directed learning for the participants. And even though, due to the aforementioned reasons, the advantages of the online format for teacher training courses outweigh the disadvantages, it is evident that in the past teacher training courses were only very rarely offered online6 [2]. 2.2 Support Needs and Background Knowledge of the Target Group The analysis of these general social conditions was followed by an investigation of the target group’s existing prior knowledge and prerequisites as well as their thematic expectations with regard to the training. For this purpose, relevant studies were researched and evaluated and, based on this, a separate online survey (January 2021) was conducted with 4 A large number of them are actively involved in teaching practice, others are still studying or

are responsible for further education and training or consulting services in the school system. 5 This can be implemented by transferring the training content to other learning management

systems, and connecting the undime community to the latter. 6 In the wake of the pandemic, it appears that the number of online training courses offered and

used has increased significantly in all German federal states. However, no current figures or studies are available yet. Initial indications can be found, for example, in Baden-Württemberg. Here, the advanced training program for teachers has been converted to online offerings on a large scale [17]. The Fobizz platform has also clearly noticed an increase in the number of participants in its online training courses during the pandemic [18].

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representatives of the target group. In the course of the literature review, no studies conducted for Saxony alone could be found, but the pertinent survey by Arnold [3] already provides some orientation in this regard. Another insight is provided by the International Computer and Information Literacy Study [4, 5] for Germany as a whole. The studies from 2013 and 2018 show that before the pandemic, only a small proportion of teachers had taken part in digitization-related training [4, 5]. They also show that only a quarter of teachers in Germany report that they learned how to best use digital media during their own degree program. The most common form of using digital media in the classroom on the part of teachers is in the form of presentations or in the setting of frontal lecturing. Only about 15% of the teachers, on the other hand, stated that they often or always use digital media for individual support of individual students and smaller groups of students in the classroom. Other forms of use, such as giving feedback and supporting student collaboration, also rarely take place in the classroom [5]. Thus, there are noticeable needs for support here. This usage behavior can be explained primarily by the fact that teachers often fall back on technologies they are familiar with in conjunction with patterns of action that have been practiced for a long time [6]. Accordingly, they are dependent on advanced training courses with a high level of practical relevance. Once again, the use of digital media during the pandemic-related school closures must be considered separately. For example, the online teachers’ survey showed that emails seemed to have priority for the communication and exchange between teachers and students. Telephone, school websites, social media, and messenger services were used less but equally to communicate with students. Learning and work platforms were used by a quarter or 50 percent of respondents, depending on the type of school (elementary school the least, grammar school the most). Digital teaching with video conferencing, on the other hand, was hardly used at all [7]. Teachers also primarily used assignment sheets for tasks that involved the Internet (84%). In 40 percent of the cases examined in the study, teachers did not offer their students any technical options for classroom exchange. Despite a steady increase in the use of digital media in the classroom context, the results of the survey show that teachers use them only very unilaterally. Forms of use, such as collaborative/cooperative work, feedback, individual learning support or work with learning management systems, which primarily require media-didactic competencies or change teaching activities and own patterns of action, have so far only rarely been used in the classroom [7]. In view of the teachers’ use of media during the pandemic, it is thus clear how important flexible, needs-oriented teacher training is when it comes to promoting skills. After all, the survey also showed that the majority of the teachers considered the potential of using digital media in the classroom to be positive [7]. This motivation is considered to be one of the key conditions for success in further training in this area7 [6] [8]. Furthermore, the experience of one’s own effectiveness in action is to be mentioned as a central element for the professionalization of teachers [9]. Accordingly, gaining practical experience is already essential for the success of advanced training. 7 Thus, the success of the sustainable integration of digital avoidance in the classroom is, in

addition to other influencing factors such as competence, motivation and access, primarily the conviction of the teachers of fundamental importance [6].

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2.3 Conception of a Competence Framework Along Support Needs Based on the support needs identified by means of an online survey and literature review, the next step was to develop a competence framework that meets the requirements of the target group. This competence grid was developed from an extended clustering after comparison with the competence framework of the SMK [10], DigCompEdu [11], DiKoLa [12], and digi.kompP [13] and serves as the basis for the thematic plan. The balance between the different competences is based on the one proposed by the SMK [10], but it is supplemented by supporting areas that are mainly borrowed from the competence framework digi.kompP [13]. The competence framework developed in the DiKoLA project was mainly extended by adding school development competence, which is not included here as it was developed for the field of university teaching [12]. Especially with regard to the competence domains, there are overlaps above all with the competence framework DigCompEdu [11] of the European Commission. The competence framework developed in this way offers a comprehensive competence catalogue/model for the acquisition and further training in the area of digital competences of educators. It contains competences that are to be developed during all three phases of teacher training. Table 1. Competence framework Own Media Competence

 Apply basic computer literacy  Reflecting on digital enviroments

Media Didactics (in Practice)

 Design digital materials  Teaching and learning with digital media  Using digital media to teach and learn in the subject

Media Education (in Practice)  Educate via digital media School Development Competence

 Shaping digital managment, school development and school community

Professional Advanced Training

 Lifelong learning via digital media

Five sub-competences were identified as core competences: own media competence, media didactics, media education, school development competence and professional advanced training (see Table 1). One’s own media competence includes knowledge of the application of basic computer literacy as well as the ability to reflect on one’s own life world; the practice of media didactics combines competences in the design of digital materials, in learning and teaching with digital media, and their specific use in the subject; media education includes knowledge about education with digital media; school development competence describes skills related to the design of digital administration, school development, and school community; professional development concerns those aspects that link digital media with lifelong learning.

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2.4 Development of the Thematic Plan The next stage in the design of the professional development program was the development of the thematic plan along the competence framework. The topic plan picks up on the requirements for teachers set out in the competence framework and addresses them in the form of questions within different learning areas. Thus, the structure of the training program ensures that it corresponds to the support needs of the teachers. Table 2. Thematic plan Basics Introduction, Self-reflection, Target perspective

 Leading media change  Media Socialization and media biography  Changed role image  Characteristics of digital communication

Media Didactics I Use and design digital materials

 (Online) materials, including OER  Creating, adapting, sharing educational materials  Legal, ethical aspects (media use, internet, social media)  Applications, software; resources

Media Didactics II Teaching and learning with digital media

 Learning theories  Media-supported teaching scenarios  Interactive, social learning forums, peer learning, feedback, modelling, simulation, E-portfolios  Evaluation of instructional design

Media Education Educate via digital media

 Goals KMK framework, curriculum media education  Development of competences for reflecting on digital media from the students’ living environment  Responsible/safe behaviour concerning digital media  Critical use of digital media by students

School Development Shaping digital management, school development and the school community

 Development of media education concept  Systems for class and school management  Collaboration, exchange, peer learning, team building, consultation with colleagues  Public relations of the school, event management

An overview of the thematic plan can be seen in Table 28 . Based on the competence framework, five learning areas were developed: Basics, Media Didactics Focus 1, Media 8 For reasons of legibility the overview of the thematic plan has been reduced to four exemplary

aspects for each learning area.

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Didactics Focus 2, Media Education and School Development. Taking the competence framework into account, various topics were assigned to the different learning areas, to which several requirements and questions derived from them are linked.

3 Concept and Setup of the Online Training Course The training is implemented in Opal Schule, the central online learning platform in the context of schools in Saxony. Opal Schule is made available to Saxon teachers via their Schullogin. The Schullogin is accessible to all public schools in Saxony. Therefore, most of the teachers in Saxony already have access to Opal Schule and are familiar with the setup9 . The implementation of the training content is done with the function modules available in Opal Schule and by using the authoring tool Articulate Storyline. Links to existing (digital) tools, further information, trainings etc. are provided within the learning areas in an appropriate way. In addition to the thematic plan, the training program was implemented on the basis of various quality features. For example, interactive learning content must be provided, selfdirected learning must be supported, various media formats must be integrated, adaptive learning content must be offered, feedback options must be provided, a connection to practice must be constantly established, and the methodological double-decker must be implemented. 3.1 Overall Setup and Structure The motto of the training is: “I am (actively) furthering my education” (instead of “I (passively) get educated further”). It deals with the topic of media education according to the thematic plan in five areas, which are underpinned by microlearning units. At the beginning of the training there is a placement/orientation test. This serves as a basis and orientation for the training participants to find out special needs and accordingly to focus on selected learning areas and topics. A special feature compared to the other four main learning sections is the first and basic learning section, which, in addition to the points included in the thematic plan, provides information about the modes of operation and the structure of the training course. One of the aims of the training is to facilitate access for the participants and to enable mobile learning. At the same time, the possibility of individualized learning paths should be given. As a result, the training does not include a hierarchy in the learning sections, so that the participants can put together their own learning path through the training on the basis of the results of their placement test as well as their areas of interest. This is supported by the use of microlearning units. The knowledge acquisition takes place in small sub-units, which require approx. Five to ten minutes for processing. In this respect, selective specific learning is just as possible as long-term knowledge transfer [14]. Teachers can use the offer for further training at school, during free periods on the road, or at home. All they need is a mobile device and internet access. 9 The decision in favor of the Opal Schule learning platform was preceded by a lengthy decision-

making process. In the end, the advantages of the platform outweighed other options.

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3.2 Template - Microlearning Units The content of individual learning units was structured on the basis of the specifications from the thematic plan and subsequently a microlearning objective was formulated for each learning unit, which served as the foundation for the following creation. The individual learning unit was then created on the basis of the learning unit template developed in advance. All learning units thus follow a uniform scheme and predefined criteria collected in a template. The template in turn is based on the instructional design of the Anchored Instruction Model10 [15]. In doing so, attention is paid to a reasonable relationship between purpose (motivation, didactics) and content/design (fit, quality, timelessness) as well as technical framework conditions (size of files, specifications of Opal Schule). The promotion of competences within the learning units takes place through practice and reflection in the sense of the pedagogical double-decker [16]. The work with digital media in the context of the training and the examination of the possibilities of the digital in self-reflection and exercise tasks support the acquisition of media pedagogical competence. Within the learning units, low to medium learning goals can be achieved. The achievement of the higher/highest taxonomy levels is not possible within each topic question; instead, there is a final, overarching work assignment for each learning area with which the highest taxonomy level(s) of the learning objectives of several areas and the transfer are targeted. The possibility of collaborative learning and peer training are ensured by the link to the undime community (see 5. Linking Continuing Education and Community). 3.3 Setup of the Microlearning Units – An Example In the following, a selected learning unit from the basics section will be presented in order to clarify the general structure of the learning units. It is one of two microlearning units that deal with the fundamentals of netiquette. While in the second learning unit the participants are supposed to apply their newly acquired knowledge, this first learning unit deals with their experiences and relevant skills. Accordingly, the formulated learning objective of the learning unit reads: “You know the basics of respectful and pleasant communication on the internet. You judge your previous personal experiences with communication on the internet.” The learning unit begins with a reflection on the former experiences of the participants. For this purpose, three questions for self-reflection are given to them and free text fields are displayed for answering. Following the reflection task, there is a short introduction that provides information about the central aspects by means of text. This is followed by a short video that provides information on the “dos and don’ts” of internet communication. Finally, a short text points out that what has been learned should also be taken into account and applied to communication within the undime community. 10 In order to meet these requirements, it is necessary to pay attention to a sufficient use of audio-

visual media, to implement a narrative structure, to pose problems for processing that require interdisciplinary approaches to solving them, to implement a meaningful complexity at the same time, and to ensure the linking of different areas of knowledge [15].

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Almost every learning unit contains tasks for self-reflection. These often serve as a self-monitoring tool for the learners to check whether they have already internalized what they have learned. Furthermore, there is always both a content-related introduction and an outlook for each learning unit. Within the framework of these two structural units, there is often also a localization within the community - i.e., information is given here about where certain ‘related’ topics have already been discussed or where the participants can learn more about the respective topics. In addition, the learning unit example illustrates the multimedia claim of the training. Besides in-house produced videos (animated or with lightboard use), podcasts produced solely for the training are used in other learning units. Moreover, the training is supplemented by a variety of visual materials.

4 Concept and Setup of the Undime Community Alongside the microlearning units and the exercises and reflection tasks in particular, the community work forms the third supporting pillar for successful participation in the undime training program. Because microlearning cannot provide highly complex learning content and transfer guarantees, a virtual community is added to the learning offerings. This enables the independent establishment of learning partnerships and learning groups and increases the probability of the transfer of contents into practice. Within the community, the exchange of opinions and comments on contributions are the central functions. The link to the community is established by means of task structures in peer-to-peer format and collaborative tasks in the learning modules. While the existing learning management system Opal Schule was chosen for the implementation of the training content, the undime community is based on a specially created Wordpress website which was newly developed as part of the project. To ensure its functionality the community is structured as follows: The participants receive their own account with a user profile, which is visible for other registered users. The profile thus serves to present one’s own self and as a starting point for further actions and, above all, interactions. The user profile is in turn linked to a contribution page on which the training participants can create, share, and comment content. In addition, the community has a member page, which serves the networking and cooperation with other participants of the training. Also, a messenger allows communication and exchange among the community members. Since the community was implemented externally and not as part of Opal Schule, it can also be used as a single building block in other contexts or in conjunction with other learning management systems in the future. The community stimulates transfer and group reflection for effective implementation of novel digital activities in practice, thus enabling sustainable networking and reflection. Here, tasks are to be solved directly, e.g. in the form of a contribution, or cooperatively with community members. On the one hand, the goal is to support the social process of learning. On the other hand, the interaction component is intended to achieve even more sustainable implementation of the learned actions. Participation in the community is characterized by the common learning object and a comparable qualification of the members. Participants come together in the community, either voluntarily or instructed, to work together to find solutions to challenges in their professional practice or to process learning content. Knowledge is distributed through individually created and shared content. The community is self-governed by its members.

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5 Peer Learning and Collaborative Learning - Interactions Between Training Course and Community Finally, the interaction between the community and the Opal Schule course with the training content is the core and essential feature of the undime training program. The interaction between the two training units is planned and currently being worked on in order to achieve the best possible user experience11 . Accordingly, exercise units, self-reflection, and transfer tasks lead into the community and can be solved there with the involvement of the community members. This exchange takes place in a rather open way for some tasks. Participants are encouraged to share the results of their self-reflection or just general thoughts on the topic covered in the learning unit in the community. The corresponding tasks can then be solved in the community. Beyond these tasks, which are actually solved in the group, there are also transfer tasks, which are usually more extensive and are worked on directly in cooperation with a single other training participant. This is not done simultaneously but in a peer review process. The participants submit their solutions, upload them to Opal Schule and are then assigned a suitable partner based on their community profile (school type and subject/subject combination). Finally, with regard to those tasks, the training participants are expected to submit their own work and to review the submission of their ‘match’ (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Intersection between training course and online community

In terms of design, the use of a community button is planned, which in turn contains a corresponding community logo and refers to the possibilities of collaborative work in the community at the appropriate place in the Opal Schule course. Besides the possibility to share tasks, the participants will be encouraged to continuously exchange their experiences in order to guarantee collaborative learning and peer learning in the course. 11 Linking the learning tool to the community is a major challenge from a technical perspective.

The chosen method of solution via Rest-API must fulfill the relevant access requirements for the individual systems. Therefore, testing and coordination with the respective responsible offices turns out to be very time consuming and requires a couple of modifications.

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6 Outlook and Conclusion This paper focused on the teacher training program developed within the UndiMeS project and focused on the combination of self-directed and collaborative learning - in practice, this means the interaction of an Opal Schule course and an external community platform developed specifically for the training, on which the training participants can exchange ideas. The online training allows teachers to gain experience in a virtual environment. They learn to work cooperatively with digital media, to exchange ideas, to reflect together, and to work on problems with the help of digital media. The training program is currently still being developed. The pilot phase for two of the five learning areas will begin in June 2022. According to plan, the development and implementation of the entire training program should be completed by October 2022. This will be followed by the testing of the remaining learning areas. For the evaluation of the learning areas, teachers will be surveyed on both content and UX aspects. The goal of the training is to close a gap in the Saxon (Germany-wide) training offer. Within the current offers of teacher qualification, such a self-directed online training with an integrated community, within which collegial exchange and cooperative work is made possible, is an innovative step that offers the possibility to supplement the range of already existing offers with a future-oriented component.

References 1. Statistisches Landesamt Freistaat Sachsen: Statistisch betrachtet. Schulen in Sachsen (2018). Online: https://www.statistik.sachsen.de/download/statistisch-betrachtet/broschur_statistiksachsen_statistisch-betrachtet_schulen.pdf 2. Grothus, I.: Recherchen für eine Bestandsaufnahme der Lehrkräftefortbildung in Deutschland. Deutscher Verein zur Förderung der Lehrerinnen-und Lehrerfortbildung eV (DVLfB), p. 47 (2018) 3. Arnold, P.: Gelingensbedingungen von Lehrer*innenfortbildung zum Einsatz digitaler Medien in der Schule. In: Krömker, D., Schroeder, U. (Hrsg.), DeLFI 2018 - Die 16. E-Learning Fachtagung Informatik. Bonn: Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V.. (S. 129–140) (2018) 4. Fraillon, J., Ainley, J., Schulz, W., Friedman, T., Gebhardt, E.: Preparing for life in a digital age: The IEA International Computer and Information Literacy Study international report. Springer Nature (2014) 5. Fraillon, J., Ainley, J., Schulz, W., Friedman, T., Duckworth, D. Preparing for life in a digital world: IEA international computer and information literacy study 2018 international report. Springer Nature (2020) 6. Knüsel Schäfer, D.: Überzeugungen von Lehrpersonen zu digitalen Medien: eine qualitative Untersuchung zu Entstehung, Bedingungsfaktoren und typenspezifischen Entwicklungsverläufen, p. 288. Verlag Julius Klinkhardt (2020) 7. Schaarschmidt, N., Schulze-Achatz, S., Köhler, T., Paraskevopoulou, K., Rahm, L.: Distanzlernen während der Pandemie-bedingten Schulschließungen im deutschsprachigen Raum (2020) (2021) 8. Lipowsky, F., Rzejak, D.: Was macht Fortbildungen für Lehrkräfte erfolgreich?–Ein Update. Nachhaltige Professionalisierung für Lehrerinnen und Lehrer: Ideen, Entwicklungen, Konzepte, pp. 15–56 (2019)

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9. Guskey, T.R.: Staff development and teacher change. Educ. Leadersh. 42(7), 57 (1985) 10. SMK – Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Kultus: «Medienbildung und Digitalisierung in der Schule: Kompetenzrahmen ‹Kompetenzen in der digitalen Welt› der Kultusministerkonferenz, Fassung SMK Konzeption ‹Medienbildung und Digitalisierung in der Schule›» (2017b). https://www.medienbildung.sachsen.de/download/Kompetenzrah men_Medienbildung_SMK_Uebersicht.pdf 11. European Commision: Digitale Kompetenz Lehrender: Europäischer Rahmen für die Digitale Kompetenz von Lehrenden (DigCompEdu) (2017). https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/sites/jrcsh/files/ digcompedu_leaflet_de-2018-09-21pdf.pdf 12. Schaarschmidt, N., Tolle, J., Dallmann, C., Odrig, V.: «Digitalisierungsbezogene Kompetenzen von Lehrenden in den Lehramtsstudiengängen. Entwicklung eines Kompetenzrahmens». In: Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien. Von hybriden Realitäten zu hybriden Gemeinschaften. 23. Workshop GeNeMe ’20, Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien. Dresden, 07.-09.10.2020, herausgegeben von Thomas Köhler, Eric Schoop, und Nina Kahnwald, PP. 377–85. Dresden: TUDpress (2020). https://doi.org/10.25656/01:22408 13. Digitale Kompetenzen Informatische Bildung: “digi.kompP - Das Kompetenzmodell” (2019). https://digikomp.at/digikompp/kompetenzmodell 14. Daschner, P., Hanisch, R. (eds.): Lehrkräftefortbildung in Deutschland. Bestandsaufnahme und Orientierung. Ein Projekt des Deutschen Vereins zur Förderung der Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerfortbildung e.V. (DVLfB). Beltz Juventa, Weinheim (2019) 15. Bransford, J.D., Sherwood, R.D., Hasselbring, T.S., Kinzer, C.K., Williams, S.M.: Anchored instruction: Why we need it and how technology can help. Cognition, education, and multimedia: Exploring ideas in high technology 12(1) (1990) 16. Herbst, S., Müller, M., Schulz, S., Schulze-Achatz, S.: Bericht. veränderungen von bildung durch die digitalisierung und neue anforderungen an alle bildungsbeteiligte. Technische Universität Dresden, Deutschland (2019). Abgerufen am 26.05.2021 von https://nbn-resolving. org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa2-336479 17. Deutsches Schulportal: Wie die Corona-Krise die Lehrerfortbildung revolutioniert (2020). Ab-gerufen am 02.09.2021 von https://deutsches-schulportal.de/bildungswesen/wie-die-cor ona-krise-die-lehrerfortbildung-revolutioniert/ 18. Fobizz: Lehrerfortbildungen in Zeiten von Corona (2021). Abgerufen am 02.09.2021 von https://fobizz.com/lehrerfortbildungen-online-wahrend-corona/

Virtual Assistants (Chatbots) as Help to Teachers in Collaborative Learning Environment Bertrand David(B)

, René Chalon , and Xiaoheng Zhang

Université de Lyon, CNRS, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, LIRIS, UMR5205, 69134 Ecully Cedex, France {Bertrand.David,Rene.Chalon}@ec-lyon.fr, [email protected]

Abstract. Learning is an important activity from elementary school to university and more (long-life learning). Different learning models and approaches are used with more or less active and autonomous orientations. Technology supported learning objective is to assist and empower these approaches by proposing Learning environments. Collaboration is an important aspect of learning allowing to the learners to share and exchange learning contributions. In a group learning (class learning), the size is often a problem for the teacher to assist and supervise all learners. We are proposing a Collaborative Learning Environment using technology supported tools organized as a system considering different learning approaches and helping the teacher to manage his/her accompanying activity to learners in need by integration of virtual assistants. In this way the teacher can devote him/her to non-autonomous learners and virtual assistants to manage the work of autonomous learners. The distribution between autonomous learners or group of learners managed by virtual assistants and non-autonomous managed by the teacher is evaluated at defined period to reallocate learners to more appropriate groups. This process is called Orchestration. In this paper we describe main principles, system architecture and orchestration process. An integration process of external exercises as well as internal for which we give the design process and associated tools pour the teacher and construction of grouping exercises in session content and their short term and long-term use. Finally, we present the relation between our generic system and its use and adaptation to a specific field of study and education level. Keywords: eLearning · Chatbot · CSCW

1 Introduction Learning is an important activity from elementary school to university and longer (longlife learning). A variety of learning models and approaches are used with more or less active and autonomous orientations [1]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed the need to replace collocated synchronous learning in class by a large diversity of configurations characterized by distant, synchronous or asynchronous working, individual and in-group learning. The role of teacher, very important in classical class learning, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 135–146, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_13

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can be very time and effort consuming to obtain an appropriate level of mastering for all students mainly in heterogeneous classes. In other configurations teacher’s time is also charged by new organizational constraints. The role of technology, in technology-supported learning can provide appropriate support to the teacher, allowing him to increase the time dedicated to the students. Our objective is to introduce, in the Learning Collaborative Environment, Virtual Assistants that will be in charge to manage more autonomous students and in this way decrease the number of students (less autonomous) who need to be accompanied all the time by the teacher. In order to be sure that the initial distribution between autonomous (in charge of Virtual assistants) and non-autonomous students (supervised by the teacher) was appropriate, this distribution can be changed dynamically at identified steps in the learning process (at the end of each lesson, half day or full day) either by the teacher observing behavior defects (too good or too bad results) or by the students themselves at their demand. After each student action (exercise), not only his/her result is collected, but the system demands him/her to give his/her learning emotion, i.e. appreciation of his/her behavior (on 3 or 5 level scale: well-done, intermediately-done, mitigate, lost, truly lost). The results and learning emotions are used in the evaluation conducting to the proposal of new appointment (in teacher’s group, or a Virtual Assistant group). This process is called Orchestration. After each orchestration a new distribution in teacher’s group and autonomous groups (or individuals) is elaborated. Working of these groups is dependent of working conditions presented earlier (collocated, distributed, synchronous or asynchronous).

2 State of the Art 2.1 eLearning eLearning is an important research field on which researchers work for more than 20 years. Its objective is to put together the progress in learning and teaching and in information technologies [2]. Important contributions emerged not only in academic teaching but also in industrial, mobile, just-in-time situations, based on technological progress in computers and their devices (PC, tablet, Smartphone, …). More and more precise relations between learning methods and computer capacities [3] in data management, calculation capacities and human-computer interactions, allows new learning approaches and their model efficiency for different categories of learners [4]. MOOC, synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, and just-in-time contextual learning are recent inventions of this type. During COVID-19 period, eLearning received a very interesting context to show to large public the results of research developed in the last years [5, 6]. This occurrence led to generalize its use and appreciate its contributions and impacts. We also worked on these problematics for more than 15 years [7–9]. 2.2 Virtual Assistants – Chatbots Virtual assistants are available on the market for several years. Siri from Apple, Home from Google and Alexa from Amazon are the most well-known types. We decided to

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use Alexa devices, which are voice and image-based (picture and video) assistant: Alexa Echo is voice oriented; Alexa Echo Show is voice and picture oriented. They are largely used in the family for one-shot commands either for simple questions and answers or for controlling TV channels or domestic appliances such as lights, blinds, etc. But the use of these assistants in what is called ‘multi-turn applications’, i.e. in a loop oriented sequences of commands-actions, is much less frequent [10, 11]. Alexa can work either on specific devices provided by Amazon (Echo or Echo Show), or on a PC [12, 13]. As Alexa is cheap and currently available at family level, it can be used at school too, at school Alexa devices can be purchased or a PC version of Alexa application can be used [14, 15].

3 Our Approach 3.1 Orchestration Oriented Approach Our starting point was the observation of an in-class situation. In an important number of classes, the number of students is more than 30. In this situation the teacher is not able to supervise all students as necessary. It is also possible to observe that not all students have the same level of autonomy. This is an important point determining the level of supervision or guidance needed. Non-autonomous students need more step-by-step supervision, which is not needed by autonomous ones. Taking into account this observation we decided to split the class into one nonautonomous group to work with the teacher, several individuals and a small groups of autonomous students to work with the virtual assistants Alexa. Alexa as a vocal chatbot can either be used as individual device or it can be shared by several users. A more collaborative configuration is to have one Alexa per student to create a group of students in which their Alexa devices work in coordination. The coordination process between the devices can occur in synchronous working mode for all students co-located in class or at distance, as in COVID-19 period, with students at home. First step in design and development of our system [16] was to create an Alexa Learning Collaborative Environment (ALCE) to manage the autonomous students and the autonomous group. During the period of Alexa supervision, the students were asked to do pre-planned exercises and answer the questions related to the course. These exercises, which were external to the system, came from the students’ work book or the documents provided by the teacher. Our objective was to ORCHESTRATE the operation process and the sequence of activities to proceed to the evaluation of the results and to declare what to do next. [17, 18]. Then, we designed a set of SKILLS (Alexa official term describing a User Interaction with corresponding behavior). We created a set of generic skills for the target users (students, teachers, and the system manager): Open, close, identification, asking for help, how to launch actions, to determine the sequence of the execution of the actions based on the teacher demand and to obtain the results on the correctness of the student’s responses and the results on the appreciation of the student’s learning emotions [19, 20]. At the end of each period, orchestration process aims to appreciate the student’s results and his/her behavior (called learning emotions) [16]. The formulae, elaborated

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by the teacher, calculates the student’s score on the Alexa activities which determine the new orientation of each student in class to do further practices (to stay in the autonomous Alexa supervised context – group, or to move to the non-autonomous group managed by the teacher). In this formulae, the results of the appreciation of the student on his/her learning emotions are combined to the result report given by Alexa on how many correct answers were given can intrigue auto-evaluation on the part of the student. More sophisticated appreciation analysis could be introduced later in the project, namely the face analysis or capture EEG or other physiological data. This orchestration process is schematized in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Learning process with distribution of students in different groups and the orchestration process conduction to new distribution for next learning period.

Structure of the orchestration skill is composed by: A Skill identifier (for possible reuse) –an application as a student (identifier) A Number of exercises to be examined – The Orchestration model to apply – Results to deliver to the student (and his/her teacher). Orchestration models proposes 1. Simple solution (50% results) + (50% pedagogical feelings) = if > 0.5 thus the student continues with virtual assistant, otherwise he/she returns to the non-autonomous group led by the teacher.

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2. Solution more constructed with the setting (0–1) for each exercise result and for each local feeling through choice of orientation according to the weighted averages obtained. As we will see later, the orchestration can be applied to one or more exercises, or on an “official” group of exercises called a session of learning. Therefore, the orchestration model is composed of: A Session orchestration identifier (for possible reuse) – a number of exercises to obtain results on the session and results on the student’s pedagogical emotions and an orchestration calculation formula. 3.2 Integration of the Notion of Exercise Next step in our project was progressive integration of exercises in the system, i.e. to integrate first external computerized exercises into the system using appropriate API (Application Programming Interface) to execute the exercises on the computer (PC), or on Alexa (Dot or Show), or Smartphone. In this case the relation between these exercises and our system is limited to activate them (via API) and to collect students’ results needed for orchestration process. However, a significant improvement was realized to propose the integration in the system of native exercises (becoming internal) elaborated by the teacher. To introduce these exercises into the system, they were transformed into Alexa Skills (commands) in Alexa Development Environment using Alexa programming language. Naturally it is not possible to ask to the teachers to master this language and the programming environment. For this reason, we created a set of higher-level skills allowing the teacher to formulate new exercises more naturally in the same environment as other Alexa users do, i.e. allowing the teacher create his/her session plans and use Alexa for any educational subject. To do thus, we created different models of exercises and asked to the teacher to express the contents using a specific Alexa skill whose role is to collect the parameters of evaluation of an exercise and store them into a database. It means that the teacher can specify new exercises by an Alexa application at hand. The objective of this application is to collect and store all elements describing each exercise in a database (see later). These models of exercises can be activated in two different ways: either they are used in a generating process to automatically create the finalized exercises and store them for a further use in a database (Fig. 2, Solution 1), or to provide a generic exercise execution skill which is able to consult dynamically the values associated to the formal parameters stored in the database (Fig. 2, Solution 2). These two approaches can be used according to the complexity of the exercise model. If existing exercise models are not sufficient, i.e. they are not able to handle the teacher exercise objectives, thus it is possible to create a new model of specification for the new exercise based on formal parameters type to cover larger set of exercises. As we indicated, several working situations can be supported with Alexa, along with the basic voice limited interactions. The working context can be upgraded by image

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Fig. 2. Design and implementation exercise skills.

presentation with voice or tactile interaction or by a video presentation for the same type of interaction objectives. We list basic templates of exercises from fully structural at first place, to more semantic at the last: • Find 1 item (vocal or visual) between 4 (or more) items with basic semantic: Biggest, smallest, heavy, light; look for intruder … with the semantics attached to presented items. • Order 4 (or more) items, as: four seasons, university diplomas, university staff degrees, military ranks… • Listen and give the correct answer: simple questions, translations • Listen, watch (a video) and give the correct answer, order integrated items… In Fig. 3 we formalize basic templates of exercises composed by items indicated by different colors.

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Fig. 3. Basic templates for exercise skills

3.3 Integration of the Notion of Session When templates of the exercises are created, they are accessible by the teacher to use in learning sessions. The notion of session is an important concept. A session can be either short-lived, created specifically for a unique use, or it can be created, named, and stored to reuse by the same or by several teachers. It is also possible to create, validate and certify these sessions as an official program for a discipline, level or a learning period. These sessions can be the collections of different exercises either homogenous (a set of identical ones with complexity evolving progressively) or more composite (containing different actions to progress the learning). All created exercises and sessions are stored in a catalog to be used by his/her owner or by whom they are shared.

4 Targets of Our System 4.1 Generic Orientation As you understood, our ACLE is by construction generic. This orchestration approach of construction allows us to produce appropriate supports for different learning levels from elementary school to university.

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The adaptation process has as objective to support the variations from structural models to semantic ones through the orientations of the teachers on different disciplines and levels. In addition such models derived from the orchestration approach can fulfill the needs on collaboration among teachers and (discipline as physics, field as electronics, and level as second year of BS degree) pedagogical specialists. That is because the objective of this approach is to adapt a generic system to a new context. To do so we could present it to the experts in different fields to see if the templates are still supported by the system and to ask the users to give them more semantic adaptations. If certain exercises are impossible to be formulated with existing exercise templates, the second step is to propose a new format of exercises and to develop new templates covering these new behaviors under our approach presented earlier. We summarized the orchestration approach by Fig. 4 & 5. The schematic view in Fig. 4 indicates a generic basic part of the system (in blue in Fig. 4), proposing a structural model functioning with no semantic notions at the external part (several slices in yellow and green) bringing semantic adaptations to different contexts related to a discipline, a field and an education level.

Fig. 4. Generic heart of the system and its connection with a field adaptation.

More precisely, we can see on the left side of Fig. 5, generic structural view of the ACLE system and on the right-side an explanation for the content of the semantic view. The objective of the figure is to establish a clear relation between semantic and structural models. The figure also indicates who is concerned by each part, i.e. system designers, working on the generic system and teachers proposing the adaptations of the generic system to field oriented part. The collaborations between system designers and teachers occurs in order to adapt pedagogic-didactic exercise models to structural models, Obviously, the creation of new templates to extend the possibilities of generic system is possible in case it seems necessary. It is also important to conduct ergonomic studies, which can be shared between system designers and teachers.

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Fig. 5. Generic part of the system (left part) and field-oriented part (right part).

4.2 Field Orientation: A Case Study of English Language Learning ACLE After toy examples of adaptation to elementary school, we are working at the moment on the adaptation of our generic system to a context of learning of English language at a higher level devoted to learning language specificities for business schools in vocabulary, special sentences and meaning. We can give only a short example of the problematics, which is related to spoken English understanding. To practice understanding in a new context two approaches are proposed: listen and chose the right answer and listen and do. In the second case to deliver the exercise, a list of explanations and actions are demanded to realize at each step. Such an activity provokes the student to ask Alexa to repeat the instructions or indicate appropriate progression. This template is not naturally proposed by the generic system. We decided to add it to enrich our system to support this new kind of exercises, which can receive appropriate semantical declinations in numerous disciplines and levels. Another adaptation performed is a semantic variation of exercises based on the same template, in same teaching context, i.e. to be able to change values for identified parameters and provide automatically a set of exercises [21, 22].

5 Conclusions In this paper we presented an approach and a system capable to increase efficiency and efficacity of teacher implication in his/her class by several Virtual Assistants in charge to supervise autonomous students. In this way the teacher can devote his/her effort to less autonomous or non-autonomous students based on his teaching requirements. This distribution is dynamic and can be evaluated at each identified step (end of session, halfday or full-day). This evaluation is based not only on student results but also on their pedagogical emotions collected in different manners (auto-declaration, image analysis or collect of physiological data as explained earlier).

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In the first version, the system was only orchestration oriented, i.e. learning actions (lectures, exercises and assessment) where external to the system. The system indicated only what is to do and it collected the results needed for its evaluation and orchestration. Meanwhile in second version we added to the system digitalized actions, called exercises. We elaborated several templates of exercises and created two ways to use them by the teachers, who are naturally not able to be programed in Alexa programming language. The first solution is based on an Alexa skill to specify the exercises using Alexa application. There, Alexa guides the teacher during his manipulation to provide him the exercise specifications and store them in DynamoDB database. The second solution is based on Google Sheets to provide a readable table-based structure of the database which can be easily edited by the teacher. We also proposed to group these exercises in sessions, in order to create more macroscopic elements corresponding to teacher managed working period which can be considered as appropriate moments for orchestration and increase meaningful learning chance on the part of the students. This work was totally generic and independent of a discipline and level. We considered that all proposed could be used in any context. The third version of design and development was devoted to the specialization, studying the manner to adapt our generic system to a particular discipline and level. Globally that is a shift from the structural model to a more semantic model to let the teachers to propose more communicative and meaningful teaching templates. This work needs to align the structural model to semantic model (of discipline and level). This alignment is the transformation of freely expressed semantic exercise to one of available structured exercise template. If the teacher is not able to find an appropriate template he/she can ask to the system designer to help him/her propose a new template appropriate to the specification of his/her exercise. We described shortly a case of this approach concerning English language learning in a Business School context. Of course, this last step is only started, we will continue to work on, not only in present context, but in several different contexts (primary, secondary, high school, even university) on various subjects and fields (general culture, language, physics, geography, history, politics, etc.), both in terms of what we offer and beyond, what is missing in proposed system. Validation of utility and usability opens the need for further research. From collaboration point of view, the collaboration of students using different Alexa will be deepened. At the moment, the system is able to manager several users working each with his/her Alexa. It is also possible to share one Alexa by several users in a local interaction management and collaboration by the Alexa managed participation. We would take into account, more collaborative situations, as such the collaboration among the students in which everyone uses his/her own Alexa, within synchronous or asynchronous scenarios, in problem resolution situations, and in serious game situations if possible. It is worth mentioning again that the data on emotions collection are at the moment based on auto-declaration, with well known gaps and shortcoming like overestimated positive and negative appreciations. Thus, more precise face image analysis and/or physiological parameter-based approaches will be considered with respect of code of ethics.

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Finally, we welcome and appreciate the interested teachers’ and students’ to let us know their criticisms and their ideas on the gaps of our proposal. Acknowledgments. The authors are grateful to the ASLAN project (ANR-10-LABX-0081) of the Université de Lyon, for its financial support within the French program “Investments for the Future” operated by the National Research Agency (ANR).

References 1. Gokcora, D.: Benefits of collaborative online international learning projects. Acad. Lett. 202 (2021). https://doi.org/10.20935/AL202 2. https://www.linkedin.com/learning/teaching-with-technology 3. Dehaene, S.: Learn! The talents of the brain, the challenge of machines. Odile Jacob (2018). (in French) 4. Kaplan, A.M., Haenlein, M.: Higher education and the digital revolution: about MOOCs, SPOCs, social media, and the Cookie Monster. Bus. Horiz. 59, 441–450 (2016) 5. Palma, A.: Homeschooling and the learning modalities in the Philippines during COVID-19. Acad. Lett. 923 (2021). https://doi.org/10.20935/AL923 6. Robinson-Neal, A.: Reflections on educational practice: COVID-19 influences. Acad. Lett. 176 (2021). https://doi.org/10.20935/AL176 7. Mercier, F., David, B., Chalon, R., Berthet, JP.: Interactivity in a large class using wireless devices, in Mobile learning anytime everywhere, In: Attewell, J., Savill-Smith, C. (eds.) A book of papers from MLEARN 2004, LSDA (Learning and Skills Development Agency) (2005). ISBN: 1-84572-344-9 8. Yin, C., David, B., Chalon, R.: A contextual mobile learning system for mastering domestic and professional equipments. In: 2009 IEEE International Symposium on IT in Medicine & Education, pp. 773-779. Jinan, China (2009). https://doi.org/10.1109/ITIME.2009.5236318 9. Zhang, B., Yin, C., David, B., Chalon, R., Xiong, Z.: A context-aware mobile system for work-base learning. CAE J. (2015). https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.21704 10. Chatbbot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatbot 11. Alexa: https://developer.amazon.com/fr/docs/quick-reference/custom-skill-quick-reference. html 12. Tsourakas, T., Terzopoulos, G., Goumas, S.: Educational use of voice assistants and smart speakers. JESTR 14(4), 1–9 (2021) 13. Amazon Alexa: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Alexa 14. Zhao, J., Bhatt, S., Thille, C., Zimmaro, D., Gattani, N., Walker, J.: Introducing Alexa for E-learning. In: Proceedings of the Seventh ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale [Internet]. Virtual Event USA, ACM (2020) 15. Sciuto, A., Saini, A., Forlizzi, J., Hong, J.I.: “Hey Alexa, What’s Up ?” a mixed-methods studies of in-home conversational agent usage. In: Proceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS‘18), pp. 857–868. Association for Computing Machinery 2018. New York, NY, USA (2018). https://doi.org/10.1145/3196709.3196772 16. David, B., Chalon, R., Zhang, B., Yin, C.: Design of a collaborative learning environment integrating emotions and virtual assistants (Chatbots). In: IEEE 23rd International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design (CSCWD), pp. 51–56. IEEE, Porto, Portugal (2021). https://ieeex-plore.ieee.org/document/8791893/ 17. Khine, M., Saleh, I., Dillenbourg, P., Jermann, P.: Technology for Classroom Orchestration. In: New Science of Learning: Cognition, Computers and Collaboration in Education (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5716-0_26

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An International Digital Learning Experience: The “Reinserta” Challenge Ericka Uribe-Bravo1(B)

and Sandra Lizzeth Hernández-Zelaya2

1 Business School, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

[email protected]

2 Pontifical University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

[email protected]

Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the benefits of an international academic project based on a collaborative online learning (COIL) experience. In addition to the online learning experience, the students worked on a challengebased learning methodology with the objective of making them addressing a social issue of the real world. The project chosen for the students’ international learning experience was, at the same time, oriented and supportive to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #4 “Quality Education”. It incorporated a case study centered on an NGO based in Mexico called “Reinserta”, devoted to develop educational and academic programs for minors living in juvenile detention centers or jail. The purpose of this international digital experience was threefold. First, the international and multicultural learning the students will experienced by teamworking with foreign classmates. Second, the usage of technology and digital platforms for the students to accomplish the communication and academic tasks requested at each stage of the project. Third, to embrace the aim of an ONG supporting a social cause which most of the times is not visible, or fades away easily, for University-College students. Keywords: Digital learning · SDG · Internationalization · Education · COIL

1 Introduction The education field is very agile and is in constantly changing and evolving. This sector has been transforming towards a more innovative education by incorporating more technological tools and allowing, through different educational projects, for students to have international experiences without leaving the classroom. Initiatives such as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) arise where international learning is promoted, putting into practice knowledge from different areas, with students from different nationalities. The Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) (Vahed and Rodriguez 2021) is conceived to be an online high-impact practice (HIP) that engages students

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 147–156, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_14

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in global learning, facilitates access to co-construction of discipline-specific knowledge, and encourages exposure to different worldviews by engaging in cross-cultural interactions. COIL activities are also linked to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). These goals are related with the Global Development Agenda that was approved by the 193 member states of the United Nations in December 2015 and establishes a list of actions to facilitate the human development of the world’s population (UN, 2015). To achieve this development, 17 objectives (SDGs), 169 targets and 231 indicators were set that should facilitate the measurement of their degree of compliance by the signatory countries (INE 2021). Within the establishment, of these objectives, those linked to the theme of Education (objective 4) and the objective of alliances to achieve these objectives (objective 17) stand out. Specifically, academic collaborations enhance and reinforce the achievement of the two objectives, which highlight the importance of how education provides people with the necessary tools to get out of poverty and have a better future and, on the other hand, it promotes the search for partners or actors who must participate. By the UNs own recommendations, it is essential to foster alliances to unite efforts and resources and make the SDGs a reality (UN, 2019). When academic projects involve other institutions, governments, companies, and citizens, the problems they seek to solve may have outcomes on individuals. NGOs, non-profit organizations, with very positive and charitable objectives, find it difficult to develop additional projects due to the lack of resources. Some COIL activities through collaboration between the parties, in this case, universities and NGOs, can not only promote learning within the participating students but also generate useful and realistic proposals and results in favor of the NGOs objectives that will have a positive impact on society. The Relevance of “COIL” Projects to Enhance Students’ Learning Experiences. COIL is a recent modality to increase international teamwork activities among university students without having to leave the attending university classroom. This virtual onlineexchange experience, as suggested by some authors (Salinas Contreras and Sánchez Torres 2020), allows students to interact with others from different geographical locations. These international collaborations require hours of planning and organization, in order for the students to be able to manage cultural differences, different learning processes, different schedules and time zones, those elements are the basis for a real international learning experience (Gutiérrez-Peláez and Ellis 2020). A multicultural learning experience through digital technology without traveling abroad, connects faculties to international collaborators to develop a project that students work on together with the use different online tools (Colombari et al. 2021; Suny Coil 2021). COIL participating students are able to connect from home, the university or working place with their teammates and professors using technology, digital platforms and mobile devices (Appiah-Kubi and Annan 2020) to design strategic proposals which might enhance not only the academic and learning experience, but in some cases to be executed by companies and organizations in a real professional context (Renzulli 2010). The Link Between Students And Organizations The acquired knowledge at the university no longer seeks only to remain within the

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classrooms, but also to transcend outside of them (Battro and Denham 1997), generating in turn, a more globalized education. Therefore, many universities are encouraging the creation of links with organizations and companies to help the student connect with the real world and help solve the challenges and problems that organizations and companies must manage, both in the public and private sphere. Companies and organizations must continually solve problems and develop projects in favor of their objectives. These have identified the universities and the students as important agents for the creation of business proposals and are also seeking to achieve common purposes during that learning (Padilha 2011) that not only look to benefit the company, but they can benefit the society itself. Organizations, especially NGOs, often have budget and resources difficulties to develop different activities and projects. NGOs work in favor of different needs in society, and as highlighted by Oxfam (2021), develop a social function because their projects cause positive changes in families, communities, or on the planet, and therefore, they see an important opportunity to connect with universities and students who can help them develop and work on those different challenges that they must face. Student Skills Developed Through COIL The student, throughout collaborative activities along the COIL methodology, not only puts into practice the acquired knowledge, but must also place the students in a multicultural environment (Schech, Kelton, Carati, and Kingsmill 2017; Hurkett et al. 2018). In this context, they must develop teamwork skills dealing with people from other countries in different languages and ways of thinking (Hurkett et al. 2018; Jie and Pearlman 2018). At the same time, the student must be able to develop organizational, planning, and creative skills that can fit in with the proposed challenges. In many cases, these challenges are unrelated to their reality and daily life, which makes it even more interesting. Student have to strengthen their communication skills, grammar and writing skills, empathy, and adaptation to change. In general, Coil activities have a very positive effect on reinforcing the student’s soft skills (Williams 2005; Schech et al. 2017) that are in high demand not only in the business world but throughout society. It is important to highlight time differences that students must face within the COIL activities, they must find common available schedules (Casas Cortés et al. 2021) and use communication channels and technological tools that can facilitate communication and allow them to work both synchronously as well as asynchronously. Along the same lines, and as highlighted by Vasquez (2021): “The use of platforms and technological tools are increasingly influencing our daily life, beyond talking about a technological revolution, it is necessary to achieve a literacy on the use of media, which allows learning and appropriation of technological elements as tools and not as outputs to tasks”. Coil activities involve different elements that reinforce learning and what is most relevant is that the outcomes resulting from a final product/proposal for the organizations involved be applied in a real business. Students get to get in touch with real company needs, problems and it provides a way of training for the real world.

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2 Method Description of the Educative Activity The academic challenge was about developing a proposal to solve a problem-situation exposed by the NGO “Reinserta”, the training partner, based in Mexico, which required the students to develop a strategic marketing communication proposal with the aim of raising funds after having passed tough times due to covid pandemic. The NGO counts with two programs which try to improve the quality of life of children living in prisons and creating education and employment opportunities for young people who have been imprisoned. The Objectives Pursued with the COIL The proposed objectives are the following: a. To be able to understand, communicate and work in multicultural partnerships in which students share academic and business perspectives. b. Knowing labor and sociological aspects of other cultures, which opens perspectives that go beyond the current context. c. Learn a collaborative form of online international learning by participating in shared tasks on a collaborative platform.

Student Profile During the academic period of August-December 2021, 27 students from different business-related degrees, in the subject of consumer behavior of the Tecnologico de Monterrey, in Mexico, had the opportunity to participate in an international collaboration with 31 students from the degrees of Marketing and communications and Publicity and Public Relations from the Pontifical University of Salamanca, in Spain, in the subject of consumer behavior. Both parties worked within the framework of the guidelines established by Global Classroom Initiative of the Tecnologico de Monterrey, based on coil methodology, over a period of 6 weeks. Defined Challenge The challenge for the students consisted of developing a marketing communication campaign with fund raising purposes, based on two specific activities which were assigned to odd/even teams randomly. The challenges are detailed below: a. Odd Teams: REINSERTA social event, a “University sport run”. b. Even Teams: Fundraising campaign from a post Covid- pandemic approach.

Used Materials The project was progressively developed and for this, various materials were used by the participating universities. Among them were: classroom, computer and projector,

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videos, PowerPoint presentations and a report of the proposals written in Word created by the students from both universities through the use of technological platforms. Technological platforms used a. Padlet: The platform was used as a student socialization platform. b. Slack: This platform was used as a means of communication between teachers and students in chat format. c. Google Sites: A web page was created with the general of the project. d. Miro: The platform is an online collaborative whiteboard platform that enables distributed teams to work effectively together, from brainstorming with digital sticky notes to planning and managing agile workflows (Miro, 2021) e. Google Drive: This platform was used to work synchronously and asynchronous. It was also used as the channel to deliver the proposal. f. Zoom and Blackboard Collaborate were used for synchronous meetings between teachers, students, and training partners. Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 show a sample of the technological platforms that were used and that have been described in this section

Fig. 1. Padlet platform with students interacting.

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Fig. 2. Slack platforms with students and professors interacting

Fig. 3. Web page with information of the educational project for students

Fig. 4. Miro, interactive platform to work between teams to create brainstorming.

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The Educational Activity Implementation Process The COIL was developed with different stages of collaboration. The stages developed were the following: Icebreaker, Collaborative work, Reflection. 1. Icebreaker a. The students through the Padlet platform presented themselves through a video. The rest of the students could leave comments and greet them. This was done at the beginning of the project so that the students could get to know each other. b. In a synchronous session, the students, teachers, and Reinserta connected through the zoom platform to learn details about the organization and learn about the project they had to organize. 2. Collaborative work: Challenges Students in their multicultural teams must develop three stages for the project: a. Discovery and evaluation of the market and social environment of the reality served by Reinserta. (Comparative analysis between Spain and Mexico). b. Consumer analysis of Reinserta: Analyzing it through empathy and user person maps. c. Design of the value proposition according to the assigned challenge: i. University student race at the campus. ii. Post-covid fundraising campaign d. The final presentation was made synchronously with the students, teachers, and Reinserta representatives. The students had to present their proposal in 10 min with a video (5 min) and where all the members of the group had to participate. Subsequently, there will be room for Q&A. Figure 5 shows the recording presented.

Fig. 5. Final presentation through a record video

3. Reflection

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In the reflection stage, the students had to post a video on padlet, commenting and expressing about the learning experience of the whole project. They were also asked to watch all the classmates’ videos leaving a message to their peers (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Reflection Padlet board with a meaningful message about the experience form the student’s perspective

3 Evaluation of Results The feedback received from students, partner university professors, and Global Classroom coordinators was very encouraging and positive. The hours worked on the project by the teachers are estimated to be 38 h, the hours worked by the students are approximately 12 h. This, according to the certificate issued by the Internationalization office of Tec de Monterrey. The learning experience has allowed students to leave their regular classroom and face a more complex work situation where they had to not only develop an academic project based on challenges but also had to learn to deal with cultural differences, communication, and coordination difficulties. This is something that enriches the student by having to undergo a reality environment which happens in all companies and organizations that operate internationally. Involving a training partner allows students to be motivated in the development of their proposals since it will be implemented by the “Reinserta” organization, so it has a real application. Technological platforms and tools enhance and reinforce learning since the student does not need to leave their environment to have an international learning experience.

4 Conclusions The implementation of academic activities based on the COIL model allows students from different cultures, skills, and personalities to connect and interact. COIL VEP encourages intercultural awareness; use of digital technologies to manage group dynamics, collaboration in different time zones; effective and respectful communication across

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cultures and between disciplines; and builds coping and resiliency skills in unfamiliar and challenging situations (Vahed and Rodriguez 2021; Williams 2005). On the other hand, this type of collaboration means that the teachers involved in the activity had to design a work plan that can homogenize knowledge, ways of learning, and ways of working to carry out an educational project. The use of technological tools given by both teachers and students reinforces the rise and trend of taking advantage of these resources to develop international projects, as highlighted by Vezub (2010): “Training spaces can constitute an opportunity for teachers to reflect on their teaching practices, their work with students, to restructure knowledge”. Having been able to involve a real organization, with specific problems, allows students to design proposals that will be implemented by the organization (Lecaros et al. 2020). As this organization is an NGO, with limited resources, not only does an educational activity take place, but an organization obtains a benefit with social impact. By participating in these kinds of academic collaborations, students develop valuable personal skills not only in the academic and business environment but also valuable in learning to work as a team. Skills such as empathy, good communication skills, organization, creativity, and resilience could be highlighted (Ramírez-Montoya et al. 2021). It is increasingly common for professionals to solve challenges that involve other environments, speak in different languages and be able to react to the constant changes that are suffered in globalized societies (Xu 2021). This type of academic activity reinforces these capacities within the training of students. Acknowledgements. This work and Coil were possible due to the collaboration of the ONG “Reinserta”, we appreciate their participation and support, and Ricardo Lyle, Global Classroom project coordinator at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico.

References Appiah-Kubi, P., Annan, E.: A review of a collaborative online international learning. Int. J. Eng. Pedagogy 10(1), 109–124 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v10i1.11678 Battro, A., Denham, P.: La educación digital. Una nueva era del conocimiento. Emecé, Buenos Aires (1997). http://files.juan-pablo-madrigal-gomez.webnode.es/200000009-7a8037 b793/BattroAntonioM-Laeducaciondigital%5B1%5D.pdf Casas Cortés, J.C., Sánchez Urbina, M., Hilerio López, Á.G.: Aprendizaje basado en problemas: el adulto mayor en los contextos de Colombia y México. Una experiencia COIL entre la Universidad del Rosario y la Universidad de Colima. Universidad del Rosario (2021) Colombari, R., D’Amico, E., Paolucci, E.: Can challenge-based learning be effective online? A case study using experiential learning theory. CERN IdeaSquare J. Exp. Innov. 5(1), 40–48 (2021). https://doi.org/10.23726/cij.2021.1287 Gutiérrez-Peláez, M., Ellis, K.: Aprendizaje intercultural. Experiencias de Collaborative Online International Learning (coil) entre la Universidad del Rosario y la Universidad Americana del Cairo en Egipto. Reflexiones Pedagógicas, 23 (2020). https://repository.urosario.edu.co/bitstr eam/handle/10336/25855/Reflexiones%2023-1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Hurkett, C.P., et al.: The benefits of sustained undergraduate inter-programme collaborations between international partners. J. Learn. Teach. High. Educ. 1(1), 31–42 (2018). https://doi. org/10.29311/jlthe.v1i1.823

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INE: Indicadores de la Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible (2021). https://www.ine.es/ dyngs/ODS/es/index.htm Jie, Z., Pearlman, A.M.G.: Expanding access to international education through technology enhanced collaborative online international learning (COIL) courses. Int. J. Technol. Teach. Learn. 14(1), 1–11 (2018) Oxfam: La labor de las Ongs en la sociedad actual (2021). https://blog.oxfamintermon.org/lalabor-de-las-ong-en-la-sociedad-actual/ Padilha, M.: Tipos de indicadores: una mirada reflexiva. Roberto Carneiro, Juan Carlos Toscano y Tamara Díaz (coordinadores), Los desafíos de las TIC para el cambio educativo, pp. 45–58 (2011) Ramírez-Montoya, M.S., Andrade-Vargas, L., Rivera-Rogel, D., Portuguez-Castro, M.: Trends for the future of education programs for professional development. Sustainability 2021(13), 7244 (2021) Renzulli, J.S.: El rol del profesor en el desarrollo del talento. REIFOP 13(1) (2010). https://www. redalyc.org/pdf/2170/217014922004.pdf Salinas Contreras, M., Sánchez Torres, F.R.: Colaboración Internacional en Educación Superior. Revista Liminales. Escritos Sobre Psicología Y Sociedad, 9(18), 133–163 (2020). https://doi. org/10.54255/lim.vol9.num18.473 Suny Coil (2021). Coil Resources at Suny. https://online.suny.edu/introtocoil/coil-resources-suny/ Schech, S., Kelton, M., Carati, C., Kingsmill, V.: Simulating the global workplace for graduate employability. High. Educ. Res. Dev. 36(7), 1476–1489 (2017) Vahed, A., Rodriguez, K.: Enriching students’ engaged learning experiences through the collaborative online international learning project. Innov. Educ. Teach. Int. 58(5), 596–605 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2020.1792331 Vasquez, R.F.D.: Transformar la educación. Participación, reproducción y aprendizaje desde la tecnología. Experiencias de Innovación. Enseñanza Aprendizaje en la Educación Superior, 58 (2021) Vezub, L.F.: El desarrollo profesional docente centrado en la escuela: concepciones, políticas y experiencias, 1a edn. Instituto Internacional de Planeamiento de la Educación IIPE Unesco, Buenos Aires (2010) Un.org. Take Action for the Sustainable Development Goals (2021). https://www.un.org/sustai nabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ Williams, T.R.: Exploring the impact of study abroad on students’ intercultural communication skills: adaptability and sensitivity. J. Stud. Int. Educ. 9(4), 356–371 (2005) Xu, H.: Collaborative online international learning in a business course during the Covid-19 pandemic. Proc. Am. Soc. Bus. Behav. Sci. 28, 93–98 (2021)

Application of Component Organized Learning Method for DIGSCM 4.0 Hybrid Courses Eduard Shevtshenko1,2(B) , Rene Maas1,2 , Tatjana Karaulova3 , Anna Truver1 , Anna Nikolajeva4 , Ritvars Revals4 , Janek Popell1 , Iveta Dembovska4 , Mindaugas Samuolaitis5 , and Asta Raupeliene5 1 TTK University of Applied Sciences, Pärnu mnt 62, 10135 Tallinn, Estonia

[email protected]

2 University of Tartu, Ülikooli 18, 50090 Tartu, Estonia 3 TalTech, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia 4 RTA Atbr¯ıvošanas aleja, 115A, R¯ezekne LV 4600, Latvia 5 VDU, K. Donelaiˇcio st. 58, 44248 Kaunas, Lithuania

Abstract. Higher education as the education whole faced an unprecedented challenge last year. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the educational process had to change rapidly. The need for redesign and renovation was obvious already before the crisis driven by the pandemic started. As all other methods have become more personalised, education had to follow. In the current paper, the authors will solve the efficient delivery of know-how and skills requested by developing Component Organised Learning components that can be applied in different courses. The required solution should find a way to use the COL concept to avoid the repetition of materials and excessive work of collaborative HEI-is. Keywords: Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) · Component Organised Learning (COL) · Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) digitalisation

1 Introduction Short-time learning or learning via short courses has become more popular. Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) need to rebuild their curriculums to enable combining work experiences with short-time classes. The students can choose precisely by their needs and provide the studying possibilities online whenever they are located at a suitable time— authors research options for joining international groups with different professional and language knowledge levels. We are targeting to discover which steps the responsible course teacher and the assistant teacher should be fulfilled in the target HEI. The well-structured e-environment for studying is the only way for this. Building an engaging e-learning environment is both time and skill-consuming for educators. Skills necessary for educators using traditional teaching methods must be accomplished with advanced digital skills and appropriate knowledge about digital tools. The authors aim to solve the problem of course integration between different HEI students and teaching © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 157–170, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_15

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staff by using standard IT tools and solutions. The challenges to be solved include fitting collaborative courses to existing curriculums, supporting students with local teachers in their native language, sharing common infrastructure, and taking responsibility for grading and assessment. E-learning can be a more exhausting task for students than traditional learning. The structure must consider the need for breaks between the tasks, their tasks, and the environment’s attractiveness. The use of interactivity tools, tests as benchmarkers, and study guides not all for whole courses but for every separate thematic will help the student pass the class with predicted and set up outcomes. Also, the quality of study materials and presenting them in the environment is essential. Current research aims to align the curriculums to fulfil the needs of the companies on their journey to the digitalisation of Supply Chains. The paper will be focused on following research questions. • How to assess dynamically and efficiently the digitalisation needs of companies? • How to create and deliver the required digitalisation knowledge by creating the courses? • How to update the courses’ content regularly, based on updated needs of the companies. The Digital Supply Chain Management 4.0 (DIGSCM 4.0) project supports this research, and the developed framework is constantly improved by partner organisations from TTK University of Applied Sciences (TTK UAS, Estonia), Rezekne Academy of Technology (RTA, Latvia), and Vytautas Magnus University (VDU, Lithuania). The project’s goals are to build the DIGSCM module, which consists of 15 courses targeted to cover the digitalisation needs of the companies. The project is limited to Purchase and Procurement, Logistics and Manufacturing. The authors focus on digitalisation’s effects in a supply-chain context. Today our research group have completed the execution and international validation of 5 courses. Teachers and students have received valuable experience before we move further into delivering the subsequent ten courses. Implementation of courses took place during the academic year of 2021/2022, and the research group is interested in sharing the current results. We supported the classes in min two different country students/teachers. We improved the framework suggested in the previous paper [1] by introducing the Component Organized Learning (COL) matrix, which enables us to connect the assessment of skills, technologies, and impact of digitalisation provided by 52 companies from the Procurement, Manufacturing and Logistics sectors. Companies share with universities the current expectations, and universities review and deliver those expectations through DIGSM 4.0 module courses. The target is to enable a dynamic teaching environment and reduce the delivery time of skills to the market by adjusting the courses by using the COL approach, delivery of this knowledge to the contributed companies at the end of the semester by preparing the students for company annual internships, the readiness of students to contribute to problems solving in final theses and final providing the skilled alumni for businesses.

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2 Literature Review Although the provided solution is applied in the eLearning environment, its flaws will also be essential to consider. For instance, students could need eLearning challenges for more self-regulated learning and using technology [2]. Challenge could also be the reluctance of lectures to deliver content using technology [3]. This problem is decreasing as massive use during the COVID-19. The name and concept are different from those used before RLO (Reusable Learning Objects) [4]. Integrated E-Learning Objects Design Model and Implementation into Educational Platform) help reduce the time developing instructions and help share the knowledge between universities [5]. The weakness of the reusable learning instructions is that they could be outdated [6]. The Industrial Revolution 4.0 brought with it the introduction of new teaching methods. New opportunities have brought people and technology together and created a more flexible environment for the learning process and studying programs adaptable to enterprises’ needs. Peter Fisk defined the main trends related to Education 4.0 [7] as learning can be taken anytime, anywhere; more personalised practices, the possibility to choose the way You learn, more hands-on learning, apply theoretical knowledge to practical case solving, consideration of students feedback. Authors have reused the previously discussed trends to develop the new learning approach – Component Organised Learning (COL), which uses interactive practical assignments [1]. COL has a common structure that RLO lacks and gives a more standardised body to objects and allows analysing and studying the concept’s good sides and flaws. Our solution provides an opportunity to revise the COL annually by analysing answers from companies and changing the content.

3 Component Organized Learning 3.1 Application of COL Concept The authors suggest applying the Component Organised Learning (COL) concept to divide the course into small cells corresponding to the specified duration of the learning

Required technologies to leverage digitalisation(Pract)

Questions 10 %

Required technologies to leverage digitalisation(Pract)

ples 70 %

Step 3 Step 4 Step 5

COL definition

20 %

videos, exam-

Digitalisation impact on organisational performance

Theory

Step 2 Required digitalisation knowledge and skills

Practice/ Application/

Required digitalisation knowledge and skills

Step 1

Fig. 1. The Component Organised Learning (COL) definition by time and matrix structure

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task [1, 4]. Once the COL is created and connected to related study outcomes, it can be successfully reused in different e-learning courses to support content flexibility and course connectivity. COL enables the interconnection between different curriculums, which provides a broader view of the value chain essential for students to become better specialists. It also supports the flexibility and optimal use of teaching staff, with the possibility of simultaneous teaching of COL related to different courses and curriculums. In the current research, the authors develop a COL matrix, which defines the relationships between required knowledge, technologies and implementation impact provided by the study outputs of the courses. The authors introduce the case study of five collaborative courses (Table 1) supported by 18 COL-s (Table 2). Table 1. The piloted courses. Course name

Responsible

Partner

Local/International students; Teachers

C1. Purchasing and Procurement Management

TTK

RTA

27/5 students

C2. The organisation of the digital TTK purchase process

RTA

27/5 students

C6. Introduction to Supply Chain digitalisation

RTA

TTK

10/25 students; 1 RTA/2 TTK techers

C12. Logistics 4.0 and Business Process Reengineering

VDU

TTK

20 local students; 1 VDU/1 TTK techers

C15.Logistics Process Management in Supply Chain

VDU

TTK

5/30 students; 1 VDU/1 TTK techers

Figure 1 shows the structure of COL and the developed matrix. Potential users of the framework would be logistics and management and administration teachers, companies, and students. The lecturer prepares a questionnaire and introduces it to partner companies interested in university students to design the study block. Using the questionnaire, the lecturer assesses the competencies, technologies, expected impact, and challenges companies request, analyses and generate the study outputs into the existing curricula courses. Then, in cooperation with the partner universities, additional study blocks are developed to cover the necessary competencies. The completed modules are offered to students either within the existing subjects or electives, focusing on developing critical thinking and reflection skills [8]. After completing the modules, student feedback is analysed, appropriate corrections are made, and the authors integrated the study blocks into bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in different universities. After implementing the curriculum, the authors asked students to fill in a questionnaire to validate the delivery process of the requested skills. After the students were employed, the company representatives were invited to confirm that the students could use the received knowledge from standard modules on practice [9–11]. The initial idea of COL structure, see Fig. 1 is adjusted by partner universities.

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Table 2. COL names with simplified definitions. COL

Definition (if needed)

1. AI COl

The ability to teach the algorithm based on validated data

2. BIG DATA COL

Ability to create new knowledge based on a significant amount of data

3. IOT/Blockchain COL

Ability to extract the data from devices/secure the operational data

4. BPM COL

Business Process Mapping software

5. SMART SENSOR COL

Know-how and skills for the usage of radio frequency identification and smart sensors in tracing of supply chain processes

6. Cyber Security

Cyber security tools and policies

7. Predictive Analytics COL

Predictive software, forecasting algorithms

8. ERP COL

Enterprise resource planning

9. Innovation COL

Ability to create new solutions, previously not used in current context

10. Communication

Communication software, Social Network software, messengers, skype, etc

11. Robotisation COL

Able to replace the manual activities by using robot or RPA solution

12. Lean and Agile COL

Lean and Agile tools and software

13. Risk Management COL

Ability to estimate the non-fulfilment of strategic targets

14. Cloud COL

Software working in the Cloud environment

15. SCOR COL

Supply Chain Operation Reference model-based

16. Integration COL

Integration between different Information Systems

17. API COL

API interfaces for data exchange

18. Simulation COL

Simulation software (processes, games)

Today we combine the video recorded lecture and practical part performed in selected ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) tools and discuss the sharing of teaching load between HEI-s. Using the ICT tools via hybrid learning and e-learning gives more possibilities for communicative learning for teams with members in different locations. Those teams create miniature models of multicultural environments. The processes take place in real life. The authors discuss the formation of varying COL, giving their definitions and introducing an initial application case study joined on Matrix-based prioritisation.

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3.2 Assessment of Companies Needs to Move Toward Digitalisation The authors discuss how project partners use those tools to achieve the study outputs in joined courses that fulfil the expectation of companies participating in the project. The vision is that the usage of the questionnaire will enable dynamic adjustment of curriculums towards the expectations of companies in the digitalisation field. Authors have developed the questionnaires for the Baltic States’ companies in Logistics, Manufacturing and Procurement fields. Step 1 is to share the questionnaire with the companies to get their preferences related to knowledge, impact, challenges and technologies (Table 3). Table 3. The required knowledge and skills to execute digitalisation in procurement Required knowledge and skills to execute digitalisation

Agreement in % LT

LV

EE

Know-how and skills of the usage of procurement platforms based on “many-to many” communication

100

30

100

Abilities to use mobile applications, cloud solutions and cloud-based ERP solutions in working with full remote access

60

60

100

Abilities to use common user interface platforms and applications in executing supply chain operations. (Enable visualisation of procurement)

60

60

100

Abilities to communicate and collaborate by using social media platforms. (E-Procurement, E-commerce, web sites, artificial intelligent support, and automation of communication with suppliers by software robots.)

80

60

80

Know-how and skills for the usage of radio frequency identification and smart sensors in tracing of the supply chain processes. (Smart sensors in the goods can control flow and environmental conditions for sensitive goods, informing manufacturing partners about possible delays and logistics side on changed condition during transportation.)

70

30

100

Know-how and skills needed to protect the data 80 of the supply chain operations (ensuring cybersecurity, data protection, using of sensors to replenish the goods, ethical issues with personnel data of employees.)

50

100

(continued)

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Table 3. (continued) Required knowledge and skills to execute digitalisation

Agreement in % LT

LV

EE

Know-how and skills for the usage of 70 predictive analytical tools and algorithms in the automation of supply chain transactions and processes. (Automated collecting of demand data from partner IS; automation of purchase operations, analytic tools to predict the price fluctuations.)

40

100

Setting up data structure and master data management connecting multiple unstructured data points via database or datalike

80

40

100

Ability to automate the procurement business process

70

30

100

Skills and competencies: generic digital skills, readiness to change, etc

80

40

100

Step 2 is to map the required knowledge of the companies to a particular topic in the suitable course, select the expected impact and related technologies from the questionnaire, and add them to the matrice. The impact will show how the delivered digitalisation knowledge will support the companies in achieving business targets. To prepare for the practical part, the teacher selects the suitable tool and its assessment by companies in the field of Purchase/Procurement, Manufacturing, and Logistics (Tables 4 and 5). Table 4. Impact of digitalisation on organisational performance in the logistics functions Impact of digitalisation on organisational Agreement in % performance in logistics function (warehousing, LT LV transportation, customer service)

EE

Artificial Intelligence will be able to support my daily business and decrease time and effort on operative activities

53,3

40

80

Artificial Intelligence will support the decision-making processes

40

40

80 (continued)

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Impact of digitalisation on organisational Agreement in % performance in logistics function (warehousing, LT LV transportation, customer service)

EE

Big Data within the organisational environment 66,7 will be collected, analysed, and processed within the logistics function

40

80

Internet-of-Things will support the creation of full transparency within the supply chain ecosystem

30

80

Transparency and traceability within the supply 53,3 chain ecosystem will strengthen buyer-supplier relationships and level of trust

40

90

Logistics function will be a strategic interface to support organisational efficiency, effectiveness, and profitability

80

30

100

Logistics function will transform to a strategic and innovative network node and support the new business models, products, and services

66,7

20

100

Digital solutions will help in making the logistics operations more environmentally friendly through economy of materials and transport

73,3

30

100

Digitalisation will facilitate higher involvement 86,7 of customers in processes

40

100

People and “face-to-face” meeting will remain important to build-up trust

60

100

40

93,3

Table 5. The required technologies to leverage digitalisation in the field of manufacturing Required technologies to leverage digitalisation

Agreement in % LT

LV

EE

Transparency and online visualisation tools help to be more cost efficient and execute supply chain strategic initiatives

62,1

30

100

Mobile applications, cloud solutions, and 79,3 cloud-based ERP solutions will enable me to work with a full remote access

40

100

(continued)

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Table 5. (continued) Required technologies to leverage digitalisation

Agreement in % LT

LV

EE

A common user interface (for platforms and applications) will enable me to work more efficient and effective

79,3

30

100

Social media platforms will be a helpful tool 37,9 for internal and external communication and collaboration

50

40

Radio frequency identification and smart sensors will increase the transparency and traceability of processes

48,3

30

100

Cybersecurity requires a cross-functional approach and must be developed and forced by all supply chain stakeholder

75,9

40

100

Predictive software speeds up every day routines and procedures

72,4

30

100

3.3 Definition of Skills Priorities and Development of Course Content The authors suggest selecting COL from the list based on previously defined parameters, see Table 2. The definition of teachnoligies is purely targeting to support the mapping of skilles required by companies with particular learning content. Step 4 is to calculate the weight of questions based on questionnaire data. Questions weight = (Estonian companies assessment% + Latvian companies assessment%+ Lithuanian companies assessment%)/3/100

Step 5 is to calculate the priority of COL based on weight as: Priority = points of Knowledge required × points of impact of digitalization ×points of tool importance.

The size of the COL will be periodically readjusted at the beginning of the academic year to better correspond to the updated needs of the company. The advanced teaching method will also be applied for existing reeducating employees by providing micro degree programs. The student selects the courses aligned with the current employer’s strategic directions and plans in Supply Chain Digitalisation. As an outcome of previous, digitalisation is a significant need in education. Knowing how to combine digitalisation with pedagogics is challenging for today’s instructors. The e-teaching in engineering assumes cognitive learning to connect acquired knowledge to the practical skills and well-structured e-course design, a comprehensive task for an engineering subject. The development of digitalisation joined practical courses also enables the integration of different study curriculums. The current paper introduces the

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integration approach for three curriculum courses. Students will work on dedicated parts of the value chain and subject-oriented vision of the digital supply chain. Students will use standard applications and acquire ICT skills needed to work as future digitalisation specialists (Table 6). Table 6. Question weight calculation examples Required knowledge and skills to execute digitalisation

LT

LV EE Question weight

Abilities to use common user interface platforms and applications in executing supply chain operations

60

60

LT

LV EE Questionweight

100 0,73

Question weight calculation: (60 + 60 + 100)/3/100 = 0,73 Impact of digitalisation on organisational performance

Digital solutions will help in making the logistics 74 operations more environmentally friendly through economy of materials and transport

30

100 0,68

Question weight calculation (74 + 30 + 100/3)/100 = 0,68 The required technologies to leverage digitalisation

LT

LV EE Questionweight

A common user interface (for platforms and applications) will enable me to work more efficient and effective

86,7 40

100 0,68

Question weight calculation (86,7 + 40 + 100)/3/100 = 0,76

3.4 Dynamic Curriculum Management Based on Companies’ Current Needs The novelty of the introduced approach is dynamic curriculum management based on the companies’ current needs. The size of particular topic in the course will depend on question weight for example the topics that received higher priority will have larger amount in ECTS in each course. The advantage of the method is that it increases the motivation of students, partner companies, and teachers by joining contributions and fulfilment of requirements. The companies will provide the regular assessment of results achieved by the study program based on students’ evaluation after taking internships in the companies and employment, involvement of students writing a final thesis in the company, and employment of study programme alumni. At the same time the companies will be regularly invited to participate in questionnaire, and the allocation of COL to particular courses will be reviewed yearly and will depend on companies’ needs and be supported by guest lecturers (Fig. 2).

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Fig. 2. Fragment of COL matrix

4 Piloted Courses The pandemic changed procurement, manufacturing and logistics processes. Rising ecommerce, new concepts like Business to Customer (B2C), and a-la-carte manufacturing need agile supply chain management offered by supply chains with well-designed architecture and processes tested through digital models and simulations to the highest reliability. In the current chapter, we will discuss the integration of several courses between different HEI-s. In the current paper, we introduced the integration of several courses between different HEI-s. At the current stage of the project, the following courses are built/redesigned accordingly to the need of the companies, given in Table 7. Table 7. Main statistic information about respondents Country

Logistics

Manufacturing

Procurement

Total companies

Lithuania LT

15

27

10

52

28,8%

51,9%

19,2%

100%

Latvia LV

3

11

4

16

18,8%

68,8%

25%

100%

Estonia EE

7

5

4

16

44%

31%

25%

100%

C1 and C2 courses were designed in TTK UAS (EE) for Purchase and Procurement curriculum students and delivered jointly for RTA (LV) continuous learning students. C6 course was designed in RTA (LV) for Mechatronics curriculum first-year students. It was offered jointly for TTK UAS (EE) operations management curriculum students. Those areas need specialists for good technical knowledge and skills, so the new learning methods need to enhance the e-teaching the technical-digital skills combinations. For the best outcome, the data collected from companies via questionnaire defined

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the competencies, the impact of digitalisation and ICT skills the companies see as the most relevant in supporting their further goals. The introduced approach by mapping created course study outputs with corresponding COL-s and calculating the priority index to define the size of the COL-s. In addition, students’ feedback improves the development of the following ten courses in the project’s. In Fig. 3 is illustrated a COL-method implementation for HEI.

COL

High School

implementation Application examples and videos for practice preparation

COL Elaboration Questionnarie: Procurement Logistic Manufacturing

Competence estimation, programm correction

Filling

Enteprises Enteprises

Fig. 3. The framework for Component Organized Learning methods implementation.

International teaching experience for TTK, RTA and VDU students and teachers highlighted several challenges to be solved. They applied the real-time teaching environments and working of infrastructure preparation for common near life project preparation. The data collected will be described in ERP system to be fulfilled by the different roles of HEI partners. TTK UAS students will be responsible for Procurement and purchasing components, RTA students will perform the manufacturing activities, and VDU students will perform logistics for materials and finished items. Training in conditions near real life, like using different software solutions, gamification and simulations and enabling students to participate via remote solutions can be one way. Guiding and assessing students’ tasks remotely need to develop, considering the student’s expectations and employers’ needs.

5 Summary The research paper’s authors have developed a framework for dynamic curriculum improvement supported by the DIGSCM 4.0 Erasmus+ project. The target of the project is to periodically update the curriculums based on business requirements at the beginning of each study year. To answer the research questions the authors fulfilled the following tasks: • Designed the questionnaire to evaluate dynamically and efficiently the digitalisation needs of companies and validate on 60 companies. A study of the needs analysis of the business sector was carried out. It is helped to highlight the need for the knowledge,

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competencies and skills of the trained specialists in the fields of trade, production and logistics in the 4-industry revolution. The context of the 4IR (fourth industrial revolution) in the sales, manufacturing and logistics sector affects the entire international market. During the research, the authors carried out the analyses of competencies, abilities and knowledge needs at the international level and adapted the portfolio of study subjects so that the trained specialist would be suitable not only for companies operating at the national but also at the international level was observed. • Authors introduced the COL approach to create and deliver the required digitalisation knowledge by creating the courses based on companies digitalisation needs? The approach is validated by development and implementation of five international courses. The COLs approach introduced by the researchers helps to clearly structure and distribute the study load of the taught subjects to the students, taking into account the significance of the criteria and the needs of the employers. • Authors introduced COL matrix to update the courses’ content regularly, based on updated needs of the companies. COL questions weights may change with the re-study of future employer needs, which will change the priority and the size of corresponding topics in particular courses for the next study period. The designed courses content was adjusted based on company requirement and authors are planning to use the COL matrix for following ten courses design

Acknowledgement. This research has been financed by the European Social Fund via IT Academy programme.

References 1. Murumaa, L., Shevtshenko, E., Karaulova, T.: Component organised learning method for digital supply chain hybrid courses. In: Auer, M.E., Hortsch, H., Michler, O., Köhler, T. (eds.) Mobility for Smart Cities and Regional Development – Challenges for Higher Education: Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL 2021), Volume 1, pp. 691–705. Springer International Publishing, Cham (2022). https://doi. org/10.1007/978-3-030-93904-5_69 2. Rasheed, R.A., Kamsin, A., Abdullah, N.A.: Challenges in the online component of blended learning: a systematic review. Comput. Educ. 144, 103701 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j. compedu.2019.103701 3. Syynimaa, N.: Teaching on hybrid courses insights from commercial online ICT-training. In: CSEDU 2018 – Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, vol. 1, pp. 253–258 (2018). https://doi.org/10.5220/0006701302530258 4. Polsani, P.R.: Use and Abuse of Reusable Learning Objects. E-Education: Design and Evaluation 3(4) (2003). https://journals.tdl.org/jodi/index.php/jodi/article/view/jodi-105 5. Onofrei, G., Ferry, P.: Reusable learning objects: a blended learning tool in teaching computeraided design to engineering undergraduates. Int. J. Educ. Manage. 34(10), 1559–1575 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-12-2019-0418 6. Brown, M., Taylor, M., Hall, C., Th Konstantinidis, S.: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for using reusable learning objects in european healthcare curricula to enhance cultural sensitivity (n.d.)

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7. Fisk, P.: The future of learning will be dramatically different, in school and throughout life (2017). http://www.thegeniusworks.com/2017/01/future-education-young-everyone-tau ght-together 8. Porter, M.E.: Clusters and the New Economics of Competition (1998). https://hbr.org/1998/ 11/clusters-and-the-new-economics-of-competition 9. Shevtshenko, E., et al.: Dissemination of engineering education at schools and its adjustment to needs of enterprises. In: Katalinic, B. (ed.) Proceedings of the 28th DAAAM International Symposium, Zadar, Croatia, November 08–11, 2017, DAAAM International, Vienna, pp. 44– 53 (2017). https://doi.org/10.2507/28th.daaam.proceedings.006 10. Shevtshenko, E., et al.: Innovative methods of engineering education popularisation at schools. Proc. Est. Acad. Sci. 68(4), 356–363 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3176/proc.2019.4.01 11. 21st Century Skills for Students and Teachers. https://ainamulyana.blogspot.com/2017/06/ 21st-century-skillsfor-students-and.html. Accessed 18 August 2019

A Scaffolding Strategy to Organize Collaborative Learning Patrícia Fernanda da Silva(B)

and Liane Margarida Rockenbach Tarouco

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract. Currently, available technologies offer several possibilities to provide scaffolding to students in order to support and guide their learning. Given the growing importance of active learning and considering that while they can involve individual efforts, they bestow better results if encompassing collaborative activities, it is relevant to investigate what types of scaffolding support idea generation and organization, and intellectual convergence, which are typical activities of collaborative learning. In this light, technological tools were analyzed aiming at evaluating their functionalities to offer scaffolding to students. LMS Moodle and Google Workspace for Education educational applications were explored and used in a case study carried out with graduate students to investigate strategies to organize collaborative learning activities. For collective construction of knowledge on this issue, the Knowledge Forum environment was used with specific scaffolds prepared. However, case study participants could suggest and change them. Our results showed that flexibility in defining scaffolding structure using the Knowledge Forum tool gave students better learning conditions, and facilitated results from a collaborative construction of knowledge.

1 Introduction As pedagogical science develops rapidly and ICT is constantly improving, teacher education programs must empower future teachers with knowledge of new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning based on modern theories. Such approaches are defined by some attributes: focus on student centered activities and supervision for the construction of knowledge using ICT. ICT facilitates the use of various teaching and learning materials and other data, visualizations, simulations, and collaboration [1, 2]. Student participation changes from a passive receiver of information to an active builder of their knowledge, implying an active learning process. Active learning activities can involve individual efforts but yield better results if they involve collaborative activities. The practice of teaching and learning through active methods is usually carried out using collaborative strategies, whether in person or remotely. Online collaborative learning theory emphasizes the role of peer discourse as a key to learning and defines learning as an intellectual convergence, achieved by three progressive stages of group discourse: idea generation, idea organization, and intellectual convergence [3]. The first phase, idea generation, indicates divergent thinking within a group. It demands brainstorming strategies, verbalization, and information generation. Through © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 171–182, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_16

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sharing of ideas and views on a specific topic or problem, many perspectives emerge. The next phase, idea organization, prompts a conceptual change. As participants confront new or different ideas whether generated by their peers or found in their readings or research, they begin to focus their discussion according to their relationships and reciprocal similarities. Student behaviors at this stage demonstrate their intellectual progress and set the beginning of convergence, as students discuss and or debate to sort out their strongest and weakest standpoints (by either referencing, agreeing, disagreeing, or questioning). The third phase, intellectual convergence, typically represents a shared understanding or view (including agreeing to disagree), or a mutual contribution and construc of shared knowledge. A problem frequently faced along this process is the lack of experience of students in working collaboratively in an effective manner where a lack of group organizational ability as a combined entity is noted. A strategy to organize collaboration by regarding it as a combination of communication, cooperation, and coordination is proposed [4]. Communication is essentially an exchange of messages and information between people. Communication allows sharing of the organization by actions that involve negotiation, commitment, and responsibility by group members. Cooperation, meaning a production that takes place in a shared space, requires simultaneous access to documents (texts, spreadsheets, multimedia) being developed. Coordination involves managing people, their activities and resources. It points to mechanisms to establish actions and manage their execution. In addition, these mechanisms need conditions to follow work development. In knowledge construction, success depends upon carefully cultivating ideas and constantly using and reusing knowledge resources, maximizing production, and making knowledge advances available to the community. In addition, it is important to provide some form of work guidance to ensure effort synergy. This article aims at presenting a strategy to guide collaborative learning work by using computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) that provides an integrated and flexible form of scaf folding to help organize the work of knowledge building, to be carried out by the group.

2 Collaboration and Active Learning An observable change in the organization, production, marketing, entertainment, teaching, and learning of society is currently taking place. In keeping with other organizations, the educational field has been under pressure, demanding new ways of teaching and learning to be created. Seeking to overcome this shortcoming, active methodologies offer alternatives to transform classes into more meaningful learning experiences for students. Active learning makes it possible to advance and learn in a spiral way, where increasingly complex levels are reached as students interact and share knowledge. Therefore, collaboration is essential for active learning. Students learn socially, using their previous knowledge to make sense of new information through questions that are developed collaboratively [5]. Collaborative learning, as a source of cognitive development, can be considered the basis of all human learning [6]. In other words, group cognition is the basis of human cognition (planning, problem-solving, deduction, narrative, etc.) at all levels.

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2.1 Active Learning Strategies Active Learning has been widely used in recent years [7, 8] attracting teachers who are looking for alternatives to surmount traditional teaching methodologies. The most common strategies in Active Learning are focused on problem based learning, cased based learning, and peer learning. In Problem Based Learning (PBL), students work in small teams to solve problems in a self-directed way. Problems are carefully designed so that they are essential and relevant to students according to the objectives to be developed, are complex problems that require discussion and reflection from students, and have more than one possible answer. Case Based Learning (CBL) involves a strategy related to Problem Based Learning: it poses everyday situations that could be real life problems. These can be clinical, or investigations that seek to stimulate and sustain the process of knowledge, skills, and attitudes building [9]. Active learning strategies demand prior preparation of students to qualify them to participate in the collaborative process. Preparation involves activities that should be carried out in an environment currently called the Flipped Classroom, which advises inverting what is done in a traditional classroom setting. An inversion of what was traditionally done in the classroom to be done at home, and what was previously done as homework to be completed in the classroom is proposed [10]. All approaches presented allow students to include individual and collective efforts in investigating the concepts studied. From the collection of previous ideas, discussions, and teamwork that were developed through collaborative activities, team performance is improved, allowing students to mutually share evidence and arguments to solve problems and consequently improve their critical thinking. Therefore, we cannot overemphasize the importance of supporting collaborative work. The scaffolding strategy offers countless advantages [11, 12]. Despite being a promising strategy, some problems are pointed out by teachers when using collaborative learning, such as students who prefer to work individually, those who do not like to face problems elicited by group work, lack of commitment, group members who tend to monopolize the discussions and difficulties in problem understanding, all situations that could jeopardize learning results [13]. 2.2 Scaffolding It is generally accepted that a problem or case solution demands a successive and continuous improvement approach. Improvement should come from students compromising their conflicting understandings derived from both their previous knowledge and their research. While idea generation comes naturally to young people, idea improvement is not natural to them. Students are expected to be active in this compromise, with a help of a teacher, technology, and peers. To minimize difficulties inherent to this process, appropriate scaffolding provision is recommended. Scaffolding is support provided to students by the learning environment. Scaffolding simplifies a task to put it within reach of the student; it helps students focus on the most important aspects of the problem. Effective scaffolding is adaptable and dependent on student evolution. It can be gradually reduced [14]. Students may need help determining the purpose of the task, conceptualizing the

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problem, or identifying products. In collaborative active learning activities development, problem solving is a common practice and students face difficulties in regulating their problem solving and determining what actions should be taken as well as when and how. Therefore, scaffolding can provide an inventory of relevant actions and guidance in action orchestration.

3 Collaborative Learning Collaborative learning, as a source of cognitive development, can be considered the basis of all human learning, and not just an optional and occasional mode of instruction [6]. It is effective in attracting and retaining students in technical programs, improving group retention and practical interest. During activities, the author found that students performance increased, and interpersonal relationships improved, leading to social support improvement and self-esteem raise. Collaboration has its advantages, but it demands additional coordination and communication efforts between members so that activities are satisfactorily developed by the group [15]. During the work, it is important to define learning goals, in which students can be stimulated to obtain cooperative, competitive or individualistic efforts. The assessment process in collaborative learning is as complex as in other methodologies. If in traditional methodologies students are evaluated by their test performance, in group activities the student needs to be able to plan and execute experiments, identify phenomena and incorporate new behaviors into their repertoire. Different approaches to evaluate collaborative and reflective learning should be provided to students as feedback, as well as assessment through online forums and discussions to encourage reflective thinking and practice. Options such as reflective summary, online survey, peer review or self-assessment tasks, concept maps or problem solving can also be used. Assessment rubrics are suggested [16, 17], making it possible to evaluate according to indicators relevant to performance levels with the participation, self-assessment, and reflection of students in activities carried out. Assessment rubrics can be used by both the teacher and students themselves to assess the group. It is important that the assessment, regardless of the strategy used, occurs in an aligned manner and flows with the tasks developed, indicating previously established criteria and the performance level expected from the students. Students need to know that their participation is being monitored [18]. A good strategy is the scaffolding approach, in which students go through five stages of learning: access and motivation, wherein students are encouraged to participate in activities, online socialization, information exchange, as well as construction, and knowledge development where students take control of their knowledge construction process [18]. 3.1 Technological Tools to Support Collaborative Learning With technological evolution, many available theoretical frameworks have emerged, which are influential in the Computer Supported Collaborative Learning research community – CSCL. Dialogic interaction is at the center of the process through which individual participants form a collective agency of knowledge construction. From the analysis

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of these influences, it is possible to outline the best way to provide scaffolding. The concept of scaffolding assumes support for students in their individual or collaborative learning efforts. The development of computer-supported collaborative activities (CSCL) offers opportunities related to a productive learning process in terms of content, with interactions that can be practiced in real environments and with the adoption and implementation of technologies. The next sections present an analysis of some tools that can be used to support learning and interactions between students and teachers during the development of collaborative activities. 3.2 Moodle Environment Moodle is a vastly widespread Learning Management System (LMS). It contains several tools to support e-learning activities such as sharing files, glossaries, books, pages, wikis, videos, polls, surveys, questionnaires, forums, e-portfolio, and message communication with participants. The use of external tools integrating activities and resources existing in other sites is possible, as well as the creation of groups with access permissions to resources adjustable to individual case needs. The platform has some intrinsic features for collaboratively creating texts. The Wiki is an example of a tool that allows concurrent though not simultaneous access to pages being created by students. Plugins added to the platform allow collaboration in editing a text to be submitted in response to a task, such as Etherpad [19, 20]. Collaboration and interaction between students can happen through exchanges in forums. The use of CSCL and Moodle and the e-portfolio feature, combined with a forum was reported [21]. Learning interactions for CSCL purposes need not be restricted to what is offered by the platform, as there are external tools that add relevant functionality such as collaborative text editors that allow good concurrent access and versioning systems, such as Google docs. Other external resources involve concept diagram editors, such as concept maps or online whiteboards and murals, such as Padlet and Trello. These resources provide options used to externalize complex ideas and maintain shared understanding. Options for scaffolding regarding the use of any tool, whether internal or external, can be added by the teacher with guidelines for each task. In addition, Moodle offers the teacher extensive management and monitoring tools of student participation through an activity report that allows checking the login performed, activities, and course participation, such that the level of each student and the group participation is possible to identify. 3.3 Google Workspace for Education Google Workspace for Education has a free packaged version with tools that enable collaboration and communication between users. It offers tools for organization and increased productivity through Google Classroom and Activities; Gmail, Chat, and Google Meet communication tools, in addition to task organizers, reminders and meetings, Keep, Calendar, and Tasks that can have information shared between users.

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The main tools that support collaboration and interaction development between students are Drive, Documents, Presentations, Sheets, Forms, Jamboard, in addition to Gmail. Documents allow the development of collaborative writing, where text can be produced by different online users at the same time. To generate it, the interaction between peers is possible through comments, changes as a suggestion or even exchanges in the comment history available on the page. Jamboard is an interactive whiteboard (interactive smartboard) that enables the development of collaborative activities and interactions between students. This resource can be used to depict explanations, brainstorms, reflections, and records through sticky notes, text, images, and links. Students have concurrent access and may follow and interact with their peers as they build their knowledge. Notes can be edited and linked using lines to each other, relating topics in question. This applications suite works as a cloud-based communication, collaboration, and creation tool that allows students and teachers to synchronously and asynchronously collaborate from a wide range of devices such as smartphones, tablets or laptops [22]. 3.4 Knowledge Forum Knowledge Forum (KF) is an educational software that offers a collaborative space to share ideas, and data, organize materials, analyze results, and discuss texts and materials. In KF, it is possible to create a knowledge building community with storage of notes, the connection of ideas, and amendments from previously listed ideas. This is a collaborative environment, built on theories of knowledge construct [23]. Knowledge Forum is a multimedia knowledge building environment, with usercreated content and organization. Community knowledge spaces (visions) that users create and the ideas (notes) they contribute are collectively emerging phenomena, representing an advancement of community knowledge. The View provides context organizers that can be a diagram, a scene, a model, a concept map, and so on. Notes created by participants are given a title each, that provides an overview of the addressed issues. Notes are editable and moveable as well as linked to other pre-existing notes. The lines between the notes show linkages of notes coming from students who construct and reference each other (see Fig. 1). The Knowledge Forum which is a platform to support knowledge building was considered a solution to organize and guide students’ work due to its features that support the previously highlighted cooperation, communication, and coordination needs. The platform allows students and teachers to work in a collaborative space, share ideas and data, organize materials, analyze research results, discuss texts and ideas, and cite references. The basis of the work is the note, which can be created concurrently by the participants and which has structures determined by scaffolding previously defined. Notes can be created and integrated or linked, allowing initial concepts to be expanded to form collaborative knowledge. Within a note, scaffolding materialized by structures helps users to frame and present their ideas (see Fig. 2). Users can build on, reference, or annotate each other’s ideas. Scaffolding can be customized and altered to suit different purposes and groups and this is the basis for the work developed and presented in this article.

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Fig. 1. View in knowledge forum (https://www.knowledgeforum.com/Kforum/products.htm)

Fig. 2. Structure of a note. Source: Knowledge forum http://www.knowledgeforum.com/Kforum/ products.htm

4 Functionalities of the Collaborative Tools The tools needed to support CSCL should make it possible to store materials, edit collaboratively, and organize work materials that work to support the development of activities aimed at building the projected knowledge. There is a standardization proposal [24] that describes a data model for a collaborative environment. It suggests a list of examples of collaborative tools like Instant messaging, Presence awareness, Chat, Polling/surveying, Whiteboard, Application sharing, Desktop sharing, File sharing, Shared storage, File transfer, Shared calendars, Real-time multipoint audio, Realtime multipoint video, Audio broadcast, Video broadcast, Discussion board, E-mail, and Audio to Text/Text to Audio. Although these tool suggestions to support collaborative learning activities are coherent with the activities normally developed in terms of communication and cooperation, they lack better solutions to support the coordination of the collaboration process. Collaborative learning proceeds through discussion of knowledge creation within a group of learners. The group learns by building and sharing knowledge and by tool interaction. Some offer strategies for organization and synchronous communication,

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while others provide interaction via comments and visualization of results produced throughout the task only. It was observed that the tools available in the Moodle environment, like Google Workspace for Education, Padlet, and Trello, make it possible to develop activities by editing texts, inserting media, notes, comments, and following actions developed throughout the work, but they present limitations regarding coordination of activities because students are unable to reformulate and reorganize ideas as they evolve, and comments that emerge and intertwine often do not follow linearity of ideas. Communication and cooperation are needs to be met when using tools that offer support and facilities for students to forward each other information and asynchronous messages through forums or synchronously through chat, and video, as well as when monitoring the work being developed by the group. For coordination, activities developed by the group management need to be supported and therefore it is necessary to implement a flexible form of orientation that can be shared with the members of the group. Consequently, mechanisms that facilitate the group’s collaborative activities orchestration need to be made available. 4.1 Support for Collaborative Learning Through Scaffolding Strategies to organize collaborative learning using active methodologies can use Peer Instruction or PBL - Problem Based Learning. Each method has its characteristics and will require specific guide- lines. Thus in a Peer Instruction strategy, it involves a group where students with heterogeneous conditions participate, including those who have difficulties with the content and those who can help their colleagues to overcome them. Accordingly, specific guidance could be provided through the use of scaffolding. Several studies demonstrate the value of scaffolding [11]. The question investigated in the present research involved the identification of the best strategy to provide scaffolding. Collaborative problem solving involves students solving poorly structured problems, creating group knowledge, and developing self-regulation and collaboration skills. Different types of scaffolding to facilitate student activities, task guidance, and idea building can be used to facilitate student activities [12]. In a collaborative learning strategy using the PBL - Problem Based Learning technique, the relevant point is to identify the problem and to seek subsidies for its solution. Therefore, a preliminary investigation of the difficulties of students who need more help in conceptual field focus is necessary. 4.2 Case Study The present study was developed to test students’ ability to propose new scaffolding and thus regulate the collaboration process. Students were linked to a graduate program on information technology and education. They were given the choice to create new scaffolding that was reflected upon different supports for their notes. Initially, students went through a previous activity, answering some questions about their digital skills in which it was possible to perceive that they had a good level of general

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proficiency in utilizing the digital technologies and developing their learning by using them. From there, a study of different collaboration tools was developed. Throughout the work, the PBL - Problem Based Learning technique was used. As a problem situation students had to seek a solution for implementing collaborative learning in a high school class. The work started by using Moodle environment. Materials, forums, pages, and links with content were initially made available so that they could have ideas and seek to develop their investigative learning. The group received guidance and from then on, they began a discussion over the tools that had been used during the course. The groups developed their activities using Google Docs for writing collaborative texts, Miró for the presentation and creation of mind maps, Trello for organizing task schedules, Jamboard for collecting previous ideas, Padlet for recording ideas about CSCL, forums, and the Moodle environment for the activities.

Fig. 3. Notes with the structures proposed by teachers.

To continue activities of seeking a collaboratively constructed solution to the suggested problem, the Knowledge Forum tool was proposed. A vision called “Collaborative Interactions” was created with two initial grade structures proposed by teachers (like presented in Fig. 3). Students were asked to collaborate in the collective knowledge construction by adding notes, links, attachments, scaffolding, and new windows. Each student contributed with notes, comments, and inferences that were read and answered by the other students, establishing relationships and constructions with the concepts studied. The group work orchestration was initially set by the teacher, who provided a primary orientation through guidelines included in the Moodle and the proposed scaffolding (note structures). Subsequently, students suggested alterations to the scaffolding based on ideas that were brought into the discussion and adjusted by the group’s components. At the end of the activity, students were invited to express their conclusions about the appropriate tools to develop CSCL and about their experiences with the use of the Knowledge Forum.

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4.3 Result Analysis After research was carried out and the possible tools to be used to support CSCL were listed, students brought up their perceptions about a strategy to organize collaborative learning. Through the use of notes, reflections were recorded on tools for collaborative work, characteristics of the tools, how to choose tools for classes, appropriate methodologies, challenges in their use, diagnosis, solutions, and the necessary training of teachers to develop activities with collaborative efforts between groups, and the appropriate tools to provide the necessary support. Students observed the use of different notes at the initial scaffolding proposed by the teacher as well as relationships established by students from initial ideas. As research unfolded, students contributed with their colleagues’ ideas, bringing in more information and reformulating initially presented concepts. At the end of the activity, students managed to develop a list of tools that could be used to organize collaborative learning activities for the target audience defined by the proposed problem. They identified the most appropriate tools, their functionalities, ways of using them, the best methodology for exploration, as well as difficulties and skills needed, that may be found by high school teachers when using them. Among the suggestions for changing the scaffolding structure, students pointed out the need to include a note containing the work objectives and the proposed methodology to make clear the goal that the group should seek to achieve. Obtaining prior knowledge was another suggestion, replacing the support called My Theory because depending on the target group, referring to prior knowledge as a theory might not be usual for that particular group. Another relevant suggestion from this group was to include the acquired knowledge in a summarizing note. Regarding the use of the Knowledge Forum tool, students emphasized that it is a great resource to support CSCL, as it brings in initial concepts, establishes links with colleagues’ ideas, reformulates built knowledge, and is still able to follow the development of ideas evolution. As a consequence, improvement of learning how to work as a group ensues.

5 Conclusions Students’ difficulties were verified as collaborative activities using PBL - Problem Based Learning. Active learning strategy were used as well as when tools that could support CSCL were later sought. After exploring the collaboration tools presented and the afore mentioned active learning strategy, the students reported that the best support and functionality for the construction of knowledge occurred through the use of the Knowledge Forum tool, as it is interactive, allows simultaneous editing by the authors and can be used as an e-learning system to support collaborative learning from a scaffold-based system. Students suggested that scaffolding made it feasible for knowledge to be interconnected, directed, and discussed so that improvement of issue understanding and autonomous knowledge construction was made possible. Therefore, it is necessary to

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organize scaffolding in advance, explaining the objectives of the collaborative activity, methodology to be used, resources to be consulted, and the theoretical framework. It is important to mention that scaffolding may be altered throughout the work by taking participants’ suggestions into account. Students’ analysis of the Knowledge Forum posed a need for coach training in tool use since available tutorials are unable to dispel doubts about its use. Students pointed out that a tutorial capable of explaining the operation and functionality of the tool would be beneficial by easing and speeding its use, especially when structuring and connecting scaffolds.

References 1. Jedrinovi´c, S., Ferk, V., Rugelj, J.: Innovative and Flexible Approaches to Teaching and Learning with ICT. Digital Turn in Schools - Research, Policy, Practice, pp. 171–186 (2019) 2. Venton, B.J., Pompano, R.R.: Strategies for enhancing remote student engagement through active learning. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 413(6), 1507–1512 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00 216-021-03159-0 3. Harasim, L.: Learning Theory and Online Technologies. Routledge (2017) 4. Fuks, H., Raposo, A. Gerosa, M., Lucena, C.: Applying the 3C model to groupware development. Int. J. Cooper. Inf. Syst. 14(02n03), 299–328 (2005) 5. Wyness, L., Dalton, F.: The value of problem-based learning in learning for sustainability: Undergraduate accounting student perspectives. J. Account. Educ. 45, 1–19 (2018) 6. Stahl, G., Hakkarainen, K.: Theories of CSCL. International Handbook of ComputerSupported Collaborative Learning, pp. 23–43 (2021) 7. Bernstein, D.A.: Does active learning work? A good question, but not the right one. Scholarsh. Teach. Learn. Psychol. 4(4), 290–307 (2018) 8. Lewis, C.E., Chen, D.C., Relan, A.: Implementation of a flipped classroom approach to promote active learning in the third-year surgery clerkship. Am. J. Surg. 215(2), 298–303 (2018) 9. Williams, B.: Case based learning a review of the literature: is there scope for this educational paradigm in prehospital education? Emerg. Med. J. 22(8), 577–581 (2005) 10. Bergmann, J., Sams, A.: Flip your classroom: reach every student in every class every day. International Society for Technology in Education (2012) 11. Rodríguez, M.F., et al.: Using scaffolded feedforward and peer feedback to improve problembased learning in large classes. Comput. Educ. 182, 104446 (2022) 12. Ouyang, F., Chen, Z., Cheng, M., Tang, Z., Su, C.-Y.: Exploring the effect of three scaffoldings on the collaborative problem-solving processes in China’s higher education. Int. J. Educ. Technol. High. Educ. 18(1), 1–22 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-021-00273-y 13. Bossert, S.T.: Cooperative activities in the classroom. Rev. Res. Educ. 15, 225–252 (1988– 1989) 14. Tabak, I., Reiser, B.J.: Scaffolding. The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, pp. 53–71 (2022) 15. Gerosa, M.A., Pimentel, M., Fuks, H., de Lucena, C.J.P.: Development of groupware based on the 3C collaboration model and component technology. In: Dimitriadis, Y.A., Zigurs, I., Gómez-Sánchez, E. (eds.) CRIWG 2006. LNCS, vol. 4154, pp. 302–309. Springer, Heidelberg (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/11853862_24 16. Aguilera, D., García-Yeguas, A., Perales Palacios, F.J., Vílchez-González, J.M.: Di- seño y validación de una rúbrica para la evaluación de propuestas didácticas STEM (RUBESTEM). Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación Del Profesorado. Continuación de La Antigua Revista de Escuelas Normales 97(36.1) (2022)

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17. Pérez Torres, M., Couso, D., Márquez, C.: ¿Cómo diseñar un buen proyecto STEM? Identificación de tensiones en la co-construcción de una rúbrica para su mejora. Revista Eureka Sobre Enseñanza Y Divulgación de Las Ciencias 18(1), 1–21 (2021) 18. Salmon, G.: E-tivities: The Key to Active Online Learning. Kogan Page (2002) 19. Rodríguez Rodríguez, C., Rodríguez, R.V., Cortés Moure, G., León Pérez, C.: Personalization of Moodle with the integration of most used web technologies in higher education. ITECKNE 16(1), 48–63 (2019) 20. Hirsch, B., Hitt, G.W., Powell, L., Khalaf, K., Balawi, S.: Collaborative learning in action. In: Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE) (2013) 21. Hashim, S., Abdul, M. H., Nincarean, D., Jumaat, F., Utami, P.: Knowledge construction process in open learning system among technical and vocational education and training (TVET) practitioners. J. Tech. Educ. Train. 11(1) (2019) 22. Gallant, G.: Collaborative Learning Approaches and the Integration of CollaborativeLearningTools.Idandrapidchange.pressbooks.com;Power LearningSolutions (2020). https://idandr apidchange.pressbooks.com/chapter/collaborative-learning-approaches-and-the-integrationof-collaborative-learning-tools/ 23. Scardamalia, M., Bereiter, C.: Knowledge Building and Knowledge Creation. The Cam bridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, pp. 397–417 (n.d.) 24. ISO: ISO/IEC 19778-2:2015 (en) Part 2: Collaborative environment data mode Part 2: Collaborative environment data mode (2022)

Effect on the Competencies Development and Collaborative Learning During the COVID-19 Lock Down from a Student Perception A. E. Martínez-Cantón1(B) , M. A. Tienda-Vazquez2 and C. J. Diliegros-Godines1,3

,

1 Tecnologico de Monterrey, Av. Atlixcayotl 5718, Reserva Territorial Atlixcáyotl, 72453

Puebla, Puebla, México [email protected] 2 Tecnologico de Monterrey, Avenida Epigmenio González No. 500, Fraccionamiento San Pablo, 76130 Querétaro, Qro, México 3 Instituto de Física, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Apdo. Post. J-48, Puebla, Puebla 72570, México

Abstract. During the last years, the way of teaching classes was impacted by modifying almost 100% of the university courses to digital mode, this modified the academic space for the learning and development of competencies of the students, including collaborative learning. Collaborative work helps students to exchange knowledge, solving doubts between them and complementing their skills when they are solving problems or challenges. This paper presents an analysis of the development of competencies through collaborative learning using virtual communication channels. For this purpose, the following transversal competencies were evaluated: critical thinking, scientific thinking, leadership and reasoning for complexity. The question that seeks to answer this work is from the perception of the students, if their development of competencies and their performance in collaborative learning, has been affected due to the pandemic and the permanent online connection. The statistical test used was the paired t-test, since the same population was evaluated at different times, a survey was carried out on students at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. The results showed that the lockdown situation modified the compromise of most of the students to work on teams as well as their ability to stay focused. Therefore, only the competencies that involve self-work (scientific work, reasoning of complexity) or multidisciplinary work, were increased during the lockdown. Keywords: Educational innovation · Higher education · Collaborative learning · Development of competencies

1 Introduction At the end of 2019 the planet was facing an atypical situation, due to the presence of Covid-19, which forced humanity to make the decision to isolate (lockdown) or maintain © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 183–191, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_17

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social distance, for this reason, the different activities were modified, including the educational area. When schools of all educational levels were closed, teachers and students had to adapt completely to a digital learning model, that is, distance learning based on different technologies or digital applications [1, 2]. On the other hand, modifying learning to digital models also affected the way students relate to each other, since their interaction was limited to virtual classrooms and digital media for their communication. Currently, new technologies allow this interaction between students to be digital and maintain the development of collaborative learning [3]. However, it was found that some challenges that were present during the collaboration of the students when working online were the following: the students do not provide equality, they find a mutually adequate time to work together, the teacher evaluates the content, they do not collaborate and students prefer to collaborate with their friends [4]. 1.1 Collaborative Learning (CL) Collaborative learning is defined as the interaction of groups made up of students with the aim of analyzing the same topic and proposing a solution to a problem, the main idea of CL is to generate strategies by teachers to promote the collaboration between the students in such a way that they can self-regulate their learning and at the same time strengthen those of their peers [5]. The important points that help successful collaborative learning are: I) small work teams of 2 to 5 students, II) That all team members contribute to the same percentage of activities and/or solution of the problem (preferably a real scenario) and III) That teachers design attractive activities in such a way that they promote both interdependence and individual and shared responsibility [6]. Although the original idea of collaborative learning is to generate face-to-face learning environments, over time, collaborative learning has been modified thanks to the presence of social media and technological applications that have contributed to overcome the communication gap between students, due to this, they have been of great support during distance learning forced by Covid-19 [7]. 1.2 Competencies On the other hand, competence development involves abilities, attitudes and values that increase the integral formation of students [8]. Specifically, transversal skills are those that are considered necessary for all areas of study, such as critical thinking, scientific thinking, leadership and complex reasoning. These competencies can be developed individually but are reinforced with collaborative learning (CL), especially leadership learning. This paper hypothesizes that, due to changes in the way young people learn and relate, collaborative learning between groups or teams of students could be affected. In this case, the perception of students in the engineering area of collaborative learning developed in training units and/or subjects that studied in the digital model has been analyzed and how this stage impacted the development of skills such as the development of critical thinking, scientific thought, leadership and reasoning for complexity.

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2 Methodology A sample of 507 students from 5 different groups was used, to evaluate them, a survey was carried out on students at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. The groups studied were evaluated at different times of the pandemic situation and were classified as following: one group before the pandemic (face-to-face) called “pre-lock down”, another group during the year 2020, in a pandemic confinement called “lockdown 2020” (digital courses), 2 groups during the year 2021, in a pandemic partial confinement called “lock down 2021–1” and “lock down 2021–2”(digital courses) and a final group after the confinement in an hybrid curse “post-lock down”. In the survey they were asked the level of competency development that they considered they had, the scale used was the following: 1 mean “nothing” and 5 mean “fully developed”. In order to evaluate the acquisition of competencies, the initial responses of each student were compared with the final responses of the same student. Three transversal competencies were evaluated: critical thinking, scientific thinking, and leadership, as well as two disciplinary competencies such as reasoning for complexity and teamwork. Additionally, collaborative work activities were carried out during confinement, therefore the survey were modified for the group of 2021 and 2022 to include a question about the students perception about “how they felt working as a team”, using the following scale: “very good” with a value of 5; “good enough” with a value of 4; “normal” with a value of 3; “moderate” with a value of 2; “bad” with a value of 1. An open question about their difficulties of teamwork was also included. The statistical analysis was carried out using the software Minitab version 19.2020.2.0. The data obtained were subjected to a right unilateral t-student test [9], because the same population was evaluated at different times, final and initial. The confidence level used was 95%. The null hypothesis was that the average of the differences in the acquisition of knowledge was less than or equal to zero, this means that the student at the end of the course, did not acquire the competence or even decreased the competence, on the other hand, what was expected was that the student acquired the competence, so the alternative hypothesis was that the differences were greater than zero. The students’ perception was measured by comparing the preand post-survey results for each. The initial answer was subtracted from the final answer for each paired student data to get a unique value for each student. If the subtraction difference was negative, it was assumed that the students felt that their competencies decreased. If the result was zero, it implied that the students felt that their competencies remained the same. If the difference was positive, the students felt that they increased their competencies.

3 Results and Discussion Table 1 shows the p value for all the competencies. It can be seen that the p value for critical thinking, scientific thinking and reasoning for complexity competencies were less than 0.05. However, for leadership competence the group 3 (lock down 2020), the p value was not less than 0.05. While the other groups were statistically significant. During the first semester of 2021 (lock down 2021–1) the students have been almost a year in a lockdown situation, and they all seem tired of the situation. Their perception

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Table 1. P values of the paired t-test, taking p < 0.05 as statistically significant results. n = sample number n

p-value

Critical thinking

Scientific thinking

Leadership

Reasoning for complexity

Teamwork

66

Pre-Lock down

0.0000004

0.0000000007

0.046

0.000002

–

123

Lock down 2020

0.003

0.000000001

0.095

0.0002

–

133

Lock down 2021–2

0.0004

0.000000000006

0.000006

0.0000001

0.0004

47

Lock down 2021–1

0.001

0.000000005

0.002

0.0001

0.011

138

Post-Lock down

0.0006

0.00005

0.0000001

0.0002

0.000007

Fig. 1. Students’ perception about the development of their teamwork during the pandemic lockdown and after.

of teamwork varied from “good” to bad”, as is shown in Fig. 1. This can be related to the level of compromise of their teammates. The students comment that some of the teams work really well but others did not compromise with the work. However, in the second semester of 2021 (lock down 20221–2) the confinement starts to be released. Even when the courses are still online, there are a few activities in the campus for the students. The student’s perception of their teamwork starts to feel “normal”. For the post-lock down semester, some of the courses were carried out in a hybrid mode, with face-to-face classes and on-line classes. Figure 1 shows that teamwork is 54% normal. This means that they feel the same way that before the covid-19 confinement. This result shows that the lock down situation due the Covid-19 modified the compromise of most of the students to work on teams as well as their ability to stay focused. But some of them felt that the on-line work let them work better. Moreover, the competencies that are

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related to teamwork, such as critical thinking, show a decrease in their development due to the lack of communication with other students necessary to develop this competency, as is shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Students’ perception about the development of critical thinking, Scientific thought, Reasoning for complexity and Leadership; from the pre-lock downs to the lock down 2021–2.

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Fig. 2. (continued)

A similar situation was observed by Hargaš et al., where students demonstrated [1] that they have better learning in a face-to-face environment. On the other hand, the development of competencies that involve self-work (scientific work, reasoning of complexity) or a multidisciplinary work, were increased during the lockdown. The students felt more confident working individually or in an anonymous situation. As well as the digital environments favor the communication between multidisciplinary teams and different points of view can be shared. Even more, the long-distance situation increases the development of leadership competence of some students. In order to obtain the student perception about the difference between pre-lock down and post-lock down, a similar survey was applied to students’ of 2022 courses. In this survey they were asked to compare their competencies development, as well as their teamwork. The results of this are shown in Fig. 3. It can be seen that almost all the competencies show that more than 50% of the students feel that their ability to develop the competency remains the same before and after the lockdown. This may indicate that the lockdown does not affect their abilities. However, a significant percentage of students consider that confinement favors the development of skills. It is important to point out that the perception of teamwork shows a 37% improvement due to lockdown. Also, students were asked to share their thoughts on the “advantages and/or disadvantages of their experience working collaboratively in digital environments” during the pandemic lockdown, some of their comments are shown in Table 2. As mentioned above, students’ thoughts reflect the development of their skills, where the advantages are related to the increased development of scientific thinking and critical thinking. Disadvantages may be related to leadership and complexity reasoning. The confinement situation shows that teamwork has become complex compared to face-to-face work. This was also observed in high school students by Rannastu-Avalos et al. [4]. In their work they show that virtual environments are not enough for the generation of social presence and, consequently, not very useful for facilitating remote collaborative activities. On the other hand, the students share their perception about their academic development in general (Table 3). From this, it is remarkable that the lock down has a huge

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Fig. 3. Students’ perception about the development of critical thinking, Scientific thought, Reasoning for complexity and Leadership competencies, as well as teamwork of post-lock down courses.

impact on the mental health of the students. But for a few of them, the digital environment favors their self-learning and their competency in the self-management of time. This is a topic that needs to be revised in depth in future work. Table 2. Student’s comments about their collaborative work in digital environments. Advantages

Disadvantages

Flexibility to work at different hours

Not all teammates worked due to lack of commitment

You can connect from anywhere

Complex to understand the topics and distractions

Diversity of thought and national criteria

Lack or less communication in teams

You can watch the recording of the class again

Internet quality Time differences by different countries

Table 3. Student’s comments about their academic development Advantages

Disadvantages

Much better for people with shy personalities as Hard to stay focused they felt comfortable speaking to a “zoom” image compared to being in person (continued)

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Advantages

Disadvantages

Self-learning

Low performance from being on the PC all day

Self-management and generation of routines

At home they interrupt you. Generated disinterest and demotivation Insecurity of knowledge acquisition

On the other hand, the students share their perception about their academic development in general. From this, it is remarkable that the lock down has a huge impact on the mental health of the students. But for a few of them, the digital environment favors their self-learning and their competency in the self-management of time. This is a topic that needs to be revised in depth in future work.

4 Conclusions Given the results, the development of competences related to research activities were carried out successfully in a digital environment. However, even when the student’s perception of collaborative work was good enough, the development of leadership competence, which is closely related to be a collaborative competence, was not developed as was expected in the beginning of the lock down but improved as the confinement conditions were relaxed. This can be related to the lack of social environment with fellow students due to the digital and isolation situation due to the COVID-19. In general, the teamwork shows difficulties due to the lack of interest of the students but lead to a better development of other competencies such as scientific thought. A deeper study needs to be done about the mental health of the students due to the lockdown and their relation to teamwork and competencies development. Acknowledgments. The authors acknowledge the technical support of Writing Lab, Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, in the production of this work. We also acknowledge the Science Department and the Teaching Assistant Program of Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Puebla.

References 1. Hargaš, J., Matisková, D., Miština, J.: Distance education technologies and the present situation influenced by the pandemic. In: Auer, M.E., Hortsch, H., Michler, O., Köhler, T. (eds.) ICL 2021. LNNS, vol. 390, pp. 396–407. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3030-93907-6_42 2. Barakat, N., Al-Shalash, A., Biswas, M., Chou, S.-F., Khajah, T.: Engineering experiential learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In: Auer, M.E., Hortsch, H., Michler, O., Köhler, T. (eds.) ICL 2021. LNNS, vol. 390, pp. 991–1003. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10. 1007/978-3-030-93907-6_105

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3. Herrera-Pavo, M.Á.: Collaborative learning for virtual higher education. Learn. Cult. Soc. Interact. 28, 100437 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2020.100437 4. Rannastu-Avalos, M., Siiman, L.A.: Challenges for distance learning and online collaboration in the time of COVID-19: interviews with science teachers. In: Nolte, A., Alvarez, C., Hishiyama, R., Chounta, I.-A., Rodríguez-Triana, M.J., Inoue, T. (eds.) CollabTech 2020. LNCS, vol. 12324, pp. 128–142. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-03058157-2_9 5. Le, H., Janssen, J., Wubbels, T.: Collaborative learning practices: teacher and student perceived obstacles to effective student collaboration, Cambridge. J. Educ. 48, 103–122 (2018). https:// doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2016.1259389 6. Buchs, C., Butera, F.: Cooperative learning and social skills development. In: Collaborative Learning: Developments in Research and Practice, pp. 201–217 (2015) 7. Khan, M.N., Ashraf, M.A., Seinen, D., Khan, K.U., Laar, R.A.: Social media for knowledge acquisition and dissemination: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on collaborative learning driven social media adoption. Front. Psychol. 12, 1–13 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg. 2021.648253 8. Mayolo-Deloisa, K., Ramos-de-la-Peña, A.M., Aguilar, O.: Research-based learning as a strategy for the integration of theory and practice and the development of disciplinary competencies in engineering. IJIDeM 13(4), 1331–1340 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12008-01900585-4 9. Hazra, A., Gogtay, N.: Biostatistics series module 3: comparing groups: numerical variables. Indian J. Dermatol. 61, 251–260 (2016). https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5154.182416

Understanding Collaboration in Virtual Labs: A Learning Analytics Framework Development Hanna Birkeland, Mohammad Khalil(B) , and Barbara Wasson Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway [email protected]

Abstract. Online education is increasing and progress within technology has inspired the development of virtual laboratories, which allow students to conduct experiments online. One of the main challenges of virtual laboratory environments is facilitating collaboration similar to that existing in physical laboratory settings. This research explores how learning analytics can be used to obtain a better understanding of collaboration in virtual labs and provide insights into facilitating the collaboration and lab work. These insights can make it easier for students to reflect on their own performances and thereafter improve from it, as well as supporting instructors to reflect on their teaching methods and provide assistance to students in need. We introduce a learning analytics framework that supports the use of learning analytics to understand collaboration in virtual labs. This conceptual framework was developed through an iterative process with expert evaluations providing input for improvements. The experts had an overall opinion that the framework was understandable and well-presented. The paper concludes by identifying opportunities for future work, which includes putting the framework into practice. Keywords: Learning analytics · Collaboration · Virtual labs · Learning analytics framework · Conceptual framework

1 Introduction The importance of technology in education is increasing. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic when common in-person classroom teaching was suspended worldwide and forced the educational systems to move into virtual environments, the momentum has been even greater. In biosciences, where laboratories are at the centre of undergraduate education, finding a viable way of conducting laboratory work in a virtual space is challenging, yet essential. The challenge lies in replicating hands-on exercises and teamwork online in order to match the educational standards of universities as well as the desired outcomes of such exercises. The progress within technology has facilitated the development of virtual and remote laboratories which allows students to conduct experiments online and move around the restraints of physical laboratories (Alkhaldi et al. 2016). Alkhaldi et al. (2016) has classified three different categories of labs; physical labs, which are the traditional lab environments where students physically © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 192–203, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_18

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conduct experiments in a laboratory; remote labs, where experiments are conducted in a physical lab, located away from the experimenter, and the experimenter is connected to the physical lab remotely through the network; and virtual labs, which is a simulation of a laboratory environment, allowing students to conduct experiments in a virtual space. Collaboration is usual practice in physical laboratories (Teng et al. 2016). The challenge of facilitating collaborative learning in online environments emerges as teaching and learning online is increasing. Learning analytics can be used to better understand learning performances during online laboratory collaboration (Lackner et al. 2015; Khalil 2018). The field of learning analytics is a growing area of technology-enhanced learning research, and has been defined by the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) as “the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their context, for purposes of understanding and optimising learning and the environments in which it occurs” (SoLAR 2021). Learning analytics may provide students and instructors with insights into group interactions. Such information can help instructors in facilitating their teaching to each group, and students to self-reflect during collaboration. 1.1 Research Question This research is motivated by the need for transitioning from conventional classroom teaching into digital remote teaching due to the pandemic, and the rapid development of communication technology within education. As collaboration and teamwork is common practice in physical laboratories, the need to explore how to improve the learning outcomes of collaboration within a virtual lab environment is present. The aim of this research is to provide and evaluate a framework for the integration of learning analytics to better understand and facilitate learning performances and collaboration in virtual labs. The learning analytics framework intends to describe how learning analytics can better support digital learning for students of higher education with an example from the biosciences. Based on the purpose of this research, the research question is defined as follows: RQ1: How can learning analytics support collaboration in virtual labs?

2 Background A systematic scoping review has been conducted in order to map current trends and challenges related to learning analytics, collaboration and virtual labs, and to inspire the development of a learning analytics framework for collaboration in virtual labs. The database used for the literature review is ELSEVIER Web of Science digital database and the established query string for the search is (learning analytics) AND (virtual lab* OR online lab* OR digital lab* OR remote lab*), which resulted in 421 articles. The lab in question for this research is the virtual lab, but other labs such as remote labs are also relevant as they involve the conduction of experiments online, and will be included in the literature review. PRISMA guidelines were followed by scanning abstracts of the results, then followed by full-text scanning for those fulfilling the inclusion criteria, which resulted in only 11 articles being selected for the review.

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2.1 Learning Analytics in Virtual Labs Surprisingly, the results from the review showed that few studies address all the elements of interest: learning analytics, collaboration and virtual/remote/online laboratories. An example of the use of learning analytics in the Weblab-Deusto remote laboratory platform is provided by Romero et al. (2015), where data regarding the students’ interactions is registered by a software layer over the platform. This data includes traces and clicks from within the platform and is stored in a database. Once analysed, the data is visualised to both student and instructor using a software which shows the similarities and differences between the students’ execution of the exercise compared to the instructor’s. Although it is stated that such data can be analysed for both individual students and groups of students, the focus of this study is on the individual student’s performance. A similar example of the use of learning analytics is presented in Qvist et al. (2015), where data of student mouse clicks and time spent on tasks within the LabLife3D virtual laboratory environment is stored and analysed. The analysed data is provided in the form of timelines of data trails from the experiments, allowing teachers to identify errors and students to reflect on their own learning. This laboratory environment also does not yet allow collaboration amongst students as the experiments are focused primarily on the individual student. Orduña et al. (2014) has further investigated collaboration among students in the same Weblab-Deusto remote laboratory as presented in Romero et al. (2015). They apply social network analysis to analyse the data, but doing so on files uploaded to the system as the platform does not store data of interaction between students. By examining files shared among students, it is possible to determine who is sharing and who is receiving, which allows instructors to identify those in need of assistance, as students often receiving files may be struggling. Teng et al. (2016) established one of the few remote laboratory environments that allows for collaboration within the system, namely the NetLAb remote laboratory. The system provides the students with the ability to access the laboratory concurrently with other students and to communicate with each other through a built-in chat window. Additionally, all actions students perform online are broadcasted in its own window. Students express a strong satisfaction with the ability to collaborate with other students from anywhere in the world. The system records the students’ actions and is currently used only for usage statistics, but planned for future work is to put learning analytics methods into use to analyse those data. 2.2 Learning Analytics in Supporting Collaboration As the research on learning analytics in online laboratories with collaboration was lacking, the inclusion criteria of the review was expanded to online learning environments as well in order to explore collaboration scenarios expected to be applicable to virtual lab environments. Various research papers concerning discussion forums have been identified. In a recent study, Doleck et al. (2021) employ an algorithm to assess the efficacy of social learning networks in discussion forums, with the goal of optimising these networks by connecting individuals with similar interests. The results from the algorithms show a sparse matrix, meaning few students took part in discussion. Pillutla et al. (2020) present

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a different example of learning analytics in discussion forums through text classification. The classification model is found to be robust, as 4 out of 5 posts were classified correctly. The model supports educators in assessing the interaction between students, and the course of constructing knowledge. The visualisation of learner data is a central part of learning analytics. Tarmazdi et al. (2015) demonstrate an example of this through the development of a learning analytics dashboard for teamwork in an online computer science course. The dashboard provides monitoring and analysis of the roles within each group by combining Natural Language Processing (NLP), information retrieval techniques, and sentiment analysis. The dashboard allowed the teacher to identify students and teams who were struggling by observing how the teams engaged in the activity. van Leeuwen et al. (2019) further investigate how teachers interpret information about collaboration among students on such learning analytics dashboards in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. They investigate three different aids for teachers to interpret the processes of collaboration, these being mirroring, alerting and advising. Mirroring dashboards contain information about the students gathered from the digital learning environment, where the interpretation is up to the teacher. The alerting dashboards display information about students, in addition to providing alerts of groups needing attention or help. Advising dashboards displays both information and alerts, in addition to providing supplementary advice as to what a teacher should do about a given event. The advising teacher dashboard is found to be preferred over mirroring and alerting dashboards as it provides the teacher with a higher understanding of the CSCL situation.

3 Methodology This research is guided by a design science research methodology which aims to resolve some given issue through the design of an artefact (Dresch et al. 2015). It is a method focused on problem solving, and through the understanding of the problem, the construction and evaluation of an artefact, the method can contribute to solving the identified problem. A design science research methodology was chosen for this research to seek an understanding of the area of learning analytics and collaboration in virtual labs, and through the construction of an artefact in the form of a learning analytics framework potentially resolve new knowledge which may help advance theories and lessen the gap between theory and practice. A systematic scoping review is provided to give an overview of the current research and to inspire the first development of a learning analytics framework. Two iterations of artefact development are performed, in which the artefact is evaluated in both iterations with experts who have experience with teaching, virtual labs and/or learning analytics. Four experts participated in the first iteration and three experts in the second. All evaluations were performed separately as semi-structured interviews via zoom.

4 Artefact Development Based on the purpose of this research, a learning analytics framework for collaboration in virtual labs has been developed. The objective of the framework is to show how

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learning analytics can be used to support and improve collaboration in virtual labs. The development process consisted of two iterations, in which the first version of the artefact was inspired by the findings of the literature review and the learning analytics life cycle presented in Khalil & Ebner (2015). Evaluation of the first version was then carried out, and a second version was further developed based on these results. A second evaluation of the second version was carried out, which again inspired the final version of the learning analytics framework presented in Fig. 1. The framework consists of seven sections: stakeholders, learning plan, learning environments, student feedback, data, data analysis and visualisation. The Stakeholders involve the instructor (teacher or lab assistant) and the students, in which the students act as the main stakeholder and the instructor as the assisting. The reviewed literature shows limited focus on students and providing them with collaboration analytics, and was instead mostly aimed at teachers and guiding them in facilitating collaboration. Therefore, this framework aims to fill that gap by concentrating on the students as the main stakeholder.

Fig. 1. The learning analytics framework.

The Learning Plan-section was added based on the results from the evaluation. The learning plan is established by the instructor, and includes the learning design and the learning goals of the course. The learning design should describe how the course is organised, that includes what kind of activities are planned, what platforms should be used and how the collaboration should be structured. The learning goals are descriptions

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of the knowledge and skills students should achieve in the course, which will apply to both course material and collaboration. The learning plan will influence the other sections within the framework as it describes what students are to learn in the course and what platforms are to be used. The learning plan will be stored in the database. The Learning Environments include a virtual lab platform where students do practical assignments and a collaboration platform where students participate in group discussions. The literature review revealed that few online laboratory environments allow collaboration within the environment. It is therefore assumed that collaboration will take place in a separate platform. However, this does not mean that platforms integrating both laboratory exercises and collaboration do not exist (Hu et al. 2018; Jara et al. 2009). Nevertheless, this research will focus on these two activities taking place in separate platforms. The literature review further revealed that few students actively take part in discussion forums, which suggest that this is not the most preferred tool for collaboration (Doleck et al. 2021). An alternative collaborative tool is therefore worth considering. Instant messaging (IM) tools could be valuable in collaborative settings, as these are one of the most popular forms of communication tools among university students (Quan-Haase 2008). The Student Feedback-section was also added based on the results from the evaluation. It involves self-assessment and peer assessment, where students will assess their own performances and that of their peers. The self- assessment will be based on how the students themselves perform in the virtual lab as well as in the collaborative work. The peer assessment will be based on their fellow students’ contributions to the group work. The learning plan will have an influence on the assessment. When doing these assessments, their performances would be measured against the learning goals from the learning plan set for the course, as the learning goals are what the students should aim to achieve through the course. The self-assessment and peer assessment can be performed either throughout the course or at the end of the course. The data from the assessments will be stored in the database. The Data-section includes the database which will consist of different datasets with various formats from the other sections within the framework, these being the learning plan-dataset, student feedback-dataset, trace data from the virtual lab platform and interaction data from the collaboration platform. Based on the feedback from the evaluation, the data of relevance in this context would be time stamps from both virtual lab and collaboration platform, time spent on tasks within the virtual lab, attempts used on different tasks within the virtual lab, the text in which students write to each other, who is writing what and how much each student contributes in collaboration. Additionally, data regarding what roles students take within a group and how well the group works together are of importance. The data from the virtual lab and from the collaboration platform could also be connected through time stamps in order to see how different events within the different platforms relate to each other. The data is to go through the process of cleaning and mining before Data Analysis is applied. Statistical analysis is to be applied to carry out numeric computations from the data, revealing for instance analysis of time spent on tasks, mouse clicks and succession rate within the virtual lab. Discovered through the literature review, social network analysis is a valuable method for identifying patterns between entities and will be applied

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to investigate relationships between students and discover patterns within collaboration. Natural language processing based on students’ text can help gain further insight into the discussion between students. Lastly, sentiment analysis is to be applied as it is beneficial for discovering dynamics within a group, as was shown in Tarmazdi et al (2015). The results from the previous section, the analysed data, is then visualised to the stakeholders through a learning analytics dashboard in the Visualisation-section. Learning analytics dashboards are a widely accepted way of visualising learning analytics as they offer a simple insight into learning processes of students and are easy to understand (Khalil & Ebner 2015). The dashboard itself will consist of two different views: one student view and one instructor view, and each view will hold two categories of analytics: one regarding student performance in the virtual lab and the other regarding student performance in collaboration. Based on feedback, valuable information for the instructor regarding the virtual lab would be time spent on tasks, measurements of performance of each individual student in the virtual lab, if there are different concepts they are struggling with, and how specific questions and concepts have performed in terms of all students. Regarding collaboration, valuable information would be the nature of students’ discussion within each group, the different roles within groups and how they communicate with each other. The student view would contain information about their own performances within the virtual lab, which concepts within the course they are struggling with and how they have contributed to the collaboration. Some students might wish to compare themselves to the rest of the class. This should however be optional (i.e., the learning analytics dashboard could allow students to select this view if they wanted) as other students might not appreciate this information. The information on the dashboard could help achieve the objectives of reflection and intervention. The dashboard can support students in reflecting on their previous performances to improve future learning. It can support instructors in performing interventions and providing assistance to students, as well as reflecting on teaching methods based on how students have performed.

5 Evaluation Semi-structured interviews were conducted separately with a total of seven experts (four females and two males) guided by the same interview guide. Through agreement with the participants, the session was recorded and analysed. The session was structured so that the framework was presented first, then background questions were asked, following questions regarding the framework and the different sections within it. The goal of the evaluation was to get feedback on the learning analytics framework, and to discuss what aspects to consider when aiming to best facilitate learning in virtual labs and collaboration. The feedback is categorised and presented in the following subsections: suggestions, stakeholders, learning environments, data, data analysis, visualisation and learning analytics. Suggestions. The overall impression amongst all seven experts was that the framework was understandable and well-presented. Two experts suggested adding a step regarding student feedback. This would involve an evaluation where students give feedback regarding their own efforts within the group work, in addition to evaluating how the

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group worked together as a whole. One expert had a suggestion about including steps regarding learning goals and learning design. This would involve how the course is set up, what tools to use, how collaboration is structured and what it is the students are to do and learn in the virtual labs. Stakeholders. All experts stated that students and instructors are the stakeholders who should be addressed by the framework. Two experts also suggested including next year’s students as stakeholders. Additionally, three experts suggested additional stakeholders above the instructor, these being faculty leaders and those responsible for the course (if different than the instructor). Another expert stated that course leaders and teachers would benefit the most from the learning analytics as it can be used to improve their course. Lastly, designers of the virtual lab or collaboration platform were suggested by one of the experts as they might want insight into how their tools have been used in order to improve them. Learning Environments. Five out of the seven experts had experience with the virtual lab Labster, in which two of them stated that it is not designed for group discussions. Only one of the seven experts had experienced a virtual lab which allows collaboration within the same platform. One of the experts commented on the way in which students communicate online, and how communication depends on whether the students do the virtual lab synchronously or not. He stated that students might like to do the lab on their own time, and an IM platform such as Slack would work as a discussion forum anyhow because students might not be in the same stages in the lab. To improve the communication in such a scenario, the expert suggested to arrange it so all students do the virtual lab at the same time and this way they could all discuss through an IM platform such as Slack along the way. Data. Regarding what data is of relevance in supporting collaboration in virtual labs, the experts suggested time stamps, the text which students write to each other, who is writing what and how much each student contributes. One expert stated that one might like to connect the data from the collaboration platform with data from the virtual lab to see how different events could be related to each other, which could be achieved through timestamps. One expert raised concerns regarding privacy issues related to the students, stating that it might be too intrusive gathering student discussion data. Another expert stated that students need to be aware that their data is being collected and analysed, and why it is being done. Showing the students how the collection and analysis of their data can help them would be advantageous, and she specifies the importance of assuring the students that their data is secure and will not be shared with unauthorised personnel. Data Analysis. Some experts had less experience with data analysis methods than others, but all stated that the presented methods seemed satisfactory. One expert added that some sort of predictive model could be relevant also, in order to see which groups will work out. This way, students would avoid conflicts where the focus would be on getting along rather than on learning. Visualisation. One of the experts shared a doubt in regards to providing students with data through visualisations, seeing that teachers might benefit more from this information

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than students. The reason for this was that students might be confused by the meaning of it, whether it is a part of assessment or not, and also compare themselves to other students. On the other hand, another expert suggested that some students might want to see how they are doing compared to the rest of the class, but the expert specifies that this should be an option. One expert stated that the different stakeholders would need to have different amounts of information, which would involve dividing the dashboard into a student view and an instructor view. The student view would include information about how they each have performed and the instructor view would include information about all students. Another expert suggested dividing the learning analytics dashboard into two different sections where one section presents information about how students perform in the virtual lab, and another section presents information about collaboration, which would be different for each student and for the instructor. Regarding specifically what information to be presented on the dashboard, the experts suggested that for the instructors this could be the students’ activity levels, the different goals and domain concepts students have been working with, whether they are struggling with the different domain concepts or collaboration aspects, and the different roles within groups. For students, the experts suggested information about their performances within the course, both regarding the virtual lab and collaboration. Learning Analytics. Two experts stated that through learning analytics, students can become more aware of how they are performing, what they are not that good at and therefore work on it. One of them also stated that if such feedback regarding the collaboration could be given for each course and kept track of during a program, it could give a powerful dataset which could stimulate multiple rounds of improved collaboration. Two other experts stated that simply the act of making students aware of their data being monitored and gathered for learning analytics can make them more engaged. One of them stated that perhaps not everything has to come from the learning analytics itself, although it is through the learning analytics one becomes aware of how students are performing, which then facilitates interventions, change and improvement.

6 Discussion 7 RQ: How can learning analytics support collaboration in virtual labs? There is an apparent knowledge gap within learning analytics research with regard to online laboratories and collaboration in labs. This research has worked towards reducing that gap by presenting a learning analytics framework for collaboration in virtual labs. In order to design a learning analytics framework which intends to support and improve collaboration in virtual labs, background literature and previous research had to be investigated. Based on the findings in the literature review, social network analysis is a valuable method in discovering patterns within collaboration among students. This was shown in Orduña et al. (2014) who developed a learning analytics approach for

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collaboration using social network analysis on connections outside of the online laboratory environment, as the system itself does not store interaction data between students. The goal was to present an analysis of the social networks which could support instructors in identifying social dynamics within courses. Other ways of discovering patterns in collaboration proved to be achieved through natural language processing, text classification and sentiment analysis. The literature review further revealed that learning analytics dashboards are a valuable tool for visualising the analysis to stakeholders, which can promote self-reflection and intervention based on the performances of students in collaboration and virtual labs. These findings together with the feedback from the evaluations helped inspire a framework for how the use of learning analytics can support collaboration in virtual labs (see Fig. 1). The evaluation with experts revealed that in addition to the initial sections of the framework, that being stakeholders, learning environments, data, data analysis and visualisation, student feedback and a learning plan should also be involved. In addition to this, the learning analytics dashboard was divided into student view and instructor view, as the two stakeholders would need different amounts of information. Doubts were shared by one expert in regards to providing students with information through the learning analytics dashboard, as this might cause confusion regarding assessment and students comparing themselves to fellow students. This result could correspond to the findings in the literature review, where the identified studies were mainly aimed at guiding teachers in facilitating collaborative work rather than displaying collaboration data to encourage students to self-reflect on group work. On the other hand, this claim is contrary to other feedback from the evaluation which showed that learning analytics can help students become more aware of their performances, and henceforth work on that which needs to be worked on. Based on this, the student remains as the main stakeholder. Other stakeholders like faculty leaders, researchers and platform designers were also suggested as potential stakeholders, but have not been included based on the decision to keep the focus of the framework within the course and on the instructor and the students. A concern was raised regarding the privacy of students in this context, pointing out that students might not be comfortable with their discussion data being collected and analysed. Providing transparency is therefore essential. Still, this research lacks evidence of how students perceive the collection and analysis of their data in a collaborative context as it is beyond the scope of the current research. There is also lack of evidence as to what students would like to gain from learning analytics in a collaborative virtual lab context, which is an important issue for future research.

8 Conclusions This research has explored how learning analytics can be utilised to support col- laboration in virtual labs. This was carried out within the frames of design science research, where the main contribution was an artefact in the form of a learning analytics framework (Fig. 1). Preliminary to the artefact development, a literature review was performed in order to map current research on the topic and inspire the development of the artefact. The literature review is another contribution of this research, and a contribution to the existing knowledge base. It revealed that there is a gap of knowledge within the area of

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learning analytics in collaborative virtual lab environments, in which this research has worked towards reducing. The learning analytics framework proved to be understandable and well-presented for all experts involved in the evaluation. The framework provides a plan for how learning analytics can be utilised to support and improve collaboration in virtual labs in practice. Still, there are some limitations to this research. The decision to use one database for the literature review implies that there is a possibility that valuable sources of information have been overlooked. Also, the publications used for the literature review did not always extensively address all the desired topics, that being learning analytics, collaboration, and virtual labs. An extensive search through other various databases could possibly yield more satisfying results. Additionally, the expert evaluations rendered the perspective of instructors who had experience with virtual labs and teaching. A broader scope of experts within various areas could perhaps yield more detailed feedback regarding each section within the framework. Furthermore, this research is missing the perspective of students and how they would perceive the implementation of learning analytics in a collaborative virtual lab context. Involving students could broaden the scope of this research. This research provides opportunities for future work. An essential part of future work is to put the framework into practice. This would involve developing an infrastructure for the gathering and analysing of data from a course which utilises a virtual lab and a collaboration platform as described in the framework. Future research should investigate the utilisation of the aforementioned data analysis methods on data from virtual labs and collaboration platforms by the various stakeholders. Another important component for future research will be the creation of a learning analytics dashboard. Substantial research will be needed in terms of what data and data analysis should be presented on the dashboard to support the objectives of learning analytics. This would require consultation and evaluation with students and instructors to discover what they would prefer from such a dashboard. Future work should also consult students about their opinions on privacy in such a collaborative virtual lab context. Additionally, other stakeholders could be involved to explore the benefits for them, in addition to students and instructors. These stakeholders could include faculty leaders, researchers, and designers of the learning platforms.

References Alkhaldi, T., Pranata, I., Athauda, R.I.: A review of contemporary virtual and remote laboratory implementations: observations and findings. J. Comput. Educ. 3(3), 329–351 (2016). https:// doi.org/10.1007/s40692-016-0068-z Teng, M., Considine, H., Nedic, Z., Nafalski, A.: Current and future developments in the remote laboratory netlab. Int. J. Online Eng. 12(8) (2016). https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v12i08.6034 SoLAR: What is learning analytics? (2021). https://www.solaresearch.org/about/what-is-learninganalytics/. Accessed 20 May 2021 Siedhoff, S.: Design science research. Springer (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-263 36-2_3 Romero, S., Guenaga, M., Garca-Zuba, J., Orduña, P.: Automatic assessment of progress using remote laboratories. Int. J. Online Eng. 11(2), 49–54 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v11i2. 4379

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Qvist, P., et al.: Design of virtual learning environments: learning analytics and identification of affordances and barriers. Int. J. Eng. Pedagogy 5(4), 64–75 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3991/ ijep.v5i4.4962 Orduña, P., Almeida, A., Ros, S., López-de Ipina, D., Garcia-Zubia, J.: Leveraging non-explicit social communities for learning analytics in mobile remote laboratories. J. Univers. Comput. Sci. 20(15), 2043–2053 (2014) Doleck, T., Lemay, D.J., Brinton, C.G.: Evaluating the efficiency of social learning networks: perspectives for harnessing learning analytics to improve discussions. Comput. Educ. 164, 104124 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104124 Pillutla, V.S., Tawfik, A.A., Giabbanelli, P.J.: Detecting the depth and progression of learning in massive open online courses by mining discussion data. Technol. Knowl. Learn. 25(4), 881–898 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-020-09434-w Tarmazdi, H., Vivian, R., Szabo, C., Falkner, K., Falkner, N.: Using learning analytics to visualise computer science teamwork. In: Proceedings of the 2015 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, pp. 165–170 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1145/272 9094.2742613 van Leeuwen, A., Rummel, N., van Gog, T.: What information should CSCL teacher dashboards provide to help teachers interpret CSCL situations? Int. J. Comput.-Support. Collab. Learn. 14(3), 261–289 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-019-09299-x Khalil, M., Ebner, M.: Learning analytics: principles and constraints. In: Edmedia+ innovate learning, pp. 1789–1799 (2015) Khalil, M.: Learning Analytics in Massive Open Online Courses. arXiv preprint arXiv:1802.09344 (2018) Hu, X., Le, H., Bourgeois, A.G., Pan, Y.: Collaborative learning in cloud- based virtual computer labs. In: 2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (fie), pp. 1–5 (2018) Jara, C.A., Candelas, F.A., Torres, F., Dormido, S., Esquembre, F., Reinoso, O.: Real-time collaboration of virtual laboratories through the internet. Comput. Educ. 52(1), 126–140 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2008.07.007 Quan-Haase, A.: Instant messaging on campus: use and integration in university students’ everyday communication. Inf. Soc. 24(2), 105–115 (2008) Lackner, E., Ebner, M., Khalil, M.: MOOCs as granular systems: design patterns to foster participant activity. eLearning Papers 42, 28–37 (2015)

Digital Transition in Education

Augmented Reality in Engineering Education – A Comparison of Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions Reinhard Bernsteiner1,2 , Andreas Probst3(B) , Wolfgang Pachatz4 , Christian Ploder2 , and Thomas Dilger2 1 HTL Jenbach, Schalsertrasse 43, 6200 Jenbach, Austria 2 Management Center Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

[email protected]

3 HTL Wels, Fischergasse 30, 4600 Wels, Austria

[email protected] 4 Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, 1010 Vienna, Austria

Abstract. Augmented Reality (AR) can be applied in more and more fields. One of these areas is Industry 4.0, which is highly relevant for education in Higher Technical Vocational Colleges. A positive perception of AR education might help to motivate students to deep-dive into Industry 4.0. This is important since there is a considerable demand for a highly-skilled workforce from many companies from all industries. Teachers play a crucial role in motivating students to feel addicted to these topics. The central aim of this study is to get insights into the perception of teachers about AR education in Higher Technical Vocational Colleges. Their perceptions are then compared with the perception of students. Based on hypotheses, two questionnaires were developed to collect empirical data to be analyzed with statistical methods. Overall, 172 students and 45 teachers took part in this survey. The results demonstrate that students and teachers alike positively perceive AR education. Correlation analysis of selected items from the questionnaires reveals that specific items could play a central role in a generally positive perception. Further research is needed to explore and identify a cause-effect relationship between items. Keywords: Higher technical vocational education · Augmented reality · Digital transformation · Engineering education · Digital skills · Empirical survey

1 Introduction The term Industry 4.0 [1], first used publicly in 2011 [2], is now increasingly being replaced by the more comprehensive term digitization. In both cases, this is understood to mean the increasing networking of devices and the aggregation of data to generate intelligent networked products. In addition, digital services should generate added value for customers and companies. Abramovici et al. [3] conducted an ACATEC study with © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 207–219, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_19

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well-known representatives from industry to examine the significance of engineering in the context of Industry 4.0. The results showed that the areas of smart services and smart products were mentioned above all, in addition to smart factory. Lichtblau et al. [4] identified the four main areas of digitalization as smart factory, smart operations, smart products, and data-driven services, which results in similarities in engineering. A study by the German Engineering Federation VDMA [5] shows the requirements for future engineers in even greater detail. It also shows the extent to which knowledge will be required in the various areas (purchasing/sales, research and development, production, service commissioning).These findings have a direct impact on the education of future engineers. They should be integrated into the curricula at technical universities, universities of applied sciences and in the Higher Technical Vocational Education in Austria. One of the knowledge areas that future engineers should have addressed in this paper is knowledge of AR.

2 Augmented Reality in Industry and Education AR is one of the ubiquitous technologies in people‘s daily lives, such as the AR app from Ikea or Google Maps, but these possibilities are not always perceived. A few years ago, special hardware, such as AR glasses (HoloLens) [6] or tablets, was still necessary, but now the application possibilities are truly ubiquitous due to the support of smartphones. AR technology can also assist people with various tasks in the industrial sector. Examples include guiding employees in picking parts in a warehouse or providing expert support to workers in the field [7, 8]. A comprehensive overview of AR in manufacturing can be found, for example, in [9–11]. In teaching, there is research [12] on how different institutions such as technical universities, universities of applied sciences and Austrian Higher Technical Vocational Education use AR technology. It is remarkable that AR is used in teaching and is considered essential and valuable. Nevertheless, the professors and teachers surveyed stated that there is not enough know-how available to create their AR content for teaching. It seems that there is much room for improvements and the development of suitable contents. In Austrian Higher Technical Vocational Education, the situation is somewhat better, AR technology was introduced in 2018, and teachers were also trained in this technology. Still, efforts must nevertheless be expanded to make progress in this area. The paper is structured as follows: The related literature is presented in Sect. 2 of this paper, laying the foundation for the empirical part. This chapter further gives an overview of the related work of this research. Based on this, the problem statement and the research questions are presented in Sect. 3. Section 4 explains the methodology used and the design of the empirical survey. The results are depicted in Sect. 5. This paper ends with a conclusion, its limitations, and an outlook for further research in Sect. 6.

3 Problem Statement and Research Questions Teaching and learning AR-related topics in Higher Technical Vocational Education is relatively new. The central aim of this study is to get insights into the perception of

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teachers about AR education in Higher Technical Vocational Colleges. Their perceptions are then compared with the perception of students. Consequently, the following research question can be derived: What is the perception of AR-education Higher Technical Vocational Colleges from a teacher’s perspective, and how does it differ from students? Students have to write a diploma thesis during the final year of their education. This leads to the second research question: Are teachers willing to advise AR-related diploma theses? This paper presents the perceptions of teachers in terms of AR-education and compares the results with the students’ perception. A comprehensive analysis of the students’ perception can be found in [13].

4 Methodology and Design of the Empirical Study Based on the central aim of the study, along with the research question, this section presents the methodology in place to gather and analyze data from the field. First, the two questionnaires are presented. Second, the corresponding hypotheses are derived. This section describes the methodological approach to collecting empirical data, which can be used to answer the research questions. The first part describes the design of the questionnaires developed for students and teachers. Next, the related hypotheses to identify potential differences between the perceptions of both groups are formulated. To get further insights, the correlation between the items is calculated. Finally, the selection of the participants is described. 4.1 Design of the Questionnaire The central aim of this study is to compare the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the education in the field of AR in Higher Technical Vocational Colleges. All items had to be rated on a Likert scale from 1 (“I totally agree”) to 5 (“I totally disagree”). Finally, all collected data were analyzed with the statistical software platform SPSS. The questionnaire can be structured into three parts, a) common questions for students and teachers, b) questions for students only, and c) questions for teachers only. Table 1 presents the common questions for students and teachers: Table 1. Questions for students and teachers Variable

Question

AR_enjoy

I enjoy using (learning/teaching) AR

AR_interesting

I am personally interested in AR

AR_important

I think AR will be important in the future

AR_understanding

I think AR helps understand technical concepts

AR_attractive

I think AR makes technical education more attractive

Table 2 shows the questions for students only: Table 3 depicts questions for teachers only:

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Variable

Question

Department

I attend the following department

Year

I currently attend the following year

AR_Thesis

I can imagine writing my diploma thesis in the field of AR

Table 3. Questions for teachers only Variable

Question

Field

I predominantly teach subjects in the following field

AR_easy

I find it easy to teach AR

AR_Thesis

I already advise diploma thesis in the field of AR

4.2 Hypotheses The following hypotheses are used to answer the second research question, which deals with the perception of AR in different years and departments from a student’s perspective: H1: Students and teachers equally enjoy using (learning/teaching) AR. H2: Students and teachers are equally interested in AR. H3: Students and teachers equally think AR will be important in the future. H4: Students and teachers equally think AR helps understand technical topics. H5: Students and teachers equally think AR makes technical education more attractive. 4.3 Selection of the Participants The target group of the research are teachers who participated in the AR-seminar series. Thus a systematic sampling approach was used to collect data from the field. Links to the questionnaire were sent out to the teachers attending the seminar series. To collect data from students, teachers were asked to motivate their students to fill out the students’ version of the questionnaire.

5 Results This section presents the results of the empirical survey. First, a description of the participants is given. The validation of the hypotheses is the basis for answering the research question. The results of writing or advising an AR-related diploma thesis are depicted at the end of this section. Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated to assess the internal consistency of the questionnaire variables, as presented in Table 4. The results for students with Cronbach’s alpha of,889 for students and,915 for teachers show a satisfying internal consistency.

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Table 4. Cronbach’s alpha Group

Cronbach’s alpha

N of items

Students

,889

5

Teachers

,915

5

5.1 Description of the Participants The education in Higher Technical Vocational Colleges take five years, the students are between 15 and 19 years old. AR is usually used in the last two years. In some cases, AR is already used in the third year. All in all, 172 students from different departments filled out the questionnaire. The detailed distribution can be found in Table 5. Table 5. Description of students – department by year Year in higher vocational college 3 Department

Total

4

5

Total

Industrial Engineering

3

21

13

37

Informatics

7

0

0

7

Mechanical Engineering

0

58

70

128

10

79

83

172

Table 5 gives an overview of the participating students. The department Mechanical Engineering is the predominant department. The predominant department is Mechanical Engineering, followed by Industrial Engineering. Informatics plays a minor role concerning the number of responses. 45 teachers filled out the questionnaire. They teach in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechatronics, Electronics and Industrial Engineering. About half of the teachers indicated that they teach in more than one department, but almost every teacher works in the department of Mechanical Engineering. We can assume that the background of a vast majority of the teachers has a background in Mechanical Engineering. 5.2 Presentation and Analysis of Responses The following section presents the results from students (Table 6) and teachers. It can be said that all means are above 2.5 (1 equals “I totally agree”, 5 equals “I totally disagree”), which generally can indicate a positive attitude towards AR. As already mentioned, a detailed analysis of the students can be found in [13]. Table 7 shows the results of the perception of AR-education from the teachers’ perception:

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R. Bernsteiner et al. Table 6. Responses – students Frequency

Mean

Std. deviation

AR_enjoy

171

1,92

1,068

AR_interesting

170

2,22

1,074

AR_important

172

1,87

1,054

AR_understanding

170

2,01

1,096

AR_attractive

171

1,98

1,046

Table 7. Responses – teachers Frequency

Mean

Std. deviation

AR_easy

44

2,36

1,080

AR_enjoy

44

1,75

1,102

AR_interesting

45

1,64

,908

AR_important

45

1,51

,869

AR_understanding

44

1,93

,998

AR_attractive

45

1,51

,895

Teachers were asked to respond to an additional item “AR_easy - I find it easy to teach AR”. Again, all means are above 2.5. For all other items, the means are slightly higher than the means of the students. 5.3 Validation of the Hypotheses To validate the hypotheses, the individual differences of the means must be compared and the significance must be calculated for both groups (students and teachers). Based on the scale and the data distribution, an ANOVA (Table 8) was applied [14]. Based on the analysis fo the variance of the means, two items significantly differ between students and teachers. The first item is AR_interesting (“I am personally interested in AR”) with a mean (standard deviation) of 2,22 (1,074) for students and 1,64 (,908) for teachers. Thus, teachers are more interested in AR than students. The second item is AR_attractive (“I think AR makes technical education more attractive”). Teachers with a mean (standard deviation) of 1,98 (1,046) find AR significantly more attractive than students with a mean of 1,51 and a standard deviation of 0,895. For all other items, the differences of the means are not statistically significant. Thus the results of the validation of the hypotheses can be summarized as follows: The hypotheses H2 (Students and teachers are equally interested in AR) and H5 (Students and teachers equally think AR makes technical education more attractive) must be rejected. All other hypotheses, H1 (Students and teachers equally enjoy using (learning / teaching) AR), H3 (Students and teachers equally think AR will be important in the future) and

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Table 8. Analysis of the differences among means

AR_enjoy

AR_interesting

AR_important

AR_understanding

AR_attractive

Group

Sum of squares

Between Groups

1,059

Within Groups

df

Mean square 1

1,059

246,262

213

1,156

214

Total

247,321

Between Groups

11,691

Within Groups

1

11,691

231,258

213

1,086

214

Total

242,949

Between Groups

4,499

Within Groups

1

4,499

223,169

215

1,038

216

Total

227,668

Between Groups

,192

Within Groups

1

,192

245,790

212

1,159

213

Total

245,981

Between Groups

7,719

Within Groups Total

1

7,719

221,151

214

1,033

228,870

215

F

Sig ,916

,340

10,768

,001

4,335

,039

,165

,685

7,470

,007

H4 (Students and teachers equally think AR helps understand technical topics), can be accepted. 5.4 Correlation Analysis As already mentioned, a correlation analysis was applied to get further insights. Different approaches can be used to analyze these relationships. Since the data are recorded on a Likert scale, Pearson correlation analysis was used. The analysis revealed that all correlations between the items are positive for both groups of students and teachers alike. Again for both groups, all correlations are significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). The sizes of correlations can be classified into different strengths [14], which are depicted in Table 9.

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R. Bernsteiner et al. Table 9. Classification of correlations

Size of Correlation

Interpretation

.90 to 1.00 (−.90 to −1.00)

Very high positive/negative correlation

.70 to 0.90 (−.70 to −.90)

High positive/negative correlation

.50 to 0.70 (−.50 to −.70)

Moderate positive/negative correlation

.30 to 0.50 (−.30 to −.50)

Low positive/negative correlation

.00 to 0.30 (−.00 to −.30)

Negligible correlation

In the following Table 10, only correlations considered as high or very high are presented. Table 10. Items with strong correlations - students Correlated items AR_understanding

Pearson Correlation

,700**

AR_attractive

Sig. (2-tailed)

,000

N

169

** . Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

The analysis of student data (Table 11) reveals a high positive correlation (0,700) between the items AR_understanding (“I think AR helps understand technical concepts”) and AR_attractive (“I think AR makes technical education more attractive”). Table 11. Items with strong correlations - teachers Correlated Items AR_enjoy

Pearson Correlation

,755**

AR_easy

Sig. (2-tailed)

,000

N

43

AR_understanding

Pearson Correlation

,703**

AR_enjoy

Sig. (2-tailed)

,000

N

44

AR_understanding

Pearson Correlation

,709**

AR_interesting

Sig. (2-tailed)

,000

N

44 (continued)

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Table 11. (continued) Correlated Items AR_understanding

Pearson Correlation

,705**

AR_important

Sig. (2-tailed)

,000

N

44

AR_understanding

Pearson Correlation

,757**

AR_attractive

Sig. (2-tailed)

,000

N

44

AR_attractive

Pearson Correlation

,753**

AR_enjoy

Sig. (2-tailed)

,000

N

44

AR_attractive

Pearson Correlation

,767**

AR_important

Sig. (2-tailed)

,000

N

45

** . Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

The results of the correlation analysis can be divided into three parts. The first part shows a high positive correlation between the two items AR_enjoy and AR_easy. In the second part, AR_understanding positively correlates with the items AR_enjoy, AR_interesting, AR_important, and AR_attractive. In the third part, the item AR_attractive positively correlates with the items AR_enjoy and AR_important. Two results can be highlighted, a) AR_understanding and AR_attractive have a high positive correlation, and b) AR_enjoy has a high positive correlation with AR_easy, AR_understanding and AR_attractive. It seems that AR_enjoy plays a central role in the relationships between items. 5.5 Diploma Thesis As shown in Table 12, already 44,4% of the teachers advise a diploma thesis in AR. Another 13,3% plan to do so, which can be interpreted as a high commitment to supporting students. Currently, 40% of the teachers do not supervise diploma thesis in AR. The question arises if the willingness (yes, no, planned) is significantly different from other teachers’ perception items. The means of the items (AR_easy, AR_enjoy, AR_interesting, AR_important, AR_understanding, AR_attractive) are compared with the item AR_Thesis. The item AR_Thesis is split up into three groups according to the answers (Yes, No, Planned).

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R. Bernsteiner et al. Table 12. Results of the question “I already advise diploma thesis in the field of AR” Frequency

Percent

Yes

20

44,4

No

18

40,0

6

13,3

45

100,0

Planned Total

Table 13. Advising a diploma thesis - analysis of the differences among means

AR_easy

AR_ enjoy

Group

Sum of squares

Between Groups

17,146

Within Groups

df

Mean Square

F

Sig

2

8,573

10,423

,000

32,901

40

,823 7,905

,001

Total

50,047

42

Between Groups

14,639

2

7,320

Within Groups

37,035

40

,926

Total

51,674

42

As depicted in Table 13, the analysis shows significant differences for the items AR_easy and AR_enjoy at the 0.01 level. Table 14 shows the related means. Table 14. Advising a diploma thesis – means across AR_easy and AR_enjoy

AR_easy

Group

N

Mean

Yes

19

1,89

,658

,151

No

18

3,11

1,183

,279

Planned AR_ enjoy

Std deviation

Std error

6

1,67

,516

,211

Yes

20

1,40

,754

,169

No

17

2,47

1,281

,311

6

1,00

,000

,000

Planned

The analysis shows that AR_easy and AR_enjoy seem crucial for the willingness to support students in writing their diploma thesis in an AR context.

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5.6 Answer to the Research Questions The first research question is: What is the perception of AR-education at Higher Technical Vocational Colleges from a teacher’s perspective, and how does it differ from students? The results show that the perception of AR education in both groups is generally very positive. The teacher’s perception is slightly better than the students. But only for two items are the differences statistically significant. These two items are AR_interesting (“I am personally interested in AR”) and AR_attractive (“I think AR makes technical education more attractive”). The results of the correlation analysis show only positive correlations between the items. It can be concluded that AR_enjoy (“I enjoy using (learning/teaching) AR”) plays a central role in the relationships between items. This is true for students and teachers alike. The second research question is: Are teachers willing to advise AR-related diploma theses? In general, the willingness is high. The willingness is significantly different if teachers enjoy teaching AR or consider AR teaching as easy.

6 Conclusions, Limitations, and Further Research The results of the empirical study demonstrate that students and teachers alike have a very positive perception of AR education. Opris et al. report an “increased interest in AR applications in all types of teaching activities, and its usefulness for a better understanding of studied topics” [15]. Especially a closer connection to practice and a faster and deeper learning experience are the most important advantages. The application of AR experiences in microprocessor labs concludes that “AR is well received and perceived as having the potential to engage students more in the teaching and learning process.” [16]. In a study in which AR applications were used in computer networking classes, the participants indicated that the application helped them comprehend the topics better since it helped generate interest and motivation in their learning. Furthermore, using mobile applications encouraged participants to learn while being more motivated than conventional methods [17]. More and more applications can be identified from the beginning of AR as a niche technology. AR is a pillar of Industry 4.0, which is highly relevant for Technical Vocational Schools. The positive perception of AR education might help raise interest in Industry 4.0 for students and teachers. This is highly relevant because a well-educated workforce is needed in many companies to promote and implement Industry 4.0 concepts. The quantitative approach was generally suitable for collecting empirical data to answer the research question. Nevertheless, some limitations must be considered when it comes to generalizing the results.The first limitation refers to the number of participants, 172 students and 45 teachers. Especially the number of teachers must be increased, to get more reliable results. Most paticipants, from both groups have a background in Mechanical Engineering or similar. Students and teachers from other departments must be integrated in a survey as well. The reason for this limitation is that the seminar series for teachers has been tailored to this field.

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To overcome these limitations, further research needs to be done. More students and teachers with diverse backgrounds must be invited to participate in such a study. The correlations of items revealed some exciting results, which should be explored and analyzed in more detail. The next step is identifying the relationships between items and potential causations between items. This would help derive a structural equation model, which could be used as a prediction model for adequate integration of AR in the Higher Technical Vocation Colleges curriculum.

References 1. Kagermann, H.: Chancen von industrie 4.0 nutzen. In: Bauernhansl, T., ten Hompel, M., VogelHeuser, B. (eds.) Industrie 4.0 in Produktion, Automatisierung und Logistik, pp. 603–614. Springer, Wiesbaden (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-04682-8_31 2. VDI: Industrie 4.0: Mit dem Internet der Dinge auf dem Weg zur 4. industriellen Revolution. https://www-live.dfki.de/fileadmin/user_upload/dfki/medien/news_media/presse/pre sse-highlights/vdinach2011a13-ind4.0-internet-dinge.pdf 3. Abramovici, M., Herzog, O. (eds.): Engineering im Umfeld von Industrie 4.0. Einschätzungen und Handlungsbedarf. Acatech Studie. acatech; Herbert Utz Verlag GmbH, München, München (2016) 4. Lichtblau, K.: Industrie 4.0-Readiness. IMPULS-Stiftung, Frankfurt (2015) 5. Heidling, E.,et al.: Ingenieurinnen und Ingenieure für Industrie 4.0 (2019) 6. Evans, G., Miller, J., Pena, M.I., MacAllister, A., Winer, E.: Evaluating the Microsoft HoloLens through an augmented reality assembly application. In: Degraded Environments: Sensing, Processing, and Display 2017, pp. 282–297. SPIE (2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/ 12.2262626 7. Damiani, L., Demartini, M., Guizzi, G., Revetria, R., Tonelli, F.: Augmented and virtual reality applications in industrial systems: A qualitative review towards the industry 4.0 era. IFAC-PapersOnLine (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2018.08.388 8. Agati, S.S., Bauer, R.D., Da Hounsell, M.S., Paterno, A.S.: Augmented reality for manual assembly in industry 4.0: gathering guidelines. In: 2020 22nd Symposium on Virtual and Augmented Reality (SVR). IEEE (2020). https://doi.org/10.1109/svr51698.2020.00039 9. Rejeb, A., Keogh, J.G., Wamba, S.F., Treiblmaier, H.: The potentials of augmented reality in supply chain management: a state-of-the-art review. Manage. Rev. Quar. 71(4), 819–856 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-020-00201-w 10. de Pace, F., Manuri, F., Sanna, A., Fornaro, C.: A systematic review of Augmented Reality interfaces for collaborative industrial robots. Comput. Ind. Eng. (2020). https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.cie.2020.106806 11. Egger, J., Masood, T.: Augmented reality in support of intelligent manufacturing – a systematic literature review. Comput. Ind. Eng. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2019.106195 12. Probst, J.: Mixed Reality Landscape in Engineering Education. Masterarbeit, FH Technikum Wien (2022) 13. Bernsteiner, R., Probst, A., Pachatz, W., Ploder, C., Dilger, T.: Augmented reality in engineering education in austrian higher vocational education from the students’ perspective. In: Auer, M.E., Hortsch, H., Michler, O., Köhler, T. (eds.) Mobility for Smart Cities and Regional Development - Challenges for Higher Education, LNNS, vol. 389, pp. 535–545. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93904-5_53 14. Sheskin, D.J.: Handbook of parametric and nonparametric statistical procedures, 5th edn. A Chapman & Hall book. CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, London, New York (2011)

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15. Opri¸s, I., Sorana Ionescu, C., Costina¸s, S., Gogoa¸se-Nistoran, D.-E.: Exploring Engineering Students’ Perception on using Augmented Reality to Improve Learning Performance in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic. TEM J. (2022). https://doi.org/10.18421/TEM112-14 16. Md Enzai, N.I., Ahmad, N., Ab. Ghani, M.A.H., Rais, S.S., Mohamed, S.: Development of Augmented Reality (AR) for innovative teaching and learning in engineering education. AJUE 16, 99 (2021). https://doi.org/10.24191/ajue.v16i4.11954 17. Criollo-C, S., Abad-Vásquez, D., Martic-Nieto, M., Velásquez-G, F.A., Pérez-Medina, J.L., Luján-Mora, S.: Towards a new learning experience through a mobile application with augmented reality in engineering education. Appl. Sci. (2021). https://doi.org/10.3390/app 11114921

Digital Twins and Sustainability in Vocational Education and Training: The Case of Structural Environment and Architectural Design in Vocational High Schools Nikol Vrysouli1 , Dimitrios Kotsifakos2(B) , and Christos Douligeris2 1 School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece 2 Department of Informatics, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece

{kotsifakos,cdoulig}@unipi.gr

Abstract. This article introduces the ideas of Digital Twins (DTs) and Sustainability in the detailed program of the sector of Construction Works, Structured Environment, and Architectural Design, in upper secondary Vocational Education in Greece. The article overviews the curriculum of the sector and highlights the importance of the introduction of DTs and Sustainability in Vocational Education and its contribution to teaching core aspects of the course material to future construction professionals. Keywords: Digital twins · Vocational high schools · Structural environment · Architectural design

1 Introduction With the adoption of more environmentally friendly technologies, helping to curb climate change is a major goal for humanity today. At the same time, our world is being transformed and very quickly rendered into digital representations. DTs through “abstraction” attempt to model almost any material reality. They improve business processes, reduce risk, optimize operational efficiency, and enhance decision-making with automation to predict results [3]. Rapid economic and social issues and major environmental problems characterize our era. The challenges that humanity is called to face globally and in all sectors. In education, these phenomena must be analyzed and comprehended transforming them into awareness. Education’s role is to prepare students for a different future from the one they are living in. Innovation and digitization provide the means to address these challenges. Policy choices should be made, targeting investments for the smooth management of the digital and green transition of the economy. Vocational Education and Training (VET) must be multifaceted and modern to enable the impact of innovation and digitization to be integrated. VET should enable innovators to be integrated to create new or improve existing products and services in companies and organizations [8]. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 220–230, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_20

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VET throughout the EU, with different axes and approaches, is called upon to improve its quality and innovation. In recent years, it has made leaps and bounds, becoming a prominent choice for students in countries with great economic growth. The future of the EU through the writing of new curricula and educational subjects that are well adapted to the needs of the labor market and that meet the needs of citizens for professional careers through lifelong learning. The establishment of strategic and systematic plans and processes for participation in local and regional agendas for sustainability and social and economic development and the transition from a passive response to the needs of stakeholders, to an active engagement in skills forecasting and the formulation and implementation of regional strategies development and innovation. Participation in innovation hubs, technology dissemination centers, and business incubators, is part of everyday practice. The development of innovative solutions to social, economic, and environmental issues is the norm, and feedback loops exist so that VET providers learn, innovate, and constantly adapt their provision through research into the most appropriate teaching and learning methods, leading to the creation of new knowledge. Distinctions between Vocational Education and Training and Continuing Vocational Education and Training are disappearing, and pathways to higher levels of education and training are widely available and easily accessible. There is a systematic approach to the internationalization of provision. The United Nations adopted 17 goals in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which sets out a 15-year plan to achieve the goals [10]. The Sustainable Development Goals are a call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere. Achieving the goal has not yet progressed at the required speed and scale. A decade of ambitious action to achieve the 2030 Goals started in 2020 [12]. VET as a key factor in regional development can contribute to regional development processes through close and practical links with businesses enabling them to apply innovations and knowledge to economic and social issues in practical ways. Its connection to traditional industry sectors but also to high-tech or highly innovative sectors enables it to contribute to filling gaps in regional development, innovation, and smart specialization strategies that appear to focus on technology or innovative sectors aligned with the 2030 Agenda of sustainable development [11]. The curricula of formal upper secondary VET are developed by the Greek Institute of Educational Policy (IEP) and issued in the form of ministerial decisions. The education ministry has been recently promoting the upgrading and updating of Upper Secondary Vocational Education curricula, the writing of new education material (laboratory guides, books), and the relevant training for Upper Secondary Vocational Education teachers through a large-scale European Social Fund (ESF) project. Sustainability is the fundamental essence of the future of life existence for all creatures, human and not. Furthermore, the design of procedures in manufacturing, educational norms and systems, and social movements will lead to a future that will prevail in a non-destructive but creative manner, leading to a better future whilst permitting contemporary growth. A Digital Twin (DT) is a virtual representation of the real world. It includes physical objects, processes, relationships, and behaviors. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology creates DTs of the natural and structured environment and uniquely integrates

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many types of digital models. It is fundamental for any digital twin and, in combination with 3D design, reveals the correlations between the various elements that compose the phenomenon to be observed and allows conclusions to be drawn. This results in the description and interpretation of the phenomenon and then its prediction or forecast. This paper reviews and highlights the elements of Digital Twins (DT) and Sustainability in the detailed program of the sector of Structural Works, Structured Environment and Architectural Design of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) Specialties and the emergence of innovative tools taught in this field as well as the knowledge that can contribute to the future development of students and the acquisition of skills aimed at using these tools for decision-making in the professional and social fields [2] br9. The education ministry has been recently promoting the upgrading and updating of the Upper Secondary Vocational Education curricula, the writing of new education material (laboratory guides, books), and relevant training for Upper Secondary Vocational Education teachers through a large-scale ESF project. The specialties of apprenticeship programs were chosen by the National Committee for VET and apprenticeships, based on recommendations by a committee and considering the findings of the skills forecasting mechanism. Several factors, such as demand for existing specialties and regional recommendations were considered. IEP is also responsible for the development of curricula for the Upper Secondary Vocational Education apprenticeship class. This proposal provides an interdisciplinary expansion and modernization of the existing curriculum [4] in addition to highlighting the originality and the innovative elements included in the syllabus of the field of Structural Works, Structured Environment, and Architectural Design [1]. The important work done in Vocational Education and Training (VET) will be highlighted in society and the existence of innovation in this program will be seen [9].

2 Elements of the Paper The presented in this paper empirical-pedagogical research seeks educational tools that are related, on one hand, to DT and sustainability, and on the other hand, to their didactic application in the field of Structural Works, Structured Environment, and Architectural Design of VET high schools, as well as their perspective on the future. The elements of the curriculum in the field of “Structural Works, Structured Environment and Architectural Design” that can potentially be used to create DT and Sustainability, will be initially recorded. In addition, relevant work which can lead to the creation of DT and Sustainability will be highlighted and analyzed. Our intervention will highlight the importance of introducing DT and Sustainability concepts in Vocational Education in the early stage of forming students’ capability of making decisions related to safety in constructions before acting as professionals. The scientific questions of this research are: • How does the term “Digital Twins” fit into the field of “Structural Works, Structured Environment, and Architectural Design”? • How does the term “Sustainability” fit into the field “Structural Works, Structured Environment, and Architectural Design”?

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• What are the educational items in the field of “Structural Works, Structured Environment and Architectural Design” that contain DT and Sustainability technologies? • Could the first record of complex work be done that will lead to decision-making with the use of DT technologies and Sustainability perspectives in the field of “Structural Works, Structured Environment and Architectural Design”? • How the above concepts could be utilized, and decisions be made in the field of construction and the cultivation of 21st-century skills in the students of the field?

3 The Sector Analysis Structural projects, Structured Environments, and Architectural Planning are sectors of upper secondary Vocational Education (VET). The students of the sector receive a Degree of Specialization, namely the Vocational Education and Training Level 4 in Greece in the Specialty of Structural Projects and Geoinformatics Technician. After the Postgraduate Apprenticeship Class, students receive a Degree of Specialization, Vocational Education and Training, the Level 5 of the Technician Designer of Structural Engineering (Fig. 1). According to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the eight levels are defined by a set of descriptors indicating the learning outcomes relevant to qualifications at that level in any qualifications system. The learning outcomes are defined in terms of Knowledge, Skills Responsibility, and Autonomy. In the context of EQF, knowledge is described as theoretical and/or factual, skills are described as cognitive were as involving the use of logical, intuitive, and creative thinking, and practical by involving manual dexterity and the use of methods, materials, tools, and instruments, were responsibility and autonomy is described as the ability of the learner to apply knowledge and skills autonomously and with responsibility. The graduates of the specialty can work: • In design offices, such as the ones related to construction projects, road construction, architectural and topographic studies as designers. • In technical construction companies (public and private works contractors) as designers or foremen. • In dealerships of building materials. • In the manufacturing of concrete or other building materials. • In the technology companies of the State (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Municipalities, Prefectures, PPC, OTE, Urban Planning, etc.) • As freelancers with their own technical office undertaking the execution of small budget public technical projects after receiving a contractor degree. After three years of studying and completing a year of specialty the graduate can: • Design architectural plans and reinforcement extensions of load-bearing elements of a building. • Use the instruments of topography for area measurement and mapping of a plot - area. • Be familiar with the construction of formwork and placement of iron reinforcement on the load-bearing elements of the construction.

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Fig. 1. The hellenic educational system, CEDEFOP and reference Greece, 2020.

• Perform calculations and measurements of materials and works for the project budget. • Know the supporting documents and their drafting for the issuance of a building permit. • Calculate simple endurance exercises of load-bearing elements of the construction. • Design architectural plans both on paper and through Designing apps. • Capture and measure field pitches. • Carry out the study and installation of water supply and sewerage.

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Table 1. The didactic fields in the sector of construction works, structured environment, and architectural design in vocational education in Greece Subjects/year of studies Introductory year 1st year

Principles of Linear and Architectural Plan

The sector of Construction Works, Structured Environment & Architectural Design 2nd year

Building Design Topography Topographic Design-Digital Cartography Buildings and Structural Materials 2D and 3D Digital Construction Design Structured Environment and Urban Applications

Technician of Structural Works and Geoinformatics 3rd year

Architectural Design Construction Design of Civil Engineering and Infrastructure Projects Digital Construction Design Managing Construction Projects 2D and 3D Digital Construction Design

Apprenticeship: Technician of Structural Works and Geoinformatics 4th (optional) year

Professional environment -Ethics of the profession – Communication techniques Safety and health at work Sustainable development and protection of the environment Professional career, principles of professional activity and development Analysis of Technical Data Management of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Urban Planning and Topography Applications Computer-Aided Design Execution of Measurements-Budgets Flexible program zone

Table 1 presents the Curriculum of the sector unfolded for every year of studies. As one can see, the educational fields are strongly related to many aspects of Digitalization, 3D Design, Geoinformatics, and another field that can easily be supported with educational tools created using DTs and Sustainability.

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4 The Curriculum Some of the learning fields (Fig. 2) in the sector of Construction Works, Structured Environment, and Architectural Design related to DTs and Sustainability are the construction of buildings and infrastructure in general, the management of bigger or smaller buildings, or other sites. Geoinformatics and its potential in studying and analyzing risk factors in surveying and constructing are in harmonical cooperation and blending with Design in all its aspects. Furthermore, DTs and Sustainability are core elements in giving a new aspect to teaching health and safety issues in the sector and of course in other sectors as well.

Fig. 2. Basic Learning fields in the Sector of Construction Works, Structured Environment, and Architectural Design in VET in Greece

Computer-Aided 2D/3D Design and Photorealistic Ray Tracing along with Mapping and Geoinformatics have changed the way Constructions are addressed worldwide and these innovative elements must be incorporated into Education elements of all stages of the field of construction in general. Didactic elements of the field could potentially be developed into Digital Twins and Sustainability applications. More specifically, analyzing the importance of buildings and the environment in typical periods by determining

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the factors for either their stability and durability or elements of failure. Introducing basic study elements of building structures, such as ground, load-bearing structures, and filling elements, and describe their static function. Furthermore, introducing simple load-bearing structures of buildings, as well as concepts such as foundations, columns, beams, slabs, stairs, frame function of structures, and their potential changes due to time or weather conditions. Presenting traditional and new building and construction materials and their implementation. Focusing on the correct implementation in all construction fields and stages. Describing basic characteristics of the soil, performing measurements, and checking its properties by relating these characteristics to case study foundations and structures and relating with them the strength of the soil, as well as the required supports needed. Equally important is the recognition of simple formwork construction designs. Analyzing in detail the technical construction site and the explanation of parts of the formwork and the high importance for the safety and shaping of the concrete used. Describe the basic machinery required for each construction site, depending on the project to be performed. In addition to fully stating the process of public works execution, the stages followed, and the big difference between public and private works. Creating innovative mapping apps that transform our perception of the world and stressing the importance of mapping in our lives. Analyzing the need for topographic measurements and plans in all constructions (buildings, transport, and plumbing projects, etc.), at appropriate design scales and its effect on managing sites. Other applications could be used for correlating the evolution of buildings with the evolution of social, and economic needs, as well as technological changes. Pointing out how immense population growth, growth rates, and theoretical forecast models, differences between developed and less developed countries affect infrastructure. Relating spatial information, its classification and qualification, its storage, processing, portrayal, and dissemination. Digital Twins could be used for addressing environmental pollution and its impact on the ecosystem. Environmental degradation and the factors that could eliminate it. Highlighting Physical and anthropogenic activities that create environmental pollution and analyzing the causes of degradation of specific geographical areas. Renewable Forms of Energy and addressing waste management. Critical thinking and the understanding of the magnitude of the long-term and often irreversible effects of the structures on the quality of the natural environment. Industrial activities as a source of pollutants and noise compared to the advantages they create. Some of the educational themes such as Buildings, Construction, Construction Site Management, Environment, Computer-Aided 2D/3D Design- Photorealistic Ray Tracing, Materials, Geoinformatics, Soil Mechanics, Topography, and their didactic elements that incorporate potential DTs are presented (Fig. 3). Every single didactic element of the chart could potentially be presented through an educational tool using DTs and Sustainability.

5 Digital Twins and Safety The construction sector is regarded as one of the most dangerous working areas. Students need to be aware of the link between their decisions and the potential risk they hold in real-life situations. It is the responsibility of all to be safe at work and to create safe constructions for the benefit of society.

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Fig. 3. Learning objects taught in the sector conventionally and potentially can be created for teaching with DTs

Because of its labor-intensive nature and high risk, the construction industry faces significant financial losses because of occupational accidents [5, 6]. Major workplace accidents are those that result in major injuries and long-term disability, while minor workplace accidents result in minor injuries and short-term disability. One could say that safety is not expensive, it is priceless. According to EUROSTAT and the statistics of development of fatal accidents at work for the five NACE sections with the highest risk levels in the EU during 2010–2019 (Fig. 4), even though fatal and non-fatal are decreasing in the last decade they persistently have the largest percent compared to other sectors [7]. Additionally, they present the largest percentage of fatal work injuries. Sustainability emerges furthermore as a need for safe working environments for workers, stakeholders, and society. Nevertheless, it is essential for a successful and sufficient educational system

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to be successful in spreading the principles of hygiene and safety in working spaces to all participating in it and to society after all.

Fig. 4. Development of fatal accidents at work for the five NACE sections with the highest risk levels, EU, 2010–2019 (persons)

According to EUROSTAT and the statistics of development of fatal accidents at work for the five NACE sections with the highest risk levels in the EU during 2010– 2019 (Fig. 4), even though fatal and non-fatal are decreasing in the last decade they persistently have the largest percent compared to other sectors [7]. Additionally, they present the largest percentage of fatal work injuries. Sustainability emerges furthermore as a need for safe working environments for workers, stakeholders, and society. Nevertheless, it is essential for a successful and sufficient educational system to be successful in spreading the principles of hygiene and safety in working spaces to all participating in it and to society after all.

6 Conclusions and Future Work The presentation of the innovation of DT technology and its connection with Sustainability, the benefits that result from them, practical ways of approaching the digital transformation in Vocational Education (EU), as well as international and Greek best practices which are included in curricula of Vocational Education (EU) will contribute to VETs attractiveness and its establishment as the first choice for a larger percentage of students in the Greek reality. Digital Twins and Sustainability as innovative educational learning tools can uplift education in the specific sector of Construction Works, Structured Environments, and Architectural Design. The findings of this study could be used

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to highlight educational practices and assignments that could be added to the teaching of students in this field and in general in more areas in Vocational Education (EU). Acknowledgment. We would like to thank the educational community in the sector of Construction Works, Structured Environment in Greece, and all the efforts done for its uplifting and taking the position it deserves in VET in Greece. This work has been partially supported by UPRC (University of Piraeus Research Center).

References 1. Al-Sehrawy, R., Kumar, B.: Digital twins in architecture, engineering, construction and operations. a brief review and analysis. In: Santos, E.T., Scheer, S. (eds.) ICCCBE 2020. LNCE, vol. 98, pp. 924–939. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51295-8_64 2. Clarke, L., Sahin-Dikmen, M., Winch, C.: Overcoming diverse approaches to vocational education and training to combat climate change: the case of low energy construction in Europe. Oxf. Rev. Educ. 46(5), 619–636 (2020) 3. Dossick, C., Osburn, L., Neff, G.: Innovation through practice: the messy work of making technology useful for architecture, engineering, and construction teams. ECAM (2019). https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-12-2017-0272 4. T¯utlys, V., Spöttl, G.: Disruption of qualifications in manufacturing: challenges and prospects. EJTD 46, 390–412 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-07-2020-0121 (2021) 5. Eurostat: Fatal and non-fatal accidents at work by NACE section, EU, 2019. Statistics Explained (2019). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/e/e0/Fatal_and_ non-fatal_accidents_5.png. Accessed 22 May 2022 6. Eurostat: Accidents at work statistics, EU, 2019. Statistics Explained (2019). https://ec. europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Accidents_at_work_statistics#Ana lysis_by_activity. Accessed 22 May 2022 7. Geitz, G., de Geus, J., Tinoca, L.: (Reviewing editor) Design-based education, sustainable teaching, and learning. Cogent Educ. 6, 1 (2019) 8. Winch, C., Sahin-Dikmen, M., Clarke, L.: Transforming vocational education and training for nearly zero-energy building. Build. Cities 1(1), 650–661 (2020) 9. European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs, and Inclusion: Innovation & digitalization: a report of the ET 2020 Working Group on Vocational Education and Training (VET): EIGHT insights for pioneering new approaches, Publications Office (2020). https://data.europa.eu/doi/https://doi.org/10.2767/25307 10. ET 2020 Working Group on Vocational Education and Training (VET), Mapping of Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs), Publications Office of the European Union (2019) 11. United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals: 17 Goals to Transform our World. https:// www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/. Accessed 5 July 2022 12. European Commission, Smart Specialisation Platform, Smart Specialisation for Sustainable Development Goals (2021). https://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/sustainable-developmentgoals. Accessed 5 July 2022

Hands-On Firefighting Training Using a Remote-Controlled Extinguishing Laboratory Thomas Klinger1(B) , Jutta Isopp2 , Christian Kreiter1 , Hermann Oberwalder3 , Mich`ele Posch2 , Werner Schwab4 , and Klaus Tschabuschnig5 1

Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Villach, Austria [email protected] 2 Messfeld GmbH, Klagenfurt, Austria 3 BHT Solutions, Afritz am See, Austria 4 WSTech, Villach, Austria 5 Carinthian State Fire Brigade School, Klagenfurt, Austria https://www.fh-kaernten.at/mitarbeiter-details?person=t.klinger

Abstract. Part of the practical training for firefighting personnel are exercises in training houses where a fire is ignited either directly with combustible material or with fire replication by gas burners. The task of the firefighting team is then to bring the fire under control with the most efficient use of extinguishing medium and with the least possible danger. The aim of our project—funded by the Austrian Research Funding Agency (FFG)—is to further increase the training effect in these fire houses by performing the extinguishing process through a remotely controllable unit that can be controlled by trainers as well as by trainees themselves. All data and parameters generated in the process are recorded. Excessive sensor equipment will also make it possible to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the extinguishing process and thus optimize it. Keywords: Firefighter training extinguishing

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· Remote laboratories · Fire

Introduction

The fire service is subject to a constant change. Almost every new technology that is established influences the approach of the fire training personnel. In order to recognize developments and currents in a timely manner, it is necessary to take measures and initiate projects that make it possible to take future trends and challenges into account. The result is better preparation. Firefighting operations by fire brigades have also changed significantly in the last 20 years. Tactics and technology of the fire brigade had to be adapted, which also means that lifelong learning is an indispensable aspect for fire brigade members. c The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023  M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 231–238, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_21

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Firefighting Training

Training and continuing education for fire department personnel—especially for volunteers, who make up 99% of the staff [1]—is time-consuming. Projects that have already been carried out have led to at least the theoretical part of courses for further training being offered digitally and online [2]. Even though practical training on site at the fire academy is essential for training success, the question has arisen as to whether parts of the hands-on training can be digitized and offered online. Therefore it is necessary for fire brigade training facilities, such as the Carinthian State Fire Brigade School, to constantly learn to understand procedures, derive facts and, based on these findings, find new ways of deploying fire brigades. The here described project named FIRELab will be an important tool in the field of firefighting and fire research. The integration into existing and state-ofthe-art hot training systems is a great advantage. With the far-reaching sensor technology, which has been very well thought out through this project, FIRELab will e.g. support in understanding the course of fire and fire behavior of new technologies. The reproducibility through this system will provide valid data and thus contribute to the sustainable further development of the fire brigade’s procedures. In the FIRElab project, an existing training facility, a fireable fire house, is supplemented by a remote-controlled extinguishing unit. This makes it possible for trainees to perform extinguishing operations repeatedly, in a controlled manner, and also remotely for training purposes. This means that practical firefighting exercises can also be completed remotely.

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Remote-Controlled Extinguishing Lab

The concept for this project defines an extinguishing unit that can be controlled remotely in different ways. One possibility is on-site control via LAN, which ensures a short response time. Remote control via an internet connection is also possible, but is more challenging as the delay has to be taken into account. Also, the movement of the unit must not touch any obstacles located in the room. 3.1

Function and Principle of the Extinguishing Unit

The basis of this laboratory equipment is a two-axis pan-tilt unit that supports a total of four hydraulic extinguishing systems: – – – –

Low pressure (100 psi) C hose nozzle; separate water feed source (Fig. 1); Mid pressure (725 psi) PN40 nozzle; separate water feed source (Fig. 1); High pressure (2200 psi) multi-jet nozzle; High pressure (2200 psi) single-jet nozzle (lance); shares the water feed source with the multi jet.

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Fig. 1. Low pressure C hose nozzle (left), mid pressure PN40 nozzle (right).

All four systems are mounted on the pan-tilt unit so that they can withstand the high mechanical forces that occur; see Fig. 2. The C hose nozzle, for example, can generate up to 50 kg of recoil; the pan-tilt unit must therefore be very massive and be able to be moved in any direction with a torque of 1500 Nm. For this, 20 Nm closed loop stepper motors are used in combination with highly reduced worm gears (1:75) that are self-locking. This design allows position feedback and programmable over-current protection. Combined with external safety switches, this results in a rugged system that can safely move the hydraulic components in any situation. The pan-tilt unit is also mechanically connected (bolted) to its position, and from there can move the valves ±35o in all directions. For reporting purposes, a daylight camera and a thermal camera (LWIR) are also integrated. 3.2

Actuator Concept

Figure 3 shows the block diagram of the extinguishing unit. In the low pressure and mid pressure system, the beam shape and water flow rate can be adjusted by means of two closed loop stepper motors, which are supplemented with external gears and other mechanical adaptations. The high-pressure system only requires electronically controllable high-pressure valves. A DC motor with spindle gear is used for volume control. All actuators are equipped with safety switches so that the system operates safely even in the event of a software error. This means that the system can perform all the settings that a firefighter would have to perform in the field. All electronic parts in the pan-tilt unit must be extremely ruggedized, waterproof to IP67 (some parts IP69) and highly corrosion resistant. Sensitive parts such as computers must either be actively cooled or positioned outside the fire house. Figure 4 shows the integration of the extinguishing unit into the existing fire house training facility.

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Fig. 2. CAD drawing of the remote-controlled pan-tilt extinguishing unit. The multijet nozzle head can also be seen at the top right.

Fig. 3. Internal block diagram of the extinguishing unit.

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Fig. 4. External block diagram of the extinguishing unit.

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Sensor Concept

The sensor concept was developed on the basis of the requirements analysis and the findings of the Carinthian State Fire Brigade School and the project partners. The central element of the concept is the measurement of the temperature distribution within the fire training house. For the measurement in the house, a total of 20 sensors—distributed in the room—are planned. Depending on the location, the signal data of the existing system (fire station) can also be integrated (see Fig. 5). This data can be used to draw conclusions about the fire behavior within the room. Based on the data, peak temperatures of up to 1250o C can be determined at the fire site in question. The key data of the temperature measurement system are:

Fig. 5. Structure of the temperature sensor matrix.

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– Resolution: 0.1 o C; – Measurement uncertainty: 1% (according to GUM1 in the measurement chain); – Sampling rate: > 100/s. Three different extinguishing systems with different pressures and thus different water quantities are used. The sensor system for flow measurement uses flow sensors that can be used for all three extinguishing systems. The sensor system is installed between 2 nozzle connections, which makes it individually usable; see Table 1 for the value ranges of the pressure and volume flow ranges. Table 1. Pressure systems overview with pressure range and water volume range. System Low pressure

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Pressure range Water volume 100–700 psi

400 l–500 l

Medium pressure 725 psi

180 l

High pressure

22 l per nozzle

2200 psi

Acoustic Fire Detection—A New Research Area

In the project, an attempt is made to detect and distinguish burning materials from their acoustic emission (AE) with the aid of acoustic signature analysis. This applies both to the time of fire development and during a fire. In this process, the acoustic emission of the fire is recorded with the help of timefrequency representations (spectrograms) and evaluated with the help of analyses in the direction of a distinctive acoustic signature. The spectrograms represent acoustic fingerprints of the fire with respect to the contained materials. Both chemical and mechanical properties of materials can lead to acoustic emission under appropriate thermal loads, even before the actual fire event. These investigations should provide knowledge about the acoustic emission and the acoustic signature under non-normal temperature conditions, even before the actual fire, through material-internal processes for the early detection of possible fire sources. Further influence takes the kind of fire (low temperature, high temperature) and structure of materials to composite materials. The “crackling” of most materials in case of fire represents a starting point for such investigations of the acoustic emission of materials. Further investigations should provide insights into the acoustic emission and the acoustic signature under non-normal temperature conditions, even before the actual fire event, through material-internal processes for the early detection of possibly developing fire sources. The analysis is complicated by the additional noise caused by air currents and firefighting measures (water jets, pumps, alarm signals, communication). 1

GUM: Guide to the expression of Uncertainty in Measurement.

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Findings can be drawn from the time course of the recorded acoustic emission (e.g. “crackling” pulses). The frequency range necessary for the investigation of the acoustic signature is to be examined thereby more near. Possibly there are corresponding acoustic signatures in the range of infrasound below the human hearing range which can contribute to the analysis, or there are corresponding patterns in ultrasound above 16 kHz. Under close observation of the time characteristic, in addition to the ranges of the octave and 1/3 octave analysis, even more precise analyses (e.g. 1/12 octave or 1/24 octave band analyses) and resolutions with constant frequency spacing will be necessary (FFT analysis). Analyses like Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT), Wavelet transform or Chirp-Z transform are to be classified according to their results. For short recordings of the measurement signal, Super Resolution Spectral Analysis (SRSA) is also particularly suitable.

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Web Client

Data transmission between lab controller and web client is established via the WebSocket protocol [3], and the video stream via the WebRTC standard [4]. The client displays live video and can switch to a thermal view via a button click. The extinguishing unit is not entirely freely controllable, since firefighters typically move their extinguishing units in a sinusoidal pattern of motion, which is difficult to reproduce with the standard input devices of a computer. Therefore, the web client provides motion profiles for horizontal and vertical movement (pan and tilt) where the user can adjust the movement range in degrees. Additionally, the user can select the extinguishing unit for low, mid and high pressure, as well as control the flow rate and adjust the beam shape of the water. Measurement data is returned to the web client at a constant rate. The results include temperature data in 3D space and water consumption. Audio data on the other hand is only stored locally, because the amount of raw data from several microphones with an enhanced audio spectrum cannot be transmitted in real time with current Internet bandwidth limitations. Since the lab is an interactive lab with real time control, only one user at a time can have access to it. At the time of writing there is no scheduling management implemented. Possible solutions to this issue can be found in the iLab Service Broker [5] with its scheduling system, or in WebLab-Deusto [6], where the device is locked for other users if it is already in use. In the latter approach the operation time can be limited per user and priority queues can handle high loads.

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Anticipated Outcomes

The expected results can be summarized in two groups. On the one hand, the findings should contribute to an improvement in firefighting training. The possible constant repetition of fire scenarios will increase the training effect, and the collected data may allow an improved use of extinguishing parameters, such

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as water pressure, water quantity, droplet size, or movement patterns of the jet pipes. In a second area, research will be conducted to determine whether fire can be detected acoustically, or whether it is even possible to distinguish between certain burning materials. A final remark from the authors: Due to the current extreme supply difficulties of components and materials, the project has not progressed as far as it was planned at the beginning and also when the abstract for this paper was submitted. However, it is expected that the finished construction of the extinguishing unit and first results can be shown at the presentation. Acknowledgment. This research is supported by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).

References ¨ ¨ 1. Feuerwehr in Osterreich 2020, Osterreichischer Bundesfeuerwehrverband. (2021) https://www.bundesfeuerwehrverband.at/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Statistik 2020.pdf. (Accessed 30 May 2022) 2. Klinger, T., Tschabuschnig, K., Hoffland, M., Ratheiser, V., Kreiter, C.: Remote training for firefighter group commanders. In: Auer, M.E., R¨ uu ¨tmann, T. (eds.) ICL 2020. AISC, vol. 1328, pp. 756–763. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/ 10.1007/978-3-030-68198-2 71 3. RFC 6455 - The Websocket Protocol. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6455 (Accessed 30 May 2022) 4. WebRTC - Real-time Communication for the Web. https://webrtc.org/ (Accessed 30 May 2022) 5. Harward, V.J.: The iLab shared architecture: a web services infrastructure to build communities of internet accessible laboratories. In: Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 96(6), pp. 931–950 (June 2008). https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4527087 6. Ordu˜ na, P., Irurzun, J., Rodriguez-Gil, L., Garcia-Zubia, J., Gazzola, F., L´ opezde-Ipi˜ na, D. (2011). Adding new features to new and existing remote experiments through their integration in weblab-deusto. Int. J. Online Biomed. En. (iJOE), 7(S2), 33–39.https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v7iS2.1774

Formal Assessment at COVID19 Time via Laboratory Remoting: Solutions and Reflections Marco Ronchetti(B) Università di Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy [email protected]

Abstract. We report an experience about how we faced the COVID19 emergency for the exams of certain computer science courses. Our solution was to remote the laboratories so that students could have an exam experience that was as similar as possible to the one they were used to in “normal times”. The by now usual measures such as automated proctoring were integrated in the environment setup. After reviewing the themes touched by our work, we report our experience and how students reacted to the implemented solution and discuss some critical aspects, also touching some legal aspects. Keywords: Proctoring · Assessment · Remoting · COVID19

1 Introduction COVID-19 is having an unprecedented impact on mankind. Apart of causing an impressive number of casualties, it is having effects on all areas of human activities, from economics to habits, from human relations to the overall organization of human life. Education is one of the many fields that were deeply affected. As always however, challenges walk hand in hand with opportunities. We have seen a sudden acceleration in the usage of technology for education. After decades of debates, everybody who is involved in educational activities has had no other option than to adopt solutions that technologies offered, and quickly adapt to them. This happened at all school levels, from primary school to universities. The degree of success has been varying. In the worst cases there were failures which generated frustration in both teachers and learners, while in many other cases we had reasonably good surrogates, which allowed us to keep going. In the best cases there were even advantages and new, interesting ways to proceed. One of the problems that most universities had to face was remoting the formal assessment: an until yesterday untouchable totem. Yet, we were forced to accept this huge challenge. In this paper we report how we faced it for certain computer science courses, by remoting the laboratories so that students had an exam experience that was as similar as possible to the one they were used to in “normal times”. The paper discusses the technical set up, the problems that arose and how they were faced, and the students’ response to this methodology. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 239–248, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_22

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2 Context 2.1 Remote Instruction Remote instruction has a history longer than one would imagine. Already in 1728, an advertisement on the Boston Gazette for “Caleb Philipps, Teacher of the new method of Short Hand” sought students who wanted to learn through weekly mailed lessons [1]. Exactly one century after that event, there was the first case of a university offering distance learning degrees: the University of London established its External Programme in 1828. The notion of remote assessment is explicit in the work by Sir Isaac Pitman (1840): he devised a system of shorthand by mailing texts transcribed into shorthand on postcards and receiving transcriptions from his students in return for correction [2]. In the last century, some universities were founded with the mission of providing remote instruction, e.g. the Open University in UK (1969) and the Fernuniversität Hagen in Germany (1974). Printed matter remained the main support for educational material, even though other communication media entered into play, starting with radio broadcasting, then TV and finally Internet [3], which gave to some peripheric academy the opportunity to flourish, a notable case being the Athabasca University in Canada [4]. 2.2 Remote Formal Assessment Formal assessment is a fundamental ingredient of education: schools and universities have not only the duty of teaching pupils, but also to officially certify the achievement of certain knowledge/ability/competence levels. At academic level, this traditionally happens through exams, which may be oral or written. When the number of students is large and scalability becomes an issue, some kind of written assessment is typically preferred. Even universities providing remote instruction traditionally based the formal assessment on centers where the examinees must physically go. Some issues come into play: in first place it is necessary to verify the students’ identity [5]. Secondly, it must be guaranteed that no cheating occurs. It is hence necessary to control that students do not access unallowed resources during the exam, that they do not copy from their peers, and that they do not communicate with others. While in the past the problem of communication was limited within the examination room, new media created new challenges because electronic devices could allow communication with people outside the classroom. The classical solution is to have in class people dedicated to the students’ surveillance, i.e., proctors. Of course, a remote exam harshens the challenges. Several aspects are discussed in a paper by Michael and Williams [6], which in a short survey compares the impact of cheating in presence and in remote examination, and then lists challenges and possible remedies. Among these, software that limits a student’s access to material outside of the examination and a web-proctoring strategy based on cameras. 2.3 Online Proctoring Online proctoring systems are essentially based on web cameras. In the simplest form, one can use videoconferencing tools to remotely monitor students, who take the exam

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at their homes. Students are typically required to be alone in a quiet room, keep the microphone open and to set the camera in such a way that it shows them, including their hands and the paper on which they write. At the end of the exam, students must take pictures of what they wrote and send or upload them. This applies, for instance, to Math exams where writing mathematical expressions on a computer would require skills not (yet) owned by the students. A human proctor can, on a large enough screen, monitor up to 20 to 25 students. As an alternative, a suitably designed software can be used as a machine proctor: artificial intelligence techniques can detect suspicious actions. In response to such actions, the student can be warned, and the teacher notified. Most often audio and video are recorded for later inspection, and the software signals which trace presents suspect elements, and where they are, so that the checking requires only a limited time. The scenario in which students need to use a computer (e.g., for typing an essay, or to use some special software) is more complex. In such case, it is also necessary to restrict the students’ action to only what is actually needed. One has for instance to avoid that the examinees use the PC to read unallowed material, search the Internet or chat or communicate with external people, who could help them. Even for this case software solutions are available, usually known as Computer or Application Lockdown [7]. For instance, by starting a lockdown session on a computer browser, all other open applications get closed, the browser goes full screen, context/switching keyboard shortcuts are disabled, and it is impossible to move to a different tab in the browser itself. For instance, if the exam is based on a quiz in a learning management system such as e.g. Moodle [8], the student is constrained to stay within that web application, and cannot use the computer for performing any other actions. A review of Artificial Intelligence-based proctoring systems, including surveillance, application lockdown, but also other techniques such as screen sharing, gaze tracking, biometric identification and random question banks has recently been published by Nigam et al. [9]. 2.4 Laboratory Remoting In some disciplines, and notably in Engineering, hands-on laboratories are an essential part of education, as a complement of theoretical lectures. During laboratory activity students conduct experiments, test hypotheses, and most importantly learn from their mistakes. Remote laboratories attempt to reproduce such activity without physical access to the lab, and since the dawn of the Internet several attempts have been made to use the network infrastructure to provide an experience, which surrogates the physical presence. This is mostly achieved via simulated environments [10], even though the experiments might instead use real components or instrumentation located in places far away from where the student is using and controlling them. Remoting a Computer Science laboratory – as long as mostly only software components are needed – is relatively easy, even though it may be necessary to solve the problem of providing a virtual presence of the instructor (e.g. for scaffolding). The issue has been addressed by Broisin et al. [11], but it is of lesser importance in the case of assessment.

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Of course, formal assessment may happen also in labs, e.g. when students are requested to perform a project, and in such case both the problems of laboratory and assessment remoting overlap.

3 Our Remote Exam Setup When the COVID19 storm hit us, we, like everybody else, had to cope with that in some way. The IT support of our university was quick in proposing solutions: the main ingredient was Zoom videoconferencing for synchronous and asynchronous lectures. Since 2003 we were video recording lectures with in-house developed projects [12], but an early choice we made was not to bother with synchronous videos: we wanted to discourage students from being absent from class, and saw recorded video-lectures as an extra instrument in students’ toolkit, mostly meant to review material, check notes etc., but not as a replacement of the physical participation to the class. Some experience in e-learning has been accumulated over the years, but without a real breakthrough in the academic body, mostly reluctant to adopt technological solutions – until it became necessary. For a while we believed that the pandemic wave would have finished before the exams, but this was not the case, so we had to decide how to cope with that. In particular, at the Computer Science and Engineering Department, we had some exams which were based on hands-on activities, like developing a small software project in a few hours, in a controlled environment. In the before-COVID19 era, students had to come in the lab, where they were assigned an individual project (the same for everybody). They worked in a controlled environment: machines were prepared in a standard way, with the needed tools that students had learned to use during the course, and routines to collect their work. Access to the Internet was allowed, but with a firewall limiting to a few sites: those where they could find selected examples (like certain sets of tutorials) and documentation. No communication (either within or outside the university) was allowed over the net, and of course no communication was allowed in class. A first part of the exam, in which students had to show a certain degree of knowledge, was propaedeutic to the project development: only students passing the threshold were allowed to participate to the second part, which was based on the project development activity. This last activity typically lasts for the whole afternoon: four hours. The decision to take was hence whether to completely change the exam structure, or to try to replicate it through remoting. We chose to try to maintain normal procedures, and to venture ourselves in an unchartered land. (When we say “we”, not only the author of the present paper is involved, but also his colleagues giving courses with similar types of exams). The main ingredient needed for the remoting was already in-house: technology of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) had already been used, e.g. by technicians to access laboratory PCs from their office. It is essentially a remote desktop application, i.e. an application that allows viewing the screen of a remote computer, and to take control of it, so that a user in a location can act on a faraway machine, as if s/he was sitting in front of it. There are many commercial reifications of this idea: the one of which we already had licenses in house was VMware Horizon [13]. Of course, we needed to let students

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enter into the virtual classroom (actually, to remotely enter into a physical one!) and to guarantee that they did not perform (forbidden) activities in parallel. Hence, in first place access to the VDI had to happen through a lockdown browser: Respondus Lockdown Browser was the tool suited to our needs [14]. Moreover, we needed proctoring, for which we employed Respondus Monitor [15]. As mentioned in the previous section, the first tool allows locking the remote user into a tab in a browser, without possibility of doing anything else on her/his PC, while the second uses camera and microphone to record the scene, and actively monitors that the user is watching the screen, and that no suspicious activities are present. Lockdown Browser, Monitor and VDI access were packed into a Moodle activity, so that students had an easy entry point, and had to use their university credentials to enter. A still missing ingredient is user identification. It is supported by Respondus Monitor: in the initial part of the connection, students must show their face in a frontal manner to the camera, and they have to present a photo-id to the camera, in a way that it is readable. This is equivalent to what happens in class in ordinary times: students hand their id to the teacher, who visually checks their identity. Of course, the normal way of verifying the identity is far from being perfect: twins could be exchanged, the pictures on the ids are not always very recent, hair color can change, people get thinner or fatter. In any case, remote identity control does not add extra uncertainty, and hence we could be satisfied with the solution. In such way, the setup guaranteed that students could remotely access the physical PC laboratory and be in a situation equivalent to the one they would have had in normal times. Of course, the Laboratory was protected, as usual, by a firewall so as to limit the access to external resources. Moreover, we were able to collect the work done by the students by the using our standard scripts, since students were actually (remotely) working on the lab machines. One aspect had still to be considered: students might need to interact with the teacher, e.g. for asking a clarification relative to the text. For this we used a controlled chat on the laboratory machines. A more serious issue was the need to communicate infrastructure or communication problems, which of course could not be reported by using the infrastructure itself. For this sake, we allowed students to keep their mobile phones, but not close to their working position. Phones could not be used except for emergencies (Respondus Monitor would signal the anomaly, both by noting the temporary absence of the student to grab the phone, the gestures and the gaze, and by controlling the sound). Students were given our phone number, and (only) in case of emergency they were allowed to use it for contacting us.

4 Experience Report We run several exam sessions by using this infrastructure. In academic year 2019/2020 all the sessions were at distance. In the following year, June exams were still at distance. In July and September, we could let student choose whether they wanted to take the exam in presence or at distance (and this fact gave us some interesting data, that we will discuss in the following). Starting from January 2021 we could do everything again in class (even though, of course, with sanitary masks). Overall, over 900 exam instances

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were performed by using the described infrastructure. Every exam session has between 20 and 100 instances (i.e. students taking the exam). To make sure everything run as expected, students were invited to exam simulations at the beginning of the process: we wanted them to get familiar with the environment, and check if the assumptions we made hold when hitting reality. Being reassured that the overall settings worked well, we started with the real exams. Some problems immediately showed up – due to some wrong settings in Moodle, but after a short hectic time everything was fixed, and the results were reasonably successful. Staying in the empty class, we could see the physical computers animate themselves, as if ghost students were present. In this way, it was possible to help students in the (relatively rare) cases of emergency: we could physically act on the computer on which the student having a problem was remotely working. The main problems we encountered derived mostly from the layering of so many software components: in the lockdown browser we had the VDI session, in which the actual application (typically some IDE – Integrated Development Environment – used for writing and testing the project code) was running. It turned out that some key combinations were trapped by the underlying software layers, so that certain shortcut some students were used to, actually closed either the remote session or the lockdown browser, forcing students to re-establish the connection. Also, in some case certain key combination would change the keyboard layout so that it did not match any more the physical keyboard students were using on their PC at home: quite an annoyance for them, that we had to manually intervene to fix. Peripherals in general were a potential source of trouble: if a student’s PC had a resolution higher that that the physical PC could support, we saw a black screen in the classroom, and hence it was quite difficult to perform manual interventions when needed. The most curious case was when a student reported that the (remote) mouse was not working: it turned out that the physical mouse in the lab was not attached to the machine allocated to the student! In the relatively rare event of these sorts of problems, an easy and quick solution was to shut down the physical machine and ask the student to reconnect: the management software would reallocate the student on a different machine. None of the work done so far was lost, since the students’ home directories were hosted on a network disk and linked to the students’ profiles. After the first month, we had learned enough about the problems to devise solutions, sometimes in the form of settings in the lab machines, sometimes in term of guidelines that we gave to students (such as e.g. to make sure, before starting a session, that their screen resolution was compatible with the classroom monitors). Hence after the first runs, the number of emergency phone calls dramatically decreased, becoming zero in many cases. It is not that all possible problems were solved: for instance, we had a two cases when a thunderstorm interrupted electric power at some student’s home, breaking for a few minutes the network connection. Overall, however, the whole experience was better than we had feared. As far as proctoring is concerned, we found no case of cheating attempt. We examined the recorded videos looking at the places indicated by the surveillance software: in most case it was only students covering part of their face with a hand when thinking: a quite natural gesture, that was signaled as “suspicious”. And of course, all the cases when a student interacted with us via phone for an emergency case were detected.

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5 Discussion 5.1 How Did the Solution Work? In first place, we have to say that the solution was successful, in that it allowed us to organize the exams in a “normal” way, without putting too much extra burden on the students. In fact, they accepted the solution and understood we were trying to do our best to minimize the pandemic-induced problems. There were some complaints, especially during the first session, but after we discovered and minimized the troubles they disappeared. 5.2 Did the Remote Exam Increase the Students’ Anxiety Level? An interesting question is whether this form of remote exam drove a higher anxiety in the students. Not much is known about students’ acceptance of online proctoring, and on how anxiety may be increased or decreased by the different setting, respect to an exam in presence. The topic is relatively new, and hence very little systematic research has been performed on it. A recent paper [16] claims that there is essentially no difference in the anxiety level between in-class and remote assessment. In our case, some extra apprehension may have been driven by the fear of technical problems. For sure, some frustration was connected with the small accidents we reported (e.g. the misbehavior of certain key-combination shortcuts), but after discovering it and giving students directives and test sessions it was strongly reduced. 5.3 Did Students Like and Accept the Implemented Solution? A good, although indirect, indication of how students accepted the procedure for remote exams was obtained when the mobility and access restrictions were softened. In the summer session 2021 students were allowed to take the exams in presence. However, we had to allow also for remote exams, for instance in case of sickness or positiveness at the COVID19 test. Since we had anyway to run both in-presence and remote exams, we decided to allow students to choose what they preferred and asked them the reason of their choice. On a sample of about 130 students, 52% chose remote exams, while 48% preferred to be in presence. Reasons for remote exam were mostly related to logistics: most students are not resident in the town where the university is located, and during the lockdown they did not rent a room like in normal times. So even when the lockdown finished, many continued taking course at distance via video, deferring a come back to the university town to the next academic year. Coming to take exams in presence would have meant travelling and staying in a hotel for at least one night. Approximately one quarter of those, who chose the exam in presence declared to fear the occurrence of technical problems. About as many had come back to the university town but did not have in the rented room a fast enough connection. The remaining half did not explain their choice. These numbers lead us to believe that most students considered the procedure for remote exam a reasonable option, not too dissimilar from an exam in presence.

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5.4 Are There Any Privacy Issues? Remote surveillance, be it done by teachers watching the students who take the exam by means of videoconferencing tools, or via an automated proctoring system, enters into students’ private space (e.g. home). Students might possibly consider this fact as an intrusion, or even a violation of their privacy. There is a growing attention to this aspect, especially when Artificial Intelligence techniques are involved. Some people speak of “algorithmic injustice”: Zarra et al. [17] for instance investigate in this light how technology has been used during the pandemics for various goals, from the tracking of positive cases via apps to the proctoring issues. There has actually been the case of a British students at the Italian University “Bocconi” (located in Milan) who went to court to claim an illegal use of a proctoring system. The case went to the Guarantor for the Protection of Personal Data (GPDP), also known as the Privacy Guarantor: an independent Italian administrative authority established by law to ensure the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms and respect for dignity in the processing of personal data. As a result, Bocconi university was fined 200,000 euros by the GPDP for the illicit use of two proctoring software, which actually are exactly those that also our university used: Respondus Lockdown Browser and Respondus Monitor. As an immediate consequence, our university stopped instantaneously using them. Luckily this happened in September 2021, after we finished the summer session of exams: by the time of the following winter session, we had the possibility to go back to normal operations. It is however interesting to examine in detail the sentence [18], to understand where the GPDP located problems. The sanctions were issued for: • Inaccuracy on the duration of the biometric treatment; • Inaccuracy on the use of photos for checking attendance during exams; • Underestimation of treatment in the USA by the provider. In particular, GPDP stated that the university failed to properly inform students, because it did not mention the photograph taken by the system at the beginning of the test. It did not specify the retention periods for personal data, and that data were transferred outside of the European Union (Respondus keeps the data in the United States of America). Although Bocconi asked students to give their consensus at the beginning of the exam, the way in which the consensus was obtained was incorrect, in that not all the needed information was given to the students, and hence there were insufficient conditions to process biometric data (i.e. the students’ picture and videos). Also, the judgement stated that proctoring systems must not be unjustifiably invasive and monitor the student in excess of actual needs (but what is the measure of the actual needs?). A further relevant point is the transfer of data to the USA. The E.U. places restrictions on cross-border transfers of personal data: these data can be exported only to countries having a data protection policy considered “adequate” by the E.U. Commission. Although USA is the main trading partner the European Union, its data protections laws are deemed to be insufficient by the E.U. [19]. Hence, it was a fatal error to use

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a provider that did not have a data storage within the E.U., or in a country meeting the E.U. requirements.

6 Conclusions We reported our experience about running exams based on the remote usage of laboratory. Despite some minor technical problems, the procedures we adopted were effective and students’ acceptance was quite good. However, the Bocconi case shows how slippery are the legal aspects connected to the employment of the underlying technologies. Although the problems raised by the GPDP can be avoided by paying the due attention to certain formal aspects, it is sure that the legal case will prevent most universities to embark in the adventure. Probably, it would be needed that companies interested in selling their proctoring solutions in E.U. learn from that case, and in first place provide data storage within the E.U., and secondly that they invest in providing legal advice and reassurance to their potential customers. Also, we observe that the pandemics created the conditions for a (r)evolution of traditional universities: a strong resistance to innovation and to remote instruction has been swept away from the emergency situation. Things like remote identification and remote assessment were unconceivable in most traditional European academic institutions, but they simply happened. Of course, history teaches us that after every revolution comes a restauration era. Its signs are already observable: for instance, at our university there have now even been (luckily rejected) proposals to forbid to record lectures. After restauration however some kind of Hegelian synthesis usually takes place: only the future will tell if and how this will happen. Acknowledgments. We are thankful to the University staff, and in particular the IT technicians, who helped finding solutions, and made it possible to overcome difficulties. We wish also to thank our colleagues, who collaborated sharing their experience.

References 1. Holmberg, B.: The evolution of the character and practice of distance education. Open Learn. 10, 47–53 (1995) 2. Archibald, D., Worsley, S.: The father of distance learning. TechTrends 63(2), 100–101 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-019-00373-7 3. Sleator, R.D.: The evolution of elearning background, blends and blackboard …. Sci. Progr. 93, 319–334 (2010). https://doi.org/10.3184/003685010X12710124862922 4. Davis, A.: Athabasca university: conversion from traditional distance education to online courses, programs and services. Int. Rev. Res. Open Distrib. Learn. 1(2), 1–16 (2001) 5. Aceves, P.A., Aceves, R.I.: Student identity and authentication in distance education: a primer for distance learning administrators. Contin. High. Educ. Rev. 73, 143–152 (2009) 6. Michael, T.B., Williams, M.A.: Student equity: discouraging cheating in online courses. Adm. Issues J.: Educ. Pract. Res. 3(20), n2 ( 2013)

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7. Teclehaimanot, B., You, J., Franz, D.R., Xiao, M., Hochberg, S.A.: Ensuring academic integrity in online courses: a case analysis in three testing environments. Q. Rev. Dist. Learn. 12(1), 47–52 (2018) 8. Brandl, K.: Review of are you ready to" Moodle"? Lang. Learn. Technol. 9(2), 16–23 (2005) 9. Nigam, A., Pasricha, R., Singh, T., Churi, P.: A systematic review on AI-based proctoring systems: past, present and future. Educ. Inf. Technol. 26(5), 6421–6445 (2021). https://doi. org/10.1007/s10639-021-10597-x 10. Chen, X., Song, G., Zhang, Y.: Virtual and remote laboratory development: a review. Earth and Space 2010: Engineering, Science, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments, pp. 3843–3852 (2010) 11. Broisin, J., Venant, R., Vidal, P.: Lab4CE: a remote laboratory for computer education. Int. J. Artif. Intell. Educ. 27(1), 154–180 (2017) 12. Ronchetti, M.: Has the time come for using video-based lectures over the Internet? A test-case report. In: Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference Computers and Advanced Technology in Education, p. 305 (2003) 13. Von Oven, P., Coombs, B.: Mastering VMware Horizon 7. Packt Publishing Ltd. (2016) 14. Respondus Lockdown Browser. https://web.respondus.com/he/lockdownbrowser/. Accessed 23 May 2022 15. Respondus Monitor. https://web.respondus.com/he/monitor/. Accessed 23 May 2022 16. Woldeab, D., Brothen, T.: 21st century assessment: online proctoring, test anxiety, and student performance. Int. J. e-learn. Dist. Educ. 34(1), 1–10 (2019) 17. Zarra, A., Favalli, S., Ceron, M.: Pandemic-sanctioned AI surveillance: human rights under the threat of algorithmic injustice in the EU. Available at SSRN 3939747 (2021) 18. Garante Privacy (Guarantor for the Protection of Personal Data) - Ordinanza ingiunzione nei confronti di Università Commerciale “Luigi Bocconi” di Milano - 16 settembre 2021. https://www.garanteprivacy.it/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9703988/. Accessed 23 May 2022. (in Italian) 19. Voss, W.G.: Transatlantic Data Transfer Compliance. Forthcoming in 28 B.U. J. SCI. & TECH. L (2022). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4031434

Multiplatform Embedded Systems Extension Board - MARTA C. Madritsch(B) , L. Hummer, and W. Werth Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Villach, Austria [email protected]

Abstract. To deepen the understanding and practical experience of bachelor and master students in the field of Embedded Systems, a pocket lab called MultiplAtfoRm exTension boArd (MARTA) has been developed. It allows students to work at any place and at any time on complex tasks including the use of peripheral devices and bus systems. MARTA consists of components used in the field of (Industrial) Internet of Things (IIoT). It can be attached to three different Embedded Systems platforms and PLCs. In addition to the board, the system is completed by documentation, exercises, and software examples. Keywords: Embedded systems · Pocket labs Raspberry Pi · Arduino · Extension board

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Introduction

Several lectures in the field of Embedded Systems require students to work with external hardware components. Always wiring these fragile components using breadboards leads to an increase of failures and faults and subsequently increases the cost for the university. Theese requirements led to a project conducted in the course of a bachelor thesis. The goal was to develop a low cost, rigid, versatile, portable, and extensible hardware board, a new pocket lab [1], which can be used with different target platforms. A needs analysis has led to a list of peripheral components, bus systems, and platforms which had to be included and supported by MARTA. The individual functions have been verified using breadboard setups and example applications. In the next stage, the schematics and layout of the final system has been developed. Due to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, some electronic parts have not been available on the market for an extensive period (6–9 months). After the boards have been assembled, a concept on how to use MARTA in various lectures has been developed. The lectures include Microcontroller Programming, Bus Systems, Smart Automation Technologies, and Real-Time Systems. Beginning this summer semester, the system has been distributed among our students and first feedback and ideas for improvements have been collected. This paper is structured as follows: The chapter “Embedded Systems Platforms” outlines the different platforms which can be used in combination with c The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023  M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 249–256, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_23

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MARTA. The following chapter “Hardware Description” gives a detailed explanation of the hardware components used. “Example Projects” gives a first lookout in terms of possibilities for student projects using MARTA. The final chapter “Conclusions” focuses on general reception and next steps.

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Several different lectures and lab exercises require the use of a variety of different hardware platforms [2]. The following overview uses a chronological approach in terms of the order of appearance during the educational process. 2.1

Esp32 - Arduino Platform

During the first semester of the bachelor program Systems Engineering, students become familiar with the general topic of developing complete systems from scratch. Due to the fact that a lot of basics have not yet been taught, a simple to use and program hardware platform had to be chosen. The first decision was to use an Arduino Zero. Several disadvantages like the missing wireless connectivity (Wifi or Bluetooth), clock speed, and the significant price difference led to a change in strategy and finally to the decision to use the Esp32 board [4]. – – – – – – –

SoC: ESP32-WROOM 32; Clock Speed: 80/240 MHz; RAM: 512 KB; Flash: 4 MB; I/O Pins: 34; Connectivity: SPI, I2C, I2S, CAN, UART; Wireless: Wifi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.2, BLE.

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Arm Cortex-M STM32F407 Platform

During the second and third semester, specialized lectures on Microcontrollers need an increase of the complexity of the hardware platform used. Several on-chip peripherals as well as operating system capabilities are required. After detailed comparisons, the Arm Cortex-M4 platform was chosen, implemented on the STM32F407-Discovery board [3]. – – – – –

SoC: STM32F407VGT6 (Arm Cortex M-4) with DSP and FPU; Clock Speed: 268 MHz; RAM: 192 KB; Flash: 1 MB; On-chip modules: ADCs, DACs, DMA, 17 Timers, 140 I/O Pins, 15 communication interfaces; – Connectivity: SPI, I2C, I2S, CAN, UART; – On-board modules: User button, LEDs, Accelerometer, Microphone, Power Amplifier, USB OTG.

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PLC - Phoenix Contact PLCnext Platform

A different set of requirements arises from lectures related to Smart PLC technology. Smart PLC means, that a controller is not only able to execute IEC 61131-3 language applications, but also Python and C/C++ based applications running on Linux. The Smart PLC in use is the AXC 2152 controller from Phoenix Contact [5]. – – – – – –

SoC: Arm Cortex-A9 Dual Core; Clock Speed: 800 MHz; RAM: 512 MB; Flash: 512 MB; Connectivity: Ethernet, PROFINET, AXIOLINE F; Operating System: Linux.

2.4

Raspberry Pi 3B Platform

The master program Systems Design requires students to take an even broader look on the buildup and design of complex systems. Supporting that, the microcomputer platform Raspberry Pi was chosen. One reason was the wide availability and acceptance as well as the vast range of models and types [6]. – – – – – –

SoC: Broadcom BCM2387 Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A53; Clock Speed: 1.2 GHz; RAM: 1 GB; Flash: SD-card; I/O Pins: 40; Connectivity: Ethernet, Wifi, I2C, SPI.

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Hardware Description

MARTA (illustrated in Fig. 1) consists of different function blocks which are shown in Fig. 2. A higher-level distinction is made between “General Purpose IO”, “Pulse Width Modulation”, “SPI Bus”, “I2C Bus” and “Analog Input”. Each of these has lower-level features which are described in detail below. To test all these features, a demo application was also developed for the different controller platforms. This allows the operator to easily check for proper functionality. 3.1

General Purpose IO

LED Bar Graph. A visual display was realised with the help of a LED bar graph. For this purpose, ten standard digital outputs are used from each controller platform to control the individual LEDs. The current through the respective LED is limited by a series resistor. These are switched via darlington transistors so that the outputs are not loaded with the complete LED current. This allows, among other things, to display signal states or to demonstrate a fill level of a tank. The final use is varied and depends on the application example.

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Fig. 1. MARTA

Buttons. Four standard buttons are also included on the board, which are read in via digital inputs. When not pressed, the inputs are pulled to the supply voltage via pull-up resistors. Mechanical operation closes the low-impedance circuit to ground. Thus, the inputs can detect a HIGH or a LOW level once. In addition, independent interrupts can optionally be triggered on the respective boards. These can be used to operate menu structures on the OLED, to trigger start and stop commands or to incrementally change values. 3.2

Pulse Width Modulation

Fan. A fan was also installed to include the functionality of a timer output or pulse width modulation. Like the LEDs, the fan is switched via a darlington transistor, which is controlled by a digital output with PWM function. To protect the circuit, a free-wheeling diode was installed to prevent voltage peaks when switching off. The fan can be used, for example, to control the rotational speed proportionally to an analog value. Or as active cooling for the Raspberry PI because it was placed directly above the main processor. 3.3

SPI Bus

RFID Reader. Access control systems can be simulated with the RFID reader, which was installed as a purchased breakout board. The system is controlled via the MFRC522 [7], which communicates with the controller using the SPI bus. When an RFID-compatible chip is detected, an interrupt can also be triggered to signal the controller that new data is available. Alternatively, the RFID reader can also be interrogated cyclically for new data.

Multiplatform Embedded Systems Extension Board - MARTA General Purpose IO

I2C Bus

LED Bar Graph

10x DO STM32F4 / RasPi / ESP32

Buttons

4x DI STM32F4 / RasPi / ESP32

Controller STM32F4

Pulse Width Modulation Fan

1x DO PWM STM32F4 / RasPi / ESP32

Raspberry Pi

I2C / Int STM32F4 / RasPi / ESP32

Color Sensor TCS34725

I2C STM32F4 / RasPi / ESP32

Environment Sensor BMP180

I2C STM32F4 / RasPi / ESP32

OLED Dispaly SSD1306

I2C STM32F4 / RasPi / ESP32 I2C / Int STM32F4 / RasPi / ESP32

Qwicc Connectors

SPI Bus RFID Reader MFRC522

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SPI / Int STM32F4 / RasPi / ESP32

Legend: DI...Digital Input DO...Digital Output AI...Analog Input PWM...Pulse Width Modulation Int...Interrupt RasPi...Raspberry Pi

Analog Input ADS1115

Analog Input

ESP32

1x AI STM32F4 / ESP32

LDR

1x AI STM32F4 / ESP32

Potentiometer

5V

USB-Supply

Fig. 2. Block diagram for MARTA

3.4

I2C Bus

Color Sensor TCS34725. Color detection is also possible with the TCS34725 [11] color sensor breakout board from Adafruit. Communication with the controller takes place via the I2C bus and an interrupt can also be configured. This allows production lines to be simulated, which sort according to the component color and trigger various actions depending on the result. Environment Sensor BMP180. A BMP180 [8] piezo-resistive sensor was installed to detect the environment. This allows the ambient temperature and pressure to be recorded and also sent to the controller via the I2C bus. Simple application examples would be an overtemperature warning, height measurement or smaller control tasks. OLED Display SSD1306. To make it easier for the user to operate, a singlecolour graphic interface was installed. This was realised with a 128 × 96 pixel oled display, which has an SSD1306 [9] controller installed. Communication is again via I2C. The applications are wide-ranging, from a simple data display to PONG games, everything is possible. However, the programming effort for the last one is considerable. Qwicc Connectors. The modular expansion of MARTA is ensured by SparkFun’s Qwiic ecosystem [12]. Basically, this is a 4-pin JST connector that provides

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a power supply and the I2C bus. This allows additional Qwiic breakout boards to be connected, such as LIDAR sensor and much more. Analog Input ADS1115. Since the Raspberry Pi does not have an integrated analog-to-digital converter, an I2C ADC of the ADS1115 [10] was installed. This means that each controller can measure the analogue voltages from the LDR and potentiometer in an indirect way. This gives the Raspberry Pi the same range of functions as the other two controllers. 3.5

Analog Input

Light Dependent Resistor - LDR. To obtain analog values, the voltage is measured once at an LDR, which has been realised as a voltage divider with a fixed resistor. The voltage is made available to the STM32, ESP32 and the ADS1115, but not to the Raspberry PI because it has no analog inputs. In this way, changes in brightness can be detected and it can be determined whether it is dark or bright. However, the LDR is unsuitable for measuring absolute brightness values due to its inaccuracy. The most obvious application example would be an entrance lighting system that automatically switches on at a certain brightness. Potentiometer. The second analog value comes from a linear slider potentiometer which applies voltage values from ground to supply voltage to the analog input pin of the STM32 and ESP32. This allows each analog value to be set mechanically by the operator. The returned value can then be used as a PWM value for the fan or simulate a fill level of a tank.

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Example Projects

Currently, MARTA is being used during the course Microcontroller Programming as the basis for the final assignments. The following overview gives a first impression on the wide spread of project ideas and which parts of MARTA they will be using. – Pong: The user will move a bar to interact with an increasingly difficult gameplay, obstacles are included, score and levels will be maintained. • Modules used: Potentiometer, Buttons, OLED-Display, LED-Bar – Smart-barbell: The system will capture the movement of the barbell, monitor the correctness of the exercise and count the number of repetitions. • Modules used: Accelerometer, OLED-Display, LED-Bar, Buttons; – Morse code Generator: The user can enter a text, the generator will generate morse-code signals, frequency and volume can be adjusted. • Modules used: LED-Bar, Buttons, OLED-Display, Potentiometer, PowerAmplifier;

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– Escape the room game: The user will be able to start a game by pressing the user button. To escape the user has to activate the fan. Using different sensors and/or input devices to enter the values the goal is to find the correct combination within a limited amount of tries displayed by the LED-bar. • Modules used: RFID-Reader, Color-Reader, OLED-Display, Buttons, Fan, LED-Bar; – Billing system for coffee machines: The system will be used to count to number of cups of coffee consumed per person in an office setting. • Modules used: LED-Bar, RFID-Reader, OLED-Display, Potentiometer, OSB-OTG. – RFID-Locked Control of a Parameter: The project will implement the parameter control of the fan speed using the potentiometer. To make transitions of the fan speed smoother and prevent toggling of the fan speed due to inconsistencies in the potentiometer readout, the read out will be buffered and averaged before being converted to the fan speed. Additionally, the fan speed will be displayed on the Display. Changing of the Fan Speed will only be allowed after having identified with the proper RFID tag, otherwise the system will lock on the last fan setting. • Modules used: LED-Bar, Buttons, RFID-Reader, OLED-Display, Potentiometer. The first project results will be available by June/July 2022. So far, the full potential of MARTA has not been exploited, additional evaluation will be done after the assignments turn in.

5

Conclusions

The reception of MARTA as a new pocket lab platform at various lectures is very good. Students use it at almost all exercise sessions and begin to develop project ideas for final assignments. The results will be turned in by the end of the summer term - more can be said then. Additionally to the student projects, a questionnaire will ask about strength and weaknesses, possible improvements and the overall impression. So far, a short list of corrections and improvements already exists, a possible second edition of MARTA will incorporate them as well as additional functionality. MARTA has been developed as both, open source softeware and open source hardware. We want to encourage other universities to build their own version of it and share information with us.

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References 1. Madritsch C., Klinger T., Pester A.: Work In Progress: Pocket labs in IoT education. In: International Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation. D¨ usseldorf, Germany, March 21–23 (2018) 2. Klinger T., Madritsch C.: Use of virtual and pocket labs in education. In: International Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation, Technologies and Learning, Spain (February 2016) 3. STM Homepage. www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/stm32f4discovery.html. (Accessed May 2022) 4. ESPRESSIF Homepage. www.espressif.com/en/products/socs/esp32. (Accessed May 2022) 5. Phoenix Contact Homepage. https://www.phoenixcontact.com/en-in/products/ controller-axc-f-2152-2404267. (Accessed May 2022) 6. Raspberry Pi Homepage. https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-3model-b. (Accessed April 2022) 7. NXP Semiconductors, MFRC522 Datasheet, Rev. 3.9 (2016) 8. Bosch, BMP180 Datasheet, Rev. 2.5 (2013) 9. Solomon Systech, SSD1306 Advance Information Datasheet, Rev 1.1 (2008) 10. Texas Instruments, ADS1115 Datasheet, Rev. D (2018) 11. TAOS, TCS34725 Datasheet (2018) 12. Sparkfun Homepage. www.sparkfun.com/qwiic. (Accessed May 2022)

Challenges of Hybrid Flexible (HyFlex) Learning on the Example of a University of Applied Sciences Kati Nõuakas1 , Britt Petjärv2(B) , Oksana Labanova3 , Vitali Retšnoi3 , and Anne Uukkivi3 1 Institute of Logistics, TTK University of Applied Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia

[email protected]

2 Centre for Humanities and Economics, TTK University of Applied Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia

[email protected]

3 Centre of Sciences, TTK University of Applied Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia

{Oksana.labanova,vitali.retsnoi,anne.uukkivi}@tktk.ee

Abstract. Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, it became increasingly necessary to rearrange the teaching process at all school levels. Higher education institutions all over the world have been facing the challenge since 2020, to find blended teaching formats and activities to provide higher education without compromising the quality of education, but at the same time mitigating health risks. This article deals with the HyFlex learning model. The aim of this paper is to identify problems that may arise when implementing HyFlex teaching and learning in higher education. Identifying problems also provides an opportunity to offer solutions to these problems and to introduce possible solutions more widely. In order to answer the research question an online survey was conducted in spring 2021 (n = 570). The survey consisted of both closed and open questions. The fact that Estonia was one of those countries, where periods of F2F classes during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic were possible, speaks in favor of conducting the research in Estonia. In conclusion, most of the students (75%) participating in the survey were rather positive, rating the learning experience to be good or even excellent. However, some problems were pointed out too: difficulties in concentrating, decrease of learning motivation/self-discipline, lack of depth in learning, and insufficient self-directed learning skills; followed by communication barriers and problems related to digital competencies and skills for both teachers and students. Based on the above, almost a quarter of the respondents found that the volume of learning increased. Keywords: HyFlex course model · COVID-19 · Teaching in higher education · Learning approach

1 Introduction With the global corona pandemic, it became inevitable to restructure teaching at all levels of school, and changes that would normally have required years needed to be made © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 257–268, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_24

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in weeks (Strielkowski 2020). The problem was approached differently from country to country (Dhawan 2020; Lemay et al. 2021; Pagoto et al. 2021). At the start of the pandemic, countries were more cautious, and often decisions were made to direct universities to full distancing learning (Turnbull et al. 2021). This situation required rapid adaptation from both schools and learners. Today, the distance, blended or hybrid flexible learning are rather a new normality and a part of 4th generation of universities (Strielkowski 2020). TTK University of Applied Sciences (hereinafter TTK UAS) is the largest educational institution providing applied higher education in Estonia. Consistent development of teaching methods and learning infrastructure as well as contribution of developing digital competencies of teaching staff, enabled TTK UAS to reorganise learning rapidly and flexibly in 2020 using both HyFlex, blended and full distance teaching methods. In April 2021 TTK UAS conducted research about students’ satisfaction with the flexible learning experience. The broader aim of the study was to identify the future needs and expectations of learners to organise their studies in the future. The purpose of this article is to identify the problems that may arise from the implementation of flexible learning at a higher education institution and to focus on the research issue: “What are the main problems experienced in flexible learning?”. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that there have not been conducted and published a lot of studies on the experience of flexible learning in higher education institutions during that period. This article contributes to the diversification of this type of research.

2 Background 2.1 Implementation of Flexible Learning in Higher Education The readiness of higher education institutions has been recognised by the Council of the European Union. At the same time the importance to continue improving these solutions is emphasised (Council of the EU 2020). Based on previous research (Lim and Kim 2003; Lim and Morris 2009), it has been found that the quantity and quality of learning suffer when students use only entirely technology-based learning methods. The main reasons are the lack of communication between people, problems with the diversity and usability of new technologies, lack of online learning methodology skills among lecturers, lack of feedback from lecturers, procrastination, and low motivation to read online learning materials. Later research already suggests that during the pandemic, efforts have been made more actively than ever to develop digital pedagogy (Turnbull et al. 2021). As soon as the pandemic showed signs of receding, and a partial or full return to conventional teaching in a physical classroom became possible once again, higher education institutions in different parts of the world have encouraged lecturers to use methodologies involving mixed learning elements - the hybrid flexible course design or HyFlex - to conduct the teaching. HyFlex course design allows students to choose when and how they take part in the tuition (Abdelmalak and Parra 2016). HyFlex has been defined as a course delivery way through which learners can take part in a course

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synchronously while staying in the classroom locally or joining online in real time, asynchronously online or in combination with them (Abdelmalak and Parra 2016). With the aim of preserving terminological clarity, the term HyFlex in the Estonian educational landscape has been restricted to a synchronous approach, and by convention, HyFlex is understood to mean the possibility of organising contact learning, where at the same time some learners are in the physical classroom and some learners are in the virtual room (digipädevus.ee). Previous studies of HyFlex learning have found that the ability of a lecturer to integrate both auditoriums - both students in classrooms and those joining online (Raes et al. 2020) - and the ability to use technology to make the most of the opportunities offered in the online environment are crucial to the success of teaching (Bower et al. 2015; Grant and Cheon 2007; Weitze et al. 2013). Huang et al. (2017), who conducted research among students who participated in HyFlex learning, found that students who participated from the distance often felt excluded from teaching (especially when there were technical glitches), while students who were in the auditorium experienced boredom at a time when a lecturer focused on tackling technical problems. A study by Weitze (2015) found that remote students learned less, were generally more passive, and their attention was distracted from teaching. Remote students have also pointed out that because it is more difficult to interfere with the course of the lecture, it causes them to feel frustrated and sidelined until the sense of association with their school starts to weaken (Weitze et al. 2013). In their study, researchers Wiles and Ball (2013) have also cited the fact that because of the fewer options for a lecturer to control remote students’ learning progress, learning performance requires from remote students implementing more self-discipline. However, the HyFlex course structure is gaining popularity in many higher education institutions (Keiper et al. 2021). 2.2 The Skills Needed to Cope with Learning A self-directed learner can analyze and exert one’s activities even if learning becomes difficult. When planning and regulating learning, the self-directed learner is ready to change the learning strategy if a particular strategy does not work, thereby achieving the desired result (Jõgi and Aus 2015). However, if a student feels uncertain about the learning process and lacks the knowledge or skills to direct his or her own learning, he or she may start avoiding the performance of the task (Baker et al. 2015), which was confirmed in studies that examined students’ coping with blended learning (Lim and Kim 2003; Lim and Morris 2009). Previous research has found that, in addition to learning skills, a sense of association or lack thereof is one of the important factors that can influence student’s learning motivation and, in turn, their performance in academic learning (Mahmud et.al. 2020). Relatedness and wanting to communicate meaningfully with others as well as building secure relationships are some of the basic psychological needs of people, which must be compensated for so that learning can take place (Deci & Ryan 2012). To maintain the motivation for learning, it is therefore very important that the learner feels safe and involved in the environment in which the learning takes place and experiences satisfaction with the work done. A review of the literature reveals that students who lost access or did not participate in synchronous learning, their learning motivation dropped, with a

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high probability of also lowering learning outcomes. Contact and social interaction with fellow learners also decreased (Boardman et al. 2021).

3 Methodology An online survey of four parts was conducted to answer the research question: experience in HyFflex learning (14 questions), satisfaction with conducting HyFlex learning (4 questions), demographic data (3 questions) and attitude towards HyFlex learning (2 questions). The poll consisted of both closed and open- ended questions. Closed-end multiple-choice or scale questions were asked to assess the efficiency of studying in HyFlex learning and satisfaction with conducting the teaching. Open-ended questions identified what factors influenced learning. The poll was compiled using the Google form tool and conducted in spring 2021. The survey was forwarded to all TTK UAS students. The total number of students in 2020/21 was 2,931, of which 570 responded, i.e., the response activity in the total population was 19.45%. The highest number of respondents were amongst the freshmen from distance learning form. Given that freshmen outnumbered the other respondents in particular, this result is also evident at the age distribution, according to which the highest number of respondents remained in the age group below 25 years of age. Although at TTK UAS, there is admission to 19 curricula, the respondents participating in the research were from more curricula, as the respondents were also students whose curricula is still open but for which there will be no more admission. The distribution of respondents across curricula was not surprising, as the most respondents were from curricula with the highest student numbers. The most active survey respondents were students from the first year of distance learning in the Transport and Logistics curriculum. The response was done anonymously, the responses are not linked to specific respondents and the results are therefore presented in an unpersonalised form. Open-ended question answers were analysed using thematic analysis principles, where responses were grouped across the main thematic categories during the analysis. To this end, the following steps were completed: First, the material was read and the text parts describing the aspects of distance learning were identified and assigned with specific codes. The codes were then divided into subject categories and sub-categories. Finally, the final content of subject categories and sub-categories was designed and citations illustrating them were selected. The principles of thematic analysis were used to analyse responses to open-ended questions (Kendall 1990). Quantitative statistical analysis was used to analyse closed questions. The Likert scale was used to consider the assessment of the questions; the survey results were presented in text, drawings, and tables.

4 Results 4.1 Quantitative Analysis of Problems To identify problems related to the implementation of HyFlex learning, learners were asked to assess 14 aspects related to learning (Table 1). The values of the characteristic

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Table 1. Provides answers to the question of experience in HyFlex learning. Problem

Often

Study volume decreases as you learn from distance

6,0%

Study volume increases as you learn from distance

25,6%

Environment is not supportive enough by participating in distance

15,3%

Not in-depth learning

26,7%

Lack of learning skills by learning from distance

16,0%

Decline in self-discipline and motivation by learning from distance

28,1%

Difficulties in concentrating

29,3%

Unable to find required information

11,1%

Problems with the organisation of teaching process

18,8%

Problems related to teacher attitudes

14,0%

Technological problems (quality of audio or Internet connection, etc.)

24,7%

Communication barrier with lecturers and other students

18,4%

Technology-related restrictions

17,2%

Problems related to digital competences (both lecturers and self)

21,9%

of the research question “What are the main problems experienced in HyFlex learning?” have been obtained by summarizing individual points. The survey found that students most often experienced problems in aspects supporting learning: 29.3% of those surveyed (165 out of 570 students) often had trouble in concentrating; 28.1% (160 students) pointed out that they often felt a decline in selfdiscipline and learning motivation, and 26.1% (149 students) felt that learning from distance often remained shallow. The above results are explained and complemented by student responses, where problems related to the organisation of teaching and the selection of methodology were also seen as obstacles to learning (ca 19% replied “often”); about the same number (18.4%) experienced a communication barrier with a lecturer and other learners, and 16% rated their own learning skills as lacking in distance learning. 25.6% perceived an increase in the volume of study by learning from distance, whereas technological problems (e.g., quality of connection, presence of camera) were also highlighted by nearly a quarter of the survey participants (24.7%) and 21.9% found that shortcomings in general digital competence could play a role in the problems encountered in teaching. Analysing the results in terms of how responses were divided between freshmen and senior students, 45.5% of the 165 students who experienced difficulties concentrating frequently were primary freshmen. The same trend can also be followed in responses that addressed the decline in self-discipline and motivation when learning from distance (43% of those who knew it often were freshmen) and the depth of learning (42% of

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those who found that learning remained shallow and didn’t land up enough were 1styear students). Technical supply may also cause problems. Therefore, the conditions and technical possibilities for student participation in flexible learning were also examined. The following diagram (Fig. 1) shows the breakdown of responses that characterises the conditions for respondents to participate in flexible learning. It turns out that there are no major problems arising from the possibility of using technology. Most students have a webcam and their own computer.

Fig. 1. Conditions for participation in flexible learning and use of technology

To put the results of the study in a broader context, students were also asked to assess the benefits of HyFlex learning. Students were able to assess the satisfaction of HyFlex learning on a scale: weak, low, satisfying, good, very good or excellent. A large proportion of students rated the benefits of HyFlex learning as good (36%), very good (28%) or even excellent (11%). The assessment of efficiency is relative and largely cognitive. High estimates of the benefits of HyFlex learning in this context may not mean that students did not experience problems in HyFlex learning. 4.2 Qualitative Content Analysis of Results Four main categories were drawn when analysing the results of the study: competencies, communication, individuality and conducting classes. In the following, we will examine in more detail the problems encountered in the above categories, which prevented or reduced the effectiveness of HyFlex learning. Competences The competence category consisted of 2 sub-categories: learner’s self-regulation skills and teacher’s didactic competence. The students most reflected problems with selfregulation skills in their responses. The students pointed out that they needed more self - discipline and skills when participating in HyFlex learning to direct their own learning so as not to fall victim to multitasking (inter alai time management problems). The aspect of bilateral communication was often highlighted: remote students mentioned that active intervention in teaching while on-screen raises anxiety; however, those

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who attended the classroom felt they needed to contribute more to the course of teaching than those joining from home. In this context, the rise in stress levels and internal anxiety and the decline in motivation were mentioned as negative aspect, when there was a sense of inequality or not coping with learning. Respondent 210: It is harder to concentrate while studying at home, but this option could stay available as one method of learning. Respondent 301: Creates anxiety in communication. Respondent 493: A lot. If no one even has a chance to see if I’m learning and contributing or not, then the sense of responsibility fades more easily, and it’s so much easier to deal with multiple things at once. In addition, it is felt how students connected via the internet assume that those physically in the classroom do much or all the work for them - which creates a sense of exploitation, and therefore I avoid working with students who take part remotely. There are students who also go online and contribute the max, but they are more of an exception. One of the reasons for unequal treatment was the lack of didactic skills of teaching staff to integrate both audiences and direct them to cooperation. Respondent 194: I must admit that most of the lecturers were not prepared morally for remote lectures. Many viewed online students as second category ones and focused more on the students present in the classroom. Communication The importance of communication in the success of teaching was most addressed by learners when answering the survey. There were two subcategories in this category: social communication among learners, and active communication with the lecturer. A fluent exchange of information with a lecturer was seen as a pillar of cooperation, which was overshadowed by some difficult points. On the one hand, it was pointed out that having an internet discussion with a lecturer requires coming out of the comfort zone and so students rather tried to avoid it; on the other hand, it was found that some lecturers do not know or wish to engage distance learners in the same way as those who were physically present in the auditorium. Respondent 61: There have been problems if a lecturer moves out of the reach of the microphone and camera. The biggest drawback in HyFlex learning in my opinion is the communication barrier with fellow students if they are unheard, which makes it difficult to discuss subject matters with one another. I find that distance participants should use both a camera and a microphone and to be visible to others. Respondent 347: Rather remote students do not want to answer the lecturer’s questions. Respondent 396: I see that the lecturers try to give their best, but unfortunately, in some cases a video picture could not replace a physical lecture. Individuality The responses of learners reveal the characteristics of an individual and a group that may have influenced the experience of participating in HyFlex learning or may cause a certain difficulty in becoming involved in such a form of study. The most important indigenous feature is the individual attitude towards HyFlex learning. There could be

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distinguished two different types of learners, with certain similarities in the problems highlighted by them. Students whose principles and perception of HyFlex learning do not interfere with the conditions and possibilities of HyFlex learning or who have had some poor experience of HyFlex learning in the past, could be classified in the first group. Therefore, in any event, they prefer to take part in the teaching in the classroom. Respondent 443: Communication is very important and technical means do not replace it. If I have chosen to be a day student, I want to have F2F communication and education delivered in the classroom. The second group is willing to take part in distance studies only in a short term. The problems referred to mainly relate to the complexity of cooperation and the interfering factors arising from the environment, which cannot be eliminated in many cases when joining from work or from home. Therefore, they prefer learning in the classroom, but are also willing to contribute to the short term if necessary, by learning from distance. Respondent 224: The sense of isolation develops over a period. Temporarily, this is a good solution. Respondent 238: The biggest problem for me is the surroundings, it would be easier for me to be at school with others, there are a lot of distracting factors at home, but I would love the form of HyFlex learning being optional, because sometimes you can’t go to the university, so such as people who live far away, will then still take part in a lecture. Respondent 538: If there is group work on site and one member attends from distance then he inevitably will contribute less. I, personally, wouldn’t be bothered by being away and learning from a distance (I wouldn’t feel emotionally excluded, etc.). It was pointed out that when only one student attends from a distance, the cooperation is the most challenging and causes tension within the group. Conducting Lessons When performing online classes, the absence of specific online class rules was highlighted as a shortcoming. It was also mentioned the lack of a supporting and suitable surroundings for studying (distance learners) or the unstable working quality of the digital tools needed. Outside interference reduced concentration and dedication. Respondent 226: For example, in my case, the camera and microphone just didn’t turn on - or they were either turned off by an admin etc. Respondent 457: I’m not bothered by this, but for me a huge obstacle is personal poor internet access. Unfortunately, this has greatly affected my motivation to study online.

5 Discussion A study of HyFlex learning which was carried out in the spring 2021 at TTK UAS found that a majority of respondents were positive about flexible learning. Only 24 respondents (4.2% of the total) found that they do not want to participate in HyFlex learning in the future.

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Analyzing the students’ comments, it emerged that those in the classroom perceived those in the distance as a distraction, while remote students felt less involved in teaching than those being present in the physical classroom. Those present in the classroom, however, perceived greater responsibility and workload while performing cooperative learning assignments. The above- mentioned may indicate that during the period studied, the digital pedagogical competence of the teaching staff was still uneven and there was a lack of suitable methods for basic HyFlex course model. The non-systematic use of digital pedagogical options (e.g., not requiring remote participants to turn on the camera image) was also highlighted as an obstacle to cooperation, the reasons for which were thought to lie, inter alia, in the modesty of certain lecturers in the overall digital competencies. Aspects related to communication was considered particularly important for the success of HyFlex learning, which also matches the results of previous studies (Lim and Kim 2003; Lim and Morris 2009). In answering open-ended questions, learners addressed the issues referring to poor communication the most, suggesting that remote students were often “forgotten” on screen and had more difficulty actively intervening in teaching, including creating a rise in anxiety and a drop in motivation. It may be noted that both the level of learning and the motivation for learning can decrease if any teaching staff or learner has shortcomings that are not noticeable or compensated for. The study’s finding correlates with the results of previous studies, which state that the efficiency of HyFlex learning depends in many ways on the skills of the lecturer, to actively involve students in teaching both in the classroom and online (Bower et al. 2015). As cooperative learning is one of the pillars of contemporary learning strategies (Estonian education strategy 2021–2035), lecturers need to consider needs and opportunities of both audiences to maintain the quality of teaching, which clearly is more challenging than managing just one auditorium but can be done with the support of the necessary training courses. Based on evidence-based literature in educational psychology, effective and sustainable learning requires self-regulation skills. To this end, it is important to have learning strategies, both cognitive (knowledge acquisition and preservation) and metacognitive (learning process monitoring and guidance) (Pintrich 1999). Participation in HyFlex learning from distance requires from students even more selfdiscipline, suitable conditions for learning and awareness of how to manage their own learning so that learning does not remain shallow. In describing the problems associated with HyFlex learning, students identified several aspects that confirm the above: insufficient learning skills were mentioned most related to self-directed learning (metacognitive strategies for focusing and organising learning), decline in learning motivation and lack of self-regulation skills. The above may be an input as to why more than 25% of respondents felt an increase in the amount of study. Since the results of the study revealed that first year students were the most acutely aware of these barriers to learning, the findings of the study may also be indirectly linked to the relatively high rate of dropout of first year students in TTK UAS. (The average for the year 2021 was 18.4%). The prevalence and distinction of freshmen in study results can also be explained by the fact that entering higher education is often linked to a significant change in life, where

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coping with learning requires greater autonomy, mastery of different learning strategies and social skills that freshmen may still lack. Thus, the modern learning process requires the university to pay particular attention to the teaching of self-regulatory techniques in parallel with the intermediation of learning content (Valentine et al. 2004), especially in a situation where the conditions and opportunities for participation in studies are rapidly and continuously changing for reasons beyond the control of the student (COVID-19 restrictions on the conduct of studies). The problems raised by the HyFlex study were in many ways related to students’ habits and the need to get out of “old habits” and that people are generally skeptical of change and need time to adapt. As a basis for the successful functioning of HyFlex learning, students consider firm rules and constant communication with teachers and fellow learners to maintain a sense of connection and cohesion. Assessing today’s student behavior patterns in 2022, i.e., one year after the study was conducted, it must be noted that many students want to use HyFlex learning or distance learning. At the same time, communication with classmates and focus on learning will decrease. The study participants cited direct communication as an important positive for contact learning, which is difficult under HyFlex learning conditions. It is important to ensure that students can socialise and communicate in HyFlex learning, as this will have a positive impact on both learning vision and learning outcomes (Boardman et al. 2021). Students also need private space to participate in HyFlex learning and focus on quality, but it is more difficult for schools to provide suitable solutions here. Remote students also emphasised the situation of having children at home who are also on distance-learning and then it is more difficult for the student to find a place from which to effectively engage in HyFlex learning. Those are the problems which could not be solved promptly but from its’ side a university can offer flexible learning methods and educational approach which enables students to take part in learning process and activities during out of office hours.

6 Summary Conducting the study was one of the activities that will help TTK UAS organise HyFlex learning more efficiently and share the experience with other higher education institutions. The results of the study have been introduced to the members of TTK UAS as finding solutions to problems can be best done in conjunction with faculties, students, higher education management and support staff - but also, more broadly, by looking at education leaders at the national level. Problems and solutions can be time-changing, and changes in the external environment bring a different dynamic in teaching and learning. Accompanying the changes and learning from the best practices will also help to maintain the continuity of quality higher education in the context of HyFlex learning. TTK UAS has made a lot of efforts since the beginning of the corona pandemic to reduce the problems both students’ and teachers’. For example, a study group on higher education didactics was set up to support lecturers and develop digital competencies, the activities of which have been significantly recognised by the higher education institution and acknowledged by the lecturers. In providing methodological training, attention has been paid to methods that ensure communication and relatedness between class participants and distance participants and cooperation between all parties. Thanks to training,

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lecturers are more willing to take advantage of different digital pedagogical solutions and opportunities, and to implement collaborative learning methods that enable a more consistent learning experience for both students in the classroom and remote students. The rules for participating in online classes, which have been implemented by lecturers and accepted by students, have been developed at TTK UAS. In addition to the tutor system, it is planned to develop a learning aid system to support students, where the sophomore students (buddies) will help to find solutions to the problems encountered in learning and based on their experience, increase the academic self-efficiency of fellow learners. TTK UAS has also planned to launch a prestudy-week program from the new academic year, which focuses mainly on activities that help the learner create a sense of connectedness and organises various workshops to cope with the challenges of studying at the higher education institution. Today, a year after the study, HyFlex learning in the TTK UAS has become a daily part of the way teaching is conducted, and both lecturers and students are increasingly adapting to this type of study. HyFlex learning will be continued at TTK and a lot remains to be improved.

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Lemay, D.J., Bazelais, P., Doleck, T.: Transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comput. Human Behav. Rep. 4, 100130 (2021) Lim, D.H., Kim, H.: Motivation and learner characteristics affecting online learning and learning application (2003) Lim, D.H., Morris, M.L.: Learner and instructional factors influencing learning outcomes within a blended learning environment. Educ. Technol. Soc. 12(4), 282–293 (2009) Mahmud, S.N.D., Husnin, H., Tuan Soh, T.M.: Teaching presence in online gamified education for sustainability learning. Sustainability 12(9), 3801 (2020) Ministry of Education and Research of Estonia Homepage. Education Strategy of Estonia. https:// www.hm.ee/sites/default/files/eesti_haridusvaldkonna_arengukava_2035_seisuga_2020.03. 27.pdf. Accessed 21 Mar 2022 Pagoto, S., et al.: STEM undergraduates’ perspectives of instructor and university responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020. PLoS ONE 16(8), e0256213 (2021) Pintrich, P.R.: The role of motivation in promoting and sustaining self-regulated learning. Int. J. Educ. Res. 31(6), 459–470 (1999) Raes, A., Detienne, L., Windey, I., Depaepe, F.: A systematic literature review on synchronous hybrid learning: gaps identified. Learn. Environ. Res. 23(3), 269–290 (2020). https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s10984-019-09303-z Strielkowski, W.: COVID-19 pandemic and the digital revolution in academia and higher education (2020) Turnbull, D., Chugh, R., Luck, J.: Transitioning to E-Learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: How have Higher Education Institutions responded to the challenge? Educ. Inf. Technol. 26(5), 6401–6419 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10633-w Valentine, J.C., DuBois, D.L., Cooper, H.: The relation between self-beliefs and academic achievement: a meta-analytic review. Educ. Psychol. 39(2), 111–133 (2004) Weitze, C.L., Ørngreen, R., Levinsen, K.: The global classroom video conferencing model and first evaluations. In: Ciussi, I.M., Augier, M. (eds.) Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on ELearning: SKEMA Business School, Sophia Antipolis France, 30–31 October 2013, Bind 2, pp. 503–510. Academic Conferences and Publishing International, Reading (2013) Weitze, C.L.: Pedagogical innovation in teacher teams: an organisational learning design model for continuous competence development. In: Jefferies, I.A., Cubric, M. (eds.) Proceedings of 14th European Conference on e-Learning ECEL-2015, pp. 629–638. Academic, Reading (2015) Wiles, G.L., Ball, T.R.: The converged classroom. Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference: Improving course effectiveness, Atlanta, Georgia (2013). https://peer.asee.org/ 22561

Mentoring Opportunities for Students with Special Needs Tamás Kersánszki(B) , Ildiko Holik, and Dániel Sanda Óbuda University, Bécsi út 96/B, Budapest 1034, Hungary [email protected]

Abstract. In Hungary, special needs students include students with special needs, disadvantaged and multiple disadvantaged students and students undergoing longterm treatment. The number of students requiring special attention is increasing year by year, so they need increased attention and support. In our study, we present exceptional mentoring opportunities for these students. One of the experiences of digital education introduced due to the pandemic was that it was effective for students with the least attention, and the vast majority of disadvantaged students were excluded from education. Returning to attendance education has confronted students, parents, and educators that it is challenging for these students to “return” to education and fill gaps. Mentoring students can help them catch up, increase their knowledge, develop their personalities, and be more successful in school and everyday life. The paper provides an insight into domestic and international research on the above issues and analyzes the peculiarities and possibilities of educating and catching up with students with special needs based on their research and teaching experiences. The paper presents the mentoring programs in Hungary, which contribute to helping and catching up with students who need special attention. Keywords: Students require special attention · Mentoring · Online environment

1 Introduction According to the Hungarian Public Education Act [1], we call a child or student in need of special attention: a) a child or pupil in need of special treatment (a child or pupil with special educational needs; a child or pupil with integration, learning or behavioural difficulties; an exceptionally gifted child or pupil), b) a child or pupil who is disadvantaged and cumulatively disadvantaged by the Child Protection and Guardianship Administration Act; and c) the child or pupil undergoing long-term medical treatment. In Hungary, the number of students requiring special attention increases year by year. Due to their unique situation, these students need increased attention, special treatment and pedagogical support. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 269–280, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_25

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Our paper deals with mentoring students who need special attention. Within this group, it aims to explore support opportunities for disadvantaged students with integration, learning and behavioural difficulties, and students with special educational needs. We consider it essential that students with special treatment receive the opportunities that contribute to developing their knowledge, abilities and skills, and personality development. Therefore, in our paper, we explain the ways of doing so with the help of the analysis of national and own research results, good practices in Hungary and our own university experience.

2 Experience of Digital Education for Students with Special Needs Educating students with special needs require special attention and teacher training. During the pandemic, the problem was that online education was often not effective for students with special needs. They needed more additional help to master the curriculum than their peers. Practical, immediate assistance from educators, parents, and support professionals was significant in this situation. If this help was not provided, the students could not move forward with the others, which also led to their falling behind and dropping out. There has been a wealth of research worldwide on digital agenda education. A Dutch study pointed out that students suffered learning losses during the pandemic due to school closures, which mainly affected disadvantaged families [2]. The analysis of the experience of digital education in Hungary found that “the higher the proportion of students with multiple disadvantages in a school, the lower the proportion of participants in education” [3]. The reasons for the omission were: lack of infrastructure, lack of computer or internet connection or inadequacy, existential problems (e.g. students have to help with household chores regularly at home, supervision of younger siblings). In order to get more students involved in the digital agenda, it was necessary to improve the equipment of students at home. In order to identify the difficulties and challenges caused by the digital agenda, the Collection of Digital Pedagogical Methodological Recommendations [4] could help prevent the drop-out and drop-out of students at particular risk from the digital agenda. Returning to attendance education revealed shortcomings in the acquisition of the curriculum during online education, especially for students with special needs (e.g. disadvantaged students with special educational needs) [5]. This is not only a deterioration of students’ low motivation and attitudes toward learning but also the fact that many have not been involved in online education at all. Many were unable to process the curriculum independently, even if they had the right technical conditions. They could not search for information on their own, much less filter out information from a relevant, reliable source. During the pandemic, isolation and isolation left their mark on everyone, which was also felt in social relations in the post-opening period [6, 7, 8].

3 Research on Mentoring Students with Special Needs Our research addresses the impact of the pandemic on education, out-of-school learners, and opportunities for catching up. In the spring of 2022, we conducted an online

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questionnaire survey among teachers in Hungary to explore the opportunities that help disadvantaged students engage in digital education and learn effectively in this form. Our research questions were: • How do the interviewed teachers evaluate digital education? • Did access to students in digital education be a problem for them? • How can they help students with special needs? A total of 131 teachers completed our questionnaire. 55.8% of the respondents were female, and 44.2% were male (N = 129). 3.9% of them are 30 years of age or younger; 10.1% of them are 31–40 years old; 34.1% are 41–50 years old; 40.3%, or the majority, are in the 51–60 age group; 11.6% were 61 years of age or older (N = 129). 3.1% have been teaching for two years or less; 3.9% of them 3–5 years ago; 14.8% of them 6–10 years ago; 16.4% 11–11 years ago; 14.8% of them have been educating for 16–20 years and the most significant part of the respondents, 46.9% have been educating/training for more than 20 years (N = 128). That is, the majority of respondents have significant pedagogical experience 2.5% of respondents are in primary school 1–4. Class; 15.7% of primary school 5–8. Class; 16.5% in grammar school and 48.9% in vocational training, which is an ideal proportion compared to other institutions; 3.3% teach in higher education (N = 121). 19.1% of respondents are real; 20.6% teach humanities; 13% in a foreign language; 10.7% of skills; 47.3% teach some professional subject (N = 131). 3.3% of them are heads of institutions; 5.8% of them are deputy heads of institutions; 28.1% of them are employees who perform some managerial tasks and also manage the work of others, and 62.8% of them are employees who do not perform managerial tasks (N = 121). Half of the respondents teach in the capital, 12.1% in the county seat, 33.1% in the city and 4.8% in the village (N = 124). In the institution of 25.9% of the responding teachers, the proportion of disadvantaged students is higher than 25% (N = 116). Respondent educators consider the most significant positive of digital education that this form of education develops digital competencies. They found a safe solution to the virus and emphasized its modernity. However, they are not thought to be more attractive to students than attendance education. (Table 1) Based on the Spearman correlation performed on the data, the strongest correlation between the positives is the developmental possibilities of students’ thinking and creativity (r = 0.724, p < 0.01). The biggest negative of digital education is the lack of social connections, thus making participants lonely and the lack of teacher personality about lessons. Another problem is that not all teachers are sufficiently prepared for this task (Table 2). Based on the correlation analysis of the data, the strongest correlation between communication and curriculum understanding is (Spear-Mann correlation, r = 0.789, p < 0.001), that is, if communication is not effective in digital education, it is a problem for students to understand the curriculum. It is thought-provoking that 9.2% of the responding educators could not even reach half of the students regularly during digital and that 4% of them had three-quarters of the students and 6.7% had no quarters of the students at all. Did not reach (Table 3.)

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Table 1. Positives of digital education (evaluation on a 4-point scale: 1 = not at all, 2 = somewhat, 3 = mostly, 4 = completely) Digital education is attractive to me because…

Avarage

Disspersion

N

develops digital competencies

3,59

0,633

78

the safe solution against the virus

3,29

0,927

75

modern

3,11

0,847

79

it is a challenge

3,06

0,938

79

it can also be taught from home

2,8

0,853

79

the daily schedule is more favourable

2,67

1,136

78

students can be educated to collaborate

2,36

0,821

78

so I can be more creative

2,27

0,921

78

varied

2,27

0,902

79

offers a sense of success

2,27

0,817

78

there is an opportunity to unleash students’ creativity

2,25

0,854

79

there is an opportunity to develop students’ thinking

2,23

0,867

78

it better engages students

1,92

0,874

79

There is a significant correlation between the proportion of students who drop out of digital education and the number of disadvantaged students studying in an educational institution (based on the Chi-square test on the data: p = 0.001). Teachers with students. According to the responding teachers, students’ absence is a lack of responsibility and motivation (Fig. 1). Respondent teachers see that students are most in need of help with digital teaching in terms of learning methodology and subject content. (Fig. 2). 32.8% of respondents hold special online sessions for drop-out students, 18.3% help them with regular face-to-face meetings, and 14.5% reach their students by phone. Interestingly, 11.5% of the respondents provided the curriculum to students on paper during the pandemic, thus overcoming technical difficulties (N = 131). There is a significant correlation between the online form of assistance and the gender of the respondents: 69.8% of teachers in online classes are women, and 30.2% are men (Chi-square test, p = 0.024).

4 Opportunities for Mentoring Students One way to overcome disadvantages is to mentor students. In this case, mentoring refers to the relationship between an older, experienced adult and an unrelated, younger person, in which the older person provides ongoing counselling, guidance, encouragement to the younger person to increase their fitness, competence, and personality development [9]. Mentoring can be informal, i.e. natural, or formal, i.e. organized.

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Table 2. Negatives of digital education (evaluation on a 4-point scale: 1 = not at all, 2 = somewhat, 3 = mostly, 4 = completely) Digital education is not attractive to me because…

Avarage

Disspersion

N

lack of social connections

3,58

0,709

79

participants become lonely

3,29

0,770

79

the teacher’s personality is missing from the lessons

3,24

0,950

79

not all teachers are prepared for it

2,99

0,899

79

it imposes additional burdens on parents

2,97

0,917

77

there is no opportunity for personality development

2,95

0,890

79

social inequalities continue to rise

2,94

1,036

78

the evaluation is not realistic

2,92

0,900

77

there is a greater risk of dropping out and falling out

2,87

1,043

77

not available to all students

2,77

0,986

79

opportunities for personalized support are reduced

2,70

0,947

77

it does not distract students

2,59

0,829

78

there is no feedback in class

2,53

0,931

79

communication is not effective

2,51

0,830

79

students do not understand the curriculum

2,34

0,677

79

Table 3. Availability of students in digital education (%) What percentage of students have been achieved regularly in digital education? (N = 76)

What percentage of students were not achieved in any way? (N = 75)

0–25%

3,9

89,3

26–50%

5,3

6,7

51–75%

17,11

0

76–100%

73,7

4,0

Informal mentoring develops spontaneously between a young person and an adult (non-parent), and their relationship allows for a positive influence on personality development. In the various literature on mentoring, this type of relationship can best be defined as an optimal point of reference to which formal mentoring should approach. Within formal mentoring, the following forms are known: – – – –

Traditional mentoring: an adult mentors a young person, Group mentoring: one adult mentors several young people, Team mentoring: several adults mentor one or more young people, Contemporary mentoring: mentoring young people,

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What is the main reason for student dropout? lack of responsibility

28.9

lack of motivation

25.0

lack of internet connection

13.2

family issues

9.2

lack of device

7.9

lack of digital preparedness

6.6

other

2.6

lack of learning space

2.6

lack of parental assistance

2.6

lack of communication

1.3

Fig. 1. Reasons for student dropout (%, N = 76)

In what areas do students need help with digital education? learning methodology issues

31.3

in content issues related to the subject

31.3

in the field of IT (eg use of software, sending of e-mail)

19.8

mental health support

19.1

in relation to the class community in private matters

9.2 6.9

Fig. 2. Student needs in digital education based on teachers’ perceptions (%, N = 131)

– e-mentoring/online mentoring: the mentor and the mentee communicate mainly via the internet [9]. Research has shown that the mentor-mentee relationship plays a central role in student development [10]. In their model for relationship impact research, Rhodes, Spencer, Keller, Liang, and Noam group the beneficial effects of mentoring into three areas: 1. The social situations and recreational activities experienced with the mentor can have a positive effect on the mentee’s emotional well-being and social relationships; 2. Joint learning and intellectually challenging situations and dialogues can help cognitive development and the improvement of mental abilities;

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3. While the role model offered by the mentor can positively influence the development of identity [10]. There is a consensus in the international literature that mentoring, both out-of-school and school-related, can have a positive impact on children and young people in many areas. According to a meta-analysis by DuBois, Holloway, Valentine, and Cooper [11], it is mainly the disadvantaged who can benefit from a mentoring relationship. Mentoring can have a positive effect on, among other things, learning self-image, absenteeism, dropout, social relationships with classmates and teachers, and attitudes toward school [12, 13]; some studies have also registered improvements in learning outcomes [14].Through mentoring, learning motivation among disadvantaged students (also) can be positively influenced in a relatively short period of time. As the needs of students can be highly diverse, a mentor can play several roles: help, tutoring in school studies, career guidance, emotional support, providing social experiences [15]. The international literature on mentoring research distinguishes two main types of mentoring programs according to the location of the activities. Thus, there are community-based, and site-based mentoring, where most of the mentoring activities occur in a specific place or institution (e.g. school, workplace, religious institution) can be tied. In recent years, online mentoring (e-mentoring, electronic mentoring, virtual mentoring) has emerged in addition to traditional mentoring. The mentor supports the mentee using the Internet and info-communication tools. For example, various discussion forums, e-mail and chat rooms, online interfaces and e-learning environments suitable for mentoring provide excellent opportunities for mentoring. The benefits of online mentoring include the fact that many people can get mentoring in this form; it is not tied to place and time, is cost-effective and allows for easy and frequent contact. Challenges of online mentoring include that the relationship is impersonal; the relationship develops more slowly, requires a slower flow of information, and requires appropriate digital literacy [16]. These difficulties appear primarily when compared to classic personal mentoring. Even the opportunity to mentor contact once a week can do a lot to alleviate and eliminate the barriers of online mentoring. The mentee must also have all the conditions required for online mentoring (appropriate tools, internet access, digital competencies, literacy, reading skills). It is important to explore the presence or absence of these, either through a questionnaire or a short interview, before you start joining the online mentoring programme. Attitudes about this form of help and support can also be explored [16]. Unfortunately, opportunities for disadvantaged students are limited, making online mentoring difficult. In Hungary, during the pandemic, many schools borrowed laptops or tablets for students without devices and Internet service providers made it free for those with an existing subscription to introduce digital education, but these opportunities did not solve the problem of students requiring special attention. Existing problems. The tasks of mentors working in an online environment are in many ways the same as classic mentoring, but are also complemented by tasks that the online environment allows. Specific tasks are always determined by the goals and opportunities of mentoring.

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In the following we would like to highlight some mentoring tasks [16]: • Filling in the mentor and mentee profile page, introduction. • Supporting and facilitating contact between the mentees and the mentor. • Motivation of mentees, mostly in the form of supportive communication: o It is worth asking questions (online) at regular intervals, because then the mentees know that they can turn to the mentors with their questions, o It is also worth paying attention to the issues that arise en masse, in connection with which uniform assistance and information can be provided o It is advisable to initially offer mentors some discussion topics in the forums to initiate and encourage communication. It is worth writing a short information about the use of the forum (how it works, who can write on what topic, what should be treated as a topic of discussion and in which cases it is advisable to start a new one). o If the mentees do not suggest a topic for discussion later, it is worthwhile for the mentor to boost the communication in the forum, • Forums should be moderated and mentees indicated at the beginning that inappropriate content will be deleted. • Mentees should be notified or reminded of the deadline for assignments. • If you have a large number of questions about the use of the interface, or if the use of a function or module is unclear, it is useful to create an informative, on-screen booklet about it and publish it electronically on the interface. • If the programme allows, it is advisable to provide live, in-person consultation as an alternative to the mentees, at a pre-arranged time and on an agreed topic. Summarizing the (experiences of) online mentoring: For those who are available online - when, for example, in a pandemic, personal contact is not recommended or allowed - for students, this is a possible way to establish and maintain an organized and regular mentor-mentee relationship. However, the vast majority of disadvantaged students were left out, “lost” from the online education introduced due to the epidemic. Furthermore, the main tool of the educator is his/her personality, with which he/she can have a limited impact on his/her students in the online space, therefore, in order to achieve the set educational goals, regular personal meetings are essential from time to time.

5 Mentoring Programs in Hungary Below are two successful mentoring programs designed to help disadvantaged students. The “Student Mentoring Program” was launched in Hungary at the beginning of the 2007/2008 academic year. It aims to organize a network of mentors consisting of higher education students, mainly teacher candidates, and provide mentoring assistance to disadvantaged and Roma students in primary school [10]. The Student Mentoring Program (since 2011 Motivation Student Mentoring Program) has helped students catch

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up and socially integrate and indirectly supported the professional preparation and social sensitization of teacher candidates [17]. Tasks of mentoring students include. • • • • • • • • •

Regular meetings with mentored students, monitoring their situation; Tutoring; Liaison with parents of mentored students; Organizing joint programs with the majority of students; Thinking together with students and teachers to solve school problems; Development based on individual student needs and requirements; Individual case management; Facilitating the flow of information between the family and the school, mediation; Data collection and administration related to the program.

Much of the mentoring students spent time with students was about learning together. Forms of learning support: 1. After the end of the teaching period, during the daytime, during study room sessions, in individual or group work, 2. During the teaching period, i.e. from specific lessons (especially in the case of skills), the students could be taken out by the teacher candidates - individually or in groups, 3. The teacher candidate sat next to a student during the lesson, so he/she usually helped a single student during the whole lesson, In the framework of dual teaching, the candidate teacher took part in the lesson, where he/she performed the same pedagogical assistant tasks as the teacher. Learning support was most often provided in group work, mainly after the end of teaching time, in which mentor students helped prepare homework and prepare for lessons and supported school work with the help of skills development tasks and activities. In several schools, mentoring also took place during the teaching period, when the mentor students worked individually or in small groups with the students selected from the lesson or took part in the lesson themselves [17]. “Let us teach for Hungary!” (Let’s Teach for Hungary) scholarship program was launched in 2019 with the participation of four universities to connect two relatively distant worlds: students with primary school students living in small settlements, at least half of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Mentors help learners to be able to get the max out of themselves - be it getting a job, graduating, continuing education, sports, the arts and finding a job in the job market. Mentors mentor students in addition to their university studies. He stands by the children as an age-old helper, an “older friend”. During mentoring, students use their life experience and knowledge of their environment and the world to open up the world to mentees and show them areas that seem difficult or inaccessible from the mentees’ life situations. Undergraduate mentors work with their personalities and life experiences and influence students [18]. Within the program, the mentoring content is highly diverse, and mentors enjoy considerable freedom in how to fill mentoring with actual activities. The personality,

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competencies and needs of the institution, the mentor and the mentee are also determinants of the accurate content of mentoring. Emphasis will be placed on activities that provide experiences for students, e.g. shorter trips, gaining experience, during which mentors move them out of their everyday environment and school, from which they typically rarely move out. These are programs for learning, culture, further education, career orientation, and recreation and entertainment. Mentoring activities at the school site are also essential parts of the mentoring activity; the aim is to increase the students’ learning motivation and school effectiveness, give them concrete help in learning, and help them further [19]. The program is open to all students, and the prerequisite is to complete a six-month preparatory course; the main goals are the development and development of “mentoring superpowers” (commitment to the task, ability to work with mentors, tools for children), competence development. In addition to completing the preparatory course, prospective mentors must also attend a ‘camp’ that includes an experience day where you can get to know your later mentors and work together in experiential pedagogy sessions [19]. The mentoring program also proved the positive effect of mentoring on career choice, and further learning could be demonstrated. Mentoring also affects school absenteeism, dropout, students’self-image, communication, and social relationships [10]. The pandemic period also impacted the Teach for Hungary mentoring program. This issue has been addressed in research [20, 21] with structured interviews with 50 mentors. The research examined how the pandemic period affected mentoring, i.e. the transition to an online mentoring program based on a face-to-face meeting, and its pivotal points, advantages and disadvantages. The research results showed that mentors could be divided into different types based on the attitude toward online mentoring: pessimistic, hopeful, clueless/toolless, struggling and optimistic. Pessimists are the ones whose calculations were pulled by remote mentoring and did not expect anything good from online mentoring; they did not even see its benefits. Mentoring and/or incompetent mentors who felt they could not begin the situation without methodological help during the pandemic. Hopers hoped the situation would soon be over; it brought them to life; therefore, they do not even experience mentoring as a failure. Although the transition was difficult for the strugglers, they did not give up, and every effort was made to make mentoring effective online. Optimists found the joy and beauty of online mentoring and were able to take advantage of it. The research highlighted that the digital switchover was a major challenge. The biggest problem was the lack of equipment. However, ementoring was not necessarily a challenge for conscious internet users but rather a modern, innovative method [20, 21].

6 Summary The study looked at mentoring opportunities for students with special needs. Educational experience and international research have also highlighted that digital education has been the least effective for students with special needs. It is mainly disadvantaged students who have dropped out of education. In particular, the return to attendance education has confronted educators, students, and parents with the extreme difficulty of filling gaps for these students.

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Our research has focused on the positives and negatives of digital education, exploring the reasons for students dropping out and their opportunities to catch up. Mentoring students can play a significant role in filling their gaps and making it easier to succeed in school. Several mentoring programs in Hungary contribute to helping and catching up with students who need special attention.

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18. Ádám, A.: Understanding another world: preparing students to mentor children in small settlements. In: Fehér, Á., Mészáros, L. (eds.)...megtisztítja azt, hogy több gyümölcsöt hozzon (Jn 15,2) VIII. Keresztény Neveléstudományi Konferencia, pp. 135–146. Apor Vilmos Katolikus F˝oiskola, Vác (2022) 19. Ádám. A., Juhász, O.: Meetings: preparing students to mentor students in small schools. In: Buda, A., Kiss, E. (eds.) Interdiszciplináris pedagógia a bizonytalanság korában, pp. 33–44. Debreceni Egyetem, Debrecen (2022) 20. Godó, Katalin: Big brother mentoring in the let’s teach for Hungary program. Central Eur. J. Educ. Res. 3(3), 114–141 (2021). https://doi.org/10.37441/cejer/2021/3/3/10158 21. Godó, K.: Mentoring is an offline and online quality in the teach for Hungary mentoring program. Iskolakultúra 11–12, 79–114 (2021)

Conception of a Machine Learning Driven Adaptive Learning Environment Using Three-Model Architecture Sam Toorchi Roodsari(B) , Sandra Schulz, Cornelia Schade, Antonia Stagge, and Bj¨ orn Adelberg Center for Open Digital Innovation and Participation, Dresden, TU, Germany {sam.toorchi roodsari,sandra.schulz,cornelia.schade, antonia.stagge,bjoern.adelberg}@tu-dresden.de

Abstract. Machine learning-based adaptive learning environments adapt in real time to users and their learning state. Information processing of adaptive learning environments can be based on different models. This research work deals with the practical implementation of a threemodel architecture in an AI-based learning environment. It investigates the didactic requirements for every component of the model, the techniques that can be used to design and implement the components in an adaptive learning environment, and the challenges that arise. The tools and didactical concepts to be selected represent the current state of development. The focus of this paper is to demonstrate simple strategies for conceptualizing adaptive learning environments so that future creators of these environments, including media didacticians, educators, and developers of modern educational technologies, can independently design their own adaptive learning environments. Keywords: Machine learning · Adaptive learning environment Artificial intelligence · Intelligent tutoring system

1

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Introduction

With the help of adaptive interventions and adjustments in learning environments it is possible to control and regulate the learning path according to the learner’s capability of fulfilling the learning tasks. Adaptive learning environments can be defined as systems which are able to consider the individuality of the learner [2]. This paper focuses on an adaptive learning environment to adjust the learning path of learners. For the design of these adaptive interventions, it is necessary to use a framework which is able to identify the support needs of learners independently. This research deals with a framework consisting of a three-model architecture. First, the domain model describes how knowledge is organized, structured and interdependent. Besides, there need to be additional models explaining how and which data of the learner is collected (learner model) c The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023  M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 281–288, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_26

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and how didactic interventions are posed (tutorial model) [8]. For the development of an adaptive learning environment all these aspects need to be considered [8]. For this research the three-model architecture serves as a framework for implementing a serious game named E.F.A.1 . This paper presents how the threemodel architecture was used for the development of the adaptive serious game. For this purpose, the specific research question and the theoretical foundation of the work are shown first. After that the conception and implementation of the domain, learner and tutorial model is presented and discussed.

2

Research Questions

The E.F.A. project aims to support the acquisition of competencies in Saxon micro and small enterprises in the social service sector regarding the topic of occupational safety and health (OSH). For this purpose, an adaptive digital serious game was developed. It is intended to enable employees to acquire knowledge about OSH and how to carry out the risk assessment. Within the project, a didactic concept for the serious game including game story, mechanics and learning tasks was designed. The learning content was prepared media-didactically and “translated” into game scenarios. Likewise, an appealing and target group-oriented screen design was created. In parallel, a technical infrastructure was build, into which the screen design as well as content and game scenarios were implemented. One of the main goals of the project was to develop an adaptive learning path control for the game. This had to be designed from a conceptual-didactic as well as from a technical perspective. This paper explores how an adaptive learning path control for a serious game can be conceptualized and developed. In particular, the following questions are addressed: 1. What existing architectures can be used as a baseline for the conception and development of an adaptive learning path control? 2. What machine learning techniques have the potential to be used for adaptive learning path control purposes? 3. What is an appropriate approach for the didactical and technical conception of an adaptive learning path control using the example of a serious game?

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Theoretical Foundation

The fact that teachers adapt their instruction didactically to the requirements of the learners is a basis for successful teaching since centuries. The term adaptive learning environment is used for a wide range of applications in the field of elearning that consider the individuality of learners [2]. Such systems largely consist of an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) [7]. In this process, special attention 1

It is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Free State of Saxony over a period of 3 years (2019–2022).

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is paid to combining knowledge about learners’ prior experience and personality with knowledge about effective learning strategies. The ITS is the heart of an adaptive learning environment. Its task is to provide learning content, teaching strategies as well as mechanisms for the representation of knowledge. An ITS consists of three components: competence module, learner modeling module, and the tutoring module [2]. The competence module evaluates learner performance and selects appropriate and adaptive learning content. The learner modeling module represents the learner’s current acquired knowledge and estimates their perceptions of the learning experience. The tutoring module contains information about the selection of learning material, i. e., the pedagogical decision models [5]. One way to implement an ITS is based in the use of machine learning algorithms. Machine learning-based adaptive learning environments are special learning environments that adapt in real time to the users and their learning state [8]. This is based on algorithms and data. In this context, Artificial Intelligence-based (AI) and intelligent learning environments are also commonly referred to. 3.1

Three-Model Architecture

The information processing of adaptive learning environments can be based on different models. The structure of the three-model architecture of an intelligent tutoring system has been modified in the last ten years according to current requirements due to the integration of AI in adaptive learning environments. Therefore, publications by Sottilare [11], Bagheri [1], and Meier [8] represent the current state of adaptation for this architecture. The three-model architecture contains the following components: Domain Model. It includes the information about the learning content, especially the learning objects, such as example or exercise tasks, and shows their relationships or dependencies with each other [8]. The model contains the knowledge domain of a learning environment and the relationships among it. The knowledge should be organized in smallest units (knowledge objects) to be able to design the learning content adaptively. Learner Model. Each learner has individual characteristics such as current knowledge, learning goals, experiences, interests, personal characteristics, learning styles, learning activities, and learning outcomes. A learner model contains a description of these characteristics in digital form. Its goal is to provide personalized learning materials, exercises, and exams for learners by using the collected data. This task is taken over by the machine learning algorithms in the background of the adaptive learning environment, where these algorithms can create suitable recommendations based on the data from the learner model. Tutorial Model. The tutorial model operates mainly as a pedagogical model that represents the tutoring module of an ITS. It contains rules that allow the

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system to act like a tutor. These rules use the properties from the learner model and domain model to set an appropriate learning path for each learner. This allows aspects such as knowledge diagnostics, strategic functions, etc. to function similarly to a human tutor in traditional teaching [2,5,6]. 3.2

Competence-Based Knowledge Space Theory

One requirement of learning environments is to impart knowledge. For this purpose, learning environments contain learning objects which are related to each other and define a knowledge structure. Thus, a learning object is associated with a “knowledge state” [4]. It refers to a set of knowledge entries that are required to fully understand the learning objects. Falmagne and Doignon (2011) described the Competence-based Knowledge Space Theory (CbKST) [4] and defined a knowledge structure as a pair of (Q, K), while Q is the knowledge domain of the knowledge structure and K a family of subsets of Q, including the domain Q itself and the empty set ∅. “The set Q is called the domain of the knowledge structure (Q, K). The elements of Q are the items [wn ], and the elements of K are the knowledge states, or just the states” [3]. An example of a knowledge structure can be found in Eq. 1. Q = {w1 , w2 , w3 , w4 } K = {∅, {w1 }, {w2 }, {w3 }, {w4 }, {w1 , w3 , w4 }, {w1 , w2 , w3 }, Q}

(1)

The learner interacts with learning objects within the learning environment. These objects are assigned knowledge states from the knowledge structure. The learners have a set of knowledge states contained in the domain Q. 3.3

Machine Learning Techniques for Adaptive Learning Environments

The most common approach for implementing an adaptive learning environment is to use machine learning algorithms. This involves categorizing the data from a user’s learner model and then modifying the behavior of the adaptive environment. Adaptivity can be achieved in several ways. The most common solutions are based on supervised machine learning, such as the use of Bayes‘ networks, decision trees and artificial neural networks. In this process, it is necessary to create a set of collected user data and label them automatically or manually by didacticians and creators of educational resources before training the machine. Hence, the machine is able to make appropriate decisions according to the didactic specifications. Similarly, the machine learning algorithms are able to detect and correlate unknown dependencies within the inputs [9]. The deep learning models in the form of a recommender system can adapt to the environment when the introduction of new user data leads to the detection of new trends and dependencies. Another implementation strategy can be done by unsupervised machine learning algorithms, such as the use of singular value decomposition, clustering algorithms like k-mean or k-nearest neighbor algorithms.

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Initialization of the Learner Model Using Machine Learning

The initialization of a learner model is the process of collecting the initial information about the learners and transferring it to the appropriate methods for the initial classifications of the users in the adaptive environment. This is a crucial step for solving the cold-start problem. The cold-start is a state of machine learning in which the system has no information about the users and is unable to make decisions [10]. Several techniques can be used to initialize the learner model to generate the initial information. In this subsection, two methods for this purpose are introduced, which are classified as relevant by Froeschl [5]: Explicit Questions. The learner model in its cold-start state is often initialized by direct questions to the learner. The challenge is to determine an appropriate number of questions and use them to obtain the optimal amount of information for the learner model. One method for reducing the number of questions is to use adaptive questionnaires. Initialization Tests. Control tests at the beginning of a learning unit will be used to determine information about the expertise of the learners. The initialization tests help to determine the starting parameters for the learner model at the beginning of the learning unit by analyzing the results.

4

Realization

To test the conception of the three-model architecture in an adaptive learning environment, the serious game E.F.A. was chosen, which was tested with the target group under real conditions. 4.1

Conception of the Domain Model

In the first step, the learning content from the serious game was decomposed into the smallest learning units (knowledge objects). For this purpose, the contentrelated and context-related connections were examined and represented as a knowledge domain. The resulting knowledge objects were assigned the abbreviation “q” followed by a corresponding numeration. Next, the affiliation of the knowledge objects to the didactically and pedagogically planned learning objects was defined (in the form of a mini-game e. g. matching task, puzzle, etc.). Thus, a complete domain model consisting of the knowledge objects and learning objects was created. 4.2

Conception of the Learner Model

The learner model of the serious game E.F.A. consists of an assessment system for the individual knowledge objects. Hence, the learner model stores the learner’s learning performance as a value. The value defined here evaluates the

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learning performance per knowledge object, which is represented as a normalized value between zero and one. Number zero describes the lowest performance in the execution of the learning task, and number one describes the fully expected execution of the learning task per knowledge object. The stored performance values in the learner model are the training data for the planned adaptive learning path control. Selected Machine Learning Model. The goal of including machine learning algorithms is to generate predictions for the learners’ learning performance. For this purpose, the k-nearest neighbor algorithm was selected to reduce the effort for labeling the data and to use the learning behavior of past users as a didactic basis. 4.3

Conception of a Tutorial Model

The developed tutorial model describes which adaptive interventions occur when, in which form and at which point in the serious game E.F.A.. After the design of the initially linear gameplay, it was investigated which additional learning elements have to be designed in order to integrate adaptive learning-supporting intervention into the serious game. First, the media didacticians identified relationships among the learning contents based on the created knowledge domain. These relationships describe where content in the learning game builds on each other and where additional learning materials could be used to support learning. In addition, the AI’s predictions about the degree of task completion (performance) provide a basis for deciding whether to present adaptive interventions before a task occur.

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Discussion and Derivation

The use of machine learning can contribute to improve learning environments. Machine learning can not only redefine the way knowledge is delivered, but also enhance the quality of learning on the part of learners. Probably the most important task of machine learning in the educational context is to create tailormade learning opportunities. In creating adaptive learning environments, special focus must be taken on the development process. Here, the didactic conception and the technical design of the machine learning algorithms, must be interlocked. The three-model architecture presented in this paper gives a first indication of how this can be achieved. This research is one of the few publications that applies the three-model architecture considering machine learning models in practice. The results show that this model strongly supports the design and can serve as a guide for future projects. Within the E.F.A. project it was possible to demonstrate the full implementation of the individual components of the model and their interconnection as a use case. It was achieved to realise the three-model architecture and implement the requirements of each model based on existing methodologies, such as the CbKST model.

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The three models and their design should ideally be considered at the beginning of the design of an adaptive learning environment. In the present example, the learning tasks were developed from the existing learning content and prepared didactically accordingly. Subsequently, the knowledge was structured within the framework of the creation and visualization of the domain model and divided into the smallest learning units. For a systematic development of the adaptive learning paths, however, it would have been advantageous to create the domain model before the didactic considerations and the development of the learning tasks. In this way, the knowledge can be broken down into its smallest units and a possible structure containing information on what knowledge is prior for other knowledge can be worked out. Although it was found that the creation of the domain model takes a lot of time, it simplifies the further procedure in the conception phase of other models. Based on this, the learning objects and the associated knowledge objects, which have a high significance for the learner model, can be designed. The main challenge in creating the learner model is to develop an assessment system that translates learner characteristics into machine-readable information. Projecting natural language and classifying data into binary information is one of the difficulties in implementing a learner model. Different machine learning methods can use data from learning models of all users to support the tutorial model using generated predictions. The tutorial model also involves sensitive decisions that should be made by the didacticians and educators as they affect the effectiveness of the adaptive learning environment and the personalization of the learning pathways. The three-model architecture supports and simplifies the implementation of machine learning in an adaptive learning environment. By using the learner model and the resulting data about the learning behavior, it is possible to create a basis for the generation of training data. Hence, a learning environment can be operated without adaptive adjustments for a certain period of time by the target group until a sufficient amount of data is provided for the generation of the predictions with the AI. Subsequently, tutorial decisions can be created depending on the predictions to adapt the learning path and support the learners in their process. Here, the domain model can be used by the AI to detect knowledge gaps or provide appropriate learning content based on learner needs. Despite the sophisticated theoretical models, the developers of adaptive learning environments are facing different challenges. During the implementation of the learner model, it was discovered that defining an interpretable value that represents the learner’s performance on a learning object can be a challenging task. The solution is based on the CbKST model and defines a value q which is assigned to the single knowledge entry w as well as to the knowledge state {w1 , w2 , . . . , wn }. This value q corresponds to the learner’s performance to the respective learning object and is updated accordingly. An update formula ensures that the performance value q satisfies the following criteria: – the value is always between 0 and 1 – if the value is below 0.5, the player’s performance is less than optimal

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– if the value is above 0.5, the player’s performance is optimal – changing a performance value at the beginning of the update cycles of learner model results in a strong increase or decrease over the entire game

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Future Research

An important aspect that was not investigated in this project and that will be part of follow-up research is the selection of appropriate machine learning methods for the learning environment. It will be investigated whether supervised or unsupervised machine learning is a suitable algorithm to generate predictions for the learning performance. Furthermore, we will investigate whether decomposing knowledge into single knowledge objects can support the generation of predictions in an adaptive learning environment. The resulted outcomes can provide significant information on whether CbKST can be a suitable supporting model for creating adaptive learning environments and how refined the set of knowledge objects should be considered for this purpose. This project was realised by using a serious game as an example. It would be interesting to apply the three-model-architecture to other teaching or learning environments and to compare the effectiveness and feasibility with the example here.

References 1. Bagheri, M.M.: Intelligent and Adaptive Tutoring Systems: How to Integrate Learners. Int. J. Educ. 7(2), 1–16 (2015) 2. Brusilovskiy, P.L.: The construction and application of student models in intelligent tutoring systems. J. Comput. Syst. Sci. Int. 32(1), 70–89 (1994) 3. Doignon, J.P., Falmagne, J.C.: Knowledge Spaces and Learning Spaces (2015) 4. Falmagne, J.C., Doignon, J.P.: Learning Spaces. Springer, Berlin (2011). https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01039-2 2 5. Froeschl, C.: User Modeling and User Profiling in Adaptive E-learning Systems. Master’s Thesis, Institute for Information Systems and Computer Media, Graz University of Technology (2005) 6. Han, B.: Student modelling and adaptivity in web-based learning systems. Massey University New Zealand (2001) 7. Lehmann, R.: Lernstile als Grundlage adaptiver Lernsysteme in der Softwareschulung, vol. 54. Waxmann (2010) 8. Meier, C.: KI-basierte, adaptive Lernumgebungen. In: Wilbers, K. (ed.) Handbuch E-Learning, pp. 1–21. Deutscher Wirtschaftsdienst / Luchterhand / Wolters Kluwer, K¨ oln (2019). https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/257285/ 9. Nicholson, C.: A Beginner’s Guide to Neural Networks and Deep Learning (2021). https://wiki.pathmind.com/neural-network 10. Park, J.Y., Joo, S.H., Cornilllie, F., van der Maas, H.L., Van den Noortgate, W.: An explanatory item response theory method for alleviating the cold-start problem in adaptive learning environments. Behav. Res. Methods 51(2), 895–909 (2019) 11. Sottilare, R.A., Graesser, A., Hu, X., Holden, H.: Design recommendations for intelligent tutoring systems: Volume 1-learner modeling, vol. 1. US Army Research Laboratory (2013)

Education 4.0 in the New Normal – Higher Education Goes Agile with E-Portfolio Monica Ionit, a˘ Ciolacu(B)

, Tamara Rachbauer , and Christina Hansen

University of Passau, 94032 Passau, Germany [email protected]

Abstract. In the past two years, the “New Normal” such as blended university, COVID-19 Campus, hybrid everything, remote proctoring, and online networking has increasingly become the norm for Higher Education Institutions, and they will need to adapt accordingly. The importance of reflective learning and teaching is given special significance in numerous empirical findings on professionalization. Therefore, concepts and instruments are needed to make development, qualification, and competencies accessible on the way to becoming a “reflective practitioner” [1]. The article presents the implementation and the use of E-Portfolio as a reflective tool in the existing structure based on a seminar developed and conducted at the University of Passau. Keywords: Education 4.0 · E-Portfolio · Agile mindset · Reflection · Didactic method · Sustainable higher education

1 Motivation The COVID-19 pandemic, with its challenges to designing Higher Education without face-to-face teaching, is acting as an accelerator for the digital transformation and innovation of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). There is a demand for Education 4.0, like Industry 4.0, with an agile mindset, and new didactical and agile methods. As Artificial Intelligence technologies have been able to enter the industry, business, and private life, there is also a huge necessity for Education 4.0 in the New Normal [2, 3, 6]. How can Higher Education, and thus teaching and learning processes, be improved using an agile mindset and reflection? How can reflection be conceived in practiceoriented disciplines? To answer these questions, each phase of the Education 4.0 smart blended learning process [4] is examined to determine the extent of methods that can improve the learning process. The paper aims to show how students’ self-activity, reflective practitioner, and self-regulated learning can be reinforced. Additionally, it also picks up on the highly sought-after value of the teachers’ technical and pedagogical abilities for individual instruction. This paper presents the E-Portfolio based on agile methods and discusses its benefits, requirements, and implications. Section 2 provides an overview of key concepts such as technology trends and the Education 4.0 smart blended learning process. Section 3 deals with E-Portfolio’s concept and requirements and Education 4.0 as part of the smart © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 289–299, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_27

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blended learning process, E-Portfolio architecture, and focuses on implementation at the Department of Educational Science with a focus on Diversity Research and Educational Spaces in Middle Childhood (ESDRESMC), University of Passau. Finally, Sect. 4 summarizes the results and Sect. 5 indicates the future directions of development.

2 Background University staff and students are currently confronted with multiple, complex, and heterogenic demands. This requires the reflection and perspective of being able to view pedagogical action with an objective, but from different perspectives. However, reflection processes must be stimulated by specific teaching and learning formats and corresponding events, and “multi-perspective and cross-phase reflection competencies must be learned in order to be able to develop them further and to enrich them with experiential knowledge” [5]. The term VUCA originated at the United States Army War College in the 1990s and was initially used to describe the multilateral world after the end of the Cold War [9, 10]. VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) describes difficult framework conditions of corporate governance. VUCA is an acronym for: • Volatility: unpredictability is growing due to the increasing speed, scope, and dynamics of change. • Uncertainty: forecasts of topics and developments become uncertain. • Complexity: simple, one-dimensional contexts are overlaid with numerous, even contradictory possibilities for action and variables. • Ambiguity: the vagueness of information, situations, interests, and framework conditions also make it difficult to position oneself 2.1 Technology Trends EDUCAUSE study mentions by 2019 only 38% of institutions had taught blended learning, by August 2020 preferred approach by 87% of institutions, and by 2025, 25% of institutions will leverage hybrid classrooms [2]. Gartner identifies ten top technology and business trends influencing Higher Education like “New normal”, “Scaling the change”, “Student experience”, and “Sustainability” [7, 19]. Tables 1 and 2 illustrate the author’s contribution to Gartner’s approaches to improving Education 4.0 in the “New normal” and in the VUCA World. First, let’s give a few terminologies: New normal: the technology trends are increasingly going to be the norm for institutions and they will need to adapt accordingly. Scaling the change: virtual experiences, clouds, and chatbots are technology trends that many Higher Education Institutions are scaling and continuing to develop based on their use during the COVID-19 crisis [19]. Sustainability in higher education: HEIs are key players in educating future leaders and practitioners who will contribute to the successful implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 [31–33]. HEIs contribute to creating an agile mindset that facilitates the dissemination of SDGs principles, but especially

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to goal 1 (end poverty in all its forms everywhere), goal 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), goal 4 ( quality education), goal 5 (gender equality), goal 8 (decent work and economic growth), goal 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), goal 12 (responsible consumption and production), goal 13 (climate action), goal 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions) and goal 17 (partnerships for the goals) [32]. Student experience: understanding and implementing virtual experiences and crosslife CRM will be critical components to address and improve) a key differentiator. Remote examination: verify the identity of fully online students before an assessment and ensure that they do not cheat. They leverage a number of technologies, biometric and video-based techniques. GDPR conforms protection of user data and privacy. Table 1. Top trends impacting Higher Education in 2021 (adapted from Gartner). New normal

Student experience

Hybrid everything

Virtual experiences (VR/AR) & mobile apps (events, campus tours, graduation, conferences, recruitment)

Online “productification”

Virtual collaboration

Hybrid University

E-Sports and Wearable Devices (well-being, biofeedback, avoiding digital fatigue, mobile health) (SDG3)

Remote access to on-campus PC Labs

Cross-Life Cycle Learn Management System such as University LMS (Moodle, ILIAS) (SDG4)

Remote examination (take-home exams) Reflection (“in-action”, “on-action”) COVID-19 Campus

Alternative credentials (micro-credentials, badges)

2.2 Education 4.0 Smart Blended Learning Process The Education 4.0 smart blended learning process consists of the following phases such as orientation and goal settings; digital preparation; interactive presence; collaboration; follow-up and performance; reflection and motivation, and evaluation & examination. Students shared their (self-) reflection as E-Portfolio (process and product) assignments with the teacher for individual feedback and evaluation [4, 7, 8, 25, 30]. Figure 1 illustrates the Education 4.0 smart blended learning process with 7 phases. Researchers of the Didactical and Technology Centre (DiTech), University of Passau, used Education 4.0 smart blended learning process to increase students’ motivation, curiosity, and self-regulated learning in the GSP 2.3 Seminar “Empirical research - questions and methods”. The Education 4.0 process is enriched with E-Portfolio and agile methods [7, 25]. We can mention student experience with problem-based learning, “reflection on action” (beginning/end of the semester) and “reflection in action” (during the semester), virtual collaboration (reflect together in communities of practices), empathizing, ideation, feedback, iterations, partial results, and prototyping.

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Table 2. Top technology trends impacting Higher Education in 2021 (adapted from Gartner). Scaling the change based on technology

Sustainability

Online everywhere

Climate change (more costs for universities infrastructure buildings and personnel) Cyber Threats

Hybrid classrooms

Support marginalized groups in education (SDG4)

Artificial Intelligence algorithms

Sustainable culture – Universities as an example of SDG implementation (SDG16)

Support research and development (SDG9)

Green campus (SDG13), Gardening on campus (SDG3)

Chatbots (answering routine questions)

Curriculum 4.0

Sensors (Internet of Things) Cloud

Provide information, skills, and motivation for SDV implementation (SDG4) Travel restrictions (quarantine, low budget) Create an environment for developing ideas (SDG8) Involve more actors in Universities decisions (SDG16) Strength the cooperation at all levels (science, technology, politics, and industry) (SDG17)

Fig. 1. Education 4.0 smart blended learning process [4].

2.3 Agile Learning The transfer of agile methods to higher education ideally reflects an agile mindset: • Learning goals analog to future profession requirements, and aligned with the needs of the learner. Thus, demand promotes self-organization and self-direction (“From Content to Context”). • Developed close to the learner’s needs instead of offering ready-made educational measures (“From Delivery to Co-Creation”) • Shows immediate (partial) results, which can be used to check whether benefits are being generated or whether changes need to be made (“From Training to Business Impact”) [7, 25, 27]. Learning processes take place not only in courses, seminars, and web-based training, but also in exchanges with teachers and colleagues, and during the work process itself.

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The “70:20:10 Model” [28] describes a rough quantitative distribution of these learning activities, which is as follows: • 70% of all learning activities take place in the work process, “on the job.“ through daily practice and experience (“Experience”), • 20% in interaction with others, with managers, team members, and colleagues (“Exposure”) • 10% finally through further education and training (“Education”) [22]. 2.4 Reflection in/on Action The importance of reflective and biographical learning and teaching is attributed special significance in numerous empirical findings, concepts, and models of professional research [11–14]. Reflection is described as an attempt to “(re)structure an experience, a problem or existing knowledge or insights. This reflection can take place after an action (reflection on the action) or during the action (reflection in the action)” [23, 34]. It should be kept in mind that an action in the context of learning processes can also be called an action. The “importance of reflection for learning” [35] is given greater importance in the wake of calls for promoting “self-determination in the learning process”. Reflection means “being aware of one’s own learning processes, classifying them in the personal knowledge context and documenting this continuously…, placing the responsibility for learning in the hands of the learners themselves”. Reflection can likewise be seen “as a basic principle for the development of competencies”. The relationship between (also professional) development and reflection becomes clear here. Hansen described “theoretical knowledge… is field-specific interpretive knowledge” [13], an “own professional ethic” and “the ability to bring one’s own professional perspectives to bear on other perspectives - including one’s own, biographical perspectives” as crucial for “pedagogical… Professionalism”. Klika and Schubert describe this challenge as follows: “He or she must be able to recognize and independently assume his or her pedagogical responsibility. This requires knowledge and precisely that independent power of judgment that is to be developed and strengthened with scientific education and training” [29]. Hansen refers to these professionalization processes the systematization according to Schön [1] in “three acts of reflection: “knowing-in-the-action” (tacit knowingin-action), “reflection-in-action” (reflection-in-action, affirmative), and “reflection-onaction”, in which the action-controlling knowledge becomes analyzable, reconstruct able and communicable” [13]. Nevertheless, corresponding approaches in teacher education are largely unevaluated. Concepts and instruments are therefore needed with which the development, qualification, and competencies of students on their way to becoming “reflective teachers” can be made accessible and empirically secured for professionalization processes in teacher education. The E-portfolio is an instrument that is considered particularly suitable for this purpose in the relevant literature. This assertion can also be confirmed by well-documented

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and freely accessible practical examples and project reports from Anglo-American and German-speaking countries [15–19]. In contrast to the paper-based portfolio, the digital version of the portfolio, in particular, offers the great advantage that teachers can access the contents independently of time and place and can thus provide feedback on reflections and work assignments promptly and throughout the semester. This continuous feedback supports students in developing their reflective skills. The “profigraphy model” by Hansen is a corresponding professionalization concept of which E-Portfolio-supported reflection is an integral part [12]. “Profigraphic teacher” education means creating special offers, i.e. teaching and learning formats, events in connection with reflection fields, where prospective teachers experience how they can make their subjective attitudes and interpretations about and the teaching profession usable for everyday pedagogical work with the help of systematic reflection work [18]. 2.5 Reflection in/on Action Using the E-Portfolio At the Department of Education Sciences with a focus on Diversity Research and Educational Spaces in Middle Childhood (ESDRESMC), the University of Passau, the EPortfolio has not only been used since Corona as part of the Education 4.0 smart learning process and its seven phases. Since 2013 at the University of Passau the E-Portfolio has been firmly anchored in the teacher training curriculum. During the seminar, students receive smaller work assignments (“process portfolio”) that are related to the final assignment homework/seminar paper (“product portfolio”). These assignments can range from research tasks to the creation of podcasts or vodcasts, group presentations to short scientific papers, or empirical studies. They serve to determine performance (“workload fulfillment”). For preparing the final assignment homework (“product portfolio”), students use the short work assignments to create a final paper. The process E-portfolio is used by students to document their experiences and findings throughout the semester as well as to reflect on their learning and professionalization process and includes the following components [18, 22]. The beginning (“initial”) reflection is the first reflection that students write in the process E-Portfolio at the beginning of the seminar attended. Here they record their expectations of the content of the seminar. In addition, the students set themselves two or three personal goals to work on during the seminar. With the initial reflection, the students show their current status with regard to the subject, method, personal, social, and reflective as well as self-reflective competence before the seminar they attended. The students describe their biographical stories, specific, implicit, and explicit attitudes, expectations, goals, and abilities. This way enables the lecturers to take the biographical starting position into account in the context of the respective course [12, 18]. In the regular reflections during the semester, the students summarize the essential core topics and central statements of each session in their own words. The subject-specific glossary or index is a reference work in which the students record definitions of the essential primary school pedagogical, factual teaching, and writing acquisition terms that they deal with in the individual pro-seminars. This index must be scientific i.e. it must include literature citations for the definitions (author, publication year, pages, etc.).

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The final reflection is the final or last entry in the process E-Portfolio. Here, the students briefly summarize the subject-related content they have learned in the seminar. Of central importance in this context is the personal point of view on the topics. The students describe the lessons learned and their takeaway from the seminar, which contents were particularly interesting for them, etc. They also show what they have learned from the seminar. In addition, the students show their new status with regard to the subject, method, personal, social, and reflective as well as self-reflective competence, analogous to the opening reflection. Finally, they ask themselves how and by what means they have developed further (presentations, preparation of content, time management with the E-portfolio, coping with work assignments, scientific elaborations, group work in the seminar, preparation, etc.), whether they have achieved the goals they set in the initial reflection or what goals they have set themselves for the new semester. Within the framework of the initial reflection, the regular reflections during the semester as well as the final reflection, the students are continuously encouraged to reflect on the framework for their actions: i.e. to reflect on social, political, pedagogical, professional, and ethical interests and influences with regard to their pedagogical work and to relate them to pedagogical interests as well as to systematically analyze the implementation of the E-Portfolio work assignments [12, 18]. The product E-Portfolio serves the students to carry out a scientific elaboration on a concrete topic that particularly interests them in the context of the seminar. This written work, together with the declaration of independence, is a central component of the “product E-Portfolio”. In addition, practical seminars are also offered at the Department of EDRESMC. In these seminars, students visit innovative schools and work in teams to create a school profile, which is also to be included in the product E-Portfolio. The content of the product E-Portfolio varies depending on the seminar. However, it is crucial that the product part must be scientific [18].

3 Methodology At the EDRESMC Department, University of Passau, the E-Portfolio is integrated into the seminar process via the “Zentripedal Modell” as an integral part of the seminar. Once a week, (virtual) face-to-face sessions alternate with the virtual E-portfolio phases as a blended learning course. In addition, at the beginning of the semester, halfway through the semester, and at the end of the semester, one attendance session is used as an E-Portfolio consultation hour, in which the focus is on working with the E-portfolio, i.e. creating, integrating files, releasing, submitting, etc. During the regular face-to-face sessions, the lecturers convey the contents relevant to the respective seminar or introduce a specific topic. In addition, students always have about 15 min at the beginning of a regular classroom session to ask questions. The E-portfolio phases serve the students to deepen the taught content independently and to work out set tasks at home [26]. The implementation is carried out by means of the “Zentripedal Modell”. The structure and procedure of the seminar follow the five process phases of the E-Portfolio method [24]. Process Phase 1: Goals Explanation, Purpose, and Context: In the first seminar session, the lecturers clarify the seminar process together with the students, i.e. for what

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purpose they are keeping the E-Portfolio, which learning objectives are to be achieved, how many mandatory E-Portfolio assignments (literature research, presentations, scientifically based elaborations with a theory-practice relationship, etc.) are to be carried out, which assessment criteria are to be fulfilled, which media are available for creating and designing, and access rights for the persons allowed to view the E-Portfolio [18, 22, 26]. Process Phases 2 and 3: Collection and Selection of Content, Reflection, and Control of the Learning Process: From the second seminar session onwards, new knowledge content is imparted and the students receive work assignments for deepening the imparted knowledge content with deadlines until the end of the semester. The students actively and self-reflectively deal with the teaching and learning content by writing a reflection in the E-Portfolio phases following an attendance session on any topic, e.g. on the content dealt with or the literature discussed, on their own learning process, on their own professionalism or professionalization (knowledge, competences, skills, skills), on didactics and method-ology or interactions in a seminar attended (e.g. group processes) or on internships and job shadowing, to name but a few [18, 22]. Process Phases 4 and 5: Approval, Presentation of Digital Content, Assessment of Learning Process, and Competence Building: Students share their completed assignments with their lecturers in order to receive constructive feedback with suggestions for improvement. Timely submission deadlines ensure that students maintain their E-portfolio on an ongoing basis. The lecturers keep a list of notes for timely completion and release. Students are able to adjust and revise until the specified E-portfolio submission deadline. The E-Portfolio must be submitted by this date at the latest [18, 22]. The E-Portfolio concept developed at the University of Passau and already integrated into the curriculum can be used independently of the Learn Management System (Moodle, Stud.IP, Ilias) and also relatively independently of the degree program and topic. The prerequisite for this is that the seminar or module ends with a piece of work that can be built up from short components during the semester. For example, a media product such as a podcast or a learning video, an empirical study, or a seminar paper would be ideal. During the semester, the students work on smaller assignments within the framework of the E-Portfolio, such as literature research, defining terms, conducting and evaluating an interview, creating a storyboard, etc., and receive constructive feedback with suggestions for improvement and possibilities for revision. In the end, the students combine all these individual tasks into a final product, evaluated with a grade.

4 Results The agile methods and self-reflection have three essential functions: Firstly, they should help students to rethink everyday professional situations, attitudes, and values. Secondly, it supports students in comparing their plans of action with their experiential values on the action. Ideally, these are learned or already experienced processes of thought and action or already experienced processes of thinking and acting

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in concrete situations but can also be the result of preceding self-reflexive processes. Thirdly, self-reflection structures future thinking and acting based on these processes of analysis and evaluation. It also structures complex problem solving, critical thinking, agile mindset, and online collaboration. Self-reflection thus enables one to continuously check their own thinking and actions for situational appropriateness while also determining whether any changes are necessary. Figure 2 illustrates the Education 4.0 smart blended learning process with EPortfolio based on the Salmon model for online learning, E-activities, and E-moderation [7, 20, 21, 24].

Fig. 2. Education 4.0 smart blended learning process with E-portfolio.

5 Conclusion and Future Work For investigating how effective the developed Agile and E-portfolio methods sustainably promote the self-reflection skills of students, the effectiveness of the developed course needs to be compared with that of a traditional course in an empirical comparative study. The final challenge is to further generalize the derived action instructions and design recommendations for Education 4.0 with agile methods and E-portfolio implementation in the existing structure. Additionally, testing could support generalization in other contexts such as other departments at the University of Passau or at other universities. This would ultimately also make it possible to formulate recommendations for Higher Educational practice and scientific conclusions beyond the situation under study.

References 1. Schön, D.A.: Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for teaching and Learning in the Professions. Jossey-Bass, Hoboken (1987) 2. EDUCAUSE, Horizon Report: Teaching and Learning Edition (2021) 3. Gartner: Top Technology Trends Impacting Higher Education in 2021. https://emtemp. gcom.cloud/ngw/globalassets/en/information-technology/documents/trends/742584-top-tec hnology-trends-impacting-higher-education-in-2021.pdf. Accessed 27 May 2022

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An Analysis of Barriers and Facilitators for the Development of Digital Competencies of Engineering Students Claudia Galarce-Miranda1 , Diego Gormaz-Lobos2(B) , Steffen Kersten3 , and Thomas Köhler1 1 CODIP Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany 2 Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago-Talca-Temuco, Chile

[email protected] 3 Faculty of Education, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Abstract. OECD has established that adults should have the necessary skills and competencies to solve problems and perform complex tasks in “technology-rich environments”. This would mean considering not only basic competencies, but also higher-order skills needed to use information, evaluate information critically, and use it to solve problems. A key concept in the present proposal is related to Digital Competence (hereafter DC). Ferrari et al. Define DC as the: “the set of knowledge, skills, attitudes, abilities, strategies and awareness that is required when using ICT and digital media to perform tasks; solve problems; communicate; manage information; behave in an ethical and responsible way; collaborate; create and share content and knowledge for work, leisure, participation, learning, socializing, empowerment and consumerism” [4]. The general objective of this research was to analyze the characteristics of the DCs of students pursuing engineering and related careers in a private institution of VET, recognizing barriers and facilitators that intervene in the development of DCs. The results obtained are an approximation to DC and the perceptions of Chilean students from a VET institution of it. They allow the authors also, to identify various aspects of the online learning experience in the context of the global pandemic and new needs to be corrected by teachers and university authorities in the design and implementation of OL in VET context. Keywords: Digital competence · Online learning · Engineering students · Chilean VET students

1 Introduction 1.1 The Digital Competence (DC) Framework The OECD [1] established a definition of “key competences” that citizens would require for a successful life and a correct functioning in society in the context of the 21st century, considering the growing demands of society, globalization, changes in the world © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 300–311, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_28

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of work and the constant incorporation of technologies in people’s lives. These key competencies are organized into three major dimensions: (1) Competences for interaction with the environment (use of language, mastery of information and communication technologies, etc.), (2) Competences for interaction in heterogeneous groups (abilities related to tolerance, respect and interculturality among others.), and (3) Autonomy and responsibility (personal responsibility in one’s own development and in relation to the social context) [1]. OECD will later point out in its “Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), that adults should have the necessary skills and competencies to solve problems and perform complex tasks in “technologyrich” environments”. This would mean considering not only basic competencies, but also higher-order skills needed to use information, evaluate information critically, and use it to solve problems [3]. A key concept in the present proposal is related to Digital Competence (hereafter DC). Ferrari et al. Define DC as the [4]: the set of knowledge, skills, attitudes, abilities, strategies and awareness that is required when using ICT and digital media to perform tasks; solve problems; communicate; manage information; behave in an ethical and responsible way; collaborate; create and share content and knowledge for work, leisure, participation, learning, socialising, empowerment and consumerism. The ETS Report of the International ICT Literacy Panel (International ICT Literacy Panel 2002) and the IEA International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) from Fraillon et al. [7] offer one such definition. This proposal is based on the very detailed approach set forth in the DIGCOMP framework, which defines digital competences as the “confident, critical and creative use of ICT to achieve goals related to work, employability, learning, leisure, inclusion and/or participation in society” [5]. The DIGCOMP framework integrates the following five competencies in the context of digitization: (1) information and data literacy (2) communication and collaboration, (3) digital content-creation, (4) safety, and (5) problem solving [5]. The five dimensions of competencies encompass the following definitions [4–7]: information and data literacy is the ability to identify, locate, retrieve, store, organize and analyze digital information. Individuals with this competence have the ability to judge the relevance and purpose of information and data. Communication and collaboration are the ability to share resources through online tools and to use digital tools to link with and collaborate with other people in a digital environment. This competency involves interacting with and participating in communities and networks and requires cross-cultural awareness. Digital content-creation is the creation and editing of new content (from word processing to images and video). Content-creation focuses on creative expression, media output and programming. Dealing with and applying intellectual property rights—for example, working with licenses—is an important aspect of this competence. Safety is of great importance due to its connection with personal, data, and digital identity protection issues, security measures, and the need for safe and sustainable digital technology usage. Finally, problem-solving is the ability to identify digital needs and resources. Informed decisions on the most appropriate digital tools should be made, in accordance with purpose or need. Conceptual and technical problems can be solved through digital

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means. As a result, creative use of technologies and keeping one’s own and other’s competences up to date are important skills in this dimension [5, 7–9]. As can be seen from the above, the breadth of the scope dimensions of the exercise of DC is not only related to the “simple use” of ICTs, but also to interactions (communication skills), information management and selection, as well as ethical and safety aspects, among others. It is also observed that the spaces for the development of CD are not exclusively related to formal learning spaces (such as schools, universities, and VET Institutions), but also to other social spaces (real or virtual), where informal learning also plays an important role [6, 9]. Several previous studies indicate that there are several personal and contextual factors associated with the development of CDs. For example, Kaarakainen et al. [10] present, in a study in Finland, that male students and teachers are more skilled in using ICT resources and tools than female students and teachers. The same situation was evidenced in the “International Computer and Information Literacy Study 2013” (ICILS 2013), where male students and teachers also showed higher ICT self-efficacy than female students and teachers [7]. The ICILS 2013 showed that there is also a relationship between socioeconomic status and students’ ICT acceptance and use: parents’ educational level and cultural capital positively affect ICT literacy [7]. Regarding age ranges and ICT use, Hämäläinen et al. [11] found that young teachers (who had quickly become familiar with the use of ICT in teaching) feel more confident and secure in their abilities with ICT as learning tools than older teachers. In the Chilean context, Claro et al.[12], developed a study with the aim of knowing the ability of teachers (828 active teachers in Chile) to teach students to solve tasks related to management and search for information and communication in digital environments. The results evidence that most teachers were able to present information using digital resources, but a significant group of teachers had difficulties in mastering tasks related to information transformation (presentation of slides with information obtained online) and guiding students in a digital environment (e.g., developing criteria to evaluate online information sources, etc.) Claro et al. [13] evidenced in a study with Chilean school students, that in terms of competencies in the use of ICTs, most students were able to solve tasks related to the use of information as consumers (searching, organizing and managing digital information), but very few students were able to succeed in tasks related to the production of information (developing their own ideas in a digital environment and refining digital information and creating a representation in a digital environment). Undoubtedly, these results should also be correlated to sociodemographic factors and levels of development of other competencies (linguistic, personal, cognitive, etc.) that facilitate (or not) higher levels of mastery of ICT skills. 1.2 The “Technology Acceptance" as a Factor that Limits or Facilitates the Effective Use of ICTs in the Educational Context Several scientific studies point out that the use of ICTs in education is closely linked to the “acceptance in the use of technologies”. The “Technology Acceptance Model” (TAM Model), developed by Davis [14], is a theoretical model (validated in several subsequent works in educational contexts for example by Cabero-Almenara et al.,[15] that allows examining the factors that lead to the acceptance of technologies. From the

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initial formulation of the TAM model, it is inferred that the attitude a person has towards the use of any ICT will be determined by two specific variables: (1) perceived usefulness (Perceived Usefulness) and perceived ease of use (Perceived Ease of Use) [14]. Based on the TAM, Peral-Peral et al. [16] suggest that a person’s acceptance of technology is influenced by the person’s beliefs about the consequences of its use, and thus the TAM could predict the adoption a new technology when the user’s perceptions of the technology’s ease of use and usefulness are positive. Venkatesh et al. [17] proposed a model called the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), taking into account conceptual and experimental similarities among eight major models in the field of information technology acceptance research- The UTAUT exposes types of variables that influence ICT acceptance: (1) variables that directly determine behavioral intention (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence), (2) variables that determine usage behavior (facilitating conditions, and behavioral intention), and (3) moderating variables (age, gender, voluntariness of use, and experience) have been empirically validated. In 2012, Venkatesh et al. [18] developed a complementation to the UTAUT, called UTAUT2. In the UTAUT2 the authors propose new dimensions that influence technological acceptance: (1) performance expectancy (the degree to which using technology will provide benefits to consumers in performing particular activities), (2) effort expectancy (the degree of ease associated with using the technology), (3) social influence (the degree to which consumers perceive that significant others-for example from family or friends-believe they should use a particular technology), (4) facilitating conditions (consumers’ perception of available resources and support), (5) individual differences such as age, gender, and experiences, (6) hedonic motivation (the fun or pleasure derived from using a technology), (7) costs (the value paid for them or others may have a significant impact on consumers’ use of technology), and (8) experience and habits (level of expertise-basic, advanced, etc. - and behaviors automated by familiarity in technology use) [18]. 1.3 Online Learning (OL) and “Emergency Online Learning (EOL)” OL can be defined as an educational experience in which students and teachers are separated in time and space [19]. According to Watts, this interaction can occur synchronously or asynchronously, on a variety of online platforms and with a variety of technological resources. For synchronous interaction, communicative systems are used for live video and audio streaming (with predetermined schedule), while in asynchronous interactions, students and teachers do not have synchronous sessions, and therefore students have access to the course content via the internet at any time and from anywhere [19]. Bozkurt et al.[20] and Hodges et al. [21] caution against confusing OL (didactically designed and well planned with adequate technological infrastructure for online teaching-learning processes), with the rapid and temporary adaptations in platforms and information and communication technologies made to continue educational training in the extraordinary context of the COVID-19 pandemic [20, 21]. Several authors argue that confusing OL (conceived as such for the university training) with online learning in emergency contexts (hereafter EOL), could have a long-term detrimental effect on the former, as both students and faculty (who prior to the pandemic had little or no previous

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experience with OL) are likely to assume that AL is a poor substitute for FFL, thereby also crystallising beliefs about the inferior quality of OL compared to FFL [21, 22]. From the site of the academic staff, different factors influence the use and integration of technologies in learning process (FFL or OL). In 1999, Ertmer presented the “Barrier to technology integration model”, which described factors as ‘barriers’ that hinder how and how much teachers integrate technology at teaching-learning process [18]. According to Ertmer’s model, there are two types of barriers: (1) external barriers to teachers, also called first-order barriers (as institutional culture and vision, access to technology, and professional development opportunities); and (2) internal barriers to teachers, also called second-order barriers (as value beliefs and the ability for integrating technology as teaching-learning) [23]. Another important aspect of the discussion about learning modality (FFL, OL or EOL) is its design and delivery for learners. Thompson and Copeland [24] argue that a redesign of training courses based on EOL (which prioritises students’ accessibility to learning material) will ensure that more disadvantaged students succeed in the “online” context. Equally important is the fact that this redesign can help alleviate students’ anxiety caused by the sudden life changes brought about by this pandemic, including the abrupt shift from FFL to EOL. In this regard, several authors have highlighted the need for educational institutions to prioritise the physical, mental and psychological wellbeing of their students and teachers over the need to teach the compulsory curriculum [20–24]. On the other hand, several researchers agree that there is a strong correlation between participants’ attitudes towards OL and EOL and their socio-economic conditions, highlighting that students in better socio-economic conditions are more satisfied with EOL than their more disadvantaged peers [22, 23]. Specifically, Bozkurt and Sharma [20], evidence a variety of barriers that may impede the effective delivery of online education, including the lack of preparation of most educational institutions’ elements, faculty and students in OL domains. Other factors that negatively affect EOL would be: disparities in access and availability of infrastructure for online learning, possession of the necessary technology (computers, software, etc.) and facilities with internet connectivity [22–25]; the inadequate psychological, social and academic support provided to students [24]; and the unfavorable home environment that makes online education difficult for many students [24]. Certainly, the availability (or unavailability) of one or more of these aspects may have an impact on increasing inequalities in access to education, but it may also negatively influence students’ perceptions of EOL, and may also create barriers and predispositions towards OL in the future [20–24]. 1.4 Related Studies Within the context of digitalization, a major challenge for vocational and cooperative education programs is the rapidity and relative unpredictability of technological and social change. Digitization-related competences, as they will be needed by future students, refer to skill requirements that currently remain completely unknown or are hard to predict [25]. In this context, questions similar to those discussed decades ago in connection with the idea of “key qualifications” arise. Essentially, the current discourse focuses on identifying competencies that make it possible to master future requirements. Research

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and teaching development must focus on discovering identifiable knowledge assets and specific competencies that could, with a certain degree of probability, empower students to adaptively respond to demands that are changing at an ever-increasing speed [26]. Until now, only a few empirical studies on digital competencies in VET and HE have been conducted, so we still know not much about the digital competencies of students in VET institutions. However, some studies were found that are relevant for this research project [26, 27]. Wild y Schulze Heuling conducted a study to determine differences in digital skills between dual university and vocational education students. The results of the study show that (1) dual college students have more advanced skills (DC) than vocational education students, (2) male participants tend to have better scores than female participants in the dimension "problem solving and security", (3) no correlation between DC and social background became apparent, and (4) age was a positive robust significant predictor for the dimensions "security" and "problem-solving".

2 Research Results 2.1 Research Questions, Objectives, Materials and Methods The general objective of this research is to analyze the characteristics of the DCs of students pursuing engineering and related careers in a private institutions of VET, recognizing barriers and facilitators that intervene in the development of DCs. The research question (RQ) derived from the general objective are presented below together with their respective specific objectives (SO): RQ. What are barriers and facilitators for the development of digital competencies of students participating in a VET Institution? The SOs of the research are: To know about the disposition and readiness of the students towards the OL: 1. 2. 3. 4.

To know about the Interaction with others during OL. Characterise the use of different CDs during OL. To characterise the interaction of the students with LMS and ICTs. To know about the resources available of the students for EOL.

To address these objectives, and based on specific literature about OL and EOL, five main categories (Dimensions) were designed from which the questions (items) applied to students were derived (see Table 1). The research is quantitative-descriptive [40]. 2.2 Instrument, Data Collection and Analysis Based on specific literature on DC and OL, the authors of this proposal developed a questionnaire that sought to explore “the perceptions and assessments that engineering students have of the OL process in a Chilean VET Institution”. The instrument is comprised of 24 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale (where 1 applies for “Strongly disagree” and 5 for “Strongly agree”). These items are grouped into 5 dimensions/factors that are derived from the literature presented in Table 1.

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In relation to the reliability of the instrument it can be observed that the Cronbach’s Alpha index for all items (24) is .894 indicating high consistency [41]. Table 1. Statistical reliability analysis for the original factor structure Factors

Cronbach’s alpha

No. of elements

References

F1: Readiness for OL and DC

.83

6

33, 34, 35

F2: Interaction with others during OL

.79

3

34, 36, 37

F3: DCs and Self-management learning skills during OL

.82

8

8, 9, 36, 37

F4: Interaction with LMS and ICTs

.86

3

33, 35, 36

F5: Resources for DCs and OL

.73

4

8, 33, 35

The instrument was applied during the first and second academic semester of 2021, using a questionnaire tool (Google). Students were contacted through an email, inviting them to answer the survey. Each student completed the online questionnaire anonymously, considering ethical aspects according to Chilean social science research criteria. The study material consisted of 324 fully completed questionnaires (327 were answered, but 3 are uncompleted). With the information consolidated, the authors proceeded to analyse students’ perceptions of how they rated various aspects of their OL experience. In order to respond to the five specific research objectives (see above), the responses to each item were analysed using a descriptive analysis that took into account the mean and standard deviation, and also the homogeneity of each item with the corrected item/total correlation. The internal consistency of the full scale and sub-scales was analysed using Cronbach’s alpha. All statistical analysis were carried out with IBM® SPSS software. 2.3 Research Results Table 2 shows the 24 items that make up each of the factors proposed in the instru-ment, the mean and standard deviations, as well as the homogeneity index and the per-centages of responses in degrees of agreement for each of the items: low (1 to 2), medium (3) and high (4 to 5) levels.

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Table 2. Descriptive analysis of the scales Items

x¯

Low 1–2

Med. 3

High 4–5

F1: Readiness for OL and DC Q1

3.13

26.2%

39.7%

34.1%

Q2

2.49

52.4%

23.8%

23.8%

Q4

3.40

24.6%

25.4%

50%

Q5

3.10

32.5%

27%

40.5%

Q19

3.50

15.9%

34.1%

50%

Q20

3.17

29.4%

29.4%

41.3%

F2: Interaction with others during OL Q6

1.94

73%

15.9%

11.1%

Q7

1.95

73.8%

14.3%

11.9%

Q8

2.21

60.3%

25.4%

14.3%

F3: DCs and Self-management learning skills during OL Q3

3.38

16.7%

39.7%

43.7%

Q9

3.78

6.3%

31%

62.7%

Q10

3.93

6.3%

20.6%

73%

Q11

3.94

9.5%

16.7%

73.8%

Q12

3.88

10.3%

16.7%

73%

Q13

3.76

11.1%

27.8%

61.1%

Q14

2.75

45.2%

23.8%

31%

Q15

3.13

29.4%

33.3%

37.3%

F4: Interaction with LMS and ICTs Q16

3.96

8.7%

21.4%

69.8%

Q17

3.84

9.5%

23.8%

66.7%

Q18

3.98

5.6%

21.4%

73%

F5: Resources for OL and DC Q21

4.21

12.7%

13.5%

73.8%

Q22

3.36

27.8%

23%

49.2%

Q23

3.79

17.5%

19%

63.5%

Q24

3.35

28.6%

19%

52.4%

3 Discussion and Conclusions Regarding the “Readiness for OL and DC” [22, 33, 34] of the students, the flexibility of time offered by online learning is perceived as useful (50%) and to a lesser extent the flexibility of space offered by this type of learning (40.5%). They recognise that they

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are proactive in responding to OL tasks (50%) but with less significantly that they feel more responsible for their own learning process in the online format (41.3%), and also that only 23.9% feel motivated to learn online. Specifically with regard to motivation and readiness for OL: 52.4% feel low motivation and 65.9% of the students feel medium and low prepared for OL. In relation to the “Interaction with others during OL” [33–36] all items are rated extremely low. The students considered that OL disturbed the interaction with peers and teachers: as very low and low was valuated with 73% of preferences the item “Online learning facilitates interaction with the teacher”; and “Online learning facilitates interaction with other students” with 73.8% of preferences. Regarding to the “Group activities” during OL, only 14.3% of the students considered that group activities are “easier” thanks to the online learning”. In terms of “DCs and autonomous learning skills during OL” [8, 9, 35, 36], students claim to know their learning style (73%), the times when they are most effective at studying (73.8%), the times when they are most effective at doing university work (73%) and the length of their concentration time (61.1%). Only 43.7% of the students recognise that they have mastered the strategies and resources for autonomous learning. In this dimension, the items with the lowest scores are the statements referring to planning the work and study week online (37.3%) and having a systematic work and study schedule (31%). Regarding the dimension that inquiries into “Interaction with LMS and ICTs” [22, 34, 35], students reported that they know how to use the LMS and learning software (69.8%; only 8.7% considered difficulties with LMS and software), and know how to use ICTs (Video platform, information tools, etc.) for the EOL 66.7% (only 9.5% considered difficulties at this item). The confidence at the use of LMS and ITCs for their learning process was evaluated with high percentages (73%, and 3.98 average points). In respect of “Resources for DCs and OL” [8, 22, 34] the students considered having a computer permanently available for online classes (73.8%) and access to the internet (63.5%). However, when the middle and low percentages are added together, 47.6% of students report difficulties in having a place at home where they can concentrate, and 50.8% do not have all the necessary software for OL. The results obtained are a approximation to barriers and facilitators for the development of DCs and the perceptions of Chilean engineering students from a VET institution of their DCs. They allow us also to identify various aspects of the OL experience in the context of the global pandemic and new needs to be corrected by teachers and university authorities in the design and implementation of OL in VET context.

References 1. OCDE: The Definition and Selection of Key Competencies. Executive Summary – OECD (2005). https://www.oecd.org/pisa/35070367.pdf. Accessed 18 Feb 2022 2. Gormaz-Lobos, D., Galarce-Miranda, C., Hortsch, H., Kersten, S.: Engineering pedagogy in chilean context: some results from the PEDING-project. In: Auer, M.E., Hortsch, H., Sethakul, P. (eds.) ICL 2019. AISC, vol. 1135, pp. 101–114. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10. 1007/978-3-030-40271-6_11

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The Impact of Virtual Learning on Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programmes: A Sri Lankan Experience Neelakshi Chandrasena Premawardhena(B) Department of Modern Languages, University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract. Virtual learning became imperative during the past two years owing to the unexpected impediments faced by the entire world during the Covid-19 pandemic. For most part of this period the study programmes were completed entirely through virtual sessions. Several studies conducted globally during this period bring to light many positive as well as negative aspects of virtual learning. This paper focuses on the impact of virtual learning on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. The Bachelor of Arts in German Studies and Master of Arts in Linguistics are the focus of this study covering two academic years. The aim of this study is to review the positive and negative aspects of virtual learning from a student perspective and to explore the possibility of adapting to a blended approach in the future in a post pandemic era. It is also aimed at finding out what percentage of the courses can be conducted virtually. Data obtained through online questionnaires, feedback at the end of each session, teacher views and student performance were analysed to find out the impact of virtual learning. The analysis of data obtained gave similar results in the positive and negative aspects of virtual learning in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes except for the fact that the undergraduates preferred at least 70% of the sessions to be conducted onsite. Keywords: Digital skills · Foreign language teaching · Learning management systems · Synchronous and asynchronous learning · Virtual classroom

1 Introduction Virtual learning became an integral part of student life at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and transformed the entire education landscape across the globe. The expectations to return to the routine life and reversion of activities from online to onsite were not realised as desired since the effects of the pandemic lasted more than two years. Study programmes that entailed purely face-to-face sessions as well as those containing blended learning modules required a complete change of approach to teaching and learning. Thus, the education system of Sri Lanka was also required to seek for new avenues to adapt to the need of the hour. Apart from the Open University of Sri Lanka, all the © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 312–323, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_29

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other state universities conducted undergraduate programmes onsite prior to the Covid19 pandemic whereas some of the postgraduate programmes were conducted entirely onsite or online or used a blended approach. The issues and challenges faced both by the academic staff as well as the students during the initial stages of the new transition were immense [1]. However, adjustments and new teaching approaches were developed by the academic staff over a period of one academic year, which led to a smoother virtual teaching and learning experience during the second year of the pandemic. This experience was on the one hand unique to each country and on the other hand, there were many universal experiences too. Thus, this paper discusses the impact of virtual learning and lessons learnt during the past two years on both undergraduate and postgraduate study programmes in a Sri Lankan perspective with a view to determine what is sustainable and how the future of the education landscape could be redesigned for the benefit of both the teachers and the students.

2 Purpose This study covers a period of two academic years at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, focusing on the Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in German Studies of four years’ duration, Bachelor of Arts degree programme of three years, and the two-year Master of Arts in Linguistics. Since both undergraduate and postgraduate students underwent this unexpected and sudden transformation of the mode of delivery of their study programmes, this study focuses on both categories to find out whether they adapted to the transition equally well or whether specific challenges were unique to each group. It is also expected to review the positive and negative aspects of virtual learning from a student perspective and to explore the possibility of adapting to a blended approach in the future in a post pandemic era. It is also aimed at finding out what percentage of the courses can be conducted virtually since the student views on this aspect is significant if the mode of delivery is to undergo any changes in the future. Hence, the research question in this study is what the impact of the virtual learning has been for undergraduate and postgraduate students in the light of lessons learnt and how this impact can shape the future of higher education in Sri Lanka. The experience gained during this period is significant and should not be ignored as a one time phenomenon. The lessons learnt would pave way for more effective teaching and learning in the future. Thus, it is envisaged that the analysis of the results of this study and similar research conducted globally would contribute to redesigning the study programmes in the future for the benefit of the students as well as the academic staff. Several studies conducted on virtual teaching and learning highlight the advantages experienced during the last two years. These include country or culture specific experiences and benefits [1, 2] as well as globally recognized advantages [3, 4]. The same applies to the disadvantages, some of which are universal and some unique to individual learning cultures. For instance, Muthuprasad et al. discuss the Indian experience of students’ perception, preference for online education and areas for improvement while Irawan et al. describe the challenges of online learning during the onset of the pandemic in 2020 [4].. Even prior to the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, e-learning was not a novelty to the field of higher education in the world. However, this became the only

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feasible option to provide uninterrupted education [8] due to the many challenges and restrictions caused by Covid-19. Hence, it is pivotal to identify the subtle differences that are unique to each country in order to redesign the study programmes to enhance the quality of education in the future.

3 Approach The study spanning two academic years since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic entails a sample of 406 undergraduate students of German and 360 postgraduate students of MA in Linguistics at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. The undergraduate sample comprised students of German as a Foreign Language in the BA programme of three years’ duration and those following the four year degree programme on BA Honours in German Studies. The MA in Linguistics programme of two years’ duration comprises five modules and a dissertation in either English or Sinhala medium. The majority of the MA students follow the programme in English medium. The undergraduates of the first academic year had a brief period of onsite learning for six weeks at the end of the first semester in 2020 whereas the second academic year consisted entirely of virtual sessions. The students of MA in Linguistics in the 2019/2020 batch had two thirds of their course work conducted onsite, the rest online, and the supervision of their dissertation done remotely. The 2021/2022 batch completed the entire course work online. Thus, the respondents from the survey conducted at the end of the first academic year had the experience of onsite learning, albeit very brief in the case of undergraduates who could assess the merits of both modes of learning. The respondents from the second year of this study were only exposed to virtual learning experience. Data free access has been provided to all registered students and staff of state universities in Sri Lanka to access the Learning Management System and Zoom conferencing tool since the onset of the pandemic. Hayashi et al. (2020) and Weeratunga et al. (2021) mention the merits of free access to university web servers in Sri Lanka during Covid-19 [5, 7]. Albeit it is stated in Hayashi et al. that the free access was provided only until August 2020 [6], this facility is available to date. Thus, accessibility issues due to cost factor could be minimised [1, 2]. For this study qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the sample. The research instruments applied to obtain views on virtual learning experience from undergraduate and postgraduate students during two academic years were online questionnaires and feedback given at the end of each session. Further, undergraduate performance at examinations, group activities and class-based assessments were analysed to find out the impact of virtual learning. The undergraduate programmes are conducted during the week and the postgraduate programmes are held only during the weekends. In this particular MA programme the sessions are held only once a week during the weekend. Thus, the frequency of virtual sessions for the Bachelor students of German were minimum three times a week of two to three hour sessions. Master students were allocated three sessions of two hours’ duration once a week. During both academic years the same questionnaire surveys were conducted online to maintain uniformity. The undergraduate students were given one questionnaire at the end of the of the academic year. The Master students were given one questionnaire at the completion of all five course

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modules. These surveys contained demographic information, Likert scale questions as well as open ended questions to obtain their views clearly and comprehensively. Both student groups answered intermittent opinion polls during the lecture sessions and were given a chance to comment at the completion of each session or course module. Apart from the views expressed by the students, the results of continuous assessments and end of course examinations for undergraduates were analysed to ascertain whether any significant differences were observed when comparing with the previous batches of students who solely went through face-to-face teaching. End of course results except for the grades obtained for the final thesis were considered for the Master students since the course does not contain continuous assessments. The teachers’ perspectives were also obtained through an online survey and interviews to find out their views on virtual teaching for undergraduates and what issues they were challenged with during the transition. The views of the teachers of the MA programme were obtained during discussions on their virtual teaching experiences. 3.1 Questionnaire Survey The anonymous online surveys conducted via Google forms at the end of each academic year from 2020 to 2022 had three sets of questions, firstly on demographic data including the year of study, gender, and age group and secondly Likert scale questions on the virtual learning experience ranging from Strongly agree, Agree, Neither agree or disagree, Disagree and Strongly disagree. The third section entailed three open ended questions common to both undergraduates and postgraduate students to express their views on the advantages and disadvantages of virtual learning experience and any suggestions to improve the sessions in the future. Due to the interactive nature of the sessions conducted for the Bachelor students of German, an additional open-ended question on the skills they acquired during the virtual sessions was included. The questionnaire for undergraduates of German was designed bilingually in English and German in order to enable the students to enhance their written expression in German. The questionnaire for the MA students of both English and Sinhala medium programmes was compiled in English. The respondents had answered all the questions, and the suggestions given by them in the first academic year of this study were given consideration when designing the virtual sessions in the second academic year. The questionnaire for postgraduate students had two additional questions in the first section which included the district of residence and the occupation. The area of residence was significant to determine how much travel time could be saved for what percentage of postgraduate students due to virtual teaching. Furthermore, the teachers of German for Bachelor students were given questionnaires to assess their experience both in the first and the second academic years in order to find out whether their attitudes towards virtual teaching changed in any way after the experience in the first year and to ascertain whether there was any change in the design of the virtual sessions by considering the suggestions made by the students from the first year of the study. The feedback of teachers of Master of Linguistics was obtained through discussions on merits and drawbacks of their virtual teaching experience.

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3.2 Student Performance The student performance of the Bachelor students included the results obtained for all the course units taken during the period of this study and compared with performance during the blended learning approach adopted prior to the pandemic. The most significant observation made here was that the majority of the students scored above 70% which is equivalent to ‘A’ grade carrying a Grade Point Average of 4.0. In the Master of Linguistics programme not only the results of the course units but also the quality of the MA theses submitted showed marked improvement. The students as well as the academic staff were of the view that remote supervision contributed to the higher quality of the thesis [2].

4 Actual Outcomes The analysis of data brought to light many similarities in the student perceptions although their study programmes were of different academic levels. All the undergraduates except for the first year students in the study who amount to around one third of the sample had previous exposure to blended learning since German study programmes comprised synchronous and asynchronous learning from 2015 at the University of Kelaniya [1]. With regard to the postgraduate students 71% had exposure to virtual platforms and meeting tools owing to their professional requirements at the workplace during the pandemic. Using the Learning Management System of the university was a new experience for 98% of the respondents since the German Studies teachers used open source online platforms previously [1] and the postgraduate students got access to Postgraduate LMS only after the onset of the pandemic [2]. 4.1 Demographic Data The majority of the respondents were females in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. While 99% of the undergraduates were below 24 years, the majority of the MA students were below 40 years. The sample of Bachelor students hailed mainly from semi-urban areas of several districts while the MA students represented almost all 25 districts in the country. 4.2 Preferences and Perceptions The Likert scale questions addressed the student perceptions on their learning experience on connectivity, accessibility to devices, clarity of delivery of sessions, use of the LMS, availability of additional material on the LMS, transition from onsite to online mode of delivery, interactive sessions including group activities in breakout rooms for undergraduate students. The MA in Linguistics provided all the students with audio and/or video recordings of every session made available on the LMS. Due to the interactive nature of the undergraduate course units in German recordings were made available only when lecture sessions on specific topics were conducted or when group activities or individual class work were presented. Both groups of students in reported of higher connectivity issues in the survey conducted in the first year of the study which was 34%. The mobile service providers offered

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more advanced packages at reasonable rates towards the latter part of 2020 after identifying the needs of the hour [1, 2]. In the second year of study only 17% undergraduates and 19% of postgraduates mentioned that their participation at virtual sessions was disrupted due to connectivity issues. The student attendance in both years was very high. In the second year of the research the Bachelor students in their first year numbering 95 recorded over 90% attendance continuously. The students of German start at beginner level in their first year. Hence, they strived to join every session as much as possible. The participation of the students of the four year BA Honours in German Studies too recorded over 80% attendance during both academic years. The Master students also followed suit with over 70% regular attendance. The interactive sessions supported by audio-visual material were much appreciated by all the students, and several mentioned that they did not feel their participation was remote. While the students of MA found the uploaded recordings extremely helpful to revise the course content, the Bachelor students requested for regular recordings of the sessions. All the students agreed that the virtual delivery of sessions was the only solution during the pandemic and were grateful for this provision since their studies did not get disrupted. Nevertheless, however rewarding or convenient the virtual mode of delivery was, the majority of the respondents were of the view that a certain percentage of the sessions should be conducted onsite in a post pandemic setting.

Mode of learning - undergraduate perspective

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Fig. 1. Undergraduate perspective of preferred mode of learning

The undergraduate students expressed their interest in hybrid mode of learning in the future over onsite (35%) or virtual learning (6%) as illustrated in Fig. 1. The reasons given by them for this preference was the convenience of virtual learning. Yet, they wished to interact with their peers on campus and participate in extra-curricular activities in addition to their lectures. Thus, the hybrid mode was preferred by 59% of the undergraduates. With their presence on campus during the week, there is ample opportunity to

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engage in sports, visit the library or attend numerous events organized at the university. It is noteworthy that the undergraduates follow a full-time study programme whereas the Master students of taught programmes are present only on one day or both days of the weekend because the majority of the postgraduate students are employed. The MA in Linguistics programme is conducted only on Saturdays and the same schedule was adopted for the virtual sessions too. Regarding the postgraduate students the responses were different. Preference of hybrid or totally virtual mode of delivery was much higher than the responses from the undergraduates as seen in Fig. 2. In contrast to the undergraduates, only 9% of the postgraduate students preferred entirely onsite sessions. 71% opted for the hybrid mode whereas 20% students living at a distance preferred the entire study programme to be conducted online.

Mode of learning - postgraduate perspective

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Fig. 2. Postgraduate perspective of preferred mode of learning

The Fig. 3 illustrates the preference of undergraduates on the weightage of the onsite and virtual sessions if hybrid mode was adopted in the future for delivery of sessions. Citing the need to be on campus more often, use of the library facilities and interaction with peers, the undergraduates suggested 70% of the lecture sessions to be conducted onsite and the rest online if the hybrid mode was to be adopted. With free access to Wi-Fi at university premises as well as student accommodation, the virtual participation will not be a challenge for the students if hybrid model of teaching is implemented in the future. The postgraduate students preferred 75% of the sessions to be conducted online due to various factors they mentioned in the comments including the transport costs and time involved in travelling, professional and personal commitments as well as preference to learn in the comfort of their homes. The majority suggested that the first week of each module and the preparatory seminars for examinations to be conducted onsite. The

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Hybrid mode - undergraduate perspective

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Fig. 3. Undergraduate students’ perspective of hybrid mode of delivery

Hybrid mode - postgraduate perspective

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Fig. 4. Postgraduate students’ perspective of hybrid mode of delivery

preference for virtual mode by postgraduate students in the sample is similar to the findings of Hemdi (2020), Omar et al. (2021), Nsengimana et al. (2021) and Sellahewa et al. (2021) [6, 8–10].

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4.3 Positive Aspects of Virtual Learning Both the undergraduate and the postgraduate students mentioned more advantages than disadvantages of virtual learning. All respondents believed that virtual sessions should be integrated into study programmes in the future as illustrated in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. The majority mentioned the cost effectiveness, saving of time spent on travelling especially for students residing hundreds of kilometers, flexibility to adjust the lecture schedules, availability of LMS with additional material for asynchronous learning, adapting to self-directed learning and participation of the sessions from the comfort of their homes as advantages. The undergraduates appreciated the opportunity to enhance their digital skills in addition to enhancing their linguistic and presentation skills, team spirit and time management skills. Furthermore, disruptions due to student protests or trade union action could be avoided. The undergraduates appreciated the opportunity to speak at the end of every session to summarise the content learnt and give critical feedback. This enhanced their speaking skills in German. Since the participation of MA programme was over 130 on any given day, these students could mainly use the chat facility of Zoom to express their views or pose questions to the teachers. The teachers also mentioned the advantage of the flexibility, monitoring individual students especially the written work and pronunciation of the first year students, saving the environment by using digital worksheets, facility to integrate audio visual material in the classroom which is not always possible due to lack of equipment in the classroom. Furthermore, more content could be covered during the last two academic years in comparison to pre-Covid-19 era due to lack of disruptions [1]. 4.4 Drawbacks of Virtual Learning As the drawbacks many universally present issues were mentioned by the students on psychological, physical and social aspects. Apart from the commonly known connectivity and accessibility issues, feeling of isolation due to lack of contact with peers and the lack of direct monitoring by the teachers were highlighted. The learning traditions of Sri Lanka demand constant monitoring of the teachers to motivate the passive learners. Around 25% of both undergraduate and postgraduate students felt that they required the physical presence of the authoritative figure of the teacher in front of the lecture hall. The undergraduates also mentioned the mental and physical fatigue leading to lack of concentration after following online sessions for five days of the week staring at a computer or mobile screen.

5 Discussion The transition from face-to-face sessions of virtual delivery has been smooth for the majority of the students. Only 5% of undergraduates and 9% of postgraduates reported of technical difficulties in adapting to virtual mode of delivery. Regular accessibility issues experienced due to poor connectivity were reported by 23% of the respondents while over 50% reported of poor signal reception and disruption to participation at the sessions at some point during the academic year. Nevertheless, the recordings of

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the sessions helped the students to overcome this issue. The anxiety or the boredom mentioned by Irawan et al. [4] was not mentioned by any of the undergraduate students since the online sessions were designed for interactive learning and the students played an active role during the entire duration of their lessons. Only 4% of the postgraduate students mentioned that they were distracted during the sessions. The analysis of the qualitative data obtained through teacher and student feedback show that maximum benefits of virtual learning were reaped during the second year of the pandemic. The year 2020 was a year of learning, adapting, and growing together for both the students and the teachers. This experience was rewarding yet did not differ too much from the onsite sessions. However, the latter part of 2020 made both parties become more adventurous and innovative during the sessions, exploring creative ways to interact using breakout rooms, sharing group work and individual presentations. During this period several virtual workshops and guest lectures were conducted by academics from overseas partner universities which were deeply appreciated by the students during their feedback. Vast improvement in speaking skills, cultural competence and IT skills could be observed among the undergraduates who acknowledged this in their responses. They also appreciated that every participant was given attention, a chance to speak and give feedback at the end of a session. The improvement of students’ language competencies was also reflected in the performance at examinations. The year 2021 commenced with more innovative, creative and interactive virtual sessions, extended sessions to include regular group activity, virtual mobility, virtual events, student participation and presenting at many national and international events, thus gaining maximum use of the online learning facility. Digital connectivity facilitated many projects to work across borders. The students found the activities outside regular sessions extremely rewarding. The Master students had less time for group activities as the sessions were limited to two hours and only three sessions per week. However, the opportunity to clarify any doubts during the feedback session was much appreciated by them. All the respondents gave positive feedback on what they learnt, and the experience gained during the virtual sessions. The teachers were of the view that a hybrid mode with a combination of onsite and online sessions will ease many hindrances i.e., lecture hall issues, student attendance and disruptions due to student protests or numerous public holidays. Apart from the common advantages all students mentioned, i.e., saving time, cost effectiveness, learning in the comfort of home environment, they acknowledged their transformation from dependent learners to self-directed learners. All the respondents agreed that virtual learning was the best possible solution under the circumstances and were appreciative of this new mode of delivery instead of indefinite postponement of their course modules. The challenges they all faced were primarily related to internet connectivity and lack of direct contact with the teachers and peers. The major difference between the undergraduate and postgraduate students was that the former preferred to be on campus more frequently than the latter.

6 Conclusions and Recommendations The lessons learnt from the process of virtual learning can be utilised to review the existing study programmes which were solely conducted onsite prior to the pandemic. Given

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the circumstances, virtual learning can entirely replace face-to-face learning successfully as experienced during the past two academic years albeit the respondents prefer a hybrid approach. There are no disruptions due to frequent holidays, strikes, power outages and limited availability of lecture halls. Virtual learning is also time and cost effective with no transport costs and travel time involved as mentioned by the respondents in the questionnaire surveys. Also, the allocated time for the lectures could be fully utilized since there were no delays in students attending the sessions, and if necessary, the sessions could be extended because there was no urgency to vacate the lecture venue once the allocated time was over. The LMS supports uploading of additional material as well as session recordings for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, and the synchronous and asynchronous learning facilitates more student engagement in studies promoting self-directed learning. The data free access to the LMS and the Zoom conference tool which was unique to Sri Lankan higher education sector minimised the financial burden of accessibility on the students. Furthermore, virtual learning discarded several barriers and impediments that existed previously during face-to-face learning i.e., the geographical distances between overseas universities. New vistas opened with numerous opportunities for virtual collaboration with overseas partner universities, participation at guest lectures and workshops conducted by world renowned academics, virtual staff and student mobility as well as organising virtual events connecting participants across the globe. Thus, given a supportive LMS and good accessibility as well as motivated students and staff, virtual learning brings solutions to overcoming several impediments faced during onsite learning. Nevertheless, the lack of personal contact with the teachers and the peers is an aspect that all the respondents mentioned during the feedback survey. This study was limited to a sample of undergraduate and postgraduate students of one university in Sri Lanka. Thus, it is recommended to conduct similar studies at other universities in the country to integrate a blended learning approach in the future if similar results are observed. Judging by the responses of both undergraduate and postgraduate students, a hybrid mode containing virtual and onsite learning is recommended to be integrated into the study programmes in the future since the results of this study and similar research conducted globally show that the advantages of virtual learning outweigh the disadvantages.

References 1. Chandrasena Premawardhena, N.: New dimensions in online teaching and learning of foreign languages: proximity at a distance. In: Auer, M.E., Hortsch, H., Michler, O., Köhler, T. (eds.) ICL 2021. LNNS, vol. 389, pp. 622–633. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978-3-030-93904-5_62 2. Chandrasena Premawardhena, N.: Remote supervision: a boost for graduate students. In: Auer, M.E., Hortsch, H., Michler, O., Köhler, T. (eds.) ICL 2021. LNNS, vol. 389, pp. 634–644. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93904-5_63 3. Muthuprasad, T., Aiswarya, S., Aditya, K.S., Jha, G.K.: Students’ perception and preference for online education in India during COVID -19 pandemic. Soc. Sci. Humanit. Open 3(1) (2021) 4. Irawan, A.W., Dwisona, D., Lestari, M.: Psychological impacts of students on online learning during the pandemic COVID-19, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 53–60 (2021)

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5. Hayashi, R., Garcia, M., Maddawin, A., Hewagamage, K.P.: Online learning in Sri Lanka’s higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. ADB Briefs No. 151 (2020) 6. Hemdi, A.: Exploring the experiences of postgraduate students in the field of special education with remote online teaching amid COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed methods study. J. Educ. Soc. Res. 11(5) (2021) 7. Weerathunga P.R., Samarathunga, W.H.M.S., Rathnayake, H.N., Agampodi, S.B., Nurunnabi, M., Madhunimasha, M.M.S.C.: The COVID-19 pandemic and the acceptance of e-learning among university students: the role of precipitating events. Educ. Sci. 11, 436 (2021) 8. Sellahewa, W.N., Samarasinghe, T.D., Samarasinghe, N.K.: A study of the online learning of postgraduates during Covid -19 pandemic in Sri Lanka: a case study with reference to the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. In: Vavuniya University International Research Symposium, Vavuniya (2021) 9. Omar, H.A., Ali, E.M., Belbase, S.: Graduate students’ experience and academic achievements with online learning during COVID-19 pandemic. Sustainability 13, 13055 (2021) 10. Nsengimana, T., et al.: Online learning during COVID-19 pandemic in Rwanda: experience of postgraduate students on language of instruction, mathematics and science education. Contemp. Math. Sci. Educ. 2(1), ep21009 (2021)

A Cloud Computing Service Framework for Guided Life Long Learning Ranjan Dasgupta(B) NITTTR, Kolkata, India [email protected]

Abstract. This paper deals with the challenges faced by young engineering graduates for lifelong learning which has now become inevitable for them for keeping themselves relevant in professional life. Knowledge and skill requirements are changing very fast and it becomes almost impractical for them to do necessary research individually for identification of proper road map for their career path and accordingly go for lifelong self-learning. This research work proposes a concept of AI based Guided Lifelong Learning (GLLL) in a Cloud Computing Environment hosted by Universities for their respective alumni as an additional support system. This cloud-based support system will provide necessary information related to individual needs using various state of art computing techniques. The crisis faced by the pass outs are studied, service requirements have been identified, and accordingly the cloud service framework for the purpose has been designed. Keywords: Life long learning · Technology enabled learning · Cloud computing · Knowledge production · Washington accord

1 Introduction Lifelong Learning (LLL) is now being considered as part of our life and we need it in our life throughout. It is not only a possibility or a luxury, it is now a necessity – necessity for the seniors (older generation) to cope up with the changing scenario of communication technology, banking and other commercial transactions, transport system etc. For the middle-aged urban people engaged in industry or service business, the changes in business process, production process, marketing techniques etc. force them to learn new ideas and mechanism every day to keep themselves relevant in the competitive world. For the new generation students (X gen) the issue is more and more appropriate and complicated as they need to establish themselves as capable young who can move with the changes, identify possible concentrations of knowledge production areas, learn new ideas and can deliver without loss of quality. Even for the unorganized sector of global south countries like India, changes are inevitable and rapid like that of the international standard and pace. The entire workforce engaged in this sector also need to learn new skills fast and majorly by self-motivation. For urban non-working women (homemakers), the problem is even more serious. They are normally less exposed to changes of the day-to-day outside world. However, when © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 324–336, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_30

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occasionally they need to do work outside the home, the changes cause them great inconvenience. For example, if they need a cab to go from one place to another, unless they are exposed properly to the apps at their mobile, they might need to depend on someone for this small help. Bank operation, credit/debit card usage along with security measures, e-purchase etc. all need to be learnt without much of support and it demands that they should be tech-savvy even for day-to-day operations. Recently besides all other activities, they need to provide parental guidance to their kids for online learning in this COVID 19 pandemic situation. For technical students, the problem has some additional dimensions. The issue is more critical for graduate engineers who work in the frontier of fast changing technology. These bright students are going through some well-designed degree or diploma educational courses, which is supposed to be reasonable for the student to get a decent job. Recent COVID 19 pandemic has made the job market opportunity even more critical if not stagnant or declining. However as capital will flow from one business opportunity to another, it is expected that new job market will be created soon and it will absorb competent and skilled manpower, might be with less number and with new/upgraded skill sets. The skill sets acquired through the existing technology oriented courses offered by the state might be considered obsolete and that of the past. Innovation in emerging areas like Information Technology, Medical Science, Biotechnology, Data Science etc. also caused additional headache for the existing technocrats to keep themselves abreast of. Unfortunately, in some cases, existing knowledge and skill become obsolete before someone can really gain expertise on that. This research work aims to identify the crisis the pass outs are facing and the additional support being required by them. A Cloud Computing Framework is being proposed for providing additional supports to pass out students of each University so that they can take effective advice/course etc. from the Cloud Service Provider (CSP). A brief description of the required support and the service framework are also presented in this work. In Sect. 2 Washington Accord and related issues has been discussed. Section 3 deals with review of some selected works in context of LLL and Cloud Computing. Some common Cloud based applications have been identified in Sect. 4. Crisis faced by young graduates has been discussed in details in Sect. 5 and prospects are discussed in Sect. 6. The need for “Guided LLL” has also been discussed from various perspective in both Sect. 5 and 6. Proposed Cloud Computing Service Framework to overcome the crisis and utilize the prospects has been discussed in Sect. 7 and Sect. 8 deals with the concluding remarks.

2 Washington Accord and Related Issues 2.1 Washington Accord and India Washington Accord – A Quick Overview Washington Accord (WA) [1] is an agreement among different countries (national organizations) that allows external accreditation to the tertiary educational program i.e. engineering program. The signatories periodically review each other’s accredited program to ensure that they are substantially equivalent. A set of engineer graduate attributes has

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been declared in WA, which all the accredited programs are supposed to achieve so that the outcomes are consistent with each other. This will enable the signatories to grant the same recognition, rights and privileges to others as they grant to their own students (mobility among graduates). Washington Accord document clearly declared the “Graduate Attributes” which every accredited program should ensure to achieve. There are 12 such attributes (WA1 to WA12) as mentioned in [1]. National Board of Accreditation (NBA), Program Outcome and India In India, NBA is the authorized autonomous body, which is responsible to work in line with WA. This organization has fine-tuned the GA and published its own Program Outcome (PO) in [3, 4] and [5]. Now if we compare Graduate Attributes (GA) of WA with Program Outcomes (PO) of NBA, it can be concluded very easily that NBA has elaborated on PO (iv) while kept all other attributes unchanged in PO. The Lifelong Learning attribute has also been kept unaltered. If we further analyze all other eleven attributes/outcomes, it can be very clearly concluded that unless the graduates develop the lifelong learning attribute in its true sense, it would be extremely difficult or even impossible for them to sustain all the other eleven attributes gained through the program. Thus the number 12 attribute is not only of very high importance; it can be declared as the backbone of all the other attributes. Present Scenario National Board of Accreditation, India has become the permanent signatory member of the Washington Accord on 13th June 2014 and later renewed the status by another six years [22] as tweeted by honorable minister, MHRD on June 22, 2020.

3 Review Works The review work has been divided into two broad categories – one is on Life Long Learning (LLL) and the other is on Cloud Computing (CC). Both subjects are quite vast and multi-dimensional. Along with the review work, some related discussion will also be included to connect these two diverse topics for dealing with the crisis of the students being addressed in this work. We consider LLL as the opening topic to deal with and discussion will be restricted within the following sub topics that are found to be correlated with the main issue. 3.1 Lifelong Learning – Scenario in Some Developed Countries Several countries in global North had taken policy directions [7] and actively implemented them even more than two or three decades back. Here some “Main elements” of different such countries are presented to get a comprehensive scenario. We take cases for four countries; however, reports related to similar initiatives for some other countries are available in [7]. United States: Spirit of lifelong learning has well been included in the President Clinton’s Ten-point plan for education (1997) document. Program includes strengthening

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of teaching, independent reading by students, parental involvement in early learning, improving adult education and skills, connecting every school and library to the Internet by 2000. United Kingdom: In the policy document The Learning Age: a Renaissance for a New Britain Department of Education and Employment, 1998 learning at all ages has been advocated including formal and informal learning. Learning is seen as a key to prosperity and the foundation of success. Development of the spiritual side, preparing citizens for active participation in all spheres, creating ‘University for Industries’, setting up individual learning accounts etc. are among the major initiatives taken by UK. Japan: “Lifelong Integrated Learning” was introduced in Japan long back in 1960. Japan is one the first countries to express a comprehensive view of lifelong learning. The education system promotes learning by individuals according to their own self-identified needs. Korea: Lifelong learning was valued very high in Korea from philosophical point of view. It was rather considered as a luxury. The economic crisis of late 90s has pushed the government to become instrumental to this effort and they have enacted Lifelong Learning Act for job oriented education, training activities for employed workers and also for the unemployed. Educational reforms increased learning opportunities that are accessible at any time any place and through varied media. From the above four cases and for the other cases as mentioned in [7], it can be easily concluded that need of lifelong learning had been felt by different countries at different time frame under different conditions. But one thing is very common that initiative from authority/state for providing facilities to make the LLL viable is a must. It might be different for different countries but in most cases it was never thrown upon on the individual that it is your problem, you find the solution. Rather it has been considered as a societal problem of the country and initiative has been taken by the authority to help the society as a whole to come out from it. This in turn helped to keep some countries in the growth path also. State has provided mostly infrastructural facilities and individuals should put the extra effort for the learning. This was the scenario for two to three decades back and due to the advent of IT technology, a sea change had happened in the all fronts of technology and significantly influenced the lifelong learning issue also. 3.2 Information Technology and Lifelong Learning Challenge is Everywhere Lifelong learning is itself a challenge. It is a challenge to the individual, challenge to the teachers and training providers and challenge to the society as a whole. From societal point of view, if a significant fraction of existing skilled workforce become obsolete within a few years as they could not cope up with the changing environment due to incapable or insufficient “existing lifelong learning mechanism”, it is not only a huge number of people who will be unemployed and directly sufferer, the existing business or

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the changed business will not also get right manpower at a reasonable cost to exist, operate and develop. Thus the overall growth of the country will be significantly hampered if this sort of unemployment repeats at a regular fashion for their own workforce. Thus people need to be trained, retrained (learn-unlearn-relearn loop) in a quasi-continuous way. For the academicians the challenge is different. They need to design and develop the program (content) and deliver the new or upgraded subject matter to the employed persons and train them much before the new technologies are being deployed. Identifying suitable content, earning mastery on the new topics, reframe it in an appropriate format and providing training to the employed person within their busy schedule at a reasonable cost is a great challenge. For individual, the situation is almost like a dead end. Neither he/she knows what new technology is coming, what is to be learnt, where it is available, what is the cost, what is the prospect etc. etc. After certain number of stray efforts with failure he/she becomes totally frustrated with no clear road map. However, if by chance any of these self-driven attempts becomes successful, he/she overcomes the crisis but next crisis might not be far away. Technology Enabled Learning (TEL) & Technology Enabled Lifelong Learning (TELLL) In spite of various challenges discussed above, Technology Enabled Learning (TEL) or Technology Enabled Lifelong Learning (TELLL) have some inherent characteristics which are being considered as advantages in comparison with the classical classroom learning. Depending upon the situation, even if some LLL can be done in conventional classroom session, most of them are preferably be done through TELLL. However regular course work are normally done in conventional classroom session though during this recent COVID 19 pandemic, TEL has become the only safe option for conducting lectures so that regular teaching-learning system are not getting halted, some equivalent system can function. People all over the world including premium Universities have used and some are still using various video conferencing software like ZOOM, Google meet, WebEx etc. Seminar, conferences, meetings etc. are now being conducted through Internet. 3.3 Components of E-Learning Technology Total “E-learning” solution has three major components – Content, Services and (background) Technology. The background technology primarily delivers (providing services) the content to the learners. Depending on the software package lots of other services are also provided to the regular learners and other users like content creators, evaluators, managers etc. Contents in any E-learning package are responsible for knowledge and skill upgradation. Here as learning content we use specially designed video, reading materials, animations, cinema, music and audio clippings, simulations, reports, research articles, social media material etc. Any material can be considered as a supporting material once it can to stored and retrieved by the existing technology. All these support material help in making the learning experience better and exciting so that the learning become more

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and more effective. For skill transfer interactive simulation videos, virtual laboratory, suitable animations can be utilized. However, in most cases, blended/hybrid learning mechanism are still considered as a better choice by the academicians rather than only E-learning. Services provided by any E-learning package normally include storage (uploading by the authors) and delivery (downloading by the learner) of e-content, transferring existing materials to the online format, customization of e-learning platform and delivery mechanism, consulting services to the prospective learners, marketing and promotional services, evaluation mechanism, plagiarism check and many more. As more and more e-learning packages are coming in the competitive market, both domain and quality of services are improving very rapidly. In the technology domain, we need high bandwidth Internet connection for the servers and regular bandwidth connection for the users. Besides these, large storage for videos (videos take more storage space), a good set of servers including streaming servers with appropriate performance capacity, some open source or proprietary Learning Management System (LMS) software, strong security system with firewall etc. will be required. 3.4 Cloud Computing Overview Delivering applications, services, provisioning computing, networking and storage resources are some of the significant features of cloud computing. Most of the underlying tools and technologies used in cloud computing are not new, rather they exist for quite a significant period of time and reasonably matured and dependable. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines [21] it as – “Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction”. Lots of research works [15–17] and [18] have been done in the area of cloud computing and several resource materials including text books are available. Here, we are not providing any consolidated account of present cloud computing status, rather try to identify some of the major issues which are relevant for our purpose. Readers may refer any standard text books like [21] or different service provider’s website [21] for more details. In a nutshell, we can depict the present cloud computing scenario in context of our issue like this – • Systems with high computing capacity can be deployed by a service provider (here University) which can be upgraded very conveniently • Arrangement for huge data storage can be done by using suitable storage techniques • Complex and time consuming computations can be done within a pre-defined time line in a cloud environment by provisioning additional resources on the fly • Applications involving huge dataset (Big data) can also be handled in an efficient manner by using various Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques • Several cloud service providers [21] are already existing and various such reliable services are available at competitive rates

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4 Applications in Cloud Computing Environment With this short overview, we now discuss on some of the applications presented in [21] to understand the applicability of cloud based services being provided by different service providers. This will also help in identifying the scale of such applications in terms of real time support, volume of computation as well as vastness of applications etc. Cloud Computing for Healthcare Services – This system provides services to access patient data, shares data to other hospitals, accesses patients records in an integrated way, helps reconciliation, admission, discharge payment, insurance etc. Cloud Computing for Energy System – This system, being a real time system, collects data from different sensors applied in various power system components like smart grids, power plants, wind turbine etc., monitors conditions and predicts possible failure, supports phasor measurement etc. by using CloudView [21]. It processes very large real time data. Providing various support activities needed for lifelong learning to the pass out graduates of any University for next few decades is a huge task and it needs an easily expandable platform to store present massive data along with provision for accommodating various new information generated in industry and academia for coming decades. Student’s data are grown very fast; research data related to the upcoming products and services are very high and complex in nature. These various types of data generated in real world are naturally not all well-structured. A significant portion would be semistructured while we might have to deal with some unstructured data also. For processing of these huge data, many metadata will also to be created. A suitable cloud framework including the capability of handing various types of data with intelligent processing techniques (AI based) will only be able to handle such a gigantic activity.

5 Crisis Faced by Young Graduates The issues related to lifelong learning for young engineering graduates in global south and those in global north are neither similar nor comparable particularly when we consider availability of resources. Pass outs of Latin America, Asia, Africa in most cases are not exposed in current technology as the Universities/Colleges from which they graduate hardly have modern laboratories or research centers supported by leading industry neither their faculty are well exposed in current technological trends. Moreover, the teaching-learning process in most cases follow the old traditional approach instead of using modern tools, techniques, software etc. Some of the Institutes under Washington Accord (WA) at different countries are trying hard to become competitive; however, pass outs are in general lagging far behind than that of global north. Political instability, disarticulated economics, and dependence of earning of foreign exchange on primary product export - all these add up troubles for the students to become competitive in global market. However, as some of them have very high aspiration, strong motivation, family resources and outstanding skillset, they somehow excel and prosper. The scenario is visible when anyone looks any standard International ranking systems of universities

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where most of the places in top 100 are occupied by west Europe and North America Universities. The need of lifelong learning has been mentioned by several academicians in several occasions for more than last 40 years [11–14, 19] and [20]. However, if we go a bit deep into this issue, we may conclude that eventually the society largely is trying to transfer the responsibility on the students to keep themselves abreast of knowledge and skill on their own. It has also been observed that quite a good number of young graduates find themselves outdated within a few years and they reach to a stage of “knowledge stagnation” status and are chucked off from premium companies under several lame excuses. Next generation young pass outs are taking their places at relatively low salaries and the seniors have to seek jobs in some other organizations under some uncomfortable terms. Due to very fast modernization, this scenario is repeated and slowly but steadily it snowballing to a significant national loss. Thus, besides the infrastructural support, some active and intelligent support system for meaningful LLL is required to match with current need. Initial survey on the crisis for the engineering pass out students reveals two major areas of concern – the language and the direction of study. Most of the materials available in the digital world are expressed in a typical “English” (monolingual) platform, which are not easy to understand for the non-native English-speaking world. The second issue is even more complex. Four-year Graduate Engineering course normally provide a foundation on the core discipline like Civil, Mechanical etc. but the products and services available need various specialized knowledge and skill which are mostly multidisciplinary as well as require further in depth study in some specialized area. As these further study are very much specialized and sometime expensive and time-consuming, the students need a clear understanding of the scope of that specialization. Improper selection, if any, may cause significant loss of time, money and overall motivation. In this work, a concept of “Guided Life Long Learning” (GLLL) by the respective Universities is being proposed for current pass outs. Knowledge and skill requirements are expanding exponentially and it is not viable for an individual to do research to identify for his or her own career path through this exponentially expanding, temporarily uncertain, geographically non-uniform and intentionally inflated environment. Universities should come forward and extend their services to their alumni, may be lifelong, which was not required a few decades back.

6 Prospects to the Young Graduates New prospects are looming around as life span of majority of IT based products and services are short and being replaced by new products and services. In some cases, the new products are just with some add-ons on the existing products and designed in such a way that the earlier products are considered out dated. In case of software, new versions are coming with added features, which are in most cases reasonably critical and essential in view of additional applicability and eventually become imperative for the users to switch over (or upgrade) to the new versions. In addition, the new versions in most cases, need more computing and storage resources and very soon the existing hardware were found unsuitable and were replaced. This periodic upgradation of both

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hardware and software are seen from early nineties to present period (2022). In the case of Personal Computer (PC) we have seen from Intel 4.77 MHz 8088 microprocessor, 640 KB RAM, 20 MB hard disk, MSDOS operating system to Intel i7 10th generation processor, 16 GB RAM, 500 TB hard disk, and Windows 11 operating system – a many fold upgradations of both hardware and operating system in last thirty years. Besides this, similar quantum jump has also been observed in scopes of application software, android based mobile phone, networking resource (Internet). Researches in the areas of Machine Learning, Data analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things etc. are augmenting both the products and services very fast and as a result new job scopes are also generated. However, only agile and updated graduates can grab this opportunity and thus forced them to keep updated in spite of their routine engagement in service with older technology and with very little scope. For non-IT professionals, due to vast applicability of software centric products and services, the challenges and scopes are eventually immense as there is a paradigm shift in the areas like mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering etc. Similar situations are visible in almost every areas of business like architecture and town planning, product design and development, sports and games, legal and administrative systems, day-to-day transport, and shopping, home delivery – where not. Naturally new and new prospects are generated which are of different nature as well as with different life span. In today’s modern capitalist society, perception of hyper consumerism i.e. propensity to the consumption of goods and services for mostly non-functional purposes also generates some additional opportunity which was not that way visible a few decades back. Attaching wellbeing and happiness to on obtaining consumer goods and services along with material possessions causes significant impact to produce as well as to make people consume those goods as those goods help them in identifying the identity. This is now one of the significant drivers of economic growth and causes enormous opportunities in job market even though it is sometime become extremely difficult to predict the growth and its sustenance period. Besides this hyper consumerism, sometime some unusual growth in market happens in some sector which was also not predictable beforehand. For example, during the COVID 19 pandemic period, the market in IT instruments like laptop, mobile phone, internet connection etc. have seen an unprecedented upswing along with pharmaceutical products related to disinfection (including facemask) process. Similarly, concentration of knowledge production, hyper reality, large gentrification projects at city extensions etc. and prospects (in terms of scope of financial layout, need of man power, use of modern technology, duration of the opportunity) generated due to these events are not easy to comprehend by the pass out and in service engineering graduates with their individual exposure. They need active and intelligent support from some competent authority to identify the short term, midterm and long term prospects as well as risks involved in pursuing career in different such upcoming areas. Inflated data as well as analysis from various business houses may deceive them and Universities coupled with industry should come up with proper and honest collection and analysis of data to support their alumni throughout their professional life. Cloud based solution as proposed in this research work is one such option to offer “Guided Lifelong Learning”.

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7 Proposed Cloud Computing Service Framework 7.1 Unprecedented Fast Technological Growth If we consider the fast and unprecedented technological growth for last three or four decades, particularly in the areas of electronics, software industry, internetworking or ICT as a whole we can easily conclude that these changes are very thick and fast. As a result, it has opened up endless but short-lived opportunities for the new generations to do jobs as well as business (start-ups). Opportunity for gig activities is increasing and scope of permanent jobs as people have enjoyed a few decades back are diminishing very sharply. It becomes extremely difficult for millions of young graduates to identify the real prospect of the opportunity matching with his/her background, cost of grabbing the opportunity and possible return of investment (both in terms of money and in terms of time). What is to be learnt, who will provide the lessons, how much effective will that be – several such unanswered questions are naturally generated. Moreover, as the span of some of the new technologies are so short (only a few years even) acquiring expertise is also very challenging. Only a few can grow against all such odds on their own by their sheer brilliance and habit of lifelong learning. On the other hand, if appropriate support is provided, more can survive. The proposed cloud based framework is designed to provide such support and it is expected that leading Universities would come out with such provisions for their alumni and pass outs would be converted to lifelong students. 7.2 Proposed Service Framework The proposed cloud service framework has considered a lot of aspects as presented in Sects. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 7.1 (but not limited to). Here a brief description of the framework along with possible services has been presented, which may further be developed as the cloud service system has inherent scalability for rapid expansion. A brief description of the proposed Cloud Service Provider (CSP) is given below: The CSP of the University Should be a Repository of – a) Student details- all academic records including individual learning accounts – Data for students at the time of admission are usually entered into the system. Progress data are also being fed into the system for evaluation purposes. Once the students get a job through campus interview or otherwise, data related to the job are also becoming part of the student data. Additional arrangements need to be made to obtain data from the students during their service career, higher study, professional training, job experience, salary range, special achievements etc. so that a systematic study can be done on the pass out students learning account. An in-service, discipline specific continuous assessment model needs to be developed for this purpose. b) Present worldwide job positions-requirements of additional knowledge and skill –

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Worldwide job prospects from leading industry is another significant component of this cloud based service. Perspective plan of leading industry in specific domain (like Civil, Mechanical etc.) along with requirements of man power in coming days with specific knowledge and skill set are the important data components to understand the future trend. Policy decisions taken by different countries, investment portfolio etc. will also play significant role in the prediction (using AI techniques etc.) of specialized manpower requirement down the line. c) Study materials available at the university repository for (b) above – Once some meaningful analysis is done, with the support of industry, multimedia based appropriate study materials can be designed and developed [6] using the research team available both in the University and Industry and be made available for the clients. d) Upcoming products and services information – Besides the existing products and services, similar pool can also be made for the upcoming products and services, so that ready man power can be made available at the time the product or services are launched. Additional knowledge and skill requirements for candidates with different backgrounds in terms of present knowledge and skill, experience earned etc. can also be identified and different course modules can be developed accordingly. University can offer different such courses, workshops, training etc. in hybrid mode for their alumni spread over all the globe in group or individually as the case might be using various adaptive course design strategies including Learners’ Quanta Approach [8] and [9]. e) Research and development trends – Research and development activities all around the world determine the range of future products and services. The proposed service framework should include outcome of all such research activities, investment pattern of Universities, R&D units of big industries, state policy, requirement of new knowledge and skill set (if any) etc. Prospective business direction for coming years can thus be estimated independently by the Universities and accordingly can identify the necessary course of action. f) Activities including investments of leading Business groups, policy decisions, various reports for different international body etc. – Present and future investment plans by big organizations like Microsoft, Tesla, Google, GE etc. are strong indicators of future business trends and data related to such activities also to be integrated to identify possible opportunities in coming days. Country to country policy decisions are also to be monitored to estimate the scope of such developments. For example, the unexpected IT boom in Indian market can be considered as an outcome of telecom policy taken in mid-eighties of the earlier century along with change in economic policy.

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Universities need to make groups with other Universities and tie up with different industry, research centers, policy makers, business houses to make their repository updated, conduct training and workshops with experts in a much focused approach, predict prospects of various products and services by using different Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, keep real time track of the pass out students etc.

8 Conclusions The proposed cloud computing service framework provides benefits to all the three major stakeholders – Students, Universities and Industries. Students will get support for their entire service period from the respective University from where they have graduated years before and from other Universities if they have postgraduate degree from other University. These service will keep them informed regularly about the developments happening all over the world and prospects generated due to that along with the additional knowledge and skill set required by the candidate for enjoying that opportunity. He/she can develop on his/her own or can take some direct course work from the University where he/she is an alma mater. This service will not only provide a regular opportunity to the candidate but at the same time will provide enough confidence and direction for the entire professional career. The problem of ‘knowledge stagnation’, ‘dumped as obsolete’, ‘absence of proper direction’ etc. will be reduced significantly, if not removed in total. Universities will have the opportunity to project the success stories of their graduates even at their mid-career or at the very senior level apart from scope of additional resource generation. Industry will also be able to retain their sincere work force. Lifelong Learning (LLL) skill, if incorporated properly by the Universities in a regular and planned approach instead of piecemeal efforts, it can make life of new generation pass outs, particularly in area of technology less risky and will definitely help them to keep them ready for the changing market. This will also encourage the big business houses of all countries to invest in research in the unexplored or less explored areas and will make new job opportunities and in turn make countries more self-reliant.

References 1. Washington Accord: 1989–2014. https://www.ieagreements.org/assets/Uploads/Documents/ History/25YearsWashingtonAccord-A5booklet-FINAL.pdf 2. https://www.nbaind.org/about 3. General Manual for Accreditation. https://www.nbaind.org/Uploads/General_Manual_V1.0. pdf 4. Manual for Accreditation of Undergraduate Engineering Programs (Tier I Institutions). https:// www.nbaind.org/files/NBA_UGEngg_Tier_I_Manual.pdf 5. Manual for Accreditation of Undergraduate Engineering Programs (Tier II Institutions). https://www.nbaind.org/files/NBA_UGEngg_Tier_II_Manual.pdf 6. Mayer, R.E.: E-learning: new opportunities and a view of the future. In: London, M. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Lifelong Learning. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2011) 7. Lifelong Learning for All – Policy Directions. http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/pub licdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=DEELSA/ED/CERI/CD(2000)12/PART1/REV2&docLangua ge=En

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8. Ray, S., Chaki, N., Dasgupta, R.: Design of an adaptive web-based courseware. In: Proceedings of IASTED International Conference on Intelligent Systems & Control (ISC 2004), Honolulu, Hawaii, USA (2004) 9. Halder, K., Chaki, N., Dasgupta, R.: Analysis and design of learner quanta graph properties for efficient query processing in an adaptive dynamic courseware. In: The IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE, 2013) Indonesia, IEEE explore (2013) 10. Brief No. 1 – Global Impact of war in Ukraine on food, energy and finance systems, United Nations, 13 April 2022 11. Dinevski, D., et al.: ICT and Lifelong Learning. https://www.eurodl.org/materials/contrib/ 2004/Dinevski.html 12. Valamis – “Lifelong Learning”. https://www.valamis.com/hub/lifelong-learning 13. “The future is ours to learn” – Independent Commission for Lifelong Learning, Final Report, November 2019 14. Lifelong Learning for All Policy Direction Chapter 1, OECD 2001 (2001) 15. Song, L., et al.: Clustering based online learning in recommender systems: a bandit approach. In: 2014 IEEE International Conference on Acoustic, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP) (2014) 16. Bagha, A., Madisetti, V.K.: Cloud-based information technology framework for data driven intelligent transport systems. J. Transp. Technol. 131–141 (2013) 17. Berzina, K., et al.: Promoting of lifelong learning in engineering. In: 60th International Conference on Power and electrical Engineering in Riga Technical University (RTUCON) (2019) 18. Sun, J., et al.: Research on the construction and innovation of lifelong education system under the background of big data. In: 2020 International Conference on Big data and Informatization Education (ICBDIE) (2020) 19. Brice, J., et al.: The Era of Lifelong Learning: Implications for Secondary Schools (2000). https://research.acer.edu.au/lifelong_learning/1 20. White Paper on “A Global Standard for Lifelong Learning and Worker Engagement to Support Advanced Manufacturing”. World Economic Forum, October 2019 21. Bagha, A., Madisetti, V.: Cloud Computing – A Hands-on Approach. Universities Press (2014) 22. https://www.nbaind.org/about/majormilestone

The Design and Implementation of the Cloud-Based System of Open Science for Teachers’ Training Maiia Marienko

and Mariya Shyshkina(B)

Institute for Digitalisation of Education of NAES of Ukraine, M.Berlyns’koho St., 9, Kyiv 04060, Ukraine [email protected]

Abstract. The cloud-based system for training the educational personnel at different levels was designed, modelled and implemented. The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) tools as well as other kinds of cloud-based tools have been used as a platform for organizing and conducting collaborative learning. A significant increase in the open science competencies of teachers has been established. In particular, the wider use of EOSC services by teachers, improving skills and experience of collaboration in their disciplinary community and beyond; research data management, analysis/use/reuse, and dissemination. Various indicators for determining the teachers’ competencies of open science were selected, and appropriate measurement tools were developed. Among the criteria there are such as certain skills and experience of open access publication; research data management, processing, analysis/use/reuse, dissemination and the paradigm shift from “protected default data” to “open default data”, collaborative learning and research within the scientific and professional community and outside it. A study on the effectiveness of implementing the special training methods for a wide contingent of teachers was conducted the experimental groups included four groups of learners (a total of 395 respondents), the control groups included 141 respondents, and the statistical analysis of data obtained from the experiment was verified using Fisher’s test. Keywords: Cloud services · Open science · Learning systems · Educational personnel

1 Introduction 1.1 Problem Statement The introduction of the cloud-based open science systems and tools in the educational process is the modern trend, as these systems bring new opportunities to support collaborative learning and research, organization of virtual research teams, use of powerful data submission and processing services, enabling more flexible and instant access to data, wider exchange, discussion, dissemination and evaluation of research results, etc. European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) has emerged, making state-of-the-art services © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 337–344, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_31

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available and accessible (https://eosc-portal.eu/). In the modern educational and research environment, some experience has been accumulated in the conceptual approaches and principles of the open science systems design. The question turns into a practical perspective: to research the effectiveness of methods and methodological systems for using cloud-based systems of open science by different categories of educators.

2 The State of the Art An especially important principle is equal access to qualitative education and knowledge, removal of barriers to using advanced technologies, research results, and tools of communication. In this regard, the key point is the attitude and skilful use of the emerging services. This raises the question of how to assess the level of teachers’ mastery of best practices of open science, and what methods and approaches should be introduced into the process of training educational personnel. According to recent research, the use of cloud computing technologies to support the educational and research processes has been considered in terms of the special cloudbased tools access [7], collaborative learning and research support, and project-oriented learning [5, 6]. Currently, the formation of a cloud-based learning and research university environment is recognized as a priority of the international scientific and educational community [4]. It is intensively developed in various fields of education [2, 12]. Due to the introduction of cloud computing technology (which promotes the emergence of adaptive information and communication networks), new forms of activity are emerging, which affect the content, methods and organizational forms of open education and science. Cloud computing tools and services are an information technology platform of the modern educational and research environment and become network tools for its formation and development [2]. Scientific and methodological prerequisites for the formation and development of a cloud-based educational and research environment require further research in the context of open science priorities identified within the formation of the ERA and European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) [11]. Conceptual and terminological principles of cloud-based research are constantly being developed and improved due to the emergence of new open science systems and services. The matrices of open science competencies are being developed for different categories of participants in the educational environment, in particular, doctoral students [3, 10]. The introduction of open science approaches at different stages of a scientific career is considered [1]. Thus, the current problems of research that concern the open science systems design are, in particular, the clarification of criteria and indicators for determining the competencies of open science for different categories of participants in the educational process; the investigation of the competencies relevant for a certain category of educators; the identification of the tools and services of open science that would be appropriate to support these competencies formation; the learning methods development, taking into account certain competencies and services; the experimental testing of the effectiveness of their use. Analyzing recent research and publications, we can conclude that the principles, methods and approaches to the formation of the cloud-based systems of open science require further research and implementation [2].

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The process of training and professional development of teachers can be improved through the open science approaches, using reproducible, transparent and effective tools that combine research and management of the educational process. Therefore, the integration of open science into the pedagogical systems of educational institutions is now in need more than ever. The purpose of the study is to model the cloud-based open science system for the training of educational personnel and consider the educational outcomes of its implementation.

3 The Conceptual and Terminological Body Along with the development of the concepts of open science, the emergence of cloud technologies contributed significantly to greater flexibility and openness of learning and research. It is just due to the implementation of the cloud-based platforms that open communication, open data submission and processing, open collaboration, and open access to research tools, and research data, as well as open discussions and evaluation of research results, their provision in open access, have become possible. In this regard, we consider the concepts of open science at a new level. Under the cloud-based platform of open science, we understand a set of ICT-based tools aimed to achieve certain research and educational goals. The cloud-based system of open science is considered an integrative system of cloudbased tools and services that are selected, developed and implemented based on a single platform with the focus on the design of training methods for the formation of relevant educational and research competencies for educational personnel. Then the cloud-oriented methodological system of open science is a system of cloudbased learning methods and components united by the specific content and the cloudoriented approach to the design, application and implementation. It is necessary to account for the principles of open science [2] because these principles are the basis for creating systems of open science. At the same time, it is important to focus on the priorities, recognized in international documents, such as open data; open access to publications; open methods; open education, and open assessment [13].

4 The Model and Approach The main idea is to identify the stages of research and to select appropriate open science services to support them. The main features of the selected EOSC services (https:// eosc-portal.eu/) relevant to the cloud-based system of open science design have been considered for this purpose. They were classified due to the main types of research activity that had been revealed. Teachers were trained based on the cloud-based system that was elaborated due to this approach. There are examples of different kinds of EOSC services that can be used to support the appropriate stages of the research work. 1. Search, retrieve, and accumulate the research data and its coverage in the literature, ascertaining data. DARIAH Science Gateway, OpenAIRE.

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2. Presentation, processing, and visualization of patterns in the data, including sharing. de.NBI Cloud, Infrastructure Manager (IM). 3. Analysis and interpretation of the results. Agora Resource Portfolio Management Tool, Jupyter Notebook. 4. Validation, discussion, collective evaluation of results, peer review. Now Resource Portfolio Management Tool. 5. Implementation, publication, application. DARIAH-Campus, DEEP training facility. The model of the cloud-based system of open science shows the relationship between a group of teachers and certain selected EOSC services and relevant research processes (see Fig. 1). It is peculiar that only certain EOSC services can be used in scientific work by teachers because EOSC is primarily aimed at use in the work of scientists and has in some cases rather narrow and specific applications. This model describes only 8 cloud services that were used at each stage of research as a case-studies. These services are integrated, as they are hosted within the same framework - EOSC. Thus, a group of teachers or scientists can select the cloud services and use them in their practice individually or collectively. That is, both forms of activity are provided: group work and individual work. The teacher community includes a tutor who conducts individual and group training. The tutor analyzes how the learning material is perceived, provides advice and materials and answers questions. This model does not provide for the distribution of services by subject areas (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology), but rather illustrates the general purpose of each service without emphasizing its subject area. The list of cloud services does not claim to be exhaustive and exclusive. The aim was to show the possibility of using one or another EOSC cloud service at each stage of scientific research. The DARIAH Science Gateway provides a variety of web applications and services for researchers, institutes, and digital communities (for example, humanities) (https:// dariah-sg.irb.hr/). The DARIAH Science Gateway provides easy access to the following programs: Simple Semantic Search Engine (SSE) which allows users to search the electronic infrastructure knowledge base (open document repositories and data repositories). Parallel Semantic Search Engine (PSSE) is a parallel version of SSE that allows simultaneous searches in the knowledge base of electronic infrastructure, Europeana, Cultura Italia, Isidore, OpenAgris, PubMed and DBpedia. Teachers were trained how to use this service to search for research literature in various disciplines, mainly humanities. Jupyter Notebook can be used to create and share documents that contain live code, equations, visualizations and texts (https://jupyter-slurm.esrf.fr). With Jupyter Notebook, you can analyze data with Python and create graphs in an easy-to-read and shared format. You can install Jupyter Notebook on your computer or use it on JupyterHub on ESRF. https://jupyter-slurm.esrf.fr will allow you to create a Jupyter laptop on our HPC cluster with full access to the experimental data you received from the ESRF. Teachers were trained how to use Jupyter Notebook to process data in their research to visualize the obtained results.

The Design and Implementation of the Cloud-Based System

Search, retrieving, accumulation of data on the problem of research and its coverage in the literature, ascertaining data

Community of teachers

A teacher

Presentation, processing, and visualization of patterns in the data, including sharing

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OpenAIRE

de.NBI Cloud

Infrastructure Manager (IM) Analysis and interpretation of the results

Agora Resource Portfolio Management Tool

A tutor Validation, discussion, collective evaluation of results, peer review

Jupyter Notebook

DARIAH-Campus Implementation, publication, application

DEEP training facility

Fig. 1. The model of the cloud-based system of open science

Combined concept and infrastructure de.NBI Cloud integrates and optimizes the existing benefits of individual cloud sites. De.NBI Cloud is an example of an academic cloud, where storage and computing resources are provided for locally stored data. IaaS, PaaS and SaaS can be pre-configured (https://www.denbi.de/cloud). We suggested that teachers use it in the process of presentation, processing, and visualization of patterns in the data, including sharing as collaborative processing and use of research data. AGORA is a tool for managing the “portfolio of services”. It is addressed to the board of the organization to control all services, tools and products that it uses or provides to its customers. AGORA works within the framework of the European project EOSC-HUB (https://agora.ni4os.eu/ui/). Among the variety of services, there are services for data analysis, possibly collective, which were offered to teachers.

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DARIAH-Campus is both an opening platform and a hosting platform for DARIAH and DARIAH-related teaching and learning offerings. DARIAH-Campus aims to increase access to open, inclusive, high-quality educational materials aimed at developing creativity, skills, technology and knowledge in the arts and humanities with the support of digital technologies (https://campus.dariah.eu/). We suggested using it to exchange and share educational materials. The DEEP training facility is a distributed training centre for models of machine learning, artificial intelligence and deep learning. This service offers a set of tools for creating the learning models of machine learning, artificial intelligence and deep learning in distributed e-infrastructures (https://deep-hybrid-datacloud.eu/the-platform/). In course of training, the teachers were offered to use various kinds of these services in their educational research. OpenAIRE Monitor is an on-demand service that offers tailor-made data monitoring and visualization information panels for different kinds of users. It provides comprehensive, timely and accurate research monitoring indicators (https://www.ope naire.eu/). This service was used to find scientific sources for research according to various parameters.

5 The Experimental Testing To train teachers in the basics of using open science cloud services, a methodological learning system was developed aimed at educating teachers and facilitating their professional development, expanding access to free cloud services, increasing the level of ICT competence and in particular the open science competence. The model of the proposed methodological system that included 3 levels of complexity and different groups of teachers was presented in more detail in [8]. It was introduced in the process of teachers’ training during the implementation of a distance learning course “The Cloud Services of Open Science for Educators” (as a part of the pedagogical experiment undertaken in 2020–2021). Methods of teaching teachers using the proposed model and assessment tools are described in [9] in more detail. A significant increase in the open science competencies for various categories of educators has been established. In particular, the wider use of EOSC services by teachers, improving skills and experience of collaboration in their disciplinary community and beyond; research data management, analysis/use/reuse, and dissemination. Various indicators for determining the teachers’ competencies of open science were selected, and appropriate measurement tools were developed. Among the criteria there were such as certain skills and experience of open access publication; research data management, processing, analysis/use/reuse, dissemination and the paradigm shift from “protected default data” to “open default data”, collaborative learning and research within the scientific and professional community and outside it. A study on the effectiveness of implementing the special training methods for a wide contingent of teachers was conducted, the experimental groups included four groups of learners (a total of 395 respondents), the control groups included 141 respondents), and the statistical analysis of data obtained from the experiment was verified using Fisher’s test [8]. The empirical value of Fisher’s criterion is 3.7147, the critical value is 1.6449. The reliability of the differences in the characteristics of the experimental and control groups according to Fisher’s statistical criterion is

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95%. A comparative analysis of the results in the control and experimental groups and assessment criteria are described in [9] in more detail.

6 Conclusion and Discussion The introduction of the cloud-based system of open science in the process of teachers’ training is timely and appropriate. The growth of open science competencies of these categories of educators indicates a change of views and orientations, wider application of best practices of open science in teaching, and introduction of the latest tools and technologies in the educational process. The proposed system can be used for training teachers of any subjects to work in scientific lyceums. It may be used in course of their professional development, as well as for special training for certain subject communities of teachers or different levels of training. The possible stages of implementation; some practical recommendations are described in [9] in more detail. The idea of this exploration was to describe the basics of the proposed approach at the model level to make the prospects of using the methods tested in the pilot area in a wider context.

References 1. Allen, C., Mehler, D.M.: Open science challenges, benefits and tips in early career and beyond. PLoS Biol. 17(5), e3000246 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000246. Accessed 29 May 2022 2. Bykov, V., Shyshkina, M.: The conceptual basis of the university cloud-based learning and research environment formation and development in view of the open science priorities. Inf. Technol. Learn. Tools 68(6), 1–19 (2018). https://journal.iitta.gov.ua/index.php/itlt/article/ view/2609/1409. Accessed 29 May 2022 3. Doctoral Training Principles. https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/belgium/jobs-funding/doctoraltraining-principles. Accessed 29 May 2022 4. European Cloud Initiative – Building a competitive data and knowledge economy in Europe. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, 19 April 2016, Brussels (2016). http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52016D C0178&from=EN. Accessed 29 May 2022 5. Glazunova, O.G., Kuzminska, O.G., Voloshyna, T.V., Sayapina, T.P., Korolchuk, V.I.: Eenvironment based on Microsoft SharePoint for the organization of group project work of students at higher education institutions. Inf. Technol. Learn. Tools 62(6), 98–113 (2017). https://journal.iitta.gov.ua/index.php/itlt/article/view/1837. Accessed 29 May 2022 6. Harefa, N., Silalahi, N.F.D., Sormin, E., Purba, L.S.L., Sumiyati, S.: The difference of students’ learning outcomes with project-based learning using handout and sway Microsoft 365. Jurnal Pendidikan Kimia 11(2), 24–30 (2019) 7. Lytvynova, S.: Model of cloud-oriented learning environment (COLE) of comprehensive educational establishments (CEE) teacher. J. Inf. Technol. Educ. (ITE) 20, 117–127 (2014) 8. Marienko, M.V.: Tools and services of the cloud-based systems of open science formation in the process of teachers’ training and professional development. In: Wrycza, S., Ma´slankowski, J. (eds.) PLAIS EuroSymposium 2021. LNBIP, vol. 429, pp. 108–120. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85893-3_8

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9. Marienko, M.B., Shyshkina, M.P., Konoval O.A.: Methodological principles of formation of cloud-oriented systems of open science in institutions of higher pedagogical education. Inf. Technol. Learn. Tools 89(3), 209–232 (2022). https://doi.org/10.33407/itlt.v89i3.4981 10. O’Carroll, C., Hyllseth, B., Berg, R., et al.: Providing researchers with the skills and competencies they need to practise Open Science. Publications Office (2017). https://data.eur opa.eu/. https://doi.org/10.2777/121253. Accessed 29 May 2022 11. Realising the European Open Science Cloud. First report and recommendations of the Commission High Level Expert Group on the European Open Science Cloud. https://wbcrti.info/object/document/15412/attach/realising_the_european_open_science_cloud_2016. pdf. Accessed 29 May 2022 12. Spirin, O., Oleksiuk, V., Balyk, N., Lytvynova, S., Sydorenko, S.: the blended methodology of learning computer networks: cloud-based approach. In: CEUR-WS, vol. 2393, pp. 68–80 (2019). http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2393/paper_231.pdf. Accessed 29 May 2022 13. UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000 379949/PDF/379949eng.pdf.multi. Accessed 29 May 2022

Education for Sustainability: Calculation of the Digital Carbon Footprint Mariajulia Martínez-Acosta1 , Patricia Vázquez-Villegas2 , Patricia Caratozzolo2,3 , Vianney Lara-Prieto2,3 , Rebeca García-García3 and Jorge Membrillo-Hernández2,3(B)

,

1 Sustainable Development Goals Initiative, School of Social Sciences and Government,

Tecnologico de Monterrey, Santa Fe Campus, Mexico City, Mexico 2 Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

[email protected] 3 School of Engineering and Sciences, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

Abstract. The COVID-19 pandemic brought confinement that caused a drastic change throughout society. Mobility was reduced, education suffered a substantive change, distance learning, and digital skills were developed. Climate change and environmental pollution indicators indeed decreased. However, the quantification of the environmental footprint of the new form of remote work (digital carbon footprint) has not been considered in systematic studies. There are not many tools to calculate the corresponding emissions. The main objective of this educational research work was to determine the carbon footprint of digital activities in a company during the confinement caused by COVID-19 through a ChallengeBased Learning methodology. A one-semester academic program was designed to develop energy auditing skills for students of Sustainable Development Engineering. A company (training partner) was determined to validate the evaluation instruments. Techniques for data collection, questionnaires, and analysis of energy consumption data were designed. A helpful protocol was defined to determine the digital carbon footprint generated in the pilot company, allowing us to scale our research towards quantifying Greenhouse Gas emissions in Institutions or Companies of greater size. The soft and disciplinary graduation competencies of the students were solidly developed and evaluated through internal instruments and by the training partner standards. Finally, we propose mitigation measures aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, in line with the new Green and Sustainable Digital Education trend. Keywords: Educational innovation · Challenge-based learning · Higher education · Sustainability · Carbon footprint

1 Introduction 1.1 Sustainability Competencies at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico Education for sustainable development “envisions education as a means to achieve sustainable development” [1]. It aims to empower students with skills, values, and attitudes © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 345–353, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_32

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to address Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In a transversal way, this is part of all programs offered by higher education institutions [2]. Sustainability competencies acquired through education will lead society to transform consciousness to solve interconnected global challenges, including climate change, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, poverty, and inequity [2]. Table 1 shows some sustainability competencies related to the SDGs. Table 1. List of some sustainable competencies [1]. Competence

Definition

System thinking orientation and dynamics

Ability to collectively analyze complexity across domains and scales, considering cascading effects, inertia, feedback loops, and other systemic features

Anticipatory or future orientation

To be able to iterate and continuously refine future scenarios, recognizing the implicit assumptions about how society works and critically reflecting on how they might influence future thinking

Normative or values thinking

To map, differentiate and reconcile intrinsic and extrinsic values in the social and natural world; contextually, culturally, and historically

Critical thinking and analysis

Making judgments and issuing opinions based on analyzing different sources of information, points of view, and evidence to make decisions autonomously

Life cycle thinking

Analysis of environmental, social, and economic impacts of existing alternatives as well as future actions

Uncertainty

Tolerance to ambiguity and frustration, coping with conflicts, competing goals and interests, contradictions, and setbacks; Recognizing the impossibility of finding balance, learning to navigate paradoxes

At Tecnologico de Monterrey, sustainability is a transversal competence in all undergraduate programs [3, 4]. Actions and experiences to develop sustainable thinking are included in classroom activities related to many transformative paradigm shifts about caring for the environment, climate change, the circular economy, and society’s responsibility. With this in mind, we can talk about decarbonization policies for 2030 or Net Zero Carbon strategies for 2050. Still, students also learn in an active educational environment, promoting civic and ethical development. One of the educational programs is Sustainable Development Engineering. Its objectives are to develop skills in energy

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audits and establish carbon footprints for reports at the international level to quantify Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. 1.2 Digital Carbon Footprint During the COVID-19 lockdowns, surveys reflected lower energy consumption levels, impacting production, mobility, and air and noise pollution [5]. Studying and working from home make people believe their environmental impact has decreased or become null. Indeed, the GHG emissions generated in the facilities of educative institutions or companies due to a lower use of energy and transportation from home to the office or school are drastically reduced. However, when organizations begin to analyze such a transition, they do not usually consider the environmental impacts that it would have. Before the pandemic, the percentage of Mexican men and women working remotely was 34%. Later, this number increased to 68% [6]. Today there is not much information related to the environmental impact that working from home has on the planet, and there are few tools for calculating the corresponding emissions. The effects of digital technologies are rarely considered in calculating GHG emissions, and the few times that they are considered, it is done in an imprecise way [7]. One of the reasons for the inaccuracy of the calculation is that these emissions are difficult to compare between institutions and are indirect [8]. In addition, some companies do not have an environmental culture to take the initiative to act in favor of the environment or do not have the resources to do so. Companies lack accountability; there is no commitment to take charge of their actions or decisions [9]. The lack of environmental culture and knowledge to measure the emissions derived from the digital activity makes it difficult for companies to take responsibility for their negative impacts and take action to change them. The lack of accountability implies other adverse effects. By not committing to change their harmful behavior, the appropriate mitigation measures are not taken so that the company can reduce its environmental impact. Without them, there is an increase in GHG emissions in the atmosphere. Additionally, an incorrect measuring of these emissions implies that companies believe their environmental impact has drastically decreased. The responsibility for these emissions is transferred to individuals without considering that they are a product of the business operation. This challenge is relevant since it has been projected that in 2030, 60% of administrative work will be carried out outside the company’s facilities [10]; that is, the number of people who will work from home will increase and, therefore, the Digital activities can play a relevant role in reducing greenhouse gases due to concepts such as reduced travel, energy efficiency and reduced energy consumption in devices, grid and cloud computing, among others. This could promote the transition into a digital, greener and more sustainable age. The ICT sector has a unique potential to allow other industrial sectors to move towards a sustainability model based on a low-emissions economy that enables the implementation of the SDGs, especially those related to climate change, energy, industry, innovation, and sustainable consumption, among others.

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1.3 Objectives of This Study A challenge-based learning (CBL) approach was implemented to teach students how to calculate GHG emissions in the digital and green transition age. A particular objective was to convey the concept of carbon footprint by involving students in solving a real challenge where they determined the carbon footprint of digital activities (which has been erroneously considered null) in a company during a defined period during the confinement caused by COVID-19. 1.4 Background The Carbon Footprint (CF) calculation measures the total GHG emissions caused directly or indirectly by a person, organization, event, or product [11]. Since 2012, global GHG emissions have increased by 1.30% annually. In 2018 there was a global increase of 2%, equivalent to 51.8 Gton of Carbon Dioxide emissions (CO2 e), accompanied by an annual economic growth of 3.4% [12]. This growing trend in emissions into the atmosphere declined by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a 6.4% reduction in global CO2 e [13], due to a significant decrease in energy demand [14]. Additionally, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) through digital activities such as videoconference work meetings, emails, and online searches, an essential part of the operation in companies, increased [15]. These activities have a high environmental impact. The ICT sector is responsible for about 2.1%–3.9% of GHG emissions worldwide [16]. And is expected to continue to rise. A day of working from home could increase the energy consumption of the house between 7% and 23% compared to a day of work in the office [17]. Companies need to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their digital activities because they have become a significant source of GHG emissions. Most of the existing guidelines for calculating CF do not include digital activities. For this reason, a methodology for calculating the Digital Carbon Footprint (DCF) within an organization was proposed. The DCF refers to the amount of CO2 e released into the atmosphere from ICTs such as emails, servers, web pages, videoconferences, streaming, social networks, and fast messaging [18]. The DCF of a company was generated in a semester in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, students: • • • • • • •

Developed a methodology for calculating the DCF within a company. Focused the methodology on working from home. Carried out a questionnaire that will be available on the ITC networks of the company. Aligned mitigation and neutralization proposals with the SDGs. Proposed neutral carbon measures based on the organization members’ behavior. Involved the Voluntary Carbon Market as part of the proposed solutions. Developed soft and disciplinary skills

2 Methodology A one-semester academic strategy was designed to develop energy auditing skills for the students of the Sustainable Development Engineering undergraduate program students.

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Instruments for data collection, questionnaires, and analysis of energy consumption were developed. Students worked on four stages of the project’s development, each with its corresponding activities and generated products, as detailed in Table 2. Table 2. The stages of the student’s project 1. Preparation

2. Methodology

3. Calculation

4. Results communication

– Project definition – Problem, objectives, scope, limits, and exclusions – Planning – Preparation of an action plan – Relationship with the client company

– Information gathering – Mapping of activities to be evaluated – Investigate emission factors of activities to be evaluated – Define the optimal means for carrying out the questionnaire – Design, prepare and validate the questionnaire

– Application of questionnaires – Obtaining the CO2 Demand from mathematical calculations – Data treatment to obtain the standard deviation and uncertainty

– Preparation of emissions report – Define mitigation and neutralization proposals – Align proposals with the SDGs – Report delivery to the client

Two organizations participated: Laboratoria and Toroto. Laboratoria is a startup with a presence in four countries, created from a social enterprise that supports women without access to higher education through a training program in web development. Through intensive courses, its students learn to build web pages and applications while trained to get a job in a technology company. It has more than 1,800 graduates, 8,000 applicants per year, and around 400 active people between students and collaborators [https:// www.laboratoria.la/en]. Toroto is a Mexican environmental company that aims to build a carbon-neutral society. Therefore, it measures the Carbon Footprint (CF) of entities using internationally accepted methodologies and standards. It has a patented carbon management software that monitors and reduces emissions, neutralizing the CF of its clients through forestry projects in jungle reserves in southeastern Mexico, certified by Ruby Canyon Environmental Inc [https://toroto.com/en]. Derived from their experience in measuring emissions, Toroto provided advice on developing the methodology that the students proposed to measure CF during the academic period.

3 Results and Discussion The Tec 21 is the actual educative model in the Tecnologico de Monterrey (https://tec. mx/en/model-tec21). In this model, the students develop transversal and disciplinary competencies through real challenges resolution. The students are involved in a real

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professional environment through the Training Partners (TP), who are agents or entities from manufacturing, civil society, or community groups. The TP plays an essential role in the success of challenge-based learning, consolidating students´ preparation to face future challenges in Mexico and the world (https://tec.mx/en/education-partners). A real challenge in calculating the DCF of a TP (Laboratoria) was established for the students during the 2021 spring semester. This was done to know the environmental impact aspects of the TP digital activities and prevent them from going unnoticed. In addition, sustainable mitigation measures were proposed. Nine emission sources were defined to produce emissions in Laboratoria (caused by collaborators and students): Emails, File storage, Online searches, Videoconferences, Quick messaging, Streaming, social media, Use of equipment, and Illumination for telecommuting. Actions like spam emails received, modems energy consumption, and e-waste had a small contribution. It did not represent a significant risk. They are highly linked to activities outside the company, over which there is no operational control. The DCF generated by the collaborators for six months is shown in Fig. 1. Individual footprint by collaborator was estimated as: 76.07 to 105.32 kg CO2 e and 47.69 to 69.62 kg CO2 e by each student.

Fig. 1. Laboratoria DCF. A. Total CF. B. Sources of emission.

Regarding the mitigation proposals, due to the completely remote operation of Laboratoria and the resources necessary to implement measures that need physical spaces or investment in infrastructure, it was proposed to acquire 30 forest carbon credits with Toroto to mitigate the DCF of students and collaborators for six months. This way, although there are emissions from its activities, they will be captured in parallel. Three SDGs (12, 13, and 14) were involved in the suggestions for the company. Besides sustainability, digital competency is another relevant skill that the students must develop for life and work nowadays [19]. Digital competencies are required for the students that will enter the innovated-digitalized business models [20]. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) considering the adoption of digital technologies, accelerated digitization in education and daily activities due to COVID-19, offering learning opportunities to the students when the social distance was mandatory. The digital era has changed the digital mentality of teachers, opening the exploration of more flexible learning paths as part of teaching plans. The CBL strategy used in this work allowed students to acquire

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knowledge through developing a project with a TP. They can make informed decisions regarding reducing the carbon footprint when learning in the digital and green transition age. This, in turn, accomplishes Students Outcomes 2 and 4 of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) [21]: • An ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs considering public health, safety, and welfare and global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors. • An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, considering the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.

4 Conclusions Here we report the Didactic Strategy to produce a DCF of a company, proposing mitigation measures aligned with the SDGs. A beneficial protocol was determined to determine the DCF generated in the pilot company, which will allow us to scale our research towards the quantification of the GHG emissions in larger institutions. This research and methodology are not limited to the size of an organization. The method can be replicated in any company anywhere. Through Challenge-Based Learning, real problems can be addressed for the acquisition of skills for the future job of students; we believe that this type of pedagogy is going to be the next step in HEIs where more schemes of experiential and adaptive education “à la carte” will be necessary to face increasingly complex and interdisciplinary challenges. We foresee the era of Socially Oriented Education, where society’s problems most likely determine the skills of higher education graduates; what we experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic was a dramatic example where digital skills, almost ignored before, were required in many jobs. This educational research shows that the conceptualization of the SDGs is necessary to understand the problems and tasks we have at the door; we must attend to them and solve them. The best tool, without a doubt, is education. This research is evidence that including the SDGs in higher education is necessary to achieve a transformation based on sustainability. The students must become sustainability change-makers. They will accomplish this by identifying the challenges, their causes, and consequences, investigating, working in multidisciplinary teams with the guidance of a mentor, and creating solutions that result in concrete actions. Acknowledgements. The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support of Writing Lab, Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, in the production of this work.

References 1. Bianchi, G.: Sustainability Competencies: A Systematic Literature Review. Publications Office of the European Union (2020)

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2. Membrillo-Hernández, J., Lara-Prieto, V., P. Caratozzolo, P.: Sustainability: a public policy, a concept, or a competence? Efforts on the implementation of sustainability as a transversal competence throughout higher education programs. Sustainability 13(24), 13989 (2021) 3. Caratozzolo, P., Membrillo-Hernández, J.: Challenge based learning approaches for education 4.0 in engineering. In: Proceedings of the 2021 SEFI Conference, Berlin, Germany, pp 110– 118 (2021) 4. Caratozzolo, P., Rosas-Melendez, S., Ortiz-Alvarado, C.: Active learning approaches for sustainable energy engineering education. In: 2021 IEEE Green Technologies Conference (GreenTech), Denver, CO, USA, pp. 251–258 (2021) 5. Shulla, K., et al.: Effects of COVID-19 on the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Discov. Sustain. 2(1), 1–19 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-021-00026-x 6. Villavicencio-Ayub, E., Quiroz-González, E., García-Meraz, M., Santamaría-Plascencia, E.: Personal and organizational affectations derived from confinement by COVID-19 in Mexico. Estudios Gerenciales 37, 85–93 (2021) 7. Ericsson: A quick guide to your digital carbon footprint. https://www.ericsson.com/ en/reports-and-papers/industrylab/reports/a-quick-guide-to-your-digital-carbon-footprint. Accessed 02 May 2022 8. Versteijlen, M., Perez Salgado, F., Janssen Groesbeek, M., Counotte, A.: Pros and cons of online education as a measure to reduce carbon emissions in higher education in the Netherlands. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 28, 80–89 (2017) 9. Frumhoff, P.C., Heede, R., Oreskes, N.: The climate responsibilities of industrial carbon producers. Clim. Change 132(2), 157–171 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-0151472-5 10. Ericsson Consumer & Industry Lab: The dematerialization path profitability and sustainability. The future of enterprises. Ericsson, Stockholm (2021) 11. The Carbon Trust. Carbon footprinting guide. https://www.carbontrust.com/resources/car bon-footprinting-guide. Accessed 02 May 2022 12. Pratama, A.S., Pudjihardjo, M., Manzilati, A., Pratomo, D.S.: Testing the existence of environmental kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in ASEAN 5. Technium Soc. Sci. J. 22, 362 (2021) 13. Tollefson, J.: COVID curbed carbon emissions in 2020 - but not by much. Nature 589(7842), 343 (2021) 14. Ray, R.L., Singh, V.P., Singh, S.K., et al.: What is the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on global carbon emissions? Sci. Total Environ. 816, 151503 (2022) 15. Middleton, C.A.: Can broadband support environmental sustainability? An exploration of claims at the household level. Telecommun. J. Aust. 59(1), 10–11 (2009) 16. Freitag, C., Berners-Lee, M., Widdicks, K., Knowles, B., Blair, G.S., Friday, A.: The real climate and transformative impact of ICT: a critique of estimates, trends, and regulations. Patterns 2(9), 100340 (2021) 17. Crow, D., Millot, A.: Working from home can save energy and reduce emissions. But how much? – Analysis. IEA https://www.iea.org/commentaries/working-from-home-can-saveenergy-and-reduce-emissions-but-how-much. Accessed 02 May 2022 18. Malmodin, J., Lundén, D.: The energy and carbon footprint of the global ICT and E&M sectors 2010–2015. Sustainability 10(9), 3027 (2018) 19. Štemberger, T., Konrad, S.C.: Attitudes towards using digital technologies in education as an important factor in developing digital competence: the case of slovenian student teachers. Int. J. Emerg. Technol. Learn. 16(4), 83–98 (2021)

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20. Rof, A., Bikfalvi, A., Marques, P.: Pandemic-accelerated digital transformation of a born digital higher education institution: towards a customized multimode learning strategy. Educ. Technol. Soc. 25(1), 124–141 (2022) 21. ABET: Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs 2022–2023. ABET, Baltimore, MD, USA (2021)

Assessing Students’ Motivation in a University Course on Digital Education Alexandra Posekany1(B) , David Haselberger1 , and Fares Kayali2 1

Technical University of Vienna,Vienna, Austria [email protected], [email protected] 2 Centre for Teacher Education, University of Vienna, Porzellangasse 4, 1090 Vienna, Austria [email protected]

Abstract. In this paper we explore aspiring teachers’ motivation in using digital technology. Referring to the self determination theory, we examine changes in their perceived competence, autonomy and relatedness before and after a University course on “Digital Education” in the two consecutive winter terms of 2020/21 and 2021/22. This course aims at contributing to students’ digital empowerment and critical perspective on digitalisation. To get insight on students’ motivation, we arranged a questionnaire. Apart from their motivation, we asked for students’ technology use continuance intention. The validation of the questionnaire along with its evaluation is based on several statistical approaches: We compare the internal validity of content-related group of questions through correlation and factor analyses. Further, we explore the outcomes for two specific student cohorts in two succeeding years. Students perceived competence and realisation of digital media’s usefulness increased in both cohorts after course participation. Keywords: Digitalisation · Digital media use · Media use continuance · Self-determination theory · Design-based research · Pre-post test

1

Introduction

Continuing digitalisation in life and work contexts calls for proficiency in technology use [3,6]. Aspiring teachers need to develop 21st century skills [2,15] to create and sustain a learning environment that furthers computational empowerment [9,12] and critical discourse [4,14,21] on digitalisation as “digital reflective practitioners”. The course “Digital Education” at the University of Vienna provides an overview of aspects related to digitalisation that give insight in current scientific and societal discourses. The key aims of the course are for students to develop critical discourse skills in different areas of digitalisation and to offer a perspective of mediation in school. c The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023  M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 354–365, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_33

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Our key interest in this study is whether participating in the University course has effects on aspiring teachers’ motivation in learning on digitalisation. We adhere to a design-based research [5,10] frame, and take findings as indicators for how participating in the University course “Digital Education” can support the educational goal of facilitating future teachers’ capacity of reflective practice concerning digitalisation and digital technology use. Referring to self determination theory (SDT) [19], motivation conceptualized as reasons to engage in an activity can be seen on a continuum from amotivation over extrinsic to intrinsic motivation, or from not-self-determined to self-determined. Intrinsic motivation hereby is related to psychological needs of autonomy (experiences of initiating and regulating own behavior), competence (experiences of mastery and control of outcomes) and relatedness (experiences of connectedness to and caring for others). In line with Information Systems(IS)-continuance theory, we further explore students’ intentions to continue the use of digital technology [20]. Roca and Gagn´e [18] showed that SDT and IS-continuance theory are complementary perspectives regarding continuance intentions. IS-continuance theory highlights pre-adoption expectations and post-adoption usefulness beliefs, which can be interpreted as aspects of extrinsic motivation according to SDT. We arranged a questionnaire on students’ intentions concerning continuing digital technology use [20], their perceived autonomy [1,20] competence [22], relatedness, and their perceived regulatory style [11]. We disseminated the questionnaire to students at the beginning and at the end of the University course “Digital Education” in the winter terms of 2020/21 and 2021/22, both in which the course took place in distance learning. In the following section we describe the course scenario of “Digital Education”. Next, we discuss the theoretical foundation that directed the arrangement of the questionnaire. We explain the statistical approaches we implemented to validate the question set and to evaluate the student cohorts. Finally, we present our exploratory findings.

2

Scenario

The studies were conducted in the course “Digital Education” at the Centre for Teacher Eduaction at the Universty of Vienna. The course is part of the Bachelor curriculum for teacher education students. It is one of several courses run as part of the “general educational science basics”, which address teacher education students of all subject didactics taught at the University of Vienna. The course gives an introductory overview of digital education and learning and of the effects of digitalisation. Topics include digital media use and consumption, digital literacy and ethics, computational thinking, design, economic structures of the internet, internet security, digital learning platforms, gamebased learning, as well as aspects of diversity and inclusion in digital teaching and learning. The overall learning goal is to enable students to become reflective practitioners and to allow them to understand the implications of digitalisation from

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a human-centred and value-based perspective. Students build knowledge and competencies in the above mentioned areas and are able to devise strategies to convey these in school. The course starts with a series of lectures and guest lectures on the above topics. Students then negotiate which topics they consider the most important. They build groups around these topics with each group creating an online course (using Moodle) on their topic and holding a presentation on it. These courses are then taken and feedbacked by the other students, and the groups refine the course based on this feedback. Students are graded through doing learning paths, reflective essay submissions and the online course they create and refine. The two iterations of the course were run in a similar manner, both in distance learning and using Zoom.

3

Methodology

Our research question in this study is (RQ1): What effects does engaging with aspects of digitalization within a University course on “digital education” have on aspiring teachers’ motivation? To find out about the effects of engaging in the University course, we compiled a questionnaire based on SDI and media continuance evaluation research, which was filled out by participating students in each cohort at the beginning and at the end of the course in a pre-, and post-test setting focusing on perceived autonomy, competence and relatedness, as well as digital technology use continuance. 3.1

Survey

To compile the questionnaire, a selective literature review was performed on surveys used in SDT research, with a focus on SDT in education settings and in relation to information and communication (ICT) technology. Of particular importance were articles sharing survey items and providing a validation of the used metrics. All question items were formed with a focus on digital media use and learning on digitalisation. Following a model outlined by Sørebø et al. [20], students’ intention to continue engaging in digital technology (Digital Technology Use Continuance Intention) is related to their intrinsic motivation, and their satisfaction with and perceived usefulness (Perceived Usefulness) of the digital technology they use. It is assumed that after an initial period of use, as fostered in the University course, students form an opinion of the extent to which their expectations are confirmed and about perceived benefits and drawbacks with regards towards learning on digitalisation and digital media use, influencing their perceived satisfaction with the technology they use. Their perceived autonomy and relatedness may influence their perceived usefulness as well as their intrinsic motivation. Their perceived competence also influences perceived usefulness and intrinsic motivation, yet further relates to

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the confirmation of their expectations. The first part of the questionnaire concerns students’ digital media use continuance intention, referring to their future expectations. Further, students’ perceived usefulness of digital media use and learning on digitalisation is recorded. Questionnaire items related to students’ technology use continuance intentions are based on the survey developed by Sørebø et al. [20]. SDT was extensively researched in various fields ranging from health care to virtual simulations [7,19]. According to SDT, rather intrinsic motivation or self-determination (Regulatory Style) is based on the satisfaction of the psychological needs for competence (Perceived Competence), relatedness (Perceived Relatedness), and autonomy (Perceived Autonomy). These constructs semantically overlap. They are broadly defined referring to “the subjectivity of the perception of priority and importance of needs and ... interconnection of meaning between needs [1, p. 3]”. Performance, self-esteem and psychological well-being were found to be related to the extent of perceived satisfaction of the psychological needs for competence, relatedness and autonomy [8]. Internalization and integration processes are pursued for psychological need satisfaction [19, p. 202]. In our questionnaire, question clusters relating to the concepts of relatedness and autonomy were based on the ubisoft perceived experience questionnaire [1] as well as Sørebø et al. [20]’s survey. The question cluster on competence is further based on a Perceived Competence Score [22]. All questionnaire items are formed as asymmetric six-point Likert-Scale [13] type items ranging from strong disagreement (“No, not at all.”) to strong agreement (“Yes, exactly.”) without an option for a neutral position. All items are positively formulated with the exception of one item related to digital technology use continuance, one item related to perceived competence, one in connection to perceived relatedness and one related to perceived autonomy. We calculate sum scores for each content-related group of questions. 3.2

Statistical Evaluation

We applied summaries of factorial variables as absolute and relative frequencies within a course and a year. Additionally, we visualised the comparison of frequencies between years through mosaic plots with the option of colour coding residuals of an underlying logistic model. Furthermore, we added to the exploration an additional layer of inference through analysing the Spearman correlations applicable for categorical variables and visualised those as correlograms. Based on this investigation, we performed an exploratory factor analysis (FA) within each content-related group of questions, focusing on Digital Technology Use Continuance Intention, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Competence, Perceived Relatedness, Perceived Autonomy and Regulatory Style. In all cases, we conducted a principal component analysis as a first step, visualised the screeplot and decided on the optimal number of factors according to this plot.

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For all our analyses, we applied the software R [16] and specifically the libraries ‘corrgram’ for visualising correlograms and ‘psych’ [17] for the exploratory factor analysis.

4

Results

4.1

Demographics

Table 1 depicts demographics of each pre- and post test per cohort. It was not obligatory for students to fill in gender. Table 1. Demographics and Total Number of Observations

4.2

Term

m f

20/21 Pre

30 43 10

Other TOTAL 83

20/21 Post 12 15 20

47

21/22 Pre

0

0 43

43

21/22 Post

6

6 14

26

Exploration

In the following section, we describe our findings for each content-related group of questions separately and give a comparison between the start of the course and the end of the course within each term, and, further, between the different terms. Due to the limited space available, we will only include findings of the most important relations and leave out all those, where no or hardly any changes could be observed. We include visualisations along result descriptions. Table 2 shows the median values of the sum scores of each content-related group of questions for each test setting per term. Figure 1 shows boxplots of students’ perceived competence, relatedness and autonomy in both cohorts. Table 2. Median of sum scores for content-related groups of questions in pre- and posttest setting per term 2021 pre 2021 post 2122 pre 2122 post Digital Technology Use Continuance Intention 11.0

12.0

11.5

12.0

Perceived Usefulness

28.0

30.0

26.5

29.5

Perceived Competence

33.0

39.0

34.0

38.0

Perceived Relatedness

24.0

26.0

23.5

26.0

Perceived Autonomy

24.0

27.0

25.0

29.0

Perceived Regulatory Style

28.0

30.0

29.0

28.0

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Fig. 1. Boxplots of Perceived Competence, Relatedness and Autonomy (left to right) in winter term 2020/21 (first line) and 2021/22 (second line)

Digital Technology Use Continuance Intention. For our first cohort, we found that after the course the majority of students tended to choose a more moderate evaluation compared to the start of the course when there were more “over-confident” and “unmotivated” students. The following year showed a great frustration of the 25% of students with the highest agreement. Their sum score at the end of the term compared to the beginning had dropped onto the third quartile, while the lower 75% of the distribution did not change. Perceived Usefulness. Students in the first cohort found that their productivity was increasing, if they started on a low level of productivity, whereas already productive students showed no increase. Specifically, we observe that the “lowest 50%” can be reached well, whereas the participants that originally agreed did not increase their level of agreement. The following year showed that all students perceived learning about aspects on digitalisation in the course useful. Further, the overall distribution of sum scores shows a shift towards higher scores after the course as opposed to the beginning. Perceived Competence. We found that students’ perceived competence in using digital technology, mastery through practice and their perception of learning new competences in distant learning in the first cohort gained strong support at the end of the course compared to the beginning. These items were also weakly significant in a logistic model.

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The boxplots of the sum score (see Fig. 1) show a clear increase of the students’ perceived competence. 75% of the students feel at least as competent after the course as the 25% most competent felt before the course. Compared to the cohort of the previous year, all students started already with a higher self-perceived level of competence in the second cohort. Perceived Relatedness. Here, we observe a clear disillusionment of the students in the first cohort. The 25% most “enthusiastic” students regarding the overall relatedness have the maximum score reduced by 6 score points, feeling widely less related afterwards than they did before. The following year showed a completely different behaviour. The answer categories of all questions, as well as the sum score, show a clear increase up until the top 75% with the top 25% staying the same with the exception of one outlier. Perceived Autonomy. Regarding perceived autonomy, again we observe in the first cohort that the “worst” 25% could be reached well and had their minimum score doubled from 10 to 20 with the exception of 2 outliers. In the following year, we observe a shift towards higher agreement scores for the whole cohort with a slight increase of variability. While the lowest 25% could not be reached as positively as in the year before, the best quartile showed a clear increase. The median score after the course is located at the 75% quantile of the beginning. Regulatory Style. Students’ intrinsic motivation for handling digital technology and content has not been affected at all. Compared to the previous year, in the second cohort we see a clear shift of awareness that not possessing any digital competences will cause troubles in their future academic and job life. Other than that, we still observe that students’ intrinsic motivation for digital technologies was unaffected by the course showing the same distribution of intrinsically and extrinsically motivated students before and afterwards. 4.3

Correlation and Factor Analysis

Digital Media Use Continuance Intention. The optimal result is not to split the 3 questions of the smallest content-related group of questions, as they already fit well together (represented by high correlation) and represent a single aspect. Perceived Usefulness. For perceived usefulness, we considered two plausible options of factor analysis. The cruder FA split the question into two factors only. One of them covered the aspect of learning for themselves as well as for future students, while the other covered efficiency and usefulness. When performing a FA with three factors, we found the “learning” factor again, but the second

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Fig. 2. Correlograms of the questions regarding perceived usefulness and perceived relatedness

factor split into “efficiency” and “usefulness” as two different aspects. Without the factor analysis, this would have been lost to us, as the correlogram in Fig. 2 shows that almost all questions have a high correlation with each other. Perceived Competence. According to our factor analysis with 3 factors, we found three different aspects of competence in the students’ minds: Firstly, abilities which they had gained through practical work. Secondly, the expected future use of these abilities and the competence to obtain further competences in the future. Thirdly, the feeling of being not competent enough which arose as an independent aspect orthogonally complementing the other aspects. Perceived Relatedness. Two main aspects of relatedness to their peers arose as the main driving factors. On the one hand, the factor of mutual sympathy for their peers contained the positive aspects of relatedness. On the other hand, the factor of peer pressure and the necessity to bide to social norms enforced by others contained the negative aspects of relatedness. The correlogram in Fig. 2 already shows which questions are correlated and how the division into factors will happen. Perceived Autonomy. Analogously to perceived usefulness, we considered two plausible options of factor analysis. Again we performed cruder FA splitting the questions into two factors only. Here, we found the two dominating aspects to be “freedom of making decisions” and an “emotional component” linked with questions containing the phrase “I feel”. When conducting the factor analysis with three factors, we found these two main aspects as the two most relevant factors again. Yet, in addition we found the ability to influence others and oneself as a relevant aspect regarding the perception of autonomy.

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Regulatory Style. Here, we performed a factor analysis with 3 factors finding that 3 aspects drive students towards wanting to acquire digital competences. The strongest factor is the extrinsic motivation of their university or future job requiring them to have these skills. The second strongest factor is the opinion of others, their peers, professors, future employers etc. Only the third factor contains intrinsic motivation.

5

Discussion

Before further investigating our findings, we admit that naturally a bias occurs due the students’ self-reporting. Therefore, we do not know with absolute certainty, whether the “least agreeing” students were actually reached by the course or simply dropped out of the course and therefore were not illegible for the questionnaire after the course. Considering RQ1, we can state that participating in the course in both terms did bring about an increase in students’ perceived competence in both terms. In the second cohort, students from the least to the most competent report a perceived increase of competence. In the second cohort, students report an increase of perceived relatedness, as opposed to the first, where some students even state a decrease of perceived relatedness. The two factors arising in the FA of relatedness may explain the rather disappointing decrease of perceived interpersonal relatedness observed for out first cohort. Relatedness is not only linked to mutual sympathy as a positive aspect, but also to peer pressure as a negative aspect which was increasingly perceived by students during the course in our first cohort. In the second term, based on the experiences made during the first term, the course was better prepared for and geared towards online learning and furthering online interactions and thus provided for more opportunities to connect with others via (moderated) discussions and online group work. This can also explain why less peer pressure formed in the second term as students interacted more with one another rather than just worked together towards assignments. In the first cohort, students that perceived themselves as less autonomous with regards to digitalisation and digital technology use showed more increase in their self-directedness than others. This can be explained by this group being generally forced to adapt to using digital tools in a variety of settings due to the pandemic. In the second cohort, participants that felt more autonomous could be supported more in their self-directedness. This might be due to an increase in confidence and ability with regard to online distance learning built over more than a year by both lecturers and students. While slight to moderate increases in perceived competence, relatedness and autonomy could be found, course participation had no apparent effect on students’ perceived motivational regulatory style. More specifically, we could observe in both cohorts that rather intrinsically motivated students still appear intrinsically motivated at the end of the course, whereas those rather motivated extrinsically also do not change their attitude. Students in both cohorts felt

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moderately autonomous and related. According to Organismic Integration Theory (OIT) as part of SDT, shifts from external to internal motivation through internalization are fostered through high autonomy and relatedness. Although the perceived acquisition of competence increased from before the pandemic to the first cohort of students who had experienced a year of online emergency teaching as their only option, the students felt less intrinsically motivated and rather pressed by external means - their peers as much as their future employers, educators and society itself. Digital technology use continuance intentions of students appear not to be facilitated by course participation. The results of the post-test in the first cohort could be linked to students’ more realistic evaluation of digital technology use that they reached through critical reflection. Also in the second cohort, highly enthusiastic students became more moderate in their evaluation. Yet, no changes in scores of less enthusiastic students could be found. This is not surprising as the course’s learning goals are clearly oriented towards furthering critical understanding and reflection of digital technology rather than teaching digital technology use.

6

Conclusion

Summarising our findings, we could observe that attending a course on aspects of digitalisation and digital media use raised students’ awareness to acquire competences in this field, possibly by confronting them with situations, digital media or exercises which they had never experienced before. Especially students with a low expectation regarding digital media’s usefulness could be reached during teacher training and their perceived usefulness and productivity be raised. However, for the already competent ones a peek was reached where they did not perceive further change in efficiency. Regarding perceived competence, the majority of the lower 75% could report a clear increase which speaks for the course communicating these contents well. Of course, as this is self-selected, we do not know about the attitude of those who chose not to answer or drop out of the course, but we could observe a similar behaviour in two independent cohorts of different years and thus consider a basic trend can be considered as valid. An interesting aspect is that the students who will become future teachers and thus role models for generations increasingly came to realise that the utilisation of digital media provided for greater autonomy, as opposed to a loss of autonomy - especially reaching the sceptics in this regard. Still, others might be lost due to course drop-out. The course could not change people’s motivation to learn and acquire new skills in the digital field to intrinsic from purely extrinsic, such as satisfying expectations of their future boss, university educators or peers. Future options to extend this study include the analysis of surveys from several additional course in the past winter terms and summer term 2022 which extend the student cohort beyond teacher training. Additionally, we intend to

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adapt the course setting in such a way that more autonomy and relatedness can be fostered, e.g. through further project or team work. Also, the change from 2 terms of online learning to a combination of an online and an offline setting could provide a more beneficial environment for facilitating students’ relatedness. Additionally, we want to provide more choices between digital tools and of project topics in order to support students’ autonomy. Acknowledgments. We want to thank all students that participated in our surveys!

References 1. Azadvar, A., Canossa, A.: UPEQ: ubisoft perceived experience questionnaire: a self-determination evaluation tool for video games. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, pp. 1–7 (2018) 2. Bellanca, J., Brandt, R. (eds.): 21st Century Skills: Rethinking How Students Learn. Bloomington (2010) 3. Brandhofer, G., et al.: Das digi.kompP Kompetenzmodell. (2016). http://www. virtuelle-ph.at/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/digi.kompP-Langversion Final.pdf. Accessed 05 Nov 2021 4. Brookfield, S.: Learning democratic reason: The adult education project of J¨ urgen Habermas. Teach. Coll. Record 107(6), 1127–1168 (2005) 5. Cobb, P., Confrey, J., diSessa, A., Lehrer, R., Schauble, L.: Design experiments in educational research. Educ. Res. 32(1), 9–13 (2003) 6. Davies, A., Fidler, D., Gorbis, M.: Future Work Skills 2020. Institute for the Future for the University of Phoenix Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA (2011) 7. Deci, E.L., Ryan, R.M. (eds.): Handbook of Self-determination Research. University Rochester Press (2004) 8. Deci, E.L., Ryan, R.M.: Intrinsic Motivation and Selfdetermination in Human Behavior. Plenum, New York (1985) 9. Dindler, C., Smith, R., Iversen, O.S.: Computational empowerment: participatory design in education. CoDesign 16(1), 66–80 (2020) 10. Euler, D., Sloane, Peter F. E.: Design-Based Research. Franz Steiner Verlag (2014). https://elibrary.steiner-verlag.de/book/99.105010/9783515108416 11. Gnambs, T., Hanfstingl, B.: A differential item functioning analysis of the German academic self-regulation questionnaire for adolescents. Eur. J. Psychol. Assess. 30(4), 251 (2014) 12. Iversen, O.S., Smith, R.C., Dindler, C.: From computational thinking to computational empowerment: a 21st century PD agenda. In Proceedings of the 15th Participatory Design Conference: Full Papers-Volume 1, pp. 1–11 (2018) 13. Likert, R.: A technique for the measurements of attitudes. Arch. Psychol. 140(22), 5–55 (1932) 14. Mezirow, J.: Transformative learning: theory to practice. New Direct. Adult Contin. Educ. 1997(74), 5–12 (1997) 15. OECD: Innovating to Learn, Learning to Innovate. (2008). https://www.oecd.org/ education/ceri/innovatingtolearnlearningtoinnovate.htm. Accessed 08 Nov 2021 16. R Core Team: R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria (2021). https://www.R-project. org/. Accessed 30 May 2022

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17. Revelle, W.: psych: procedures for Psychological, Psychometric, and Personality Research. R package version 2.2.5, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (2022). https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=psych 18. Roca, J.C., Gagn´e, M.: Understanding e-learning continuance intention in the workplace: a self-determination theory perspective. Comput. Hum. Behav. 24(4), 1585–1604 (2008) 19. Ryan, R.M., Deci E.L.: Self-Determination Theory. Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness. The Guilford Press, London (2018) 20. Sørebø, Ø., Halvari, H., Gulli, V.F., Kristiansen, R.: The role of self-determination theory in explaining teachers’ motivation to continue to use e-learning technology. Comput. Educ. 53(4), 1177–1187 (2009) 21. Widdersheim, M. M.: Critical communicative pedagogy: framing critical pedagogy with the theory of communicative action. Making Connect. 14(2) (2013) 22. Williams, G.C., Deci, E.L.: Internalization of biopsychosocial values by medical students: a test of self-determination theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70, 767–779 (1996). Perceived Competence Score, in:

Digital Transformation of Teaching and Perception at TU Graz from the Students’ Perspective: Developments from the Last 17 Years Martin Ebner(B) , Bettina Mair , Christoph De Marinis, Hannes Müller, Walther Nagler , Sandra Schön , and Stefan Thurner Graz University of Technology, Münzgrabenstr. 36/I, 8010 Graz, Austria [email protected]

Abstract. The use of digital technologies in teaching to make it more varied, better, more diverse, or even more accessible is being pursued systematically at many universities. This article shows the developments in the digital transformation of teaching at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) over the last 17 years. In the process, the various activities of Graz University of Technology and of the central department of teaching and learning technologies about the digital transformation of teaching and its focus and change during this period are described in the form of a workshop report. The consequences and developments of the Covid-19 pandemic on digital transformation efforts are also addressed. This is contrasted with results of two students’ surveys from 2014 (N = 1,502 complete questionnaires) and 2021 (N = 1,386 complete questionnaires). Within this contribution, the authors use the survey’s data to assess how students’ attitudes towards technology-enhanced teaching were changing at TU Graz. Mean indices were created to be able to compare the two surveys. This shows that despite the less good experience with teaching at TU Graz during the pandemic the attitude towards digital teaching is relatively satisfying. Nevertheless, the authors point out that the students clearly indicate that digital (distance) learning has a negative impact on communication between students and teachers as well as between students themselves, and that measures would be desirable here. Keywords: University teaching · Technology-enhanced learning · Digital transformation · Organizational development

1 Introduction: Digital Transformation of Teaching in Higher Education At universities, changes due to digitalization have immense effects concerning study content and society’s digital competences (Jørgensen 2019). Digitalization as well effects research methods and administration at universities. Additionally, and this is the focus of this article, learning and teaching got influenced by digitalization as well: Numerous teaching formats use or are based on technologies. The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 366–377, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_34

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have forced many universities to switch to distance learning with digital technologies, at least for weeks at a time (Ebner et al. 2020). Universities are not at the mercy of developments but are shapers of the situation. When speaking of such strategic developments, the term “digital transformation” is often used. It is then part of the active goal setting and process support for future-oriented higher education policy (Seufert et al. 2019). Digital transformation in (higher) education is thereby “the totality of activities and processes and also the result of the comprehensive dissemination and use of a (new) digital technology to support learning and teaching at (higher) education institutions and the associated necessary competence development” (Ebner 2021, p. 4, own translation). From our perspective, the participation of users and stakeholders in the design, development and decision-making processes is central (see Ebner 2021). This article will describe the developments in the digital transformation of teaching at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) over the last 17 years, including the perspective of the students.

2 Digital Transformation of (University) Teaching from Students’ Perspective Digitalization of learning environments leads to a multitude of necessities and changes. One of the most conclusive effects of digital transformation is the improvement of the underlying IT infrastructure. Because without the needed technological equipment, the use of many formats or features is still limited. However, research suggests that this process is only of secondary importance. For supporting a better use of these technologies, a first step must be a centralization of information, knowledge, and expertise in the field of digital teaching (Thoring et al. 2018). Therefore, lecturers demand a central institution for all services like support, information, and advice. On the other hand, students can have completely different needs and perceptions when it comes to a digital transformation in their learning environment. Studies like Yureva et al. (2020) suggest that the success of students adopting digital transformation is often directly dependent on teachers’ ability to maneuver their course through a digital environment. Hervás-Gómez et al. (2021) conducted a study, where they investigated the perceptions of students on the shift to online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. Overall, the researchers could measure a positive correlation between digital pedagogy, student motivation and environments, but these results come with some caveats. Most participants answered that they were very satisfied with the online format, that the switching to distance learning was easy and that they could retain a high motivation and good results. However, there were also some students, who felt discouraged and missed the interaction with their classmates in real life. The researchers admitted that this feeling could have been increased by the overall situation with lockdowns and other measures to fight the pandemic. Alhubaishy and Aljuhani (2020) showed that factors like learning performance, lack of access to resources, and fear of change are perceived as the most challenging aspects when it comes to digital transformation. Overall, these studies imply that there is a strong need to further improve the ecosystem of digital pedagogy. It is necessary to “develop digital skills, to share good practices, to recognize teaching merits and to develop coherent institutional strategies where technology continues to be incorporated” (Hervás-Gómez et al. pp. 9, 2021). It can be

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stated that students have different opinions about digital transformation depending on the infrastructure of the university and their teachers’ capability to use digitalization successfully. Therefore, increasing the digital competence of lecturers and institutions is one major conclusion of many students.

3 Research Questions and Research Approach This paper explores three research questions: 1. How have strategies for technology-enhanced learning been developed at TU Graz since 2005? 2. How do students at TU Graz perceive these efforts over the years, so in 2014 and in 2021? 3. (How) do e-learning attitudes of TU Graz students change from 2014 to 2021? To answer the first question, we describe the development and strategies around the implementation of technology-enhanced learning and teaching at TU Graz university by referring to internal documents as well publications that describe the development and results (Ebner et al. 2020; Ebner 2021). As the original literature is partly available in German, this is the first English overview of the development and TU Graz digital transformation in teaching strategies of the last 17 years. To answer the second and third questions, the paper presents a new analysis of a students’ survey from the year 2014 (N = 1,502 complete questionnaires), which was already partly published in Ebner et al. (2015). The survey in 2014 was conducted as an input for the development of the e-learning strategy published in 2015, which is now, 6 years later, still the current. Students were asked to participate in the online survey within three weeks in November to December 2014. Questions relevant to this paper are questions about e-learning use, e.g., how often and for how long various online offerings are used for learning and studying. In addition, there are questions about attitudes towards e-learning and digital teaching, e.g., questions about the effects of e-learning on my learning and studying, as well as an assessment of the scope of e-learning now and in the future. In 2021, a similar university-wide online survey amongst students (N = 1,386 complete questionnaires) was conducted which includes again some of the questions concerning the e-learning situation at TU Graz. Here, relevant questions relate to the use of online offers for the start of studies. There were also several questions about Covid-19 and digital teaching: questions were asked about the experience of teaching and examining in connection with Covid-19, the challenges of implementing the Covid-19 measures, the extent to which various tools and learning platforms are used in courses, and attitudes towards digital teaching. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis methods. Because the questions and items differed slightly in 2014 and 2021, mean indices were calculated to compare the 2014 and 2021 data. Due to space constraints, we will provide the descriptive statistics of the mean indices, among others, in a supplementary manner (Ebner et al. 2022).

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4 The Development of the Strategic Implementation of Digital Transformation in Teaching at TU Graz In spring 2022, Graz University of Technology counts around 13,700 students and 2,800 lecturers teaching and researching in technical research fields ranging from architecture to computer science (TU Graz 2022). E-learning played a minor role about 20 years ago and has only gradually gained in importance. In Fig. 1 we have compiled and reconstructed how this development took place at Graz University of Technology since about 2006. This reconstruction is possible mainly because two co-authors were amongst the working group at Graz University of Technology in the year 2006, whose task was to work on the topic and under whose leadership the current organizational unit Educational Technologies gradually developed. We used as well as relevant archived documents as well as published papers about parts of these developments.

Fig. 1. Overview about development measures (left) of the current Educational Technologies unit (left), relevant TU Graz strategies strategic papers (right) and strategies and publications of the Educational Technology unit (middle) within the last 17 years

In 2006, the working group on e-learning at Graz University of Technology was founded, which at that time was assigned to the unit IT Service. The first strategy practiced around 2006 focused on the establishment of the first large information systems as well as their training and continuous further development. In addition, it was important to observe new educational technologies and to test their use. As a further consequence, this working group developed into the independent, present-day Educational Technology unit. In 2013, the unit leader published a paper where important fields of action are described: higher education policy framework conditions such as study and examination regulations, technical infrastructures, and competence development of teachers and students (Ebner 2013). In 2014, the strategy for the use of educational technologies was to be revised. A three-pronged approach was described (Ebner et al. 2015): Brainstorming and discussion with stakeholders in the university, status analysis and comparison with e-learning activities and strategies of universities in German speaking Europe and a survey amongst students concerning their (urgent) needs. Based on these results and the “Strategy for Academic Affairs” published in 2015 by the responsible Vice-Rectorate for Academic Affairs, the Unit’s “E-Learning Strategy” was also developed in 2015 (TU

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Graz 2015): The focus of this strategy is on the students’ life cycle which should be assisted in all ways - from school children (maybe future students) to lifelong learnings (coming back to the university). According to this principle every unit builds upon their own strategy. Of course, the unit “Educational Technology” supports all phases of the life cycle with technology but can be bundled in their activities. Nine fields of action of the organizational unit were described (cf. Ebner et al. 2015) and includes the mention of open educational resources, an incentive system as well as (own) research and innovation projects. Even though the strategy was described for the period from 2015 to 2018, the fields of action are still the same today and can be found in the strategy 2018–2024 (TU Graz 2018). However, the concrete design and the topics have changed over the years. One example of a change in activities is the completion of work on so-called “personal learning environments” (Taraghi et al. 2009). The growing importance of the topic is reflected not least in the continuous expansion of the team and the tasks of the organizational unit. The development and adaptation of the strategy is also now taking place much more broadly, most recently through the launch of the “Digital TU Graz” initiative in 2019. This is a strategic project that has focused on all digitization processes at the university and lies with the Vice Rectorate for Digitisation (Ebner 2021). Idea workshops with students and teachers were introduced here, which also provided results for the unit. One example of such a result from a students’ workshop is the implementation of a students’ dashboard (Leitner et al. 2021). About the development of the strategy, it should be mentioned that a combination of the classic top-down approach and the bottom-up approach is represented, especially through the involvement of stakeholders (see Ebner 2021). Now, the Educational Technology unit is organized into five groups responsible for instructional design and learning experience design (LXD), video creation, recording and streaming, IT projects and research, technical infrastructure, as well as management and administration of the organizational unit. The fields of action (see Sect. 4.1) remain the same. A description of how digital transformation of teaching is supported at Graz University of Technology shows which measures are directly effective for teachers and students (see Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Overview of strategies and activities to promote digital transformation in the field of teaching at TU Graz. Translated figure, originally Ebner 2021, Fig. 4, p. 11.

The organizational unit provides teachers with a wide range of materials and offers and ensures support for the digital transformation of teaching at TU Graz through committee work, co-development of strategies and programs (see Dennerlein et al. 2020). A special feature of the work of the organizational unit is the topic of open educational

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resources, highlighted within the OER policy (TU Graz 2020). In this context, since 2014 the organizational unit is also responsible for providing the Austria-wide MOOC platform iMooX.at (Ebner 2021). The platform and courses are also used in the context of lectures within Austrian universities and beyond). In 2020, Graz University of Technology was also surprised by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The repeated phases of distance teaching, which have now already lasted several months, have led to some changes in prerequisites and needs in all Austrian higher education institutions (Pausits et al. 2021). In autumn 2021, the technical infrastructure at TU Graz was adapted to the new challenges (Ebner 2021). Due to the great demand, which exceeded the individual support that was always possible before, the LLT team quickly created many handouts (tutorials and videos). All teachers have now experienced online teaching knowledge as teachers, which in turn has led to an adaptation of the content of further training and counseling. In September 2021 an ordinance was passed for new regulations on the use of e-learning, which allows teachers to conduct their teaching exclusively online as far as possible (TU Graz 2021b, §28b, 4; own translation). Among the positive improvements resulting from the university closures and distance learning phases, the improvement of the infrastructure for distance learning, the increase in competences among teachers and students, didactic-methodological developments (e.g., open-book examinations) and the framework conditions can be stated (Ebner 2021). Negative developments must include dropouts and developments in the conduct of examinations that are problematic in terms of data protection and ethics, as well as a juxtaposition and confusion of digital tools for communication and teaching (Ebner 2021). All together this leads into an actual strategy development especially in educational technology. The new circumstances are now the driver for an update, which will be down through the next year with the help of stakeholders, expert interviews and workshops amongst lecturers and students.

5 Students’ Perspective on E-Learning in 2014 Figure 3 shows that more than half of the students (53.6%) can identify an e-learning strategy of TU Graz in 2014. Nevertheless 46.3% do not really recognize any strategy concerning e-learning and about half of the students only partly feel sufficiently informed about the offers. Most participants do not think that the use of e-learning at TU Graz requires a special training. In 2014, several questions were asked about technology-supported teaching at Graz University of Technology, e.g., about the learning management system TeachCenter or the motivation to use online offers. A mean index for attitudes towards e-learning and digital teaching was formed from 13 items (see Fig. 4). The mean index has a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.868 and the descriptive statistics of the index are presented in (Ebner et al. 2022, Table 1). A value of 1 means that “agree” was selected for all 13 statements, a value of 4 means that “disagree” was selected for all 13 statements. Both extremes occur in our survey. The lower the value of a person, the more positive their attitude towards e-learning, the higher the value, the more negative it is. The mean and the median of the distribution with an approximate value of 2 and the right-skewed distribution indicate that most respondents have a positive attitude. Correlations of the mean index with other

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Fig. 3. Students attitude concerning e-learning.

variables show that neither age, nor gender, nor occupation, nor the number of semesters a person has studied so far correlate with the attitude towards e-learning and digital teaching (Ebner et al. 2022, Table 2). The only variable that shows a significant negative correlation with the attitude towards e-learning is the extent to which a person uses e-learning offerings. Personal use is also measured by a mean index (Cronbach’s alpha 0.820) based on a series of items about personal use of e-learning offerings in 2014. For each of the items, the frequency and the extent of use were queried: TU Graz TeachCenter, recordings (videos or live streams) of courses at TU Graz, mobile applications (apps) of TU Graz, offerings at TU Graz institute homepages, cloud systems, social networks, and online courses (except TU Graz TeachCenter). The higher the value of the index, the higher the extent of use. The correlations in Table 2 shows that a greater extent of use goes hand in hand with a more positive attitude towards e-learning and digital teaching (r = −.398**).

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Fig. 4. Responses to the items of the mean index “attitudes towards e-learning and digital teaching” 2014

6 Students’ Perspective on E-Learning in 2021 In the 2021 survey there was no question whether an e-learning strategy is evident at TU Graz or whether there is a need for training in e-learning offerings, but the students clearly expressed a different need in this survey. In Fig. 5 the great desire for the use of uniform tools is evident: 85% of the students would like this. Likewise, the need for clarification on where to turn to in case of IT problems is evident in the 2021 survey. Students’ Attitude Concerning E-Learning. In total, there are 8 items in the 2021 survey that can be assigned to the students’ attitudes towards e-learning and digital teaching (see Fig. 6). To be able to compare the data of the two years with each other, a mean index was created here as well. In the comparison of the items, the lack of or poorer communication in digital teaching is noticeable. As with the 2014 mean index, a value of 1 means that “agree” was selected for all 8 statements, a value of 4 means that “disagree”

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Fig. 5. Responses to items concerning e-learning strategy 2021

was selected for all 8 statements. The descriptive statistics show a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.802 (see Ebner et al. 2022, Table 3), same mean and median and again a right-skewed distribution, i.e., most respondents have a positive attitude.

Fig. 6. Responses to the items of the mean index “attitudes towards digital teaching” 2021

Students’ Experiences with Teaching Within the Covid-19 Pandemic. In the 2021 survey several Questions were asked about the situation during and due to the university closures in the Covid-19 pandemic. Regarding these experiences another mean index was formed based on 9 items of the survey (the negatively worded items were reversed). The descriptive statistics of the mean index (Cronbach’s alpha 0.808; Ebner et al. 2022, Table 4) show a slightly left-skewed distribution. So, on average, there are more negative

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than positive evaluations here. Here, too, correlations with other variables from the 2021 survey were calculated. As in 2014, gender, number of semesters, age and occupation do not correlate or hardly correlate with the two indices. There is a very low significant correlation between age (the older the more positive) as well as occupation and attitude towards e-learning (employed people tend to have a more positive attitude). However, both are low correlations. There is, however, a fairly strong positive correlation between the two indices: This means that good experiences regarding teaching during Covid-19 go hand in hand with a positive attitude towards digital teaching (r =,512**, see Ebner et al. 2022, Table 5).

7 Comparison of E-Learning Attitudes 2014 und 2021 Some of the items in the 2014 and 2021 questionnaires were identical or similar (see Ebner et al. 2022, Fig. 1). However, we must note here already that the understanding of “e-learning” in 2014 has probably changed significantly to that of distance learning in 2021. The comparison shows students’ attitudes towards e-learning are improving in relation to the organization of studies and the improvement of teaching in general - except for the statements relating to communication. Here, the students experience a deterioration. The formation of the indices allows us to compare the e-learning attitudes of students in 2014 and 2021 as well: In Table 1, we have divided the indices into three groups for this purpose, with values from 1 to 2 being positive; 2.01 to 2.99 balanced; 3 to 4 negative. The proportions in terms of general attitude hardly differ in 2014 and 2021, although about one third of the people experienced the teaching during Covid-19 negatively. Table 1. Comparison of the three indices: attitudes concerning e-learning and digital learning 2014 and 2021 and “Covid-19: Experiences with teaching” Attitude e-learning and digital teaching

Covid-19: teaching experiences

2014

2021

Positive

47.9%

51.1%

20.3%

Balanced

44.7%

40.8%

49.2%

Negative

7.4%

8.1%

30.6%

Results already indicated that a greater extent of use goes hand in hand with a more positive attitude towards e-learning and digital teaching. The cross-tabulation in Table 2 with the indices of attitude 2021 and Covid-19 show again that more positive experiences with teaching during Covid-19 are associated with more positive attitudes towards digital teaching.

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Table 2. Contingency table of the two indices: attitudes concerning digital learning 2021 and “Covid-19: Experiences with teaching” Digital teaching attitude Covid-19 Teaching Experience

Total

Positive

Balanced

Negative

Positive

83.0%

14.3%

2.7%

Balanced

52.6%

41.7%

5.7%

100.0%

Negative

26.5%

56.7%

16.8%

100.0%

100.0%

8 Discussion and Outlook The article compares the strategic developments around e-learning at Graz University of Technology with the feedback and attitudes of the students. Regarding our analysis, it should of course be critically noted here that the questionnaire was not designed for the development of the indices presented here. The survey date of 2021, after another month-long distance learning situation and severe restrictions may also need to be considered. Before this background, it is nevertheless noticeable that although some students had bad experiences with distance teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic the attitude towards e-learning and digital teaching in 2021 is similarly positive as in 2014. This probably must be seen in the light of the described relatively long-standing development and implementation of e-learning activities at Graz University of Technology, which also showed a comparatively good ability to cope with the Covid-19 challenges (Ebner et al. 2020). It should be considered that e-learning in 2014 still meant enriching and supplementing classroom teaching, while digital teaching in 2021 refers to digital distance learning. At the same time, it shows that the - rather bad - experiences of students during the Covid-19 pandemic probably influenced attitudes towards digital teaching, but not negatively in every case. Particularly for the development of future measures, there is a clear need to improve the communication structures and the concrete use by teachers and students, as far as this is possible in a distance setting or can be experienced as successful communication at all.

References Alhubaishy, A., Aljuhani, A.: The challenges of instructors’ and students’ attitudes in digital transformation: a case study of Saudi Universities. Educ. Inf. Technol. 26(4), 4647–4662 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10491-6 Dennerlein, S.M., Pammer-Schindler, V., Ebner, M., Getzinger, G., Ebner, M.: Designing a sandpitand co-design-informed innovation process for scaling TEL research in higher education. In: Entwicklungen, Chancen und Herausforderungen der Digitalisierung (2020). https://doi.org/ 10.30844/wi_2020_s4-dennerlein Ebner, M.: E-Learning - Alles nur technologie? Zeitschrift für Medienpädagogik (merz) 57(5), 39–44 (2013) Ebner, M., et al.: Digital transformation of teaching and perception at TU Graz from the students’ perspective. supplementary evaluations and tables [Data set]. Graz University of Technology (2022). https://doi.org/10.3217/8h9b3-18v14

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Ebner, M., Nagler, W., Schön, M.: Architecture students hate Twitter and love dropbox” or does the field of study correlates with web 2.0 behavior? In: Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2013, Chesapeake, VA, pp. 43–53. AACE (2013) Ebner, M.: iMooX - a MOOC platform for all (universities). In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Electrical, Electronics and Information Engineering (ICEEIE), 2021, pp. 1–5 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICEEIE52663.2021.9616685 Ebner, M., et al: COVID-19 epidemic as e-learning boost? Chronological development and effects at an Austrian University against the background of the concept of “e-learning readiness. Future Internet 12, 94 (2020). https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/12/6/94 Ebner, M., Schön, M., Nagler, W.: Was sagen die Studierenden zur e-learning-Strategie der Hochschule? Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung 10, 2 (2015). https://zfhe.at/index.php/ zfhe/article/view/823 Hervás-Gómez, C., Díaz-Noguera, M.D., la Calle-Cabrera, D., María, A., Guijarro-Cordobés, O.: Perceptions of university students towards digital transformation during the pandemic. Educ. Sci. 11(11), 738 (2021) Jørgensen, T.: Digital Skills: Where Universities Matter. Learning and Teaching Paper #7. European University Association (2019). https://eua.eu/downloads/publications/digital%20skills% 20%20where%20universities%20matter.pdf Leitner, P., Ebner, M., Geisswinkler, H., Schön, S.: Visualization of learning for students: a dashboard for study progress – development, design details, implementation, and user feedback. In: Sahin, M., Ifenthaler, D. (eds.) Visualizations and Dashboards for Learning Analytics. AALT, pp. 423–437. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81222-5_19 Pausits, A., et al.: Distance learning an österreichischen Universitäten und Hochschulen im Sommersemester 2020 und Wintersemester 2020/21. Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung, Wien (2021) Seufert, S., Guggemos, J., Moser, L.: Digitale Transformation in Hochschulen: auf dem Weg zu offenen Ökosystemen, In: Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung, Bd. 14 Nr. 2 (2019). https:// zfhe.at/index.php/zfhe/article/view/1214 Taraghi, B., Ebner, M., Schaffert, S.: Personal learning environment for higher education - a MashUp based widget concept. In: Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Mashup Personal Learning Environments (MUPPLE09), Nice, France, vol. 506 (2009). ISSN 1613-0073. http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-506/ Thoring, A., Rudolph, D., Vogl, R.: The digital transformation of teaching in higher education from an academic’s point of view: an explorative study. In: Zaphiris, P., Ioannou, A. (eds.) LCT 2018. LNCS, vol. 10924, pp. 294–309. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978-3-319-91743-6_23 TU Graz: Strategie zu technologiegestütztem Lehren und Lernen 2015–2018 von Martin Ebner, Abteilungsleiter Vernetztes Lernen, ZID, TU Graz (2015) TU Graz: Strategie zu technologiegestütztem Lehren und Lernen 2018–2024 von Martin Ebner, Abteilungsleiter Lehr- und Lerntechnologien, Vizerektorat Lehre, TU Graz (2018) TU Graz: TU Graz at a glance (2022). https://www.tugraz.at/en/tu-graz/university/tu-graz-at-aglance/. Accessed 25 Apr 2022 Technische Universität Graz: Richtlinie des Rektorats und des Senats zu: Virtuelle Lehre an der Technischen Universität Graz. TU Graz: RL 94000 VILE 078-01. 2017 (2017) Yureva, O.V., Burganova, L.A., Kukushkina, O.Y., Syradoev, D.V., Myagkov, G.P.: Digital transformation and its risks in higher education: Students’ and teachers’ attitude (2020)

Towards Virtualizing Structural Engineering Education Michael Reichmann, Joerg Stoerzel(B) , and Andreas Daniel Hartl Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Villach, Austria {m.reichmann,j.stoerzel,a.hartl}@fh-kaernten.at

Abstract. The digitalization of teaching has been accelerated recently, in particular due to the challenges posed by the Corona crisis. While courses without physical activity can be usually converted to an online format using learning platforms, laboratory courses, due to their interactive nature, are notably harder to digitalize. This work is concerned with digitalizing a specific practical universitylevel course in the field of Civil Engineering, using real-time Multimedia Technology. This course requires to transfer knowledge with both a temporal and spatial aspect in order to complete an experiment. After considering the available options for digitalization, a prototype for an interactive virtual learning environment is constructed, featuring two different user interfaces. The results of a subsequent evaluation with students suggest that the type of selection mechanism can influence their information intake, depending on the nature of the skills to be transferred. Keywords: Digitalization · Civil engineering · BIM · Virtual learning environment · User interface design

1 Introduction The digital transformation, which is not just restricted to education, offers the opportunity for completely new forms of knowledge transfer. Furthermore, the establishment of digital technologies can also be seen as having the potential to make teaching more efficient, sustainable, accessible, multilingual, and economical. In the course of the Corona crisis, this approach gained further relevance, as it can also make teaching independent of time and space. The digital transformation of teaching in the field of construction is proceeding relatively slowly compared to the application of digital tools in the industry. In particular, a distinction is made between the digitization of construction as teaching content and the digital transformation of construction teaching [1, 2]. From a Civil Engineering (CE) perspective, digitalization is not just applicable within the field but also as a valid teaching approach. For some years, Building Information Modelling or Management (BIM) has been the flagship of the digital transformation in the building industry [3, 4]. Among other things, BIM technology facilitates the holistic understanding of complex construction models or processes compared to conventional approaches. Therefore, BIM should not just be taught to students as a new digital methodology for their later practice of CE, but beyond that, BIM should also be used in the © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 378–389, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_35

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future as a digital didactic methodology to facilitate the students’ comprehension of a wider variety of more complex content [2]. This is especially applicable when BIM is combined with other technologies for the virtualization of information, which are particularly suitable for education. Since the beginning of industrialization, the scientific world has been researching new innovative methods to generate and intensify interaction between humans and machines. The main focus always lies in the exchange of information between them. Digitalization offers us new possibilities for processing information in a way that is more easily accessible to humans. This is precisely where the potential of digitalization for education lies.

2 Case Study on the Digitalization of Teaching in Civil Engineering Due to the aforementioned potential for digitalization in education, a consortium was formed among the university teaching staff at our institution. It consists of Civil Engineers (CE), who are primarily looking for new digital and innovative forms of knowledge transfer within their field and researchers from the engineering/IT department, exploring new research fields and areas of application for Multimedia Technology (MMT). The development of one of these approaches is described below. The goal of the aforementioned consortium was not only to jointly develop and apply the corresponding technology, but also to integrate the development process itself as a practical example into the teaching of the conception of such systems. This is to ensure that the maximum possible outcome for both sides (CE and MMT) can be drawn from the extensive development and application of such systems. Initially, a subject area was sought out in CE where the potential for improvement through the implementation of the above-mentioned technology and methodology appears to be particularly large concerning criteria such as the complexity of the teaching content, the applicability of BIM, its virtualization and economic efficiency. A corresponding use case was found in the field of concrete construction. Here, the teaching content is particularly complex due to the composite construction material of steel and concrete. Through various expert discussions with teachers and students, as well as industry partners, three different levels of digitalization and virtualization were identified. The first level concerns conventional courses, such as lectures and exercises. The second level represents the practical laboratory activities and the third level the excursions to real construction sites. In this project, primarily levels one and two are being dealt with. The focus lies initially on the laboratory activities, which are, however, usually accompanied by lecture units and exercises (see Table 1). Since laboratory activities are primarily very time-consuming, time - and location-bound, and cost-, material and energy-intensive, the potential for improvement and innovation regarding digitalization and virtualization is considered greatest here compared to level one. However, this therefore also requires a higher development effort. The course, which is to be digitally transformed gradually, will be described in more detail in the following.

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Teaching method

Example

Digitalization method

Lecture

Theoretical background knowledge

Video with built-in multiple-choice tests

Exercises

Practical exercise for the calculation BIM and design of the loading test in the laboratory

Laboratory test

Creation of the test specimens and their systematic destruction with metrological monitoring to compare the calculated model behavior with the test results

BIM2V/AR, 360° videos

2.1 Course Description The course is spread over an entire semester and consists of approximately 1/5 lectures, 2/5 seminars and homework, and 2/5 laboratory activities (see Fig. 1). It begins with a lecture unit, where the entire group of participants is introduced to the necessary theoretical background. Afterwards, the students are taught in groups, partly in seminars and through homework, on how to design suitable test specimens. Especially in the planning and later evaluation of the experiments, the already mentioned BIM method is widely used. Once both the test specimens and the test execution have been planned completely digitally, the specimens can first be created and later tested in the structural laboratory. For the creation, the laboratory offers four spatially separated stations with specialized equipment, some of which have to be run through in parallel or sequentially. One begins with the creation of the formwork and the reinforcement cages as well as the mixing of the concrete. Finally, the specimens are concreted. The students are divided into groups for this. Unfortunately, the framework conditions do not allow every student to go through all the stations by themselves. After the specimen has been concreted and the needed hardening time of at least one month has passed, the test specimen can be subjected to load tests until final destruction. Both, the impact and the reaction of the tested specimens are monitored metrologically to subsequently compare the measured data on the real object with the simulated results of the digital model. The final evaluation and documentation of the experiments are revisited in groups during seminars. While in the analogue world there is a strict temporal and spatial separation between the lecture unit, practical exercise, and the laboratory activities, and all students can only follow one learning path quasi synchronously only once and in one direction, the digital transformation offers the possibility to break up this rigid scheme. 2.2 Digital Transformation of the Laboratory Processes On the part of the CE department, the laboratory operation was brought to a higher digital level using the BIM methodology. Instead of decentralized information distribution based on various documents, possibly with abstract sub-models, such as 2D drawings up to

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construction laboratory 1st station lecture hall

seminar room

theretical lectures

practical exercises

1st day

2nd day

formwork construction reinforcement cage construction

3rd station

4th station

concrete mixture

concreting the test specimens

seminar room

load test of specimens

practical exercises 5th day

2nd station 3rd day

4th day

Fig. 1. The course structured in terms of both time and space.

3D models, the data will henceforth be logically structured centrally in a BI-Model, which comes much closer to the real world both informatively and functionally than the previous level of digitalization. This model-based approach not only leads to a better digital representation of the real world through the digital one but also facilitates access for students [1, 2]. Moreover, these digital BI-Models subsequently form an important basis to virtualize the experiments and thus make them interactively experienceable. Last but not least, the students thus also learn about modern, extensively digitalized experimental techniques. However, the BIM methodology has hardly been applied to these special use cases so far. Therefore, it is not possible to revert to existing solutions; instead, large parts have to be developed by the laboratory staff themselves. However, students are actively involved in this in the form of project work and student research projects [5, 6]. In this way, one gradually works one’s way up to higher and higher levels of digitalization over time. Nevertheless, the output of this transformation process can already be actively and passively integrated into education also from a low level of digitalization to improve teaching. Parallel to this, a prototype has already been developed by MMT for a virtual learning environment (VLE), which will be discussed in more detail in the following chapters. This VLE can now be gradually enriched with digital content from the digitalization of the accompanying lectures and exercises, but above all from the laboratory operation. 2.3 Project Objective and System Requirements From CE’s point of view, the intention of this project is to gradually digitalize and virtualize this course, building on the high level of digitalization parallel implemented by CE for the laboratory activities, including using BIM, to the extent that the digitally transformed course is at least equivalent to the analogue one or even better. To this end, an interactive VLE is should be developed that can gradually replace the analogue lecture. The following system requirements were defined for this VLE: • • • • •

Digitalization and virtualization of the entire course Virtual and interactive, so that the student is encouraged to participate actively Individually selectable and evaluable learning paths Time and space independent Direct integration and utilization of data from laboratory activities

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3 Concept and Realization 3.1 Initial Considerations When researching the design and implementation of the aforementioned class, several subtasks need to be managed. At first, the actual teaching goals need to be considered. Afterwards, existing data and workflows of the laboratory experiments can be digitized, e.g. using the BIM methodology. In this way, the students also get in touch with BIM as an object of teaching through the application with the laboratory experiments. In addition, they learn about modern, largely digitalized experimental techniques. Finally, however, this also creates sufficient digital material to be able to subsequently virtualize the experiments and thus make them interactive and tangible. In the context of this project, it is desirable to not just digitize existing course-material but to incorporate different kinds of digital media, and an interactive user interface, with the goal to create added value for students. 3.2 Selection of Locations Further steps involve the design of the digital environment/application. In the lab experiment to be digitalized, information is connected to various spatial locations in the actual building. Consequently, a mechanism for selecting this information must be provided, which also considers the actual sequence of actions in the lab. An obvious option is to provide a classic 2D WIMP user interface (based on windows, icons, menus, and a pointing device) [7] because today’s users are familiar with it and well-known principles for the design are available. However, making the process more interactive could be beneficial for engaging students [8]. This could be achieved via an explorable virtual 3D world of the lab. In this case, users need to provide more specific input to reach a location. Although it might seem obvious to demand a VR solution with additional custom interactions (interactive digital twin), this would have several consequences. On the one hand, such custom interactions including a gamified setting might be desirable because novelty usually increases motivation [9], but on the other hand it requires additional development effort including a careful design of the spatial/3D user interface [10], in particular to avoid adverse effects such as cyber sickness. Finally, a WIMP user interface was selected, but also an explorable 3D world (first person camera), which provides a reasonable basis for an extension into VR. The effect of these user interfaces w.r.t. the outcome for the students’ needs to be evaluated. This seems to be a worthwhile target for investigation because it is strongly connected to the effort required to construct the solution. Generally, a simpler solution is preferable, given that it fulfills the requirements including ease of use. Above all it would be desirable to find a link between spatial position and learning success. 3.3 Handling Detail Information In general, it is desirable to implement a modular approach for handling detail information, supporting future extensions. In particular, both user interfaces for selection could

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finally display the same information. Detailed information about the required procedures per spatial location could be provided using text and images. However, this would provide no additional value compared to a course script. It seems reasonable to make proper use of the medium’s options, including the use of 360° media, which is rather popular nowadays. Furthermore, a suitable recording setup has to be produced for gathering the required media without affecting the actual experiment negatively. Then, the recorded material needs to be screened in order to extract the best available content for transporting the required knowledge. 3.4 Implementation To meet the aforementioned requirements for the VLE, a desktop application to host the intended digital course was built. The application was developed using the game engine Unity1 , which met the necessary requirements for building an interactive computer gamelike environment. Although there are other platforms available offering a VLE2,3 , the specific requirements of the course suggest the development of a custom solution, which also serves as an opportunity to gather practical experience. As the main focus of the application is the transfer of knowledge, creating a comprehensible interface in support of the content was crucial. The content is presented on five discrete screens, representing the five stations in the process covered by the course. Each station is associated with procedures, specialized equipment, knowledge and skills during the process. Both approaches, using a 2D and a 3D interface, were pursued in parallel. To ensure comparability between the two interfaces, they only differ in terms of navigation and selection of the stations. After choosing which version to use on the application’s home screen, both interfaces will lead to the same stations hosting identical content. (see Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Schematic representation of the process.

1 https://unity.com 2 https://kahoot.com 3 https://www.classvr.com

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Since the sequence of tasks, respectively the order of stations, is essential to the process taught in the course, it was also considered when designing the virtual reconstruction. Consequently, each station can only be opened when the previous station has been completed, with the obvious exception of the first one. A station gets marked as completed, when all of the included content has been viewed and the “Complete Station”-button has been pressed. The 3D Interface (see Fig. 3) was designed to resemble the on-site laboratory as an interactive 3D world, similar to a first-person shooter game. The Keys “W”, “S”, “A” and “D” allow the user to move forward, backward, left, and right, with the mouse orienting the gaze, which is a common mode of navigation in 3D computer games.

Fig. 3. 3D and 2D interface.

The stations of the process were placed at different locations in the 3D world, corresponding to the on-site locations and providing mouse-clickable access points to the associated content. The stations are represented by spheres, showing 360° photographs of the on-site position within the laboratory and the equipment used. The 2D interface (see Fig. 3) presents itself as a plain surface with buttons representing the stations and constituting the respective access points. The stations are all structured similarly, consisting of slides with text, pictures and videos (see Fig. 4). Arrows allow users to navigate within the shown slides. The users are free to view each slide as often as they wish.

Fig. 4. Station details: gallery for photos and videos.

The content was created specifically to be shown within this application prototype. The course was filmed on-site, pictures were taken (2D and 360° photographs), and a

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comprehensive description of the relevant processes and concepts was prepared to be used as commentary read by an off-screen narrator included in the videos. The modular design approach, with the stations being represented by separate screens, was taken to factor in the possibility of a feasible adaption of the prototype to suit the needs of different courses in the future. The content shown could be easily exchanged with other pictures, text and videos and the 3D world could be altered to represent a different laboratory, including the spatial distribution of the stations. Finally, a logging functionality was implemented to support the forthcoming evaluation process. 3.5 Evaluation One research question that arose naturally when constructing the course and designing its digital twin, was the relationship between physical, yet virtual, spatial position and information-intake and learning success. This seems to be a worthwhile target for investigation because discrete segments of the process to be imparted in this course are connected to physical locations, respectively the equipment used in the laboratory. While research has been done in the past, investigating the difference between 2D and 3D learning platforms regarding aspects such as immersion [11], the issue described above seems to have received little attention. To evaluate the aforementioned aspect, a suitable experiment was designed with the goal to allow a comparative evaluation of the 2D and 3D interface. Then, a user study involving students (n = 12) with no prior experience in CE was conducted (see Table 2). Table 2. Participants’ demographics. Group 2D 3D Total

n 6

Age mean

% male

% female

23

50

50

6

25

60

40

12

24

55

45

The participants took part in the study on their own desktop devices at home to simulate remote-learning modalities. They were randomly separated into two groups, one working with the 3D version and the other one working with the 2D version of the application prototype. After a short introduction to the upcoming course content, with all the information and instructions being provided in written form, the participants were asked to complete all stations at their own pace. The aim of the study was to extract relevant variables such as the task-completion time, the number of actions taken within the application, the ability to recreate the stations’ chronological order and the information-intake concerning course-relevant content.

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With these ideas in mind, the participants’ behavior was monitored from within the application, creating evaluable log-files with unique session identifiers. The logfiles contained entries for every action taken, i.e. every button-press, with additional timestamps. After completion, the participants were asked to fill in an online questionnaire consisting of demographic survey questions, qualitative questions about the user experience and two content-related tasks. The first of which was to put the stations in the correct order via a multiple choice-interface and the second task consisted of seven contentrelated questions using a single-choice interface (1 out of 4). The participants disclosed their unique identifier in the questionnaire, making it possible to link them with the corresponding log-file.

4 Results and Discussion 4.1 Final Prototype As the project was primarily concerned with investigating new forms of remote teaching in the context of CE, one resulting output is the development of a functional prototype application to be used as a VLE. The internal structure is highly adaptable and provides the option for modifying the presented content, retaining the possibility for transforming the system for other courses. The final application can be adjusted for and deployed on multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS and Android, with manageable development effort. However, it should also be noted, that the initial development required a high production effort both in the realm of programming and content creation. Table 3. Qualitative findings. Group

h/week gaming mean

Experience with digital learning

General impression (out of 5)

Design (out of 5)

Navigation (out of 5)

2D

9

3,7

4,2

4,3

4,7

3D

16

3,2

3,7

3,8

4,3

Total

12,5

3,5

4

4,1

4,5

4.2 Evaluation The 2D interface overall scored higher regarding the general impression of the prototype, its design and the navigation within the application (see Table 3). On the other hand, participants working with the 3D version were all able to arrange the different stations in the right order, whereas only two thirds of the 2D group were able to do so. The participants spent generally more time within the 3D framework (possibly due to its inherent structure). However, participants working with the 2D

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interface generally performed better in answering the content-related questions. It should also be noted that there is a notable difference in the hours spent daily playing video games between both groups, whereas both groups rated their experience with digital learning tools similarly (see Table 4). Table 4. Quantitative findings. Group

Minutes spent (mean)

Actions taken (mean)

% Correct order

% Correct answers

2D

10,7

57

67

78

3D

14,3

72

100

54

Total

12,5

64,5

83,5

66

As mentioned before, in the context of this project, it would be desirable to find a link between spatial position and learning success. The results of the study suggest that the 3D interface had an influence on the information-intake associated with physical locations within the digital twin of the laboratory. The results of the study emphasize the contrast between the two interfaces, albeit the scale of some of the differences and the small sample suggest a re-evaluation at a larger scale. However, the emerging tendencies constitute a promising subject for further investigation.

5 Conclusion and Outlook The discussed project, the aim of which was to investigate new forms of remote teaching in the context of CE, created promising results which should be investigated further. As the spatial setup of the laboratory in this particular course is an important part of the subject material, future work should include the, initially dismissed, VR solution for entry level devices (Google Cardboard4 or Oculus Quest5 ). The immersive nature of a VR setup, being fully surrounded by a 3D virtual world, could benefit the informationintake associated to physical locations even more than the tested 3D interface. In addition, there are numerous examples of successful integrations of VR systems in specialized training and education [12–14], constituting promising groundwork for an extension of the presented project. The final prototype contains features associated with the gamification paradigm, the prominent one being the design and navigation mode of the 3D interface. Although not originally intended, a further extension could include more characteristics associated with gamification, such as awarding points for the successful completion of stations, as these have shown great potential in other digital learning environments. [15, 16]. As the intended application for the developed prototype is to be practically integrated in the described course, the next step would be to test it under classroom conditions. 4 https://arvr.google.com/cardboard 5 https://www.oculus.com

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Furthermore, the created framework lays the ground for further courses to be digitalized in the future.

References 1. Aberger, E., et al.: BIM und DIGI in der Lehre. Beispiele aus Skandinavien und Österreich. Schriftenreihe der österreichischen Plattform 4.0, vol. 07. TU-MV Media Verlag, Wien (2017) 2. Lemmler, T.D., Pilot, A.: Implementierung von BIM in der Lehre. Strategien zur erfolgreichen Einführung von BIM in der Grundlagenvermittlung und interdisziplinären Lehre. BIM Basics. bSD Verlag, Berlin (2021) 3. Goger, G., Reismann, W.: Roadmap Digitalisierung. von Planen, Bauen und Betreiben in Österreich. TU-MV Media Verlag, Wien (2018) 4. Christalon, H., Goger, G., Iff, P., Reismann, W., Schwarz, H., Waschl, A.: Thesen zur Zukunft des Bauens. Zum Status von Planen, Bauen und Betreiben Digitalisierung als Anlass und Chance. Schriftenreihe der österreichischen Plattform 4.0, vol. 01. TU-MV Media Verlag, Wien (2016) 5. Wagner, M.: BIM4SHM - Das Messsystem in der Entwurfsphase. BIM für die Optimierung von Tragswerksmonitoring unter Laborbedingungen am Beispiel von Dehnungsmessstreifen. master thesis, Carinthia University of Applied Science (2021) 6. Fabricio, E.: BIM4SHM: measurement objects in the design phase. Using BIM for optimisation of SHM in construction laboratories. Master thesis, Carinthia University of Applied Science (2021) 7. Tidwell, J.: Designing Interfaces. Patterns for Effective Interaction Design, 2nd edn. EBLSchweitzer. O’Reilly, Beijing, Köln (2011) 8. Zhang, L., Bowman, D.A., Jones, C.N.: Exploring effects of interactivity on learning with interactive storytelling in immersive virtual reality. In: 2019 11th International Conference on Virtual Worlds and Games for Serious Applications (VS-Games). 2019 11th International Conference on Virtual Worlds and Games for Serious Applications (VS-Games), Vienna, Austria, 04 September 2019–06 September 2019, pp. 1–8. IEEE (2019). https://doi.org/10. 1109/VS-Games.2019.8864531 9. Aleksic-Maslac, K., Rasic, M., Vranesic, P.: Influence of gamification on student motivation in the educational process in courses of different fields. In: 2018 41st International Convention on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO). 2018 41st International Convention on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO), Opatija, 21 May 2018–25 May 2018, pp. 783–787. IEEE (52018). https://doi.org/10.23919/MIPRO.2018.8400145 10. LaViola, J.J., Kruijff, E., McMahan, R.P., Bowman, D.A., Poupyrev, I.: 3D user interfaces. Theory and practice. Pearson always learning. Addison-Wesley, Boston (2017) 11. Garcia, G., Jung, I.: Understanding immersion in 2D platform-based online collaborative learning environments. AJET (2021). https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.6106 12. Garcia-Bonete, M.-J., Jensen, M., Katona, G.: A practical guide to developing virtual and augmented reality exercises for teaching structural biology. Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. Bimon. Publ. Int. Union Biochem. Mol. Biol. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.21188 13. Górski, F., Bu´n, P., Wichniarek, R., Zawadzki, P., Hamrol, A.: Effective design of educational virtual reality applications for medicine using knowledge-engineering techniques. Eurasia J. Math. Sci. Technol. Educ. (2017). https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00623a 14. Elkoubaiti, H., Mrabet, R. (eds.): How Are Augmented and Virtual Reality Used in How Are Augmented and Virtual Reality Used in Smart Classrooms? Rabat, Morocco. ACM (2018)

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15. Yildirim, I.: The effects of gamification-based teaching practices on student achievement and students’ attitudes toward lessons. Internet High. Educ. (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ihe duc.2017.02.002 16. Barata, G., Gama, S., Jorge, J., Gonçalves, D.: So fun it hurts – gamifying an engineering course. In: Schmorrow, D.D., Fidopiastis, C.M. (eds.) AC 2013. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 8027, pp. 639–648. Springer, Heidelberg (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39454-6_68

Enhancing Media Literacy in Higher Education Yvonne Sedelmaier1,2

, Ercole Erculei2 , and Dieter Landes3(B)

1 Pedagogy and Vocational Education, SRH Wilhelm Löhe University of Applied Sciences,

Merkurstr.19, 90763 Fürth, Germany [email protected] 2 Strategy and Development, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Coburg, Friedrich-Streib-Str. 2, 96450 Coburg, Germany [email protected] 3 Electrical Engineering and Informatics, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Coburg, Friedrich-Streib-Str. 2, 96450 Coburg, Germany [email protected]

Abstract. Digitalisation affects all areas of our private and professional lives, posing new requirements to cope with new technologies and the possibilities they offer. New competences are needed for mastering these challenges. Consequently, digital transition affects learning substantially. One of the competences that gain increasing importance through digital transition is media literacy. This paper tries to answer the question of how we can devise learning settings that foster media literacy in higher education. It does so by analyzing media literacy itself on the one hand, and learning settings in higher education which address media literacy on the other hand. Key findings are that media literacy is not precisely characterized yet and that learning settings often do not address media literacy as a main competence goal. To that end, recommendations for developing suitable competence-oriented learning settings in media literacy education at universities are given. Keywords: Media literacy · Competences · Future skills · Critical thinking · Higher education · Didactics

1 Introduction Digitalization, i.e. the comprehensive application of digital technologies on numerous data, passed through several stages of digital disruptions [1]: Digitalization began with the advent of digital computers in the 1950s and got a new push through the rise of the internet in the 1990s. In the 2010s, digitalization gained additional momentum with the widespread use of social media, mobile devices, cloud computing, and data analytics, currently supplemented by such techniques such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and natural language processing. As a result, all areas of our lives are undergoing massive changes during the process of digital transition. In the professional sector, production is getting increasingly smarter by relying on autonomous and communicating machinery (Industry 4.0) [2]. Clearly, a changing world requires new competences in order to cope with the challenges that come along with digital transition. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 390–399, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_36

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One aspect of digital transition is the fact that digital media allow access to any type of information to an unprecedented extent. Simultaneously, digital media enable everyone to spread information or opinions without prior sanity check, leading to a flood of information. Yet, as the sheer amount of information is growing massively and access to it gets easier, the need to critically evaluate the reliability of information grows significantly. This is the case in a scientific context where the quality of an electronic source or publication and the described results have to be assessed. But this also holds in everyday life, e.g. in order to avoid subscribing to conspiracy theories or to debunk fake news (cf., e.g., [3]). Especially the latter has gained significance in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic or the war against Ukraine. The fight against pseudo-scientific and sophistical manipulation, which persuades with the pretense of being well-grounded and trustworthy, but is actually plain rhetoric in public debates and decision-making processes, has been a constant in the development of philosophical and scientific thinking since Plato [4]. Digital media and algorithmic search engines are increasingly “poisoning” democratic life [5], fostering bias and fallacies such as confirmation bias [6], arguments from false authorities ([7], p. 561), or the Dunning-Kruger effect [8]. For any stable democracy, media literacy is a prerequisite for responsible citizens. In addition, media literacy is often viewed to be a vital part of so-called future skills [9]. Future skills are seen as a prerequisite for coping with imminent developments triggered by digitalization and other mega-trends, such as sustainability, climate change, or migration. Therefore, media literacy has to be addressed during the whole life span of human beings. Schools and universities play an important role in media literacy education. Apparently, school alone cannot equip students with a sufficient amount of media literacy, probably due to the prevalent purely mnemonic approach to (loosely related) data as well as due to a focus on technical aspects such as different forms of social media and digital information channels, rather than on critically assessing contents. Consequently, higher education should fill this gap, at least in a scientific context, but arguably even beyond. The research question pursued in this paper is “How can we devise learning settings that foster media literacy in higher education?”. To that end, we analyze some aspects of the current status in terms of precisely understanding what media literacy means, and how it is addressed in higher education in Sect. 2. As it turns out, there is no clear picture yet what media literacy precisely is, although this constitutes a prerequisite for fostering media literacy adequately. Thus, we outline a principled approach to characterize media literacy comprehensively in Sect. 3, before we derive some key factors that need to be taken in account when addressing competences in general, and media literacy in particular in (higher) education. For that purpose, in Sect. 4, we take a look at two disciplines that investigate competences for quite a while, namely philosophy and pedagogy, and draw some conclusions in terms of theoretical and practical recommendations for learning settings that allow students to train competences required for media literacy. A summary and an outlook conclude the paper.

2 An Analysis of the State of the Art in Media Literacy Education For clarifying what media literacy actually is, we attempt a top-down as well as a bottomup approach. The former consists of an analysis of definitions of media literacy from

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literature, while the latter attempts to collect building blocks of media literacy from module catalogs of study programs in higher education. 2.1 Media Literacy Media literacy is a very complex and iridescent term. A popular definition, provided by the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), views media literacy as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all form of communication” and points out that “media literacy is interdisciplinary by nature” [10]. Another definition characterizes media literacy as the “active inquiry and critical thinking about the messages we receive and create” [11]. Most definitions emphasize some form of relationship to critical thinking. Although a considerable amount of work has been done in the area of information literacy, media literacy, and digital literacy [12], there seem to be no detailed and precise definitions on a sound scientific basis, let alone a consensus among researchers, what these terms exactly mean. 2.2 Aspects of Media Literacy in Higher Education As a supplement to literature analysis, we scanned module catalogues of our own university to identify modules that address media literacy in any way. We expected to find indications to competences that, taken together, would make up media literacy. In addition, modules with some consideration of media literacy might provide hints to established learning settings targeting media literacy. Although the latter is widely agreed to be an issue of paramount importance, our findings so far indicate that no module in any study program could be identified that puts a clear focus on media literacy. The only modules that have some relationship to media literacy are those that cover scientific methodology in the specific discipline. These modules put some emphasis on the critical assessment and reflection of scientific texts. The downside, however, is the narrow focus on scientific in contrast to general texts which might mislead students into the impression that such a critical approach is relevant in science only. We did not perform a systematic and comprehensive bottom-up analysis of module catalogues so far. Consequently, our findings so far are largely tentative. Yet, the fact that no modules with a clear focus on media literacy could be found is a fairly strong indication that modules that address media literacy, if there are any after all, apparently do not mention relevant competences as core learning outcomes, but view these competences merely as a by-product.

3 Understanding Media Literacy A thorough understanding of what media literacy actually denotes and which underlying competences are needed for being prolific in terms of media literacy is a prerequisite for adequate learning settings targeting the improvement of media literacy. This is analogous to software development where no proper software system can be built without knowing the requirements that stakeholder make as demands on the system. Ignoring or not

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knowing the requirements will inevitably result in a system that neither serves its purpose, nor meets stakeholders’ expectations (cf., e.g., [13]). Therefore, promising approaches to thoroughly characterize media literacy and its underlying competences might follow a similar qualitative research approach that we already employed for competences that are necessary in software engineering [14, 15] and requirements engineering [16]. In particular, available literature can give hints for an initial code system to characterize media literacy, and establish a basis for guide-supported interviews. Interview partners are chosen incrementally, without intention to have a representative sample right from the start. This is due to the fact that it is hard, if not impossible, to tell what would be representative if the goal is the clarification of a complex and yet largely unknown concept. Interviews are recorded, transcribed, qualitatively analyzed, and annotated according to a code system, following the ideas of Grounded Theory [17]. The findings from an interview possibly lead to refinements of the code system and may indicate candidates for additional interviews. This process is continued until sufficient detail is achieved or saturation occurs, i.e. the latest interviews do not provide significant additional insight by rising new aspects or contradicting previous positions. In the end, this process is generally expected to result in a detailed and semantically rich characterization of the relevant concept and the underlying competences, in the sense of a “rich, thick description” [18], which contrasts popular superficial and buzzwordladen descriptions that are prone to subjective interpretation. Specifically, this process will lead to a precise and comprehensive characterization of media literacy.

4 Recommendations for Media Literacy Education at Universities – Philosophical and Pedagogical Foundations Once relevant competences are known and sufficiently well-understood, didactical settings may be devised for addressing and training these competences. In general, however, it is not possible to teach competences, i.e. transfer them from a teacher to a learner. Rather, competence-oriented learning needs to take several restrictions into account. These restrictions have been investigated for quite some time in various disciplines, once and foremost in philosophy and pedagogy. To that end, we identify key aspects for competence-oriented learning from these two disciplines and draw conclusions that apply to the training of media literacy. 4.1 Philosophical Foundations One of the findings in Sect. 2 indicates that media literacy is commonly viewed as very important, yet is not reflected in higher education, at least not explicitly in the vast majority of module catalogues. One hypothetical explanation for this incongruity focuses on the still widespread lack of awareness and systematic, philosophically-led reflection about the notion of competence in general and about the form of rationality which makes someone able to use specific means and tools, i.e. media (no matter whether analogue or digital), in an appropriate way, with success, and for the right purpose and goal.

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A comparison with some crucial topics of the ancient ethical theory can have an illuminating effect and give orientation for any attempt to define module catalogues which should address competences like media literacy or other future skills. From a philosophical point of view, media literacy is the ability to proactively and deliberately choose and use a certain constellation of media in a specific practical scenario in order to reach a higher-level, ethical, non-arbitrary goal in the best possible way. The beneficial or detrimental character of the chosen constellation of media depends on their adequacy for reaching the ethical higher-level goal, rather than on their technical excellence. As soon as the practical scenario changes, different constellations of media are likely to be the best choice. This sort of volitive and deliberative competence and confidence can be related to the notion of “virtuous habitus” in ancient philosophy and, in particular, in the Aristotelian tradition [19–21]. From this perspective, it is evident that competence cannot be reduced to mnemonic possession of theoretical notions or mnemonic listings of more or less relevant techniques in a field of praxis. A competence improves, shows, and proves itself through action/performance in the same way as – according to the classical ethics and moral philosophy – the “virtuous human being” shows and proves herself not through words or theoretical brilliance, but by acting well. The competent human being as well as the traditionally virtuous one acts well/rightly/successfully in praxis – i.e. takes the right decision in praxis and with a good impact in the real practical world, in an excellent way, at the right time, with the right intensity, in the right balance between main practical and general goals and an accidental and singular situation, between future goals and presently available, concrete means and tools. This applies even in the case of digital media. The form of rationality for acting well in praxis, related with volition and deliberation in the singular practical situation, but in awareness of main practical and general goals, is neither the pure demonstrative, logical ability, nor the experience-based manufacturing ability of optimizing tools and means in their structure and effectiveness. In traditional terms, it is phronêsis rather than epistêmê or technê [19, 22, 23]. Consequently, educational effort cannot be reduced to the pure, morally-indifferent ability of defining technological improvements, but is based on the ability of affording ethical issues about defining and choosing the good in its multiple declinations and instantiations in different fields, among different sets of interpersonal relations and in a concrete situation. In other words: An educational effort will probably better afford the definition of a training-program for future skills and – among them – media literacy once it is aware of its intrinsic moral and ethical nature due to the coincidence between competent and virtuous human being. The “wisdom” we need for well-using media is not (simply) an ability to think, but an ability to will and to act (supported and related with a specific ability to think in a practical situation), as the ability to think or to demonstrate something does not imply to do this. As strongly stressed by Aristotle, the driving force for our action is not simply our thought, but our desire. Acting in a certain way depends on what we are desiring, not simply on what we think or theoretically demonstrate [19, 23]. What we are looking for are neither simply clever experts, nor technology-optimizers, but good human beings which responsibly use their freedom in the interaction with

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other human beings, at work as well as privately by using diverse means/media, and in particular, digital media. 4.2 Pedagogical Foundations Many different definitions and characterizations concerning competence, soft skills, knowledge, expertise etc. exist in pedagogy. Weinert ([17], p. 35) provides a widely used definition of competence, namely that competence includes the context, emotional elements, an ethical, normative component, and also the willingness and motivation to act autonomously and based on self-initiative after a cognitive analysis of a situation. For Rhein and Kruse, the core aspect of competence “is the specific interplay of knowledge, skills, abilities, personal characteristics, experiences, and motivational structures […] that constitute a competence, without being reducible to its individual components, although the description of competences must always draw on these building blocks” ([24], p. 80, translated by the authors). Common to various concepts is the view that competences are a dispositional concept. They are bound to a person, are based on personal characteristics according to Erpenbeck [25], and aim at self-organized action. Competence manifests itself in performance [26], which, according to almost all concepts of competence, requires a situation- or subjectspecific interpretation [27]. Competence enables individuals to analyse complex and new situations, to find creative possibilities of how a solution might look like, and to decide on one way of action under considerations of causes and consequences. In this paper, we see two levels of media literacy: a technical and a semantical. The technical level of media literacy means the mastering of digital technologies, tools and media channels while the semantical level of media literacy focusses on the critical approach towards contents and includes critical thinking.

5 Media Literacy Education as Missing Piece in Higher Education The analysis in Sect. 2 showed that media literacy competences are neither explicitly included in module descriptions, split up into subordinate competences, nor properly defined. Consequently, there seems to be no common understanding of the term “media literacy”. Only with a sufficient understanding of what constitutes media literacy, appropriate learning settings addressing these issues can be devised. Philosophy as well as pedagogy point out in Sect. 4 that competence is associated with the ability or disposition to act. Therefore, learning settings addressing media literacy can only be exercised and enhanced by acting, not just through theoretical memorization and mnemonic possession. Although a precise definition of media literacy is still missing, it is more than likely that it is a complex construct that encompasses a multitude of competences. This is further substantiated by core principles of media literacy education that were formulated by the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE): “Media literacy education • requires active inquiry and critical thinking about the messages we receive and create;

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• expands the concept of literacy to include all form of media (i.e., reading and writing); • builds and reinforces skills for learners of all ages. Like print literacy, those skills necessitate integrated, interactive, and repeated practice; • develops informed, reflective and engaged participants essential for a democratic society; • recognizes that media are a part of culture and function as agents of socialization; • affirms that people use their individual skills, beliefs and experiences to construct their own meanings form media messages.” ([28], adapted) This, in conjunction with the philosophical and pedagogical findings of Sect. 4, implies that learning settings need to be integrated into several modules across the study program to assure continuous development of media literacy within a suitable subject-specific context. The latter is close to pedagogical learning theories, particularly constructivism [29– 31]. In andragogy, Holzkamp criticized a “Lehr-Lern-Kurzschluss”, which can be translated as “teaching short circuit” [32]. The teaching short circuit describes the wrong assumption that teaching automatically leads to learning. Furthermore, teachers cannot force learning, but can only give impulses and create conductive learning environments which foster learning processes. Following Holzkamp’s learning theory, learners need a problem-based situation as a precondition for learning which is perfectly in line with constructivist learning approaches [33, 34]. On a more general level and following the path we sketched in sec 4.1, building on the Aristotelian notion of phronesis and the notion of virtuous habit, some guiding ideas can be sketched as orientation, forewarning and benchmark for any training-program of media literacy or other future skills: • If competence is something individual, every implementation program should be aware of the own nature as personal-development program. The academic and teaching staff needs to establish a mindset of being a coach who focuses on individual and team development. The archetype of a personal developer should actually be the midwife, who is able in praxis to care for pregnant women and let them bear their own children. In consequence, the maieutic, Socratic approach to teaching should gain higher significance among the didactic concepts of the academic staff. Especially for the training of media literacy, and in particular critical thinking, the Socratic/elenctic method as repeated training praxis (not just simply as singular frontal lecture with a final theoretic/mnemonic test) can be very useful. • Coaching skills must be a core criterion when recruiting and selecting academic and teaching staff. • The ratio of average staff number to number of students should be analyzed (also) with respect to warranting meaningful individual supervision and coaching rather than simply covering an academic field at the least possible cost. • If competence manifests itself in performance and denotes the ability to act well in a specific field of competence, the integration of real or semi-real experiences of praxis, accompanied by adequate time-slots for preparation, wrap-up, and reflection with a coaching expert, is not something experimental or additive to a traditional course of

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study or simply “nice to have”. Quite in contrast, it should be a fundamental goal in the definition and development of every course of studies. Due to the fact that media literacy is a very complex competence, media literacy education requires a multi-level educational process which addresses media literacy at several increasing levels of competence. In particular, media literacy education must certainly pay attention to the technical skills that are required to use digital media. In addition, however, media literacy education must also address the content of digital media, which is underlined by the fact that critical thinking is mentioned in almost any attempt to characterize media literacy. The volitional part of the competences involved in media literacy seems to be very important. Obviously, there is not much of a point in forcing learners into expanding their media literacy, rather it is vital that learners themselves recognize the importance of doing so. This again emphasizes the point that media literacy education should not be pursued in isolated modules, but rather be integrated in normal modules across the study program in order to establish a firm link to the professional and social context of the learners.

6 Summary and Outlook Media literacy is inevitable for separating the wheat from the chaff of digital information, debunk fake news, or falsify conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, there is no clear and shared understanding of which competences are required for media literacy. The research described in the paper outlines a systematic approach to identify and characterize these competences. Knowing these competences better establishes a basis for learning settings that target these competences and which are supposed to be integrated into numerous modules across the curricula of study programs. An analysis of sources from philosophy and pedagogy indicates that these learning settings need to involve learners actively since media literacy cannot be simply taught, but rather has to be developed individually through interaction and constant feedback. As a consequence, the role of instructors needs to change from “teachers”, that transfers their knowledge and skills to learners, to coaches, that accompany learners on their route to acquire or refine competences. This also entails a shift in the criteria used in staff recruitment. Furthermore, media literacy education must not be addressed in isolation, but rather be embedded in various modules across the study program in order to train media literacy in situations of increasing complexity and tightly coupled to the learners’ professional and social context. This is also expected to boost learners’ motivation to engage in issues related to media literacy. In addition, we suspect that serious games might be a suitable component in media literacy education. Future steps of our work include putting the approach outlined in Sect. 3 into practice in order to get a detailed understanding of media literacy. Insights gained on the way will then be the basis for devising learning settings devoted to media literacy, but also for the strategic development of curricula of new study programs.

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References 1. Sedelmaier, Y., Landes, D.: Clarifying the effects of digitalization on (higher) education. In: Gómez Chova, L., López Martínez, A., Candel Torres, I. (eds.) EDULEARN19 Proceedings, pp. 8114–8121. IATED (2019) 2. Urbach, N., Röglinger, M. (eds.): Digitalization cases. How organizations rethink their business for the digital age. Management for Professionals. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi. org/10.1007/978-3-319-95273-4 3. Gaultney, I.B., Sherron, T., Boden, C.: Political polarization, misinformation, and media literacy. J. Media Liter. Educ. 14, 59–81 (2022) 4. Duke, G.: The sophists (ancient greek). Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm. edu/sophists/#H4. Accessed 28 May 2022 5. D’Agostini, F.: Verità avvelenata. Buoni e cattivi argomenti nel dibattito pubblico. Bollati Boringhieri, Torino (2010) 6. Nickerson, R.S.: Confirmation bias: a ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises. Rev. Gen. Psychol. 2, 175–220 (1998) 7. Gabbay, D.M., Pelletier, F.J., Woods, J. (eds.): Handbook of the history of logic. A history of its central concepts. Handbook of the History of Logic. North Holland/Elsevier, Amsterdam, Boston (2012) 8. Dunning, D.: The Dunning-Kruger effect. Adv. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 44, 247–296 (2011) 9. Ehlers, U.-D.: Future skills. Lernen der Zukunft - Hochschule der Zukunft. Springer VS, Wiesbaden (2020) 10. National Association for Media Literacy Education: Media literacy defined. https://namle. net/resources/media-literacy-defined/. Accessed 4 June 2022 11. Hobbs, R., Jensen, A.: The past, present, and future of media literacy education. J. Media Liter. Educ. 1, 1–11 (2009) 12. Wuyckens, G., Landry, N., Fastrez, P.: Untangling media literacy, information literacy, and digital literacy: a systematic meta-review of core concepts in media education. J. Media Liter. Educ. 14, 168–182 (2022) 13. Wiegers, K., Beatty, J.: Software Requirements. Microsoft Press, Redmond, Wash (2013) 14. Sedelmaier, Y., Landes, D.: Software engineering body of skills. In: Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), pp. 395–401. IEEE (2014) 15. Sedelmaier, Y., Landes, D.: SWEBOS - the software engineering body of skills. Int. J. Eng. Pedag. 5, 12–19 (2015) 16. Sedelmaier, Y., Landes, D.: How can we find out what makes a good requirements engineer in the age of digitalization? In: Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), pp. 230– 238. IEEE (2017) 17. Glaser, B.G., Strauss, A.L.: The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Aldine Transaction, Chicago (2009) 18. Merriam, S.B.: Qualitative Research in Practice. Examples for Discussion and Analysis. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco (2002) 19. Aristoteles: Ethica nicomachea. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1894) 20. Rath, N.: Zweite Natur. In: Ritter, J., Gründer, K. (eds.) Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie. Band 4, pp. 489–494. Schwabe, Basel (1976) 21. Erculei, E.: Die Reue als Proprium des Menschen. Die Frage nach der Möglichkeit der Umkehr in der christlichen und nichtchristlichen Philosophie der Antike. De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston (2022) 22. Rowe, C.J.: Phronesis. In: Ritter, J., Gründer, K. (eds.) Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie. Band 7, pp. 411–422. Schwabe, Basel (1989)

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23. Natali, C.: The book on wisdom. In: Polansky, R.M. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, pp. 180–202. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2014) 24. Rhein, R., Kruse, T.: Kompetenzorientierte Studiengangsentwicklung an der Leibnitz Universität Hannover. In: Nickel, S. (ed.) Der Bologna-Prozess aus Sicht der Hochschulforschung. Analysen und Impulse für die Praxis, pp. 79–87. CHE, Gütersloh (2011) 25. Erpenbeck, J. (ed.): Handbuch Kompetenzmessung. Erkennen, verstehen und bewerten von Kompetenzen in der betrieblichen, pädagogischen und psychologischen Praxis. SchäfferPoeschel, Stuttgart (2007) 26. Arnold, R.: Von der Bildung zur Kompetenzentwicklung. Literatur- und Forschungsreport Weiterbildung, pp. 26–38 (2002) 27. Klieme, E., Hartig, J.: Kompetenzkonzepte in den Sozialwissenschaften und im erziehungswissenschaftlichen Diskurs. In: Prenzel, M., Gogolin, I., Krüger, H.-H. (eds.) Kompetenzdiagnostik, vol. 8, pp. 11–29. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften (2007) 28. National Association for Media Literacy Education: The core principles of media literacy education. https://namle.net/resources/core-principles/. Accessed 5 June 2022 29. Siebert, H.: Konstruktivismus. Konsequenzen für Bildungsmanagement und Seminargestaltung. Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung (DIE), Frankfurt/M. (1998) 30. Reich, K.: Konstruktivistische Didaktik. Lehr- und Studienbuch mit Methodenpool. Beltz, Weinheim (2012) 31. Fosnot, C.T.: Constructivism. Theory, Perspectives, and Practice. Teachers College Press, New York (1996) 32. Holzkamp, K.: Wider den Lehr-Lern-Kurzschluß. In: Arnold, R. (ed.) Lebendiges Lernen. Grundlagen der Berufs- und Erwachsenenbildung, pp. 21–30. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler (1996) 33. Savery, J.R., Duffy, T.M.: Problem based learning: An instructional model and its constructivist framework. In: Wilson, B.G. (ed.) Constructivist Learning Environments: Case Studies in Instructional Design, pp. 135–148. Educational Technology Publications, Englewood Cliffs N.J (1998) 34. Kemp, S.: Constructivism and problem-based learning. http://www.tp.edu.sg/pbl_sandra_ joy_kemp.pdf. Accessed 9 Oct 2013

Use of Instant Messaging to Improve Communication Between Teachers and Students Sebastian Gomez-Jaramillo1(B)

and Julian Moreno-Cadavid2

1 Tecnológico de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia

[email protected]

2 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia

[email protected]

Abstract. Instant messaging has changed the way we communicate, especially with young people who have become accustomed to using mobile devices to stay connected. This phenomenon has gained relevance within the academic context due to the positive and negative implications it can bring to the training process. The research aims to analyze the advantages of using an instant messaging application in the communication between teachers and students to solve questions in a programming course. With the research, we analyzed different general variables such as the time and space gap, the level of confidence in using the tool, and the collaborative learning by supporting each other in resolving questions. Our conclusions show that the use of instant messaging allows having a fluid communication adapted to the new ways of communication of the students. Collaboration was a relevant factor within the WhatsApp group because it generated a friendly and cordial environment that generated confidence when asking questions and obtaining feedback. We recommend the continued use of instant messaging and student groups because of their positive results as a form of interaction between teachers and students. Keywords: Instant messaging · Collaborative · Communication

1 Context Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) [1] has changed the way we communicate, especially with young people who have become accustomed to using mobile devices to stay connected. This phenomenon has gained relevance within the academic context due to the negative and positive implications it can bring to the training process. One of the negative implication is about that the use of the mobile can be distractive and cause lose the focus about the academic [2]. Otherwise, MIM is low cost, user-friendly, reduces temporal, physics distance [3], and allows distance education to students that have a mobile but not a computer [4]. An essential characteristic of MIM is supporting collaborative learning; Yuan analyzed differences between face-to-face study groups, groups mediated by instant messaging, and mixed groups, identifying bonds in using this technology [5]. Likewise, So concludes that instant messaging improves the acquisition of achievements in courses © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 400–404, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_37

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compared to groups that do not use it [6] because students’ perception of MIM’s positive influence on teamwork and decision-making assignments helps to create a more friendly environment and influences positively behavioral intention [7, 8]. The age of the students is also a relevant factor because they use the MIM in different ways than the prior generation. They also are more confidents with the tool and can multitask; they can learn and do homework while using their phone to communicate [9]. Finally, the chat´s history is another advantage of MIM because the students can read the class material, the questions – answers, and other important information that somebody writes anytime [10]. This research presents the empirical results of introducing an instant messaging strategy within a programming course during two academic semesters. We show below the course methodology and the results we obtained, both by analyzing the interactions and responses to a perception survey.

2 Method We conducted the research during two academic semesters in a programming course. Each semester, 150 and 120 students respectably of different engineering careers enroll in the class; most are in their first year at university. Students had to develop around 100 exercises distributed over 16 weeks. Each week students have to watch material and solve nine to twelve programming exercises. They also have a synchronous lecture to depth the topics and solve similar activities. In Fig. 1, we show an example of a typical week in the course.

Fig. 1. Example of a typical week in the course.

Furthermore, to apply the instant messaging communication strategy, we created a WhatsApp group for each course and the possibility of direct interaction with the teacher and the classmates. The exchange was principally about the exercises, which each student could ask, and other students could answer or wait for the teacher to assist.

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We collect evidence of student behavior from the messaging application logs; we analyze each student’s number of interactions and the type of interaction. Finally, the students answered a perception survey to indicate their opinion on the use of the instant messaging strategy to both foster communication and its effectiveness during the course development.

3 Results We present the results identified for each semester, analyzing the use of the instant messaging group within the course. In the first research group, we had 150 students, and we identified 13 thousand interactions per semester on the WhatsApp group, with an average participation of 86 interactions per student. Eighty-one of the students (54%) had more than 30 participants in the group chat, and sixty-two (41%) only participated sporadically, and the rest of the group didn´t join the group. The students also interact directly with the teacher in a private conversation. In the second, we had 120 students, with an average participation of 74 interactions per student. Seventy-three of the students (60%) had more than 30 participations, and forty-five (38%) only participated sporadically. The main interactions corresponded to questions about the exercises and general questions about the course. Some students, those who had more than 100 interactions, also focused a lot on helping to solve doubts from classmates because they had a higher level. In general, students maintained a cordial and trusting atmosphere that allowed the generation of constant questions and answers. Most of the participations were made at night and on weekends because the activities had a due date of Sunday night. At the end of the course, the students answered a perception survey, divided into two types of questions. The first questions correspond to a general perception of the use of WhatsApp, and the second is about essential factors in its use. Tables 1 and 2 present each of the surveys. In Table 1, the possibilities answers was totally agree (TA), agree (A), neither agree nor disagree (NAND), disagree (D), totally disagree (TD). Table 1. General perception Question

TA

A

NAND D

TD

I had more interaction with my teacher through this 63.0% 15.1% 17.8% means than in a regular semester (face-to-face)

1.4% 2.7%

Interaction about the course allowed me to fulfill my academic development

71,2% 26,0% 2,7%

0,0% 1,4%

The use of whatsapp adapts to my independent study schedules

84,9% 13,7% 0,0%

1,4% 1,4%

Being able to help my classmates allowed me to consolidate my knowledge

64,4% 27,4% 6,8%

1,4% 1,4%

Knowing the questions of my colleagues allowed me to apply it to my needs

72,6% 20,5% 2,7%

2.7% 1,4%

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In general, the perception was very positive because 88.1% of the students considered that they had more interaction with the teacher through messaging than they would usually have in person. Additionally, about collaborative work, the perception was very positive; 97.2% considered that the interaction allows the academic development, and they like to help and be helped (91,8% and 93,1%), they also allow to gain soft skills like communication, solving problems, creative thinking, empathy, among others. Finally, the advantage of adapting the time when the students use MIM was the principal perception about the use of WhatsApp in the course with a 98.6% of positive perception. The second group of questions was relative to the advantages of using WhatsApp in the courses. In Table 2, students respond on a scale from 1 to 5, where one was the lowest and five was the maximum. Table 2. Essential factors about instant messaging Question

Media

Standard desviation

You are not limited to a specific time

4.86

0.34

It is not limited to a physical space

4.86

0.38

I have more confidence in a written medium than in a person

4.23

1.05

The possibility of different people’s answers to my question

4.74

0.62

Being able to ask anonymously

3.76

1.29

Get answers in real-time

4.66

0.56

Access to questions/answers from other people

4.59

0.77

Comfort with the daily use of the platform

4.82

0.42

Among the advantages of instant messaging, they highlight that it is not limited to a specific time or physical space. They feel comfortable with the platform because they use it daily. In this sense, it is fundamental to look for tools with which young people think identified as in this case. In addition, the students feel more confident in a written medium than in face-to-face. This fact is significant to consider because it allows us to change the traditional form of communication and understand other related conditions, especially in the younger population like the students. The students rated the teacher with general performance of 4.8 out of 5, especially for his constant support and resolution of doubts at different times through the WhatsApp group. Most of the students agree to return to another subject with the teacher, mainly because of the methodology. The result was quite positive regarding academic performance, with an average of 4.4 out of 5. The students who had more significant participation in the WhatsApp group during both semesters had a high academic performance because they could solve most of the problems. However, we cannot conclude significant differences since most students used the WhatsApp group strategy, and we did not have a control group to make the comparison.

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4 Conclusions The use of instant messaging allowed teachers and students to have fluid communication. In addition, this tool is adapted to students’ new forms of communication because they feel comfortable with its daily use and allows them to overcome the gaps in space and time. Collaboration was a relevant factor in the WhatsApp group because it generated a friendly and cooperative environment that developed the confidence to ask and answer questions. Moreover, the classmate’s and the teacher’s feedback was well received by the person who asked the question and allowed him to improve his learning process. We recommend continuing to use instant messaging due to the positive results both from the content of the course and in the development of soft skills and serving as an information repository and allowing a greater rapprochement between teachers and students.

References 1. Pimmer, C., et al.: Facilitating professional mobile learning communities with instant messaging. Comput. Educ. 128, 102–112 (2019) 2. Zulkanain, N.A., Miskon, S., Syed Abdullah, N.: An adapted pedagogical framework in utilizing WhatsApp for learning purpose. Educ. Inf. Technol. 25(4), 2811–2822 (2020). https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10639-019-10096-0 3. Tang, Y., Hew, K.F.: Is mobile instant messaging (MIM) useful in education? Examining its technological, pedagogical, and social affordances. Educ. Res. Rev. 21, 85–104 (2017) 4. Venturino, M., Hsu, Y.-C.: Using whatsapp to enhance international distance education at the University of South Africa. TechTrends 66(3), 401–404 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11 528-022-00718-9 5. Yuan, C.H., Wu, Y.J.: Mobile instant messaging or face-to-face? Group interactions in cooperative simulations. Comput. Human Behav. 113, 106508 (2020) 6. So, S.: Mobile instant messaging support for teaching and learning in higher education. Internet High. Educ. 31, 32–42 (2016) 7. Urien, B., Erro-Garcés, A., Osca, A.: WhatsApp usefulness as a communication tool in an educational context. Educ. Inf. Technol. 24(4), 2585–2602 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10639-019-09876-5 8. Kumar, J.A., Bervell, B., Annamalai, N., Osman, S.: Behavioral intention to use mobile learning: evaluating the role of self-efficacy, subjective norm, and whatsapp use habit. IEEE Access 8, 208058–208074 (2020) 9. Junco, R., Cotten, S.R.: Perceived academic effects of instant messaging use. Comput. Educ. 56, 370–378 (2011) 10. Jones, R.A., Bogle, S.A.: An investigation of the use of facebook groups as a learning management system to improve undergraduate performance. Lect. Notes Eng. Comput. Sci. 1, 211–216 (2017)

Machine Learning Based Emotion Recognition in a Digital Learning Environment Natalja Ivleva, Avar Pentel , Olga Dunajeva(B) , and Valeria Juštšenko Virumaa College of Tallinn University of Technology, Järveküla tee 75, 30322 Kohtla-Järve, Estonia {natalja.ivleva,avar.pentel,olga.dunajeva, valeria.justsenko}@taltech.ee

Abstract. In this paper, we develop a method to monitor the emotional state of students and teachers during the study process based on facial expressions using machine learning and deep learning techniques. We describe the implementation of the created emotion detection model into the learning process as a web application to determine the emotional state of students and teachers in a digital learning environment in near real-time. Several training methods and models were examined using Python and Keras Tensorflow library and the results were compared against the classifiers Support Vector Machine, Random Forest, and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). The average recognition rate of the best model is about 96% and the proposed system is able to recognize emotions in near real-time. Keywords: Facial emotion recognition · Monitoring system · Learning environment

1 Introduction An emotionally positive learning environment means conditions where learners are willing to interact with their course mates and their teachers, they are willing to work actively, they do not feel uncomfortable or awkward, they are confident and believing in their abilities and their self-esteem becomes adequate. Under these working conditions, the students become aware of and understand the goals of learning and develop a need for personal and professional growth. An emotionally positive environment enhances students’ performance, the efficiency and level of teaching, students’ learning success, the quality of material acquisition, and, most importantly, the desire to learn. In this paper, we develop a method to monitor the emotional state of students and teachers during the study process based on facial expressions using machine learning and deep learning techniques, with the aim to determine the emotional state of students and teachers during the learning process. The system will classify the facial expressions in two ways – firstly, into one of seven expressions: anger, happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, neutral, disgust, and secondly in activation-valence scale: positive vs. negative, active vs. passive. We describe the deployment of the created emotion detection model into the learning process as a web application to determine the emotional state of students © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 405–412, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_38

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and teachers in a digital learning environment in near real-time. The application created during this study provides teachers with feedback on students’ commitment to learning, which allows them to adjust the learning process and improve the quality of teaching.

2 Background and Related Work The face is the most expressive and the main interactive side of the human body. It can convey many emotions without the need for words. According to the emotion researcher Paul Ekman [1], there is a range of emotions that differ qualitatively in terms of the events that give rise to them, their appraisals, behavioral responses, and physical experience. He proved that different peoples of the world, irrespective of race, language, and cultural development, recognize at least six basic emotions (anger, fear, disgust, sadness, surprise, and joy), although there may be cultural differences in the way they are recognized. Ekman [2] also proposed a pleasant-unpleasant and active-passive scale as sufficient to capture the difference among emotions. Russell [3] developed the circumplex model and proposed that all emotions can be arranged in a circle controlled by two independent dimensions: valence (pleasant-unpleasant) and (active-passive). Russell’s model was updated by Scherer [4] to represent a greater variety of emotions. Based on Russell and Scherer (2005) research Haq and Jackson [5] summarized the emotion distribution in two dimensions as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Distribution of emotion in 2D space based on Russell and Scherer research. [5]

Facial expression recognition in the educational process has become a hot research area. Many papers have been published using classical machine learning and deep learning approaches. Liu and Wang [6] applied AdaBoost-SVM algorithm to the emotion recognition in the e-learning system. They achieved a recognition rate of 95% on the PIE face database. Whitehill et al. [7] proposed an approach that recognizes students’ engagement through their facial expressions and compared the automatic perceptions of engagement

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and the learner pre- and post-test performance to evaluate the performance of an engagement detection system. The average accuracies achieved by the GentleBoost with Box Filter features, SVM with Gabor features, Multinomial logistic regression with expression outputs from the Computer Expression Recognition Toolbox CERT were 0.714, 0.728 and 0.729, respectively on the HBCU dataset. Ayvaz et al. [8] developed a Facial Emotion Recognition System (FERS) to recognize students’ emotional states and motivation in e-learning. The system employs 4 machine learning algorithms (SVM, KNN, random forest, and classification and regression trees) and the best accuracy scores 98.24% were obtained with SVM algorithm. Lasri et al. [9] presented a facial expression recognition system that can help the teacher to recognize students’ comprehension towards his presentation. Using a Convolutional Neural Network model, they achieved an accuracy rate of 70% on FER2013 database. Sathik et al. [10] proved that facial expressions of the students are significantly correlated to their emotions which can help lecturers to identify the involvement and comprehension of the student. Summarizing related works, we can conclude that wide variety of datasets and machine learning algorithms were used to generate predictive models. In our study, we use the FER2013 dataset, and in addition to identifying 7 discrete emotions, we train two more models that predict activation and valence.

3 Methods 3.1 Dataset Description Facial Expression Recognition 2013 (FER2013) dataset [11] was used to train and test the models in this study. FER2013 contains images similar to the real-life situations such as age, gender, ethnicity, head poses, lighting conditions, and viewed from different angles. The database was created using the Google Image Search API and the facial regions were automatically detected, centered, resized and cropped so that the face is more or less in the middle and takes up about the same amount of space in each image. FER2013 consists of 35,887 labelled 48 × 48 pixels grayscale face images with seven different emotions: 0 = angry (13.80%), 1 = disgusted (1.52%), 2 = fear (14.27%), 3 = happy (25.05%), 4 = sad (16.93%), 5 = surprised (11.15%), 6 = neutral (17.27%). The training set consists of 28,709 samples and the test set of 7,178 samples. 3.2 Data Preprocessing In this study all data processing and analysis was implemented with Python v.3.9 (Python Software Foundation, https://www.python.org/). The FER2013 dataset contains photos with no faces, sleepy faces, text images, incorrectly labeled images. (Fig. 2). To start with, all the photos were checked using the face_recognition library (available at https://github.com/ageitgey/face_recognition) and all non-face images were removed from the dataset.

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Fig. 2. FER2013 “bad” images.

To remove incorrectly labeled images (Fig. 3) and to balance the dataset Deepface [12] framework was used in this study. Using this framework, the top 1000 images in terms of emotion recognition rate were selected from the training set and all images with recognition rate >90% were selected from the test set for further research.

Fig. 3. Samples of images with recognition rate 0.70 as a strong internal validity. Descriptive statistics of the study variables for each time point was performed. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was performed to check the normality of data distribution. Pearson’s correlation was run to determine the relationship between variables. The univariate analysis of responses was applied using conventional statistical methods (Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test) to analyse the relationships between “Readiness for ERT” and other variables. Statistical significance was considered as p < 0.05. The statistical analysis was performed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 26. 2.3 Study Design and Procedure The research was performed in three stages: 1. Spring 2020 (end of the school year 2019/2020), when we distributed the questionnaire by e-mail to all general education institutions in Latvia. 2. Spring 2021 (end of the school year 2020/2021). The same questionnaire was distributed to the same audience. 3. In 2022 we conducted the third stage of the research – interviews with teachersexperts (N = 15) who had work experience during ERT, had created learning materials for each SA and worked as experts in the “Competency-based Curriculum Project” [8]. We looked for the specific major points typical for each SA.

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The first stage of this research had been described in previous articles [25, 26], where some differences in Readiness for ERT were observed between teachers from cities and from rural regions in the univariate analysis. In our first-year research we found some small but significant differences between results of teachers from larger or smaller schools: teachers from larger schools expressed higher readiness for ERT than those from the smaller ones. In this article we investigate how Readiness for ERT has developed over time and whether SA and educational level is important in determining teachers’ readiness for ERT.

3 Results All items in the scale demonstrated strong internal validity (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.73 for the Readiness for ERT in 2019/2020, and Cronbach’s alpha = 0.72 for the Readiness for ERT in 2020/2021). Five summarized variables for sub-domains as well as the Readiness for ERT did not distribute normally according to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (p < 0.05). The descriptive statistics for Readiness for ERT: • For 2020 with a mean of 21.6 (standard deviation, SD 3.3), a minimum of 11.25 and a maximum of 30.33 points based on 1045 answers; • For 2021 with a mean of 22.9 (SD 3.0), a minimum of 7.5 and a maximum of 30.25 points based on 360 answers. 3.1 Study Sample In 2020 we retrieved a final sample of 1543 teachers, who represented all SAs: Mathematics (N = 437), Foreign language (N = 284), Latvian language (N = 400), Natural Sc. (N = 249), Social Sc. (N = 371), Arts (N = 246), Health (N = 89), Technology (N = 334), and Computer Sc. (N = 107). In 2021 we received 568 valid responses from teachers of all SAs: Mathematics (N = 142), Foreign language (N = 115), Latvian language (N = 122), Natural Sc. (N = 140), Social Sc. (N = 113), Arts (N = 93), Health (N = 23), Technology (N = 77), and Computer Sc. (N = 52). Largest age groups in both years were 50–59 (33.9% in 2020 and 37.3% in 2021) and 40–49 (30.8% and 28%) with 30–39 (26.2% and 27.5%) and 20–29 (29.2% and 29.9%) years of service in school. More than half of respondents had Masters’ degree (53.9% and 59.9%). Only a few (0.6% and 0.9%) held Doctorate degree, some teachers were studying (2.8% and 2.5%). 3.2 Differences Among Subject Areas in 2020 and 2021 We performed non-parametric tests, compared each SA with others and analyzed the results to find the differences in each year to see what had changed, as well as to analyze the main tendencies of change. The differences are presented for each year separately to

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Table 1. Significant differences (p < 0,05) among SAs in the first year of research (2020). Support

Student engagement

Teaching methods

Digital res

Attitude

Readiness for ERT

Math Sc.

–

–

Higher

Higher

–

Higher

Latvian l.

Higher

–

Higher

Higher

–

–

Foreign l.

–

–

–

Lower

–

–

Nat. Sc.

–

–

Higher

Higher

–

Higher

Soc. Sc.

Higher

–

–

Higher

Higher

–

Arts

–

–

Lower

–

Higher

–

Health

–

Lower

Lower

Lower

–

Lower

Tech

–

–

Lower

–

Higher

–

Comp. Sc.

Lower

–

Higher

–

–

–

display the changes in each SA. If there were no significant differences, it was marked with “-” in the table. In both years of research (2020 and 2021) statistically significant differences among all SAs were found (see Table 1 and Table 2). In 2021 there were fewer statistically significant differences and the results had become more equal in most SAs. Comparing the results in both years, Readiness for ERT in the first year was higher for Mathematics and Nature Sc., but lower for Health. In the second year no significant differences in Readiness for ERT was found. In 2020 we found statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) if the teacher taught one or two SAs (Lower Digital resources for Social Sc., Arts, Health, Tech, higher Student Engagement, Teaching Methods for Mathematics). There were significant differences for Health – if teachers taught two or three SAs, they had higher results in Student engagement, Teaching methods, Digital resources, Readiness for ERT. In 2021 no statistically significant differences were found in these sub-domains. In 2021 significant differences in the Support were found. In several SAs (Latvian, Foreign language, Natural Sc., Social Sc.) the requirement for support was lower if the teacher taught one to three SAs. If the teacher taught four SAs or more, the need for support became higher (p < 0.05). 3.3 Development of the Readiness for ERT A Pearson’s correlation was run to determine the relationship between Readiness for ERT and the sub-domains. There was strong, positive correlation between Readiness for ERT and Student engagement (r = .70, N = 1405, p < .001) and Teaching methods (r = .70, N = 1405, p < .001). Attitude had moderate, positive correlation with Readiness for ERT (r = .50, N = 1405, p < .001). Comparing the answers from 2020 and 2021, statistically significant differences were found in all SAs (see Table 3) and are described below.

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Table 2. Significant differences (p < 0,05) among SAs in the second year of research (2021). Support

Student engagement

Teaching methods

Digital res

Attitude

Readiness for ERT

Math Sc.

Higher

–

–

Higher

–

–

Latvian l.

–

–

–

–

–

–

Foreign l.

–

Lower

–

–

–

–

Nat. Sc.

–

–

–

Higher

–

–

Soc. Sc.

–

–

–

Higher

–

–

Arts

–

–

Lower

Lower

Higher

–

Health

–

–

–

–

–

–

Tech

–

–

Lower

–

–

–

Comp. Sc.

–

–

–

–

–

–

Support in 2021 had become significantly lower in two subject areas – Natural Sc. and Native language (Latvian). Experts explained that with the specifics of each SA: Native language had traditionally been taught in classroom with little usage of digital tools. Teachers had not been familiar with the available digital learning materials. During the first year and beginning of the second year teachers actively participated in webinars, exchange of experiences, online support groups. Natural Sc. teachers had used technology for longer time due to technology implementation projects in past (starting from 2005) [27]. Their digital skills and experience with technology was much better than other teachers’. Experts expressed lack of time to talk to colleagues and to learn from each other. Table 3. Significant differences (p < 0,05) in Readiness for ERT and all sub-domains. May 2020 compared to May 2021. SA

Support

Student engagement

Teaching methods

Digital res

Attitude

Readiness for OT

Math. Sc.

–

Higher

Higher

–

Lower

Higher

Latvian l.

Lower

Higher

Higher

Lower

–

–

Foreign l.

–

Higher

Higher

–

–

Higher

Nat. Sc.

Lower

Higher

Higher

–

Lower

Higher

Soc. Sc.

–

Higher

Higher

–

Lower

Higher

Arts

–

Higher

Higher

Lower

–

Higher

Health

–

Higher

Higher

–

–

Higher

Tech

–

Higher

Higher

–

–

Higher

Comp. Sc.

–

Higher

Higher

–

–

–

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Experts also added that teachers’ emotional wellbeing and attitude towards ERT was crucial for successful ERT experience both for teachers and their students. It was mentioned that teachers’ had not asked for support because of high level of stress, lack of motivation, uncertainty and physical tiredness. Student engagement had become higher in all SAs. In the first year teachers were busy with urgent planning, reducing the content, changing schedules for classes, reviewing the homework. In second year there were more various teaching forms used, teachers delivered regular online classes, promoted active students’ participation in lessons, discussions, pair and group work online. Teaching methods had higher result in all SAs. In 2020, teachers were completely inexperienced about remote teaching. Teachers sent links to videos or PowerPoint slides, assigned individual tasks to be handed in every day. A huge workload, long hours at the computer, difficulties to read students’ handwriting on the photos of student notes was the result of such activities. In the second year teachers conducted more lessons online, invited students to discussion, assigned tasks for pairs or groups, which led to lighter workload and less work hours. Teachers significantly reduced the number of individual assignments. Instead, they learned to create digital assignments with automatic checking of answers, learned to re-use the learning objects and record voice messages for group feedback. Usage of Digital resources after the second year of the pandemic had become significantly lower in Latvian language, and Arts. Experts expressed opinion that teachers were looking for the most appropriate digital resources for each SA during the first year. It could be that Latvian language teachers and Culture and arts teachers experimented a lot more with digital tools and platforms during the first year. After gaining experience and feedback from students, the number of digital resources was reduced to a minimum of well-functioning and effective tools serving their needs. Also in the first year many companies offered their digital resources for free, but in the second year the number of free resources was reduced. Attitude had become significantly lower in Mathematics, Natural Sc., and Social Sc.. Experts agreed that in the first year everyone had been optimistic about their work and hoped it would soon be over. When the time passed and teachers realized that in the second year more time was to be spent at home without face-to-face contact with students, continuing with ERT, delivering regular and tiresome classes online, in some SAs teachers felt more pessimistic than others. E.g., Mathematics and Natural Sc. are perceived as quite difficult and complicated SAs for students because of formulas, new terminology and complex concepts which are more difficult to deliver online. Social Sc. involve a lot of discussions, pair and group work, which was not so easy possible online. Readiness for ERT after the second school year had increased in all SAs except Latvian language and Computer Sc. (p > 0.05). Computer Sc. teachers had been used to work with technological tools and digital resources, therefore their readiness for ERT did not change significantly. In case of Latvian language teachers it was related to the significantly lower results in Support and Digital resources sub-domains, which affected their total Readiness for ERT (Table 3). Author concludes that the practice of ERT, feedback from students, support from colleagues and communities of practice, webinars, courses and online instruction videos

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for various technical solutions within each SA had been very useful and the differences in Readiness for ERT (readiness gap) among various SAs had disappeared during one year of ERT.

4 Discussion The results confirm that emergency remote teaching from March 2020 to May 2021 had a significant impact on Latvian teachers’ readiness for ERT: it became significantly higher in most subject areas. Investigating the answers of teachers of various SAs we found differences between answers after first and second school year. According to the experts, changes in attitude to ERT experience can be explained by several reasons. First, there was a lack of common ERT methodology for each SA, teachers exchanged their practices and individually learned a lot, and, according to the explanation of experts and other reports, it resulted in longer working hours sitting in front of a computer, and physical and emotional exhaustion. Experts in Mathematics mentioned the lack of digital or interactive materials as one of the main reasons for the negative attitude towards ERT. Experts in Natural Sciences mentioned a lack of practical work (laboratory) as the main reason for dissatisfaction with ERT. They had noticed that many students after 1.5 years out of class had lost their motor skills and self-confidence in working with equipment in the laboratories of Physics or Chemistry. Experts in Social Sciences pointed out a lack of communication, discussion, and group activities as one of the main reasons for negative attitudes toward online teaching. Experts in Arts expressed positive impact of ERT to their student results as they had learned digital tools for producing creative videos and other virtual performances. Most educators did not receive any training on how to conduct ERT before the shift to online setting as it was an emergency. This affected their attitude and willingness to try new teaching approaches. Time also was not on educators’ side – time to shift to remote setting was short (Latvian teachers had 5 days of preparation for ERT). Author concludes that the significant differences among SAs in the first period of remote teaching (2020) had decreased in the second study year because of great amount of practice hours in remote setting. This study shows that SAs are not determinants of teacher readiness for ERT, but they add to it. According to Scherer (2021), each SA has its own culture and traditions of teaching, beliefs and orientations, which are challenging to specify because of the complex mechanism behind it [28]. It was concluded that readiness for ERT in the second year had increased in most SAs due to regular practice and faculty training. Strong correlation between Readiness for ERT, Teaching methods and Student engagement, moderate correlation between Readiness for ERT and Attitude suggests that teachers’ pedagogical competence and attitude are more important for Readiness for ERT than digital competence and technological skills. However, teachers are not a homogenous group and various factors can affect readiness for ERT. These factors can differ from one society to another, from one group of teachers to another, and from one education system to another.

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Our study goes in line with other studies in this field. Our results correspond with similar studies performed in other countries and other circumstances, and it adds additional validation of other studies. 4.1 Strengths and Limitations of This Study This is the first longitudinal study, to author’s knowledge, that analyzes development of Latvian teachers readiness for ERT over time with focus to SAs and comparison of the results. The population based nature of this study is also a strength of this study. There are limitations of the study to be considered. The collection of data was not conducted under controlled setting as the questionnaire was distributed by e-mail. All answers are self-reported data, which are a subject to individual and cultural biases. In addition, students’ questionnaire or data about students’ performance would be useful to evaluate teachers’ ERT results.

5 Conclusions The results of this study can be used for teacher education by developing remote instruction approaches both for work in classroom, hybrid or remote setting. Before teacher starts remote teaching practice, readiness for ERT should be evaluated to take the necessary preparatory measures. Pedagogical competence plays important role in readiness for ERT, therefore additional training should be dedicated to it. Special attention should be paid to teachers of Mathematics, Natural Science and Social Science as these three groups of teachers’ attitude towards ERT after the second year was lower than the average. Negative attitude to remote teaching should be changed with positive examples of successful remote teaching work and practical training in experienced teachers’ guidance. Health and physical activity teachers are suggested to teach 2–3 SAs as it added to better results in Readiness for ERT. Reflection and sharing experiences of remote teaching should become a regular practice. Lack of time shouldn’t be a hinder to development, therefore time for such reflection should be included in the regular working hours. Acknowledgment. This work has been supported by the European Social Fund within the Project No 8.2.2.0/20/I/008 «Strengthening of PhD students and academic personnel of Riga Technical University and BA School of Business and Finance in the strategic fields of specialization» of the Specific Objective 8.2.2 «To Strengthen Academic Staff of Higher Education Institutions in Strategic Specialization Areas» of the Operational Program «Growth and Employment». This publication was supported by Riga Technical University’s Doctoral Grant program. Author expresses gratitude to Mrs. ¯Irisa Celma for her advice during the research.

References 1. Lepp, M., Luik, P.: Challenges and positives caused by changing roles during emergency remote education in Estonia as revealed by Facebook messages. Soc. Sci. 10(10), 364 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3390/SOCSCI10100364

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2. UNESCO: Distance learning strategies in response to COVID-19 school closures, pp. 1–8, April 2020 (2020) 3. Trust, T., Whalen, J.: Should teachers be trained in emergency remote teaching? Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. J. Technol. Teach. Educ. 28(2), 189–199 (2020) 4. Crick, T., Knight, C., Watermeyer, R., Goodall, J.: The impact of COVID-19 and ‘Emergency Remote Teaching’ on the UK computer science education community. In: United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research Conference, New York, NY, USA, September 2020, pp. 31–37 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1145/3416465.3416472 5. Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., Bond, A.: The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning (2020). https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-differ ence-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-. Accessed 17 Dec 2020 6. Schleicher, A.: The impact of COVID-19 on education: insights from education at a glance 2020. OECD J. Econ. Stud. 8, 1–31 (2020) 7. OECD: Education at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators. OECD (2021). https://doi.org/10. 1787/b35a14e5-en 8. Description of Educational Curriculum and Learning Approach. http://www.izm.gov.lv/en/ highlights/3116-description-of-educational-curriculum-and-learning-approach. Accessed 19 Jan 2019 9. Skola2030: M¯ac¯ıbu jomas. Skola2030. https://skola2030.lv/lv/macibu-saturs/merki-sko lenam/macibu-jomas. Accessed 04 Jan 2021 10. LSM.lv B¯ernu satura redakcija: Direktore: Skol¯am tr¯ukst apr¯ıkojuma, lai klase str¯ad¯atu vienlaic¯ıgi att¯alin¯ati un kl¯atien¯e. Latvian Public Broadcasting, 28 September 2021. https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/dzive--stils/vecaki-un-berni/direktore-skolam-trukst-apriko juma-lai-klase-stradatu-vienlaicigi-attalinati-un-klatiene.a423306/. Accessed 06 Jun 2022 11. Anstrate, V.: Pedagogiem vajag atbalstu kompetenˇcu satura ieviešanai. Latvian Public Broadcasting, 24 September 2021. https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/zinas/latvija/pedagogiem-vajag-atb alstu-kompetencu-satura-ieviesanai.a422822/. Accessed 06 Jun 2022 12. Palloff, R.M., Pratt, K.: Making the transition: helping teachers to teach online, October 2000. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED452806. Accessed 13 Apr 2020 13. Palloff, R.M., Pratt, K.: Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom: The Realities of Online Teaching. Wiley, San Francisco (2002) 14. Simonson, M., Zvacek, S.M., Smaldino, S.: Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education, 7th edn. IAP, Charlotte (2019) 15. Brooks, D.C., Grajek, S.: Faculty readiness to begin fully remote teaching. Educause Review, 12 March 2020. https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/3/faculty-readiness-to-begin-fully-rem ote-teaching. Accessed 21 Aug 2020 16. Hoppe Jr., D.W.: Addressing faculty readiness for online teaching, vol. 0325, pp. 1–9 (2015) 17. Boettcher, J.V., Conrad, R.-M.: The Online Teaching Survival Guide, 2nd edn. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco (2016) 18. Chi, A.: Development of the readiness to teach online scale. ProQuest Dissertation Theses, p. 81 (2015) 19. Hung, M.-L.L.: Teacher readiness for online learning: scale development and teacher perceptions. Comput. Educ. 94, 120–133 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015. 11.012 20. Martin, F., Budhrani, K., Wang, C.: Examining faculty perception of their readiness to teach online. Online Learn. J. 23(3), 97–119 (2019). https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v23i3.1555 21. Phan, T.T.N., Dang, L.T.T.: Teacher readiness for online teaching: a critical review*. Int. J. Open Distance E-Learn IJODeL 3(1), 1–16 (2017) 22. Koehler, M.J., Mishra, P., Cain, W.: What is technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)? J. Educ. 193(3), 13–19 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1177/002205741319300303

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23. Redecker, C.: European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators: DigCompEdu. JRC Publications Repository, 28 November 2017. https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reposi tory/handle/JRC107466. Accessed 09 Jul 2022 24. Travis, J.E., Rutherford, G.: Administrative support of faculty preparation and interactivity in online teaching: factors in student success. Natl. Forum Educ. Adm. Superv. J. 30(1), 30–44 (2012) 25. Mir¸ke, E., Tzivian, L.: Factors of successful work in school during COVID-19 pandemics in Latvia. In: Daniela, L., Visvizi, A. (eds.) Remote Learning in Times of Pandemic Issues, Implications and Best Practice, pp. 211–225. Taylor Francis, Abingdon (2021) 26. Mirke, E., Tzivian, L.: Teachers’ readiness for remote teaching during COVID-19 pandemic: the case of Latvia. In: IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON, vol. 2021-April, pp. 537–542 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON46332.2021.9454088 27. Dudareva, I.: Inform¯acijas tehnolog‘ ijas m¯ac¯ıšan¯as iedzi¸linoties atbalstam. In: Namsone, D. (ed.) M¯ac¯ıšan¯as lietprat¯ıbai, p. 263. LU Akad¯emiskais apg¯ads, R¯ıga (2018). https://doi.org/ 10.22364/ml.2018.8 28. Scherer, R., Howard, S.K., Tondeur, J., Siddiq, F.: Profiling teachers’ readiness for online teaching and learning in higher education: who’s ready? Comput. Hum. Behav. 118, 106675 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CHB.2020.106675

Exploring Engineering Students’ Perceptions About the Use of ICTs and Educational Technologies in VET Claudia Galarce-Miranda1(B) , Diego Gormaz-Lobos2 , and Thomas Köhler1 1 Technische Universität Dresden, CODIP Center, Dresden, Germany

[email protected] 2 Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago-Talca-Temuco, Chile

Abstract. At the institutional level, Chilean universities and Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutions have made significant investments in information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as virtual platforms, learning technologies, and streamlining bureaucratic processes related to university management among others. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was already a significant use of ICT resources, especially in many post-graduate programs, which were offered in online or blended learning modalities. The main goals of the study were to explore students’ perceptions from a Chilean vocational school (post-secondary education) and university of applied sciences, with campuses (more than 27) in all regions of Chile about the use of ICTs and educational technologies, and to know about the participants’ attitudes towards the educational use of ICTs and other educational software. Based on scientific literature and their previous experience in research projects about the use of ICTs and the development of a didactical strategy to incorporate educational technologies in the learning process of engineering students, the authors developed a categories system with indicators for the instrument design. The instrument consists of a questionnaire with closed (25 items) and open-ended questions (3) organized into eight main categories with their respective items. Keywords: ICT · Educational technologies · Engineering education · VET institutions

1 Use of ICTs in the University Context 1.1 Use of ICTs in the Chilean University Context In 2006, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) stated that Chile was at the forefront of Latin America concerning the access to the digital era, approaching the connectivity indices of developed countries [26]. These indicators not only reflect the country’s efforts to enter the digital era but also relate to public policies aimed at improving education through ICTs, such as the Programme for Effective Information and Communication Technologies for Education (FONDEF), created at the end of 2002, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 444–451, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_42

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which aims to promote the development of applied research projects on the use of ICTs to improve learning processes [27, 28]. Regarding the use of ICTs by university students, access to computers and smartphones with internet access is almost universal and higher than the rest of the Chilean population. Furthermore, it has been shown that this group uses ICTs primarily to search for information, review content and social networks, and communicate online, using these technological tools for an average of 7 h a day [29, 30]. At the institutional level, Chilean universities have made significant investments in ICTs, such as virtual platforms, learning technologies, and streamlining bureaucratic processes related to university management among others [31]. The use of ICT resources was even already significant before the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in many postgraduate programs, which were offered in online or blended learning modalities. Even though these advances in ICT implementation showed that both Chilean universities and their students were considered the best prepared for online learning in Latin America, it is still important to delve deeper into how this process occurs. In 2018 a study on the use of ICT in a private Chilean university showed that one of the weakest aspects of the evaluation was that teachers are more competent in technological aspects than in pedagogical ones [32]. This is because, in the case of Chilean universities (before the pandemic), the incorporation of ICTs was still in the implementation phase. However, the full integration of ICTs in the educational environment is still lacking. This could be explained by the fact that both university institutions and their students seem to be quite advanced in terms of access, management, and use of technology. This idea was further explored in a study carried out among a group of student teachers at the Faculty of Education of the Universidad Católica del Maule, in Chile, regarding their ICTs skills [33]. This study affirms that there is still work to be done to integrate ICTs, because some difficulties in the integration of ICTs were identified, such as lack of sufficient training by the university teaching staff and its students, a lack of equipment and infrastructure, and there are still difficulties in accessing the internet from home due to geographical (rural) or economic factors. Furthermore, various academic investigations showed that for students, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of ICTs was fully integrated into their lifestyles, but not in their use for learning during their university education [33].

2 Exploring Engineering Students’ Perceptions About the Use of ICTs and Educational Technologies 2.1 Methodology The survey was designed using a mixed model of qualitative and quantitative methods, using a concurrent triangulation strategy. The aim is to use two different survey methods to confirm, supplement or validate the research results [34]. The main objective of the research design was to explore the students’ perceptions about the use of ICTs and other educational technologies by integrating the answers to the closed questions with the answers to the open questions of the instrument (questionnaire). Based on [3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 17, 23, 25, 29, 30, 36] and their previous experience in research projects about the use of ICTs and the development of a didactical strategy to

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incorporate educational technologies at the learning process of university students [16, 20, 37, 38], the authors developed a categories system with indicators for the instrument design. The instrument consists of a questionnaire with closed (25 items) and openended questions (3) organized into eight main categories with their respective items (see Table 1). The main goals of the study are to explore students’ perceptions from a Chilean vocational school (post-secondary education) and university of applied sciences, with campuses (more than 27) in all regions of Chile about the use of ICTs and educational technologies, and to know about the participants’ attitudes towards the educational use of ICTs and other software. The specific objectives of the research are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

To identify the disposition (readiness) of the students towards the use of ICTs. To characterize the interaction with others through the use of ICTs. To know about the use of different learning skills using ICTs. To identify the interaction of the students with LMS and ICTs. To identify the resources available of the students for the use of ICTs.

Table 1. Instruments categories about students’ perceptions of ICTs Categories I. Use and application of knowledge with ICTs II. Organizational capacity with the use of ICTs III. Communicative skills IV. Personal skills V. Interpersonal skills with the use of ICTs VI. Solutions solving skills VII. Scientific work with ICTs and ET VIII. Confidence and readiness for the use of technological and digital tools

2.2 Population and Procedure The sample of the study was composed of 202 engineering students from different Engineering faculties at a Chilean university of applied sciences. Only 201 questionnaires were considered for the analysis because they were fully completed. The instrument was applied online, ensuring the anonymity of the participants. The online questionnaires were applied during the second semester of the 2021 academic year. The first part collected information from the participants about gender, engineering fields, entry to engineering programs, and previous experiences with ICTs, among others. The second part consists of the information collection of the closed and open questions. For the statistical analysis, an exploratory-descriptive analysis was applied [37–39]. The instrument was individually applied, considering the ethical aspects according to the Chilean social sciences research criteria.

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2.3 Results of the Students’ Survey Closed Questions. This part presents the results about the perceptions of students regarding their educational experience with the use of ICTs. In general, the results show a high percentage of agreement with the following statements that refer to students’ ICTs skills (see Fig. 1): students state that they know how to organize information well, distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information in ICTs, and are proactive in responding to new learning tasks with ICTs. They also report feeling more responsible for their own learning process using ICTs. In terms of access, the majority of students report having a computer, telephone, or tablet for learning at all times with all the software and programs for learning and with access to the Internet. However, it is striking that despite the high percentage who report having access, there is still a significant percentage who say that they do not have permanent tools to make use of ICTs (25%). Related to this issue, most of the students perceive that the costs of requirements (technology, internet, software, books, etc.) for their training have increased (45%) but this has not been the case with the perception that the costs of food, maintenance and transport have increased (65%). Very High

25

High

Moderate

20

70 40 40

23

25 25

25 25

21

25 15

INDICATOR

50 25 25 30

40 40 35 20 15 10

13

15 15 15

30

30 55 65

0

25

9

40

20

45 35

7

25

35

45 20%

30 25 10 20

40%

60%

10 20

10 30 25

40 1 0%

5 15

35 25

10 25

30

25 20

3

20 10

20 30

35 5

5 35

30

10 0 5 10 10

35 30 30

25

10

0 0

20 5

40 11

10 10 10 10 10 10 10

40

20

15

20

40

17

10 0 10 10

15 15

30 30

19

Low

80%

15 15

0 100%

Fig. 1. Relevance of different aspects of perceptions of students by use of ICTs

For the authors, it is relevant to highlight that students with or without previous experience with the use of ICT in their training process showed clear differences when

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relating the assessment of each of the indicators. Students with previous experience with the use of ICTs gave a high valuation (average of 15%) in each indicator of the questionnaire. Open Questions. This part presents the results of the open questions about the perceptions of students regarding their experience in engineering careers with the use of ICTs. It was asked four questions: (1) “What aspects of your “learning process with ICTs” do you find outstanding?”, (2)“What aspects of your “learning process with ICTs” would you like to improve?”, and (3) “Do you consider “learning with ICTs” useful? (Give your arguments).

Comunicational skills Engineering knowledges Organizational skills Project work skills Team work Time management Use of technological tools

7,5 29,9

7,5 10,0 0,5 14,9 29,9 0,0

10,0

20,0

30,0

40,0

Percentages Fig. 2. Answers to “What aspects of your “learning process with ICTs” do you find outstanding”

Comunicational skills Engineering knowledges Project work skills Team work Time management Use of technological tools

17,4 10,0 14,9 29,9 15,4

12,4 0,0

5,0

10,0

15,0

20,0

25,0

30,0

35,0

Percentages Fig. 3. Answers to “What aspects of your “learning process with ICTs” would you like to improve?”

The answers to questions 1 and 2 are presented in Figs. 2 and 3 respectively. In question 3, all the participants consider useful the learning process with the use of ICTs and other educational tools for different reasons (for example the development of organizational and communication skills, learning of new engineering knowledge, learning in modern environments, new demands of labor market, etc.).

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3 Conclusion One of the advantages of the use of ICTs as an educational resource is that it places no artificial and spatial limits on students’ learning. The role of teachers and the importance of having technical competencies, but also a positive attitude towards technological resources are also for different authors mentioned. This can be applied to the case of learners, where the survey results have shown that students are technically good with ICTs for learning, but the results show that particular attention needs to be paid also to the motivational aspects. Furthermore, the students recognize that this learning method is useful for making time and space more flexible. In addition, they recognized, to a lesser extent, that learning through ICTs is something that motivates them. However, as this factor is the one with the least internal variation and least reliability, it would be necessary to extend the instrument for future research and add more questions that investigate especially the emotional aspect of this type of learning. In relation to this, various theoretical approaches point to the importance of social factors in learning through ICTs, where ICTs are necessary to encourage encounters, such as virtual platforms or discussion forums so that the social nature of learning is not lost. These research results correspond to Factor V, which deals with social relations in the use of ICTs, showed the lowest levels of agreement with these indicators, indicating that learning through ICTs does not facilitate interaction with the teacher, with other students and that group activities through these media are not necessarily easier. For this reason, the authors are committed to continue improving the implementation of ICTs in Engineering Education.

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Educators and Digital Fit? A Diversity Study Based on the Person-Environment Fit Model in Times of Increasing Digitalization in Schools Birgit Albaner1(B)

and Barbara Sabitzer2

1 University of Education Carinthia, Hubertusstr. 1, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria

[email protected]

2 Johannes Kepler University Linz, Science Park 5, 4040 Linz, Austria

[email protected]

Abstract. In Austria, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) developed the 8-Point Plan for Digital Education in June 2020, a catalogue of measures aimed at implementing digitally supported teaching and learning and implementing innovative teaching and learning formats at all school locations. The steps include standardization of learning platforms, resources, and communication processes, as well as teacher training and initiatives that provide the necessary basic infrastructure and end devices. Often, however, the true success of educational interventions relies on the commitment of those who are expected to implement the plan, i.e., to make a contribution. Within the framework of a diversity study that focuses on individual, social, and structural differences and commonalities, this paper currently aims to contribute to understanding the complex reality of digitality in education from the pedagogical perspective. Based on the person-environment fit (P-E fit) theory, existing effects, i.e. results of the fit of needs and abilities (self-assessment with regard to existing competencies), as well as demands and supply (satisfaction regarding competencies) will be investigated. Keywords: Person-environment fit · Competence evaluation · Competence satisfaction · Diversity

1 Introduction 1.1 A Globalized World Digitality as a socio-cultural transformation process creates a new starting point: We are connected to technologies and other people in diverse and complex ways. This perspective is also intended to overcome the dominant dichotomy of people and technology or presence and distance. From a didactic point of view, it is no longer a matter of juxtaposing old and new media or using as many digital tools as possible in the classroom, because even in supposedly analog settings, where digital technologies do not seem to play a role, they are a defining moment. Sociologist Andreas Hepp [15] describes this as profound mediatization, referring to the increasing intertwining of the social world with digital media and their infrastructures. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 452–459, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_43

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1.2 Digital Education Interventions in Austria Against the backdrop of comprehensive globalization, it is important to address the question of the effectiveness of educational interventions. With the 8-Point Plan for Digital Education in Austria, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) developed a catalog of measures in June 2020 [6] with the goal of implementing digitally supported teaching and learning and implementing innovative teaching and learning formats at all school locations (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. 8-point plan for digital teaching (BMBWF 2020) [5].

The measures include standardization with regard to learning platforms, resources and communication processes, as well as teacher qualification and initiatives that provide the required basic infrastructure and end devices. 1.3 Individual Prerequisites of Educators in Austria Often, the true success of pedagogical interventions is in the commitment of those who are supposed to implement the plan, i.e., make a contribution. Studies indicate that this contribution decision is not made consciously. People often spontaneously assess whether the given work environment fits their needs or whether they can meet the requirements with the skills they have. Thus, the decision to contribute is a joint result of factors determined by both the person and the environment. It is widely assumed that this is the result of a high person-environment fit (P-E fit) [2, 14]. Looking now at the individual prerequisites of educators in Austria, the digi.kompP competence model [7] can be referred to for an insightful analysis. Derived from this, individual preconditions are presented in 4 competence levels (get in, discover, apply, develop) and 8 categories (see Fig. 2). The digi.checkP, which is derived from the digi.kompP model, offers educators in Austria a way to self-assess digital competencies, anonymously if requested. It provides

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individual feedback on competence areas relevant to the teaching profession and, linked to the courses offered by all Austrian universities of teacher education, inspiration for personal qualification and improvement programs.

Fig. 2. digi.kompP competency model (own presentation based on: Virtual PH commissioned by BMBWF 2019) [25].

1.4 Educators and Digital Fit in Austria Teaching and learning in the environment of ubiquitous digitality thus means that orientation and classification aids are needed [5] to counter the inevitable and ever-expanding merging of people and technology, with old processes disappearing and new ones emerging. Outlining these contexts makes it clear that a broad view will be necessary to provide teachers with a package of measures that is both, customizable and universally applicable. After all, the goal is to optimize teaching and learning in an environment where innovation is both, the catalyst of change and the defining outcome. Person-environment fit (P-E fit) as a general framework has a long tradition in psychology, dating back to such influential authors as Lewin [16] and Murray [21]. Over the years, research has examined different types of P-E fit, such as the fit between the person’s needs and what is available in the environment [12, 17, 23], the fit between the

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demands of the environment and the person’s abilities [11, 20], or the fit between the person’s values and those of the organization and its members [9, 10]. In this study, two forms of P-E fit will be identified and analyzed: Needs-supply fit and demand-abilities fit. The concept of needs-supply fit [2, 22] emphasizes that the offers, resources, and opportunities of the environment can satisfy personal needs and preferences and is about a person’s evaluation of the environment based on his or her personal preferences. The concept of demand-abilities fit [3, 13] deals with assumptions about the extent to which a person’s skills, knowledge, and abilities can meet the demands of the environment, and thus refers to a person’s personal assessment of being able to meet the demands, in this study especially technical and digital didactic requests. In particular, the analysis should also address gender- or age-specific differences or influences of seniority. According to previous research [4, 19] these are factors that have a critical impact on a technology adoption process. Attitudes toward digital media and technology in general (willingness to innovate, acceptance of technology, self-efficacy expectations etc.) play a crucial role [1, 8, 18]. This paper focuses on the question of how self-assessment of digital competencies and competency satisfaction in the face of a vastly changed, digitized environment are represented using the person-environment fit model and to what extent they differ in the context of diversity, particularly gender, age, and years of service.

2 Methodology Methodologically, a detailed analysis of the fit between the teachers’ needs and professional support offers or competencies and demands under the conditions of current digitality is to be carried out, which corresponds to the individual matching in terms of satisfaction of needs or an assessment of competence under the given framework conditions. In this study, a two-part online questionnaire was developed based on the competency model shown in Fig. 2 and competency-based questions derived from selfdetermination theory. On the one hand, the instrument was intended to ensure a competence evaluation, i.e., an individual assessment of the ability to meet requirements, and on the other hand, to measure competence satisfaction. For the competence evaluation a selection of questions from the digi.checkP measurement instrument was chosen and the competence satisfaction according to the self-determination theory was to be measured with an extract from the “Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale - Work Domain” (BNSF at work) [24], which focuses on the psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence. The level of agreement was surveyed in each case as within the framework of a 5-part scale. 40 working educators (31w/9m) participated in the online survey during November 2021, with a fairly even representation of subjects taught as well as age and years of service. The sample of respondents were predominantly employed in secondary schools. Since digital literacy is currently to be a mandatory part of the Austrian curriculum and ongoing efforts regarding digitization are focused on 10- to 14-year-olds, this sample is assumed to be relevant and tends to be meaningful, which is what the following results are expected to show.

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3 Results The first part of the online survey dealt with the self-assessment of one’s own digital competencies concerning classroom teaching. The participants’ agreement with the given statements is shown in Table 1. Table 1. Digital competence - self-assessment. Item Statement

Avg. consent

1

I can provide for backup and recovery in the event of a computer failure

−0.025

2

I can safely use basic functions of standard office software from different 1 providers (GoogleDocs; Microsoft; Apple, etc.)

3

I use digital tools (e.g., calendars, notes, mails) to organize my private daily life

1.05

4

I am aware of both the opportunities and dangers of using digital media

1.6

5

I am aware of specific online resources that I can use to make my subject 0.825 lessons current and engaging

6

I can create teaching/learning materials (e.g., presentations, videos, or practice materials) using digital tools

0.95

7

I can make my teaching materials available online to learners and colleagues

1.475

8

I know how to support learners individually in their learning process through the use of digital media

0.475

9

I can search online for specific materials that I am allowed to use in my lessons

1.4

10

I can teach aspects of digital literacy to my students

0.65

11

Our school has uniform guidelines for online communication with students and parents

1.125

12

I am aware of various online learning opportunities for my personal development

0.675

Items 4, 7 and 9 received the highest level of agreement and items 1, 8 and 10 the lowest. The majority of respondents are aware of both, opportunities and dangers of using digital media, they can make their teaching materials available online to learners and colleagues, and they are able to search online for specific materials that they are allowed to use in their lessons but they often feel unsettled in providing for backup and recovery in the event of a computer failure, supporting learners individually in their learning processes by using digital media, and teaching aspects of digital literacy to their students. In terms of gender, the mean value for the self-assessment of digital competence was noticeably lower for female respondents (10.45) than for male respondents (13.78). The worst values for self-assessment of digital competence are seen among respondents with more than 9 years of service (8.83). In terms of age, the same tendency is reflected,

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whereby very young teachers rate themselves notably above the average (17.0). The mean value was 11.2 and the median 12.5. With a standard deviation of 8.46, a t-test designed to show the significance of differences in means yielded a value of 0.12, i.e., unfortunately, no significance in this sample. The second part of the online survey dealt with the self-assessment of one’s own satisfaction with autonomy, relationship and competence at work. The contentment rating of the participants is illustrated in Table 2. Table 2. Satisfaction concerning autonomy, relationship and competence at work. Item

Statement

Avg. consent

1

At work, I feel like I have a choice and freedom in the things I do

1

2

I feel confident that I can do well at my job

1.425

3

I feel that the people I care about at work care about me

1.5

4

I don’t feel forced to do many things at my job that I don’t want to do

0.55

5

At work, I feel capable of doing what I do

1.25

6

I feel that people who are important to me at work are not distant

1.425

7

I don’t feel pressured to do too many things at work

0.6

8

When I am at work, I feel competent to achieve my goals

1.4

9

When I am at work, I feel close and connected to other people who are important to me

1.025

10

I feel like I’m doing what I’m really interested in at my job

1.2

11

In my job, I feel that I can successfully complete difficult tasks

1.1

12

I like the people I deal with at work

1.525

In Table 2, items 2, 3, and 12 showed the highest agreement and items 1, 4, and 7 showed the lowest accordance. The majority of respondents feel confident that they can do well at their job, feel that the people they care about at work care about them, and they like the people they deal with at work but they often feel less satisfied in having a choice and freedom doing the things they do, having to do many things at their job that they don’t want to do, and having to deal with too many things at work. The genders showed similar mean results with regard to satisfaction with autonomy, relationship and competence at work (w = 13.9 and m = 14.33). Particularly good scores were found for the few respondents younger than 25 years of age, but also for participants older than 55 years. In terms of years in service, satisfaction scores improve slightly with increasing years in the job. Both the mean and median were 14, with a standard deviation of 4.56. The following section is intended to show what implications should be drawn from the results obtained and what measures it is desirable to strive for.

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4 Conclusion Given diversity study based on the concept of P-E fit shows that findings already available with regard to gender can also be confirmed in the context of this work. The perception of a poorer fit of digital competencies among female and older respondents surveyed in the course of the self-assessment contrasts with a noticeably better performance of male and younger participants. In terms of competence satisfaction the genders showed similar average scores. Age, however, had a stronger influence on the deviation from mean values. Both, very young (respondents under the age of 25) and educators older than 55 or with a long teaching career showed above-average satisfaction. The following is a discussion of possible derivations from the study results.

5 Discussion The person-environment fit model provided a valuable framework for designing the survey instrument, which, viewing the results, reveals levers that can be applied to both the person and the environment. Regarding the environmental factors, it would be advisable to constantly evaluate the demands on educators, since the present study reported that they often have little freedom of choice for things that have to be done in their work or too many tasks that have to be handled within the scope of their work. Derived from the results on person factors, measures could be promoted primarily for women and older teachers that focus on technical competencies, data security, but also didactic issues, such as the ability to teach students digital competencies or to support individualization in the classroom by using digital media. When designing teacher training programs, the premise is that they must be able to flexibly adapt to the ever-changing environmental requirements in order to ensure that educators as persons are well equipped and competent for the digital challenges of the present times.

References 1. Apel, J., Wenke, A.: Digitales Lernen. In: Wittpahl, V. (Hrsg.) Digitalisierung: Bildung— Technik—Innovation, pp. 67–75. Springer, Heidelberg (2016) 2. Astakhova, M.N.: Explaining the effects of perceived person-supervisor fit and personorganization fit on organizational commitment in the U.S. and Japan. J. Bus. Res. 69(2), 956–963 (2016) 3. Beasley, C.R., Jason, L.A., Miller, S.A.: The general environment fit scale: a factor analysis and test of convergent construct validity. Am. J. Commun. Psychol. 50(1–2), 64–76 (2012) 4. Besa, K.S., et al.: Interesse an digitalen Medien – eine Frage der Persönlichkeit? Eine quantitative Untersuchung des Medieninteresses von Lehramtsstudierenden und NichtLehramtsstudierenden. Lehrerbildung auf dem Prüfstand 14(1), 13–15 (2021) 5. Biesta, G.J.J.: Giving teaching back to education: responding to the disappearance of the teacher. Phenomenol. Pract. 6(2), 35–49 (2012) 6. BMBWF: 8-Punkte-Plan für den digitalen Unterricht (2020). https://www.bmbwf.gv.at/The men/schule/zrp/dibi.html. Accessed 06 June 2022

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7. Brandhofer, G., et al.: Die Weiterentwicklung des Kompetenzrasters digi.kompP für Pädagog*innen. In: Trültzsch-Wijnen, C., Brandhofer, G. (Hg.) Bildung und Digitalisierung: Auf der Suche nach Kompetenzen und Performanzen. 1. Aufl, pp. 51–72. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Baden-Baden (2020) 8. Büsch, A.: Digital natives and digital immigrants: medienwelten und medienkompetenz heutiger schüler-, lehrer- und elterngenerationen. In: Fischer, C. (Hrsg.) Pädagogischer Mehrwert? Digitale Medien in Schule und Unterricht, pp. 59–84. Waxmann, Münster, New York (2017) 9. Cable, D.M., Edwards, J.R.: Complementary and supplementary fit: a theoretical and empirical integration. J. Appl. Psychol. 89(5), 822 (2004) 10. Chatman, J.A.: Improving Interactional Organizational Research: A Model of PersonOrganization Fit (1989). http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/Chatman/papers/39_ImprovingInt xOrgResearch.pdf. 06 June 2022 11. Edwards, J.R.: An examination of competing versions of the person-environment fit approach to stress. Acad. Manag. J. 39(2), 292–339 (1996) 12. Edwards, J.R., van Harrison, R.: Job demands and worker health: three-dimensional reexamination of the relationship between person-environment fit and strain. J. Appl. Psychol. 78(4), 628 (1993) 13. Egger, J.W.: Selbstwirksamkeit und Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung – ein wirkmächtiges kognitives Konstrukt für gesundheitliches Verhalten. Psychologie in Österreich 40, 327–335 (2020) 14. Greguras, G.J., Diefendorff, J.M.: Different fits satisfy different needs: linking personenvironment fit to employee commitment and performance using self-determination theory. J. Appl. Psychol. 94(2), 465 (2009) 15. Hepp, A.: Von der Mediatisierung zur tiefgreifenden Mediatisierung. In: Reichertz, J., Bettmann, R. (eds.) Kommunikation-Medien-Konstruktion, pp. 27–45. Springer, Wiesbaden (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-21204-9_2 16. Lewin, K.: Principles of topological psychology. In: New York-London (1936) 17. Locke, E.A.: The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In: Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (1976) 18. Lorenz, R.: Ressourcen, Einstellungen und Lehrkraftbildung im Bereich Digitalisierung. In: McElvany, N., et al. (Hg.) Digitalisierung in der schulischen Bildung: Chancen und Herausforderungen, pp. 53–67. Waxmann, Münster, New York (2018) 19. Marsden, N., Kempf, U.: Einleitung. In: Marsden, N., Kempf, U. (Hg.) GenderUseIT. HCI, Usability und UX unter Gendergesichtspunkten, pp. 1–11. De Gruyter, Berlin (2014) 20. McGrath, J.E.: Stress and behavior in organizations. In: Dunnette, M. (ed.) Handbook of Industrial and Organization Psychology. Rand McNally, Chicago (1976) 21. Murray, H.A.: Explorations in personality: a clinical and experimental study of fifty men of college age (1938) 22. Pee, L.G., Min, J.: Employees’ online knowledge sharing: the effects of person-environment fit. J. Knowl. Manag. 21, 432–453 (2017) 23. Porter, L.W., Lawler, E.E.: What Job Attitudes Tell About Motivation. Harvard Business Review Reprint Service, Boston (1968) 24. van den Broeck, A., et al.: Capturing autonomy, competence, and relatedness at work: construction and initial validation of the Work-related Basic Need Satisfaction scale. J. Occup. Org. Psychol. 83(4), 981–1002 (2010) 25. Virtuelle, P.H.: digi.kompP - Digitale Kompetenzen für PädagogInnen (2019). https://www. virtuelle-ph.at/digikomp/. Accessed 06 June 2022

Work-in-Progress: Managing the Different Levels of Abstraction for University Courses in STEM Disciplines Using Interactive Scripts Peter Kersten1(B) and Katrin Temmen2 1 Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, Hamm, Germany

[email protected]

2 Paderborn University, Paderborn, Germany

[email protected]

Abstract. Different levels of abstraction are a major challenge in STEM courses. When using conventional teaching and learning materials, the change between the different levels of abstraction also involves a change in media. Smart interactive scripts allow the use of live codes in addition to narrative text and illustrations and are therefore an interesting way to integrate different levels of abstraction into one single document. In addition, you can include user interface components such as sliders, drop-down lists, and checkboxes to change the values of variables and see the effects immediately. Due to their challenging nature, the interactive scripts can contribute to active learning with a very good acceptance by the students. In addition to the technical implementation, this requires a tailor-made design of the interactive scripts that considers the necessary abstraction levels for the respective STEM courses. Keywords: Digitalization in Higher Education · Conceptual understanding · Abstraction levels · Active learning · Ubiquitous learning

1 Introduction and Motivation Higher education courses in the disciplines of science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) are considered difficult and challenging. Especially in the fields of mathematics and physics, new methodologies to be learned demand an enormously high level of abstraction from the students. These challenges already arise at school, where physics lessons, for example, are unfortunately among the most unpopular school subjects [1, 2]. An analysis of the problem in relation to physics teaching shows that learning and mastering the different levels of abstraction and communication are major hurdles [1]. In addition, the change of different levels of abstraction is often associated with media discontinuity. For example, it is often necessary to switch between textbooks, scripts, video tutorials, and mathematical software to understand specific physical relationships. This paper starts at exactly this point and shows how so-called smart interactive scripts (abbreviated in the following as smartiS) can be used to summarize abstraction levels in one single working document. Here, we rely on the experience of a previous © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 460–467, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_44

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study, which has shown that these tools promote a proactive and self-organized learning process, contrary to receptive learning [3]. If the concept of active learning is understood broadly to be an alternative to the teacher-centered model where students are encouraged to become active and not just passively listen [4], the smartiS have a high potential for supporting an active learning approach. With all the technical and pedagogical possibilities, however, caution is also called for. It is known that, although various studies show that active learning in STEM courses supports the learning process, there is still some reluctance to use it more widely, partly because feedback from students is not always positive [5]. In the following, we will therefore show how smartiS can be optimally adapted to the respective needs of the learners to obtain a tailor-made solution for active learning. In this adjustment, the selection of the respective abstraction levels plays an important role.

2 Levels of Abstraction in the Learning Process As mentioned above, the amount of abstraction levels plays an important role in the design of teaching and learning materials for STEM courses. Table 1 illustrates different levels of abstraction and the related presentation forms in lecture courses according to Leisen [6]. Table 1. The different abstraction levels of presentation and their typical corresponding elements for presentation according to Leisen [6]. Level of abstraction

Presentation level

Examples of typical elements and forms for presentation

4th -level

Mathematical representation

Physical laws, chemical structural formulas

3rd -level

Symbolic representation

Structure charts, flow charts, graphics, tables, mind maps

2nd -level

Linguistic representation

Languages, texts, mind maps, outlines

1st -level

Visual representations

Photographs, movies, drawings, pictograms, mind maps

Ground level

Concrete objects

Objects, experiments, actions

The ground level of abstraction is formed by the objective representation with concrete objects, experiments, and actions in the lectures. The next four levels are expressed by the visual, linguistic, symbolic, and mathematical presentation. Each of them contains characteristic elements and forms for the presentation. Although it is traditional to start with the concrete and then move to the abstract, an approach where the level of abstraction is based on the needs of the students is considered more appropriate [6]. The major advantage of using smartiS is that the first to fourth level of abstraction can be integrated into a single document that combines live code with formatted narrative

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text, equations, images, and other graphical output in a single interface. This minimizes distraction in the learning process by avoiding media breaks.

3 Integration of the Different Levels of Abstraction When Using Interactive Scripts 3.1 Design and Implementation of Interactive Scripts With regard to the technical realization of the smartiS, two variants have been used in the context of this work. On the one hand, the MATLAB live scripts (short: MLS), which have been available since MATLAB software version R2016a, and on the other hand, the Jupyter Notebooks (short: JNB) in combination with python programming language. The provision of the scripts as well as the execution of the software can be done in different ways and can be adapted to the specific needs of the related STEM courses. Details of the technical implementation have already been described [3]. 3.2 Use Cases of the Interactive Scripts in University Classes In the following, the design, implementation, and use of smartiS in three different use cases at a university level are described in more detail. Use Case A: Lecture Course Physics in the First Semester at a University of Applied Sciences. The lecture course “Physics” takes place at the Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences in the first semester of different bachelor’s degree programs. As visualized in Fig. 1, the third and fourth levels are mapped with smartiS, using JNB files with python code, shared with students via a publicly accessible Github repository.

Fig. 1. The different levels of abstraction and the related forms of representation used in the lecture course “Physics”, modified presentation according to Fruböse [1].

In this case, smartiS are used selectively in addition to a standard script whenever certain aspects of the lecture are to be illustrated with examples. The example shown here illustrates the calculation of the speed of a skydiver using a numerical solution of the equations of motion. A web-based application is used to execute the smartiS, in this

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case, Google Colaboratory (short: Google Colab) providing free access to computing the corresponding JNB file. Because Google Colab enables execution of arbitrary python code through the browser, students can try out this example not only on their notebooks but also on smartphones and tablet PCs, regardless of the operating system they use. Figure 2 shows a screenshot of the example described. Here the underlying python code is hidden at the start of the script but can be displayed on request by clicking on “show code”. By operating the sliders, the values for the step width (n) and the mass of the skydiver (m) can be changed and the graph is automatically updated.

Fig. 2. Presentation of an interactive script with the help of Google Colab. The related JNB file (physics.jpbyn) is loaded from the publicly accessible GitHub repository.

The aim here is to make the application particularly interesting for the students but to keep the overall handling as low-threshold as possible. The “ground level” of the lecture is realized by accompanying experiments. Use Case B: Lecture Course Electrical Engineering with Integrated Lecture Hall Laboratory. The course “Electrical Engineering for Mechanical Engineers” at the University of Paderborn is attended every year by more than 200 students in the third semester of the bachelor’s degree program in mechanical engineering. Since this course originates in and is delivered by the electrical engineering department, mechanical engineering students often consider this course to be an external topic and have difficulties with both the content and motivation. Figure 3 shows the design of the course. As in use case A, the third and fourth levels are mapped with smartiS, in this case, JNBs. The second level - the linguistic representation - is realized by peer instruction [7]. In this method, students are asked a course-specific question with several possible answers. Each student considers the question independently before answering. The answers given are then plotted on a

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histogram, giving both the students and the lecturer feedback on their level of knowledge. Students then discuss their answers in pairs and “vote” on an answer a second time [8]. According to Mazur [7], the percentage of correct answers always increases after the discussion, which he takes as a sign that students are explaining their answers successfully and learning from their peers. The first level - a visual representation - is again realized by the smartiS, where the corresponding circuits are shown or can be selected. To support the learning process, the “Lecture Hall Lab” was developed for the “ground level” of the course. It enables students to practically apply the theoretical and, in engineering studies often abstract, material.

Fig. 3. The different levels of abstraction and the related forms of representation used in the lecture course “Electrical Engineering”, modified presentation according to Fruböse [1].

In the Lecture Hall Lab, laboratory, lecture, and exercise phases are closely linked so that students can gain practical experience in handling the equipment in addition to deepening their conceptual understanding. To conduct hands-on experiments, groups of three students are given a portable data acquisition device (myDAQ, National Instruments), a breadboard, and a set of electrical components to use throughout the semester [8]. Use Case C: Laboratory Course Electro Mobility. The laboratory course “Electro Mobility” takes place at the Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences in the fourth semester of the bachelor’s degree program Industrial Engineering with Business Studies. The concept of the smartiS was applied to the learning situation of a practical

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course in which, among other things, the energy consumption of electric cars was to be calculated with the help of a vehicle model. Figure 4 shows the design of the course. The “ground level” of the course is realized by presenting the university’s electric car (EQ forfour, smart) on a lifting platform. This makes it possible to identify all components of the car that are relevant for a battery electric vehicle and to explain how they work. All further abstraction levels from one to four are integrated into the smartiS.

Fig. 4. The different levels of abstraction and the related forms of representation used in the lab course “Electro Mobility”, modified presentation according to Fruböse [1].

The interactive script is made available to students as an MLS file via the university’s learning management system. The smartiS contain various tasks from the topic area of electro mobility that teams of 5 to 10 students work on together. For example, the energy consumption of various car models is calculated with the help of a vehicle model in which the air resistance and rolling resistance of the respective car are to be considered. The smartiS are processed and executed using MATLAB software, available to students as a campus license. Students decide for themselves whether to install MATLAB locally on their notebooks or to use MATLAB Online via their web browser on notebooks or tablet PCs. The students work on the respective tasks in a problem-based learning approach and individually create their documentation by inserting texts, graphics, and diagrams based on the smartiS provided. If the course is to be graded, students can simply export the final script into a PDF-format and upload it to the learning platform for grading.

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3.3 Use Cases from the Students’ Point of View From the students’ point of view, switching between the different levels of abstraction always makes sense if connections are not understood at the higher level. For example, if the statement and relevance of a mathematical formula is not understood, the student independently moves down one level, e.g. to analyze and understand the influence of individual variables by using sliders in the interactive script. This option can be used during the semester as well as at the end of the semester for exam preparation. Here, the smartiS also offer the possibility of creating your own variable tasks, for which the interactive script provides the solution.

4 Preliminary Results Section 3.2 described the different use cases for the application of smartiS in relation to the different STEM courses. Table 2 below summarizes these use cases. Depending on the objective, different levels of abstraction can be combined in one single document. The technical implementation, i.e. the type of script used as well as the software used can also be adapted to the particular requirements of the courses. Table 2. The design and application of interactive scripts in the different use cases including courses at a University and a University of Applied Sciences (UAS). Use case

STEM course/semester/type of University

Levels of abstraction

Type of interactive script/software

A

Lecture course physics/1st-semester/UAS

3, 4

JNB on public Github repository/Google Colab

B

Lecture course electrical engineering/3rd-semester/University

1, 3, 4

JNB on Learning Management System/JupyterHub

C

Laboratory course electro mobility/4th-semester/UAS

1, 2, 3, 4

MLS on Learning Management System/MATLAB

There is a wide range of applications for smartiS, from the visualization of selected contexts in electrical engineering or physics described above, to a full script for conducting a laboratory course. The use of JNB files, which can be easily shared via a public server such as Github, has great advantages when only selected examples are to be presented, for example, in the context of conceptual understanding. JNB files shared in this way can be executed on all devices such as desktop PCs, tablet PCs, and even smartphones via web services such as Google Colab.

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5 Conclusions and Outlook This paper examines the design and the use of smartiS to manage different levels of abstraction in STEM courses. Integrating different levels of abstraction into a single document makes it easier to leave the classical path from the concrete to the abstract and to adapt the level of abstraction to the particular requirements of the students without accepting media discontinuities. The precise selection of the abstraction levels used can reduce the effort required to create the scripts and contribute to a high level of acceptance among the students. Especially for the courses in the first semesters, it has become clear that the use of smartiS should be designed and implemented as low-threshold as possible. This can be achieved by making the script available on publicly accessible servers and by executing it with the help of free web-based software. Since this concept can, of course, also be used outside the courses mentioned here, smartiS are highly promising as pragmatic tools towards ubiquitous learning, learning anywhere and anytime. Acknowledgment. A part of this work was supported by the program Digitalization in Higher Education 2019 of the Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Humanities and Sciences in Germany and the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia.

References 1. Fruböse, C.: Der ungeliebte Physikunterricht. Mathematischer und Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht 63(7), 388–392 (2010) 2. Strömmer, T., Winkelmann, J.: Charakteristische Merkmale von Physikunterricht: Wirkung auf (Un-) Beliebtheit, Interesse und Schwierigkeit. Alte Seite-PhyDid B-Didaktik der PhysikBeiträge zur DPG-Frühjahrstagung, pp. 219–226 (2020) 3. Temmen, K., Kersten, P., Schäfer, D.: Work-in-progress: the potential of interactive scripts – supporting conceptual understanding and collaborative problem-solving skills. In: Auer, M.E., Hortsch, H., Michler, O., Köhler, T. (eds.) ICL 2021. LNNS, vol. 390, pp. 784–791. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93907-6_85 4. Bernstein, D.A.: Does active learning work? A good question, but not the right one. Schol. Teach. Learn. Psychol. 4(4), 290–307 (2018) 5. Shekhar, P., Borrego, M., DeMonbrun, M., Finelli, C., Crockett, C., Nguyen, K.: Negative student response to active learning in STEM classrooms. J. Coll. Sci. Teach. 49(6), 45–54 (2020) 6. Leisen, J.: Wechsel der Darstellungsformen. Naturwissenschaften im Unterricht. Physik 87, 10–11 (2005) 7. Mazur, E.: Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual. Prentice Hall Series in Educational Innovation. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River (1997) 8. Temmen, K., Nofen, B., Wehebrink, M.: Lecture meets laboratory - experimental experiences for large audiences: concept and implementation. Int. J. Eng. Pedagogy 4, 39–42 (2014)

Practical Aspects of Using 3D Technology to Disseminate Cultural Heritage Among Visually Impaired People Jerzy Montusiewicz , Marcin Barszcz(B)

, and Sylwester Korga

Lublin University of Technology, Nadbystrzycka 36B, 20-618 Lublin, Poland [email protected]

Abstract. The development of 3D technology allows the digitisation of cultural heritage objects. Despite the fact that 3D scanning technology is not fully developed, it offers great opportunities for recording spatial data. Three-dimensional digital recording can be made for museum exhibits as well as for historic architectural objects. The method used is a non-invasive (non-contact) method, which is a significant advantage when working with historic buildings. The use of 3D scanners makes it possible to reduce the risk of damage to the monument. The application of a safe method of 3D scanning facilitates digital archiving of objects, which gives many possibilities of their use. One of them is digital dissemination of three-dimensional models and even making replicas using 3D printing technology. These types of models make it possible to reach a wide audience. First of all, they provide access to monuments for people with special needs, who currently constitute over a dozen percent of the population. In particular, they are the elderly, sick or people with various types of disabilities, e.g. motionally or visually impaired people. Literature analysis as well as conversations with dysfunctional people show that 3D digitisation of cultural heritage objects is needed and expected. The article presents an example of the use of modern 3D technologies for the dissemination of cultural heritage on the example of objects from the area of the Silk Road. A two-track process of making small museum artefacts available is presented. The first track concerns making objects available in the form of interactive digital 3D models placed on websites. The second one uses real models printed in 3D technology, which can be made available to visually impaired people. The work discusses the course of joint activities to prepare these 3D models and specialised activities that are necessary to make both versions of 3D models for presentation on the web and for kinaesthetic cognition, i.e. by touch. The authors’ actions resulted in the preparation of 3D models of historic vessels from the turn of the 11th/12th centuries from the ancient city of Afrasiyab – a suburb of modern Samarkand in Uzbekistan. Keywords: 3D scanning · Visually impaired people · Cultural heritage · 3D printing

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 468–478, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_45

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1 The Issue of Making Museum Collections Available to the Blind Museums provide collections for educational, cultural and scientific purposes. Most often, expositions and exhibitions are organised for healthy people. Most people think of art and museums as very visual – but not everyone sees it that way. The method of securing the exhibits as well as their conservation conditions do not always allow people with disabilities to become familiar with them. Access to museum collections is particularly difficult for visually impaired people. Unfortunately, people with this type of problem can be a significant part of the population. It is estimated that around 1.3 billion people worldwide live with some form of blindness or visual impairment [1]. Many museums around the world use low light intensity, which is to create an appropriate climate known as the game of lights. Viewing the exhibits in such conditions is not convenient for every person. It is especially troublesome for people with severe shortsightedness. There are museums that know about this problem and are trying to solve it. An example of such a museum is the Mary Rose Museum. The Mary Rose Museum is a history museum located in Historic Dockyards in Portsmouth, UK, operated by the Mary Rose Trust. Once a month, it organises special shows prepared for people with disabilities. During these meetings the light level is higher than usual. This makes the museum more accessible to the visually impaired. Sound effects are adapted to the environment, and trained staff is focused on help. The Mary Rose Museum also uses tactile materials for its exhibits. It offers exhibits as 3D printed models [2]. Another museum that targets dysfunctional people is the Tiflologico museum located in Madrid, Spain. It is a tactile museum created by ONCE – the national blind association of Spain. The aim is to offer blind or partially sighted people standard access to the museum without a visual barrier and is designed specifically for people with visual impairments. The museum offers a wide variety of exhibitions, including models of famous buildings, the history of Braille and tactile art by visually impaired artists. Such exhibits can be experienced by sight and touch. Similar exhibitions are organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) – the largest museum of arts and crafts in London. The permanent collection has over 4.5 million exhibits. It was founded in 1852 as the South Kensington Museum. The collection includes items created over 5,000 years in Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. These include sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs, books, ceramics, furniture, fabrics, clothes, glass and metal products, jewelry, etc. Once a month, V&A offers a tour especially for people with visual impairments. V&A is organising a descriptive demo and tour of its car show, where you can learn more about the car’s role in history and the impact cars have had on the world. Tactile and descriptive V&A tours are free. In addition to the tours, V&A offers extensive information on online accessibility, guide services, Braille books and audio descriptions, as well as a multi-sensory backpack that allows blind children to explore the museum through multi-sensory activities. The backpack also contains many touchable objects such as ceramic models and various materials [3]. The V&A Museum also provides information on prepared amenities and current offers, e.g. a dedicated guide service. There is also direct contact with the exhibits at the deCordova Sculpture Park located in Lincoln, USA. There are many contemporary outdoor sculptures. Visually impaired people can visit the Sculpture Park during a tactile tour [4].

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The National Gallery in Prague offers blind and partially sighted visitors a Virtual Reality (VR) experience that allows them to “touch” three of the world’s greatest sculptural masterpieces. Thanks to the haptic feedback gloves, these people can discover VR replicas of Nefertiti’s Head, Venus de Milo and Michelangelo’s David by touch, thanks to which they can learn about works of art [5]. In some countries, e.g. in Turkey, specialised educational programmes for the blind are implemented. The Istanbul Modern The Colour I Touch educational programme is for children and young people who are blind and visually impaired, offered by educational institutions and education support organisations. The program consists of guided tours of the exhibitions, workshops and screenings of films with audio description that introduce children to art and give them the opportunity to learn and interpret it. During the tours around the exhibitions, works of art are described to them and children and teenagers interpret them. During the workshops, they use a variety of materials to develop their manual skills. During theatre workshops, they design fairy tales through associations, develop their imagination, and during audio-description animation shows they analyse the films they watch [6]. The Van Loon House Museum focuses on getting to know the exhibits through touch. The museum located in the heart of Amsterdam (Netherlands) was once the home of the co-founder of the Dutch East India Company – Willem van Loon. The Van Loon Museum offers guided tours for visitors where you can touch parts of the collection. Unfortunately, tours are only available in Dutch. Interesting museum exhibits that you can touch are in the Touch Museum in Greece located in Kallithea, in the historic building of the Lighthouse for the Blind in Greece, donated by Empirikos in the 1950s. It is also accessible to people with physical disabilities and other handicaps. The museum was established in 1984 to provide blind and partially sighted people with an equal chance to see the enormity and richness of the cultural heritage through the sense of touch. Ancient Greek culture is rich in sculptures and works of art. The aim of the Athens Touch Museum, created by Lighthouse for the Blind of Greece, was to find a way for blind and partially sighted people to enjoy ancient Greek works of art. All museum exhibits are copies of originals found in other museums around the country, and all works can be experienced by touch [7]. For many people, a visit to a museum can make them feel left out. The traditional museum experience of objects behind glass offers little to a blind or partially sighted person. An example of such a museum is The Shahrisabz Museum of History and Material Culture, known as the Amir Temur Museum of Shahrisabz. This museum is located in the city of Shahrisabz in Uzbekistan. It was founded in 1996 on the 660th birthday of Amir Timur. It contains archaeological, ethnographic and numismatic collections. Its collection includes over 6,500 exhibits of mosaics, majolica, ceramics, copper, iron and wood. The museum is located in the historic centre of Shahrisabz and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In this museum, an attempt was made to present the exhibits by means of cards with embossed descriptions in Braille. These museums have worked to remove barriers that people may come into contact with. When adjusting museum displays for sick people, it should be remembered that eyesight is not the only sense with which people can experience cultural heritage. Each museum has a wealth of fascinating objects waiting to enrich the way they are made available. Audio and Braille descriptions

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are good tools for labelling exhibits. They can help people better understand the history of the item. Taking care of other senses, such as touch and smell, can also contribute to enriching the experienced sensations. Personal contact with the object and with a guide who is able to paint vivid mental pictures is the most attractive for the visitor. Museums must communicate with the visually impaired. They need to know their problems and listen to and work with them to understand what their needs are. These examples show how small changes and additional services can change everything. Thanks to these changes, museums can make the blind and partially sighted feel socially needed and part of society [8]. The aim of this article is to develop a methodology of activities for the preparation of copies of museum objects in the form of a 3D printout made in FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) technology for the purposes of kinaesthetic knowledge of cultural heritage objects for visually impaired people.

2 The Use of 3D Printing Technology in Museology People with visual loss increasingly expect to be able to experience visiting a museum in a similar way to a person with normal eyesight. 3D printing technology can contribute to making visually impaired people rightful visitors to museums. Museums try to use new technologies, but discernible gains in accessibility for blind or partially sighted customers are not universal. The use of audio description, GPS devices with better information sharing, has made these resources increasingly accessible to visually impaired visitors. However, scientific research shows that the most important senses receiving stimuli from the environment are the senses of sight and touch [9]. There are museums in the world that create innovative works with 3D printing. One of the key benefits of this new technology is that it allows visually impaired people to discover museum objects in an accessible way. These activities were partially interrupted by the covid epidemic, which resulted in many museums around the world being closed for over two years [10]. Some of the museums made their resources available through photos posted on their websites. However, 3D printing technology allows to download an STL file and print a replica of the exhibit on a printer at home. Thus, it is possible to create a private collection of the most famous and sublime works of art. This applies not only to visually impaired people, but also to all lovers of historical exhibits. Interestingly, many of these exhibit files are available free of charge. Thanks to the “open source museum” operating mode, which enables the download and 3D printing of replicas of sculptures and cultural artefacts, it is possible to achieve goals that museums must fulfil.

3 The Process of Providing Museum Exhibits The procedures for making museum objects available are complicated, therefore they are presented in the form of a diagram, Fig. 1. The diagram shows the methodology developed that allows for various forms of presentation of museum objects. The proposed procedure uses 3D scanning technology to obtain digital data about objects and transform them into digital 3D models. The diagram also includes texturing processes. The authors

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of the work have been using 3D scanning technology in museology for several years and use it to protect cultural goods and cultural heritage [11, 12]. The developed procedure proposes two paths for the presentation of museum objects: (1) digital sharing on websites or creating virtual museums, and (2) 3D printing, which makes it possible to share models with visually impaired people. Each stage is based on knowledge and experience in the field of museology and IT. Some activities are common to both paths, which makes the developed methodology universal.

Fig. 1. Procedure for making museum objects available.

3.1 Description of Objects The Afrasiyab Museum (Samarkand, Uzbekistan) has in its collection many interesting historical exhibits from the ancient city of Afrasiyab. The city was located in the commercial area of the Silk Road through which goods were transported from China to Europe. It developed around the 5th century BC and was destroyed in 1220 by the invasion of Chingis Khan [13]. Selected exhibits of this museum were the subject of research, analysis and consideration of various scientific articles [14–16]. Study [14] presents a digital reconstruction of a damaged pitcher, [15] shows an application that allows for the presentation of exhibits from the Afrasiyab Museum in VR, while [16]

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contains a comparative analysis of obtaining digital 3D models using structural scanning and Structure from Motion. Two objects were selected for the implementation of this study [17]. The first object is a damaged clay jug, approximately 21 cm in diameter and 35 cm high. This object has not been preserved in its entirety. Part of the side wall and the bottom are missing. The fragment of the vessel that has survived has a handle, a neck with a spout and a section of the side wall. The jug does not have any special decorations except for the ribbon, which is below the neck. It was used to transport and store water. The second object is a mug with a handle also made of clay. The top of the handle is shaped like a ram’s head. The vessel is 8 cm high and 10 cm in diameter. It has been preserved in its entirety and has no visible damage. 3.2 Data Acquisition and Processing The authors of the work have two handheld scanners working in the Artec Eva and Spider structured light technology. The Artec Spieder scanner was used to scan the jug, while the Artec Eva was used for the mug. Both the first and the second scanner allow for fairly quick and precise measurements in high resolution. They do not require sticking positioning markers on the scanned object, which is particularly important when scanning museum objects. Due to the fact that they use structured light, they are safe and non-invasive tools for 3D digitisation of museum objects [18, 19]. The scanning of the objects in Fig. 2a was carried out in in situ conditions. For data acquisition during scanning, software dedicated to the Artec Studio Professional scanner and a laptop with a 4-core Intel Core i5 processor and 16 GB of RAM were used. 8 scans were made for the jug-type object. This allowed for the precise acquisition of data about the facility. The data file in the form of a point cloud was approx. 5 GB in size. 6 scans were taken for the cup and a 1.35 GB file was obtained. The processing of data obtained from the scanning process was performed according to the procedure presented in Fig. 1. The same software as for the acquisition was used for processing, i.e. Artec Studio Professional (Fig. 2b, c, d). The activities were carried out using a desktop computer with an Intel Core i7 processor, 48 GB of RAM and an NVIDIA Quadro K2200 graphics card with built-in 4 GB GDDR5 memory. The use of equipment with high computing power allowed for efficient data processing activities. As a result, mesh digital 3D models were obtained with the texture of Fig. 2e, f. The models were exported to files in the OBJ format and the textures to a.jpg file. The files obtained for the cup model were 9.65 MB in size and 12.7 MB for the jug.

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Fig. 2. View of (a) the scanning process, (b) data processing from the scan, (c, d) the 3D mesh model, (e, f) the 3D mesh model with the applied texture.

3.3 Presentation of 3D Models According to the proposed methodology (Fig. 1), digital 3D models can be made available in various ways, e.g. in digital or 3D printed form. So far, the authors of the work have focused on the first method of disseminating museum 3D objects. The objects were made available by publishing them on the Internet as virtual 3D exhibitions [17] or in the form of mobile applications for the presentation of 3D models [20] and applications in the form of virtual reality (VR) [21, 22]. The authors have only recently dealt with the issues related to the possibility of disseminating 3D models for visually impaired people [13]. As part of this work, an attempt was made to make replicas of printed museum objects (mug and jug) for visually impaired people. FDM/FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) printing technology was used. It was chosen due to the availability of a printer with an appropriate size of the working space. In the first stage of works (Fig. 1), activities were carried out to prepare the so-called digital waterproof models. This allows all surfaces to be closed and unnecessary edges and protruding surfaces to be removed. For this purpose, the 3D models obtained at the earlier stages and saved in the.OBJ format and the free Blender program were used. An add-on called 3D-Print Toolbox was used. It has a set of specialised tools designed to identify erroneous geometries that can cause problems in the printing process. The prepared watertight models (using the “Slicer” type program) were transformed into layered models (Fig. 3a) and supports were added in the required places. In order to ensure the stiffness of the object, the shape of the filling of the grid type was used. For both models, the printing parameters shown in Table 1 were adopted. The Wall Line Count parameter was set to 3 to improve the quality to the touch of external surfaces. In order to check the influence of the height of the layers on the roughness of the surfaces

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palpable by visually impaired people, the thickness of the layer was 0.12 mm for the cup and 0.25 for the jug. The mug model was printed on a 1:1 scale, while the jug model was printed on a 1:2 scale. Table 1. . Parameter wydruku

Warto´sc´

Wall thickness

0.6 mm

Wall line count

3 ul

Top/Bottom thickness

0.84 mm

Printing temperature

210 °C

Build plate temperature

60 °C

Print speed

50 mm/s

Fan speed

100%

Support overhang angle

39°

3D printing was performed on the Makerbot replicator Z18 printer, Fig. 3b. PLA type plastic with a diameter of 1.75 mm was used for printing. The jug was printed in 1 day, 0 h and 50 min. 201 g (67.5 m of wire material) of plastic was used. The cup printing was done during 1 day, 2 h and 10 min. The volume of plastic material used was 122 g (40.8 m). The final printed models were cleaned of supports (Fig. 3c).

Fig. 3. View of (a) the layered model ready for printing (25% of the height), (b) the printed replica with supports, (c) the printed element after cleaning it from supports.

4 Pilot Studies and Results On printed replicas of museum exhibits, a pilot study was carried out in Fig. 4 with two blind people (a woman and a man). These people are completely blind from birth. The

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woman was 40 years old and the man was 65 years old. The subjects were asked to loudly comment on impressions and what they feel through touch. The entire course of the research was recorded on a dictaphone (respondents gave their consent). This allowed for an audition, study and analysis at a later stage. Before starting the research, people were told only that they would receive two objects in order to try to identify them. There was no information about what technique they were made from, where they came from, and what group of objects they belong to. As the first object, a 3D printout of the mug was made available. During the research, the person conducting the experiment asked additional questions and asked about some details of the object. The jug was assessed in the second place.

Fig. 4. Kinaesthetic cognition of printed replicas of museum objects: (a) a mug; (b) a jug.

Based on the research, the following results were obtained: • Objects have been correctly identified and classified into the appropriate group. At the first object, it was found that it could be a cup or a deep bowl. In turn, with the second one it was assessed that it is damaged and it is rather a jug. • The details of the tested printed replicas were mostly recognised correctly, e.g. for the jug, the handle, neck and spout were recognised, while on the cup the handle was marked and that there was an element in its upper part, but it was not possible to identify it. • One of the respondents stated that the jug object had a greater perceptible roughness. In the case of the cup, the respondents found that the surface of the objects was very “smooth”. • The respondents positively assessed the material used for 3D printing (PLA), stated that it was pleasant to touch and the analysed exhibits were quite light. • The respondents did not submit any comments regarding the size of the shared facilities.

5 Conclusions The procedure proposed in the article allows an effective and non-invasive way of presenting 3D museum objects by making them available digitally. The replica printing

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technology turned out to be a useful technology for displaying monuments for visually impaired people. Additive technology must be supported by 3D scanning technology. Creating objects and 3D models on one’s own is time-consuming and does not always reflect the original object. The use of 3D scanning technology greatly facilitates and speeds up the process of digitising 3D museum objects. It allows for faithful and safe transfer of real artefacts to the digital world. Additionally, the scanning technology makes it possible to obtain digital mesh 3D models with a texture. Museum artefacts digitised in this way can be reconstructed and made available digitally. This requires additional actions, as shown in the procedure presented in the work. Initial pilot studies with blind people have produced encouraging results. The conducted research shows that the procedure of creating digital 3D models of museum objects presented in the paper is useful and may be a starting point for further standardisation of activities in museums. Printed museum models in the form of replicas of these objects will allow them to be used in many ways. They can be exhibited in museums, printed at home, used in training of monument conservators as well as archives. The procedure described in the work allowed for the generation of 3D models that can be produced on 3D printers with limited scaling of the model as a whole. This methodology allows to create copies for quite different purposes and increases the versatility of the proposed procedure. During the production of replicas, special attention should be paid to the stage related to the preparation of a watertight object for printing and the use of optimal printing parameters. The test results confirmed that the height of the print layer has an impact on the perceptible roughness of the surface by people with visual impairment. Therefore, it is necessary to print with increased technological parameters, despite a longer printing time and higher material consumption (these errors can be corrected e.g. at the stage of printing optimisation). Scaling objects at the stage of 3D printing is an important issue, because it can significantly reduce the time of creating a printout, and for people with visual impairment it is not always noticeable. However, it should be remembered that with kinaesthetic cognition, the objects cannot be too small, because the details will not be recognisable – in such a case, models can be printed using enlargement. Acknowledgments. The research was carried out in accordance with the decision No. 5/2020 of the Committee for Ethics of Scientific Research of the Lublin University of Technology of July 15, 2020 on the research project: Research on the usability of created 3D museum exhibits for kinaesthetic cognition. This article has been supported by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange under Grant No. PPI/APM/2019/1/00004 titled “3D DIGITAL SILK ROAD”.

References 1. Elmannai, W., Elleithy, K.: Sensor-based assistive devices for visually-impaired people: current status, challenges, and future directions. Sensors MDPI 17(3), 565 (2017) 2. Ebrahim, M.A.-B.: 3D laser scanners’. Int. J. Sci. Res. (IJSR) 4(10), 5–611 (2015) 3. Stoddart, S., Caroline, A.: The British Museum, Antiquity, p. 76, September 2002 (2002) 4. Segal, H., Jacobs, W.: Computers and museums: problems and opportunities of display and interpretation. Am. Q. 42(2), 637–656 (1990)

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5. Luximona, A., Luximonb, Y.: New technologies – 3D scanning, 3D design, and 3D printing. In: Handbook of Footwear Design and Manufacture, 2nd edn, pp. 477–503 (2021) 6. Ada, N., Pirnar, I., Altin, H.O.: Vitality of strategic museum management: an application from Turkish museums. Alanya Akademik Bakis 6, 1891–1905 (2022) 7. Merriman, N.: University museums: problems, policy and progress. Archeaol. Int. 5, 57–59 (2001) 8. Skalska-Cimer, B., Kudłaczka, A.: Virtual museum. Museum of the Future, January 2022, pp. 1–6 (2022) 9. Bamidele, I.: Information needs of blind and visually impaired people. In: Readers’ Services Librarian, Laz Otti Memorial Library, January 2019 (2019) 10. Maciuk, K., Jakubiak, M., Sylaiou, S., Falk, J.: Museums and the pandemic - how COVID-19 impacted museums as seen through the lens of the worlds’ most visited art museums. Int. J. Conserv. Sci. 13, 609–618 (2022) ˙ 11. Montusiewicz, J., Miłosz, M., K˛esi, J., Zyła, K.: Structured-light 3D scanning of exhibited historical clothing - a first-ever methodical trial and its results. Herit. Sci. 9(1), 1–20 (2021) 12. K˛esik, J., Miłosz, M., Montusiewicz, J., Samarov, K.: Documenting the geometry of large architectural monuments using 3D scanning – the case of the dome of the Golden Mosque of the Tillya-Kori Madrasah in Samarkand. Digit. Appl. Archaeol. Cult. Herit. 22, 1–11 (2021) 13. Fedorov-Davydov, G.A.: Archaeological research in central Asia of the Muslim period. World Archaeol. 14(3), 393–405 (1983) 14. Montusiewicz, J., Barszcz, M., Dziedzic, K.: Photorealistic 3D digital reconstruction of a clay pitcher. Adv. Sci. Technol. Res. J. 13(4), 255–263 (2019) 15. Miłosz, M., Skulimowski, S., K˛esik, J., Montusiewicz, J.: Virtual and interactive museum of archaeological artefacts from Afrasiyab – an ancient city on the silk road. Digit. Appl. Archaeol. Cult. Herit. 18, 1–12 (2020) 16. Barszcz, M., Montusiewicz, J., Pa´snikowska-Łukaszuk, M., Sałamacha, A.: Comparative analysis of digital models of objects of cultural heritage obtained by the “3D SLS” and “SfM” methods. Appl. Sci. 11(12), 1–20 (2021) 17. https://silkroad3d.com/ 18. Graciano, A., Ortega, L., Segura, R.J., Feito, F.R.: Digitization of religious artifacts with a structured light scanner. Virt. Archaeol. Rev. 8(17), 49–55 (2017) 19. Adams, J.W., Olah, A., McCurry, M.R., Potze, S.: Surface model and tomographic archive of fossil primate and other mammal holotype and paratype specimens of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa. PLoS ONE 10(10), 1–14 (2015) 20. Skulimowski, S., Badurowicz, M., Barszcz, M., Montusiewicz, J.: Design and optimisation methods for interactive mobile VR visualisation. In: IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, vol. 710, no. 1, pp. 1–10 (2019) 21. Montusiewicz, J., Miłosz, M., K˛esik, J., Kayumov, R.: Multidisciplinary technologies for creating virtual museums – a case of archaeological museum development. In: INTED 2018: 12th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, pp. 326–336 (2018) ˙ 22. Zyła, K., Montusiewicz, J., Skulimowski, S., Kayumov, R.: VR technologies as an extension to the museum exhibition: a case study of the Silk Road museums in Samarkand. Muzeologia a Kulturne Dedicstvo = Museol. Cult. Herit. 8(4), 73–93 (2020) 23. Montusiewicz, J., Miłosz, M., K˛esik, J.: Technical aspects of museum exposition for visually impaired preparation using modern 3D technologies. In: 2018 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), pp. 768–773 (2018)

Adapting Experiential E-learning in Engineering Education with Industry 4.0 Vision Moein Mehrtash(B) W Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada [email protected]

Abstract. This article describes the design and implementation of laboratory sessions for learning embedded systems with the vision of learning industry 4.0 for engineering education. The main objective of this laboratory is to improve the learning of sensors, actuators, interfacing, and real-programing in engineering education targeted toward recent industrial automation and automotive applications. The developed laboratory equipment is employed to support graduate and undergraduate teaching through the experiential learning paradigm of E-learning. The paper also presents a set of student-center laboratory activities developed with a pedagogical approach based on Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory to complement the proposed venue. The developed hardware consists of very lowcost modules and can be used as Lab-at-home by each student with online delivery of the course contents. Keywords: Experiential Learning · Industry 4.0 · Sensors and actuators · Kolb experiential learning · Experiential e-learning · Engineering education

1 Introduction The recent evolution of Industrial Technologies is the crucial factor for driving the transformation of engineering practice(s). Refining the engineering education curriculum meaningfully affects the demands of professional engineers in the current industries. The recent sharp advancement in information technologies and digitalization has led to the transformation of various industries and production methodologies [1–3]. Based on this trend, “Industry 4.0” is defined as the digitization of the manufacturing sector, with initiatives such as the Industrial Internet, Internet of Things, Internet of Services, and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) [4, 5]. Consequently, a harmonized adaptation of engineering education’s teaching and learning environment is a promising key for a sustainable thriving of economy and industry [6–8]. An active learning environment with experiential methodologies recognized by most higher education institutions develops essential knowledge and skills to meet any changes in industrial applications [9–16]. Experiential learning employs life experience as a fundamental and essential part of the learning process, where “knowledge is created through the transformation of experience [17]. Thus, the main components of any experiential learning include laboratory © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 479–488, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_46

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equipment, handouts, and instructional material in videos or standard operating procedures. Performing a laboratory experiment could not assuredly lead to learning [18], or “the richness of Dewey’s concept of experience is lost if it is reduced to simply learning by doing [19]. Consequently, a structured reflection and practices of former understanding are vital to advancing experiences that could ultimately lead to learning [20, 21]. Kolb’s experiential learning theory suggests transforming the experience into knowledge by implementing a four-stage learning sequence [17]. Furthermore, educators in academic environments are required to consider principles such as safety, authenticity, flexibility, accessibility, and robustness of developed experiments [22]. The Internet has revolutionized individuals’ teaching-learning environments to share information efficiently by removing barriers and opening a new communication and data transfer era. “E-learning” refers to the use of both software-based and online learning resources [23–25]. E-learning plays a promising role by providing all learning resources accessible in electronic format, encouraging interaction between diverse users, and advancing a flexible pedagogical approach. Engineering education being grounded on science and mathematics makes it meaningfully different from other disciplines. Employing experiential learning in engineering topics is conventionally problematic to teach online because of the need for laboratories [26]. But advances in technology over the years have permitted the representation of complex structures by computers [9, 11, 27]. Computer simulations are not providing appropriate concrete experimentations for many engineering topics. However, the recent advancement in technology can transform laboratory equipment into miniaturized and low-cost devices that can be provided to all students as a part of e-Learning resources [28–30]. This paper presents an experiential e-Learning platform (EELP) and established learning activities based on Kolb’s experiential theory. This platform was developed to practice experiential learning in embedded systems with Industry 4.0 vision for online delivery. This platform enables students to access fundamental components used widely in the CPS, including sensors, actuators, and microcontrollers. The platform is compact and low-cost that can be shipped to students for experiential learning purposes. The detailed laboratory activities are planned for concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. The rest of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 explains the learning outcomes and experiential learning in the embedded system course. Section 3 describes the structure of the developed platform based on defined learning outcomes of the course. Section 4 represents the laboratory framework activities with the designed EELP platform. Finally, some overall conclusions and our ongoing works are presented in the Conclusions and Future Works section.

2 Learning Outcomes and Teaching Strategy for Sensors and Actuator Course The “Sensor and Actuator” course (SEP 783) offers at the School of Engineering Practice and Technology at McMaster University includes a weekly three-hour lecture and four three-hour laboratory sessions. The learning outcomes (LO) of this course are defined.

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• LO1: Relate real-world components (sensors, actuators, and interface) functionalities for IoT application • LO2: Explain the functionality, selection, and analysis of different types of sensors and actuators • LO3: Design and analyze appropriate circuits for use with sensors and actuators, e.g., bridge circuits, and circuits for signal conditioning, including amplifiers and filters • LO4: Understand and use communication protocols for IoT application • LO5: Design and construct prototyping platforms for IoT The four laboratory sessions for this course are designed based on Kolb’s experiential learning principle and aligned with the course learning outcome. Following are listed four developed laboratory sessions: • Laboratory 1: The scope of this laboratory session includes learning the use of Integrated Development Environment (IDE), upload of code to the hardware, practice with temperature, humidity, and light sensors. • Laboratory 2: Students gain knowledge in embedded systems such as the use of digital and analog interfacing for sensors, setting up HTTP communication protocol between components, and developing a Wi-Fi-connected thermometer for smart home application • Laboratory 3: it includes understanding and using MEMS-based accelerometers and magnetometers, filtering and post-processing sensor data, and using data for vehicle navigation. • Laboratory 4: the scope of this laboratory session includes the use of PWM, design and implementing integrated current sensing module, and setting up HTTP and CAN communication. • Laboratory 5: it contains to control a DC motor using various control stratgeies All laboratory sessions progress through four stages of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory: (1) employing a substantial experience followed by (2) observation of that experience that precedes to (3) the development of intangible concepts and generalizations, which are then (4) used to investigate premise in future. Thus, detailed planning of the laboratory is presented in the following sections.

3 Lab-at-Home Experimentation: Experiential E-learning Platform (EELP) The developed experiential e-Learning platform (EELP) includes three primary modules developed at McMaster University in partnership with Roboteurs Inc. All these modules have been designed with IoT-based applications vision, Fig. 1. Module 1 is named MACIoT board that provides students a dynamic way of exploring the IoT. Module 1 includes ESP32 microcontroller, 9-axis IMU, Temperature and humidity sensor module, light sensor module, LEDs, and switches. The ESP32 microcontroller unit, as the heart of Module 1, can interface with other systems to provide Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality through its SPI / SDIO or I2C / UART interfaces. All integrated sensors to Module 1 are

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low-voltage digital sensor that converts physical properties to digital signal output with I2 C interface.

Fig. 1. Module 1: MACIoT Board (A), LCD module (B), Module 2: sensor module (C), Module 3: actuator module (D).

Module 2 is the sensor module, and it includes various types of sensors such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, temperature sensor, humidity sensor, and pressure sensors, Fig. 1. ESP 32 microcontroller is also integrated with Module 2 to increase the flexibility of sensor data communication to other platforms for IoT applications. Module 3 is the actuator module, and it includes a flexible motor driver for a wide variety of applications, Fig. 1. This module has integrated current sensing that regulates the motor current during startup and high load events. The motor module communicates to ESP 32 microcontroller for IoT applications.

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4 Practical Laboratory Framework: Implementation of KOLB’S Experiential Learning Cycle According to Kolb’s experiential learning theory stages, this section presents laboratory sessions and students’ activities [31]. Five laboratory sessions have been developed for students using EELP; Table 1 demonstrates the laboratory planning. The implementation of four stages of Kolb experiential learning for each laboratory session will be reviewed in the following subsections. Table 1. Laboratory sessions for Sensors and Actuators Course with the EELP. Laboratory No

Laboratory subject

Lab 1

Intro to embedded IDE and use of libraries, and port programing

Lab 2

Use of IMU and Magnetometer sensors data fusion for navigation purposes

Lab 3

Use HTTP and MQTT for internet-based communication between modules

Lab 4

DC motor control (angle and angular velocity)

Lab 5

DC motor control with current sensing

4.1 KOLB’S Concrete Experience The instructor first presents a comprehensive overview of the lab session goals during the three-hour lab session. Students then start doing the laboratory experiment by following the laboratory manual. These activities are planned so that students can observe a concrete observation; Table 2 demonstrates a brief review of such activities. Lab sessions are designed for progressive learning over five experiments, and this means the students are practicing on previous labs skills in addition to the new context. Table 2. Implementation of Kolb’s concrete experience. Laboratory No Concrete experience Lab 1

Performing port programming by using switches and LEDS

Lab 2

Filtering the IMU sensor data and measuring earth gravity direction

Lab 3

Using HTTP protocol to send temperature sensor data from sensor module to MacIoT module using home Wi-Fi

Lab 4

Generating PWM signal for the motion control of DC motor

Lab 5

Implementing PID controller to increase the accuracy of motion control of DC motor

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4.2 KOLB’S Reflective Observation D. A. Kolb [31] did not highlight the necessity for “critical” reflection in the conceptualization of experiential learning; however, a recent study shows that the solving of real-world problem problems stipulates the need for critical reflection [32]. Thus, learners must act researcher-like and assess the appropriateness of new or pre-existing abstract conceptualizations [33]. Therefore, students are engaged to discuss the laboratory session results and answers to some critical questions from their analyses, Table 3 presents a brief review of such reflective observations. Figure 2 demonstrates one example of measured data in Lab 2 that students need to discuss their findings. Table 3. Implementation of Kolb’s reflective observation. Laboratory No

Reflective observation

Lab 1

Discuss the I2 C addresses of modules (LCD, Temperature and humidity sensor, light sensor, IMU, and Magnetometer)

Lab 2

Discuss the importance of low-pass filter and its cut-off frequency in interpreting the measured acceleration for navigation purpose

Lab 3

Discuss and compare communication protocols HTTP vs. MQTT for industry 4.0 applications

Lab 4

Review and discuss the “ESP32Encoder” library and summarize its functions’ operations

Lab 5

Discuss the current sensing output with the change of DC motor speed and load

Fig. 2. Effect of low-pass filter cut-off frequency on measured accelerations

4.3 KOLB’S Abstract Conceptualization The main concern of abstract conceptualization is providing a condition of the context that may change across time and place. The instructor reinforces the theory, and the

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students are involved in thinking and forming a principle about the laboratory experiences while changing some of the parameters. Laboratory experiences are developed to engage students in planning and doing activities based on their reflective observation, Table 4 represents a brief review of such activities for each laboratory session. Table 4. Implementation of Kolb’s abstract conceptualization. Laboratory No

Abstract conceptualization

Lab 1

Add developed libraries by the sensor manufacturers (Si7020 and APDS-9306) and discuss the sensor modules’ functionality

Lab 2

Use accelerometer and magnetometer data for the navigation purpose over a predefined path

Lab 3

Develop a remote access module to publish environment data over a webpage using HTTP protocol

Lab 4

Create a torque control module for a DC motor using an integrated current sensing module

Lab 5

Develop a navigation module for an autonomous vehicle to publish vehicle variables and environmental properties to a remote site using MQTT

In addition to step-by-step abstract conceptualization after each laboratory session, an open-end final project has been planned. In the final project, students must design a final product to address issues using the skills gained during the semester. The application may be an existing control system, or it may be something novel or theoretical. This individual project consists of a total of the four-week worth of work within three weeks. The project is finally evaluated based on the level of difficulties and functionalities. In Table 5, some of the final projects have been demonstrated.

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Project Functionality

Picture of the project

Automatically open the door Smart Door when a human is detected and Opening System keep the log and publish the With Log number of entries securely on the web

Smart Stroller

The stroller is equipped with a collision-avoidance system for automatic braking. Temperature and humidity sensors are used for monitoring the baby and publish the data on the user cell phone

Smart Irrigation System with web control Interface

This project involves the design and development of an automatic indoor plant watering and monitoring system

5 Conclusion This study has provided a deeper insight on best practices with student-center laboratory activities for learning industry 4.0 for engineering education. The students’ satisfaction with the learning environment for two semesters in a row in 2021 is assessed with two questions: 1) how do you rate the value of this course compared with others you have taken at McMaster University and 2) independent critical judgment was encouraged. Table 6 demonstrates the result of student evaluation in reply to two mentioned questions, the scale for this question is from 1 to 5, 1: very poor and 5: excellent. This study establishes a framework for experiential E-learning for industry 4.0; however, developing miniaturized, portable, and low-cost devices enhanced the learning experience. Table 6. Student evaluation from the course. Term

No. of students

Q1: Course relative value

Q2. Critical thinking

1

11

4

4.36

2

7

4.22

4.57

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The Gaps and Strategies for Sustainable Digital Transition in Education Tatiana Vadimovna Vakhitova1(B) , Alfred Oti1 , Vasiliki Kioupi2 , and George Giannopoulos2 1 Ansys Ltd., Exeter, UK [email protected] 2 University College London, London, UK

Abstract. The UN global sustainable development goals (SDGs) framework can guide software development strategies to achieve more sustainable solutions. From an educational perspective, this is of high importance, as software can reach millions of people worldwide, helping to spread the key messages of sustainable development. EdTech Companies can reach these goals not only by optimising their software from a resource demand perspective, allowing for equitable use and inclusion, partnering with socially responsible actors, using clean energy, and investing back in socially and environmentally impactful projects; but also, by nudging their users for more sustainable choices through designing their software solutions to trigger more sustainable behaviour. EdTech companies, being important actors in digital transition in education, bear a responsibility to help educators embed sustainable development into teaching and learning through their digital educational solutions, thereby contributing to sustainability awareness raising among students (UNESCO, 2018). Many of the key messages of sustainable development are reported by EdTech companies in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports. Where terms such as net-zero, low carbon emissions, and carbon-offsetting often appear and used as measures of impact [1]. In contrast these reports rarely focus on how companies support sustainable development awareness raising and learning through their practices and software development. In this working paper we explore, how EdTech providers approach sustainability through their products and in their practices and what makes the latter impactful, focusing on a specific case of Ansys Granta EduPack. This has been achieved by developing a framework for assessment of EdTech sustainability practices and using it to analyse their CSR reports. To validate this framework, we have applied it to a case study of Ansys Granta EduPack teaching software, its tools and educational resources to support sustainability teaching/learning. The next step would be to approach its users among academics and students to provide their feedback on intended versus achieved Learning Outcomes for sustainable development teaching. We aim to explore gaps, identified in the framework, which EdTech companies can fill to act truly sustainably. As a result, we are aiming to suggest further areas of research, the most impactful areas for EdTech to support teaching sustainable development. Keywords: Digital · CSR · Education

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 489–496, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_47

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1 Background 1.1 Framework The 17 Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were adopted by world leaders in 2015 [2]. The SDGs were devised to solve global issues such as poverty, access to healthcare, and education. The SDGs are not legally binding, nonetheless world leaders and world leading organisations and companies are expected to take responsibility and make contributions towards bringing the SDGs to fruition by 2030 [2] and report on their progress (UN Global Compact) It is widely accepted that education plays an essential role in achieving the SDGs (UNESCO, 2017). For many, especially young people, education may be the first arena in which they are introduced to sustainable development. To assist the integration of the SDGs into education, UNESCO authored “Education for Sustainable Development Goals - Learning Objectives”[3]. The document adds three objectives to each SDG and assigns 5 learning objectives for each one. The objectives are: • Cognitive learning objectives • Socio-emotional learning objectives • Behavioural learning objectives “The cognitive domain comprises knowledge and thinking skills necessary to better understand the SDG and the challenges in achieving it. The socio-emotional domain includes social skills that enable learners to collaborate, negotiate and communicate to promote the SDGs as well as self-reflection skills, values, attitudes and motivations that enable learners to develop themselves. The behavioural domain describes action competencies. Additionally, for each SDG, indicative topics and pedagogical approaches are outlined.” [3]. Additionally, UNESCO outline a set of key competencies for advancing sustainability in education [ibid.]: • • • • • • • •

Systems thinking competency Anticipatory competency Normative competency Strategic competency Collaboration competency Critical thinking competency Self-awareness competency Integrated problem-solving competency

In short, the learning outcome sub-categories and competencies outline the ways in which students should behave, think and act concerning sustainability. While the aims of the SDGs are noble, research suggests that “…what education for sustainability aims to achieve is not clear” [4]. The degree to which the SDGs have been successful in transforming curricula is uncertain [ibid.]. Kioupi and Voulvoulis highlighted several reasons for the limited impact of the SDGs in education [ibid.]:

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“Empirical studies on the effectiveness of ESD have been limited (14). The few studies that have reviewed the learning concepts and educational practices used in ESD highlight discrepancies, incongruence of approaches and deficits in curricula (15,16). Educational strategies and policy recommendations for implementing ESD are considered to have had limited positive impact, heavily reliant on perceived beneficial outcomes that have not been assessed objectively (3). Furthermore, studies have found learners increasingly disengaged from ESD (17). Students and teachers often feel overwhelmed by sustainability concepts (18), and misconceptions about the nature of sustainability and the limited feasibility of making a difference have been further shown to provoke pessimism and diminish motivation (19). Sustainability has often been used to manoeuvre students into particular viewpoints (20), rather than empowering them to reach their own conclusions based on critical reflection of the available opinions and evidence. There have been calls to reevaluate ESD efforts due to the disconnect between environmental education and personal responsibility (21).” Analysis of the learning objectives for the SDGs supports the issues highlighted above. There is a total of 255 learning outcomes mentioned in the Education for Sustainable Development Goals - Learning Objectives report. It may be quite difficult for educators and students to achieve so many learning outcomes, thereby adding to the feelings of being overwhelmed. The feelings of pessimism and diminished motivation are related to the perception that individual responsibility is not enough to ‘make a difference’ the implication being that corporations bear a greater responsibility. Yet, the learning outcomes mention very little about corporate responsibility. The learning outcomes of the SDGs are intended to change the outlooks and behaviours of the individual and therefore cannot be directly applied to the outlooks and behaviours of corporations. The corporations closest to education are the EdTech companies that produce the digital tools used by educators and students especially in engineering and scientific courses. The EdTech companies are in a unique position to positively affect and promote sustainability among educators and students. To understand the corporate responsibilities of Edtech companies regarding sustainability we need to observe how EdTech companies view Sustainability. For many EdTech companies’ corporate responsibility regarding sustainable development focuses on making improvements in the following key areas known as the Five Capitals [5] (Fig. 1): Manufactured capital – “comprises material goods or fixed assets which contribute to the production process rather than being the output itself – e.g., tools, machines and buildings.” [6]. Human capital - “consists of people’s health, knowledge, skills, and motivation. All these things are needed for productive work.” [6]. Natural Capital – “is any stock or flow of energy and material that produces goods and services. It includes Resources - renewable and non-renewable materials. Sinks that absorb, neutralise, or recycle wastes and Processes - such as climate regulation”. Social Capital - “concerns the institutions that help us maintain and develop human capital in partnership with others; e.g. families, communities, businesses, trade unions, schools, and voluntary organisations.” [ibid.]

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Financial Capital – “enables the types of Capital to be owned and traded, but itself has no real value other than representative of the other Capital in the form of shares, bonds or money.” [ibid.]

Fig. 1. The Five Capitals - a framework for sustainability [6]

Many Edtech companies use Corporate (Social) Responsibility (CR or CSR) reports to demonstrate their contributions towards achieving the SDGs. In many instances CSRs often concentrate on improvements made in Manufactured, Natural and Financial Capital. Often by reporting on reductions of their environmental carbon footprints and the cost effectiveness of doing so, which are used as measures of impact or success [1]. The CSRs clearly demonstrate that EdTech companies are committed to the SDGs. Our interest resides in exploring how EdTech companies approach sustainability through their products and practices in education and what makes the latter impactful. The approaches used by EdTech companies fall into the categories of Social and Human Capital, which concern raising awareness of Sustainable Development and prompting more sustainable thinking and behaviours among educators and students (i.e., the next generation of engineers and scientists). Social and Human Capital are not as simple to report in CSRs because they are not as easily quantified as the other capitals. It may appear that EdTech companies simply pay less attention to reporting on Social and Human Capital in CSRs, but this may not be the case. So far, we have presented two models of understanding sustainability. In education the SDGs and their learning outcomes outline the scope of personal responsibility. In business the five capitals model outlines the scope of corporate responsibility. However, there is a disconnect between the models. The learning outcomes cannot be applied to Edtech companies, nor can the five capitals be applied to education curricula. Yet both models are useful and have merit. In order to understand how EdTech companies address sustainability in education a third model is needed to act as a bridge between the learning outcomes and social and human capitals. Kioupi and Voulvoulis [4] presented a model for “Enabling Conditions for Sustainability Transformation” in which they are divided into 8 conditions (Fig. 2): • Collaboration • Alternative economic models • Diversity

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• • • • •

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Transparency Health and Wellbeing Resilient sustainable behaviours Intergenerational and Intra-generational equity Living well within planetary boundaries

Fig. 2. Enabling Conditions for Sustainability Transformation [4]

All the conditions align well with the models of Social and Human Capital, safe operating space and diversity and inclusion also align with the natural capital and alternative economic models align with the financial and manufactured capital. Furthermore, the conditions specify relevant SDGs meaning that it is possible to identify the appearances of SDGs in the CSRs of EdTech companies. The learning outcomes of the SDGs then provide a means by which Social and Human capitals can be further understood and differentiated to give an indication of which objectives and competencies EdTech companies are engaging students and supporting educators in promoting sustainability in education. As such the focus of analysis will be on the social and human capitals. EdTech companies often produce teaching resources and syllabuses to accompany the digital tools used in engineering and scientific courses [7]. One example of this is Ansys, the producers Ansys Granta EduPack (further EduPack) used in engineering and scientific courses. Ansys also produce an array of teaching materials concerning sustainability. 1.2 Case Study: Ansys Granta EduPack We have analysed the Ansys Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy in relation to impact on social and human capital in education space. Ansys Corporate Responsibility Report (CRR) from 2021 [8] provides an overview of various projects with social

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impact, including charities support, support of STEM and educational outreach programs. In terms of specific initiatives in academic space, the following were named: free students’ software, support of student competitions, free on-line self-learning courses, and a learning forum as a go-to platform for academic and professional users. The report provides numbers of downloads and users. We have explored a specific case of Ansys with its education-focused software – EduPack and teaching resources, which did not find its way to the main CRR. There are other types of Ansys software, which are used in teaching, but EduPack is specifically developed to support studies of design, engineering curricular and material science [6]. This will help us to take a step further and to explore actual ways by which EduPack facilitates teaching about sustainability. EduPack is a software with a set of tools and a large materials-related database, complemented with extensive set of educational resources. These tools and resources notably include a streamlined LCA Eco Audit Tool; Nations of the World database with socio-economic data on countries; Social Impact Audit Tool, which follows Social LCA methodology; a large set of microprojects/case studies on sustainable development and a ToolKit for active-learning teaching, based on Ashby’s methodology for sustainability assessment [9]. The data includes environmental, social and economic datasets, including legislation and regulations, as well as risk (e.g. price volatility) associated with elements, that makes it well-suited to address complex sustainability problems. These resources were used for running workshops, lectures and seminars numerous times and there are established courses around the world utilising them. Examples how EduPack is used in sustainability teaching include international higher education courses on Master and Bachelor levels. Among these are TU Delft in its industrial design courses; University of Cambridge with its Master course engineering for sustainable development; Harvard University and its graduate school of design; The Norwegian University of Science and Technology with its bachelor level Materials Engineering course; Aalto University and its School of Arts, Design and Architecture and various courses, including bachelor in Sustainable Design etc. Below we attempt to apply the framework (Fig. 2) to Ansys case with provisional analysis of the key initiatives, based on its CSR report and our knowledge of what has been achieved in terms of educational academic-related initiatives (Table 1).

2 Discussion This paper aimed at highlighting the background literature used to develop an assessment framework of how well CSR (and CR) reports of EdTech companies are aligned with the SDGs through the integration of the five capitals framework and the enabling conditions framework for education aligned with sustainability. This assessment framework will help with conducting analysis of further EdTEch CSR reports for validation purposes, which is our plan as part of engaging with further research. It will also help inform the design of education materials for teaching about sustainability through educational software based on the example of a specific education-focused software - EduPack. The implications for designing educational material to complement educational software

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Table 1. Application of the framework for analysis of Ansys CSR report based on conditions selected that align with the social and human capital approach Collaboration

Engagement with students’ teams, start-ups & STEM projects etc

Diversity

Promoting diversity within the company; support via Learning forum

Transparency

ESG reporting; Corporate Responsibility reporting etc

Health and Wellbeing

Wellbeing initiatives within the company Volunteering events in community

Resilient sustainable behaviours

There is evidence regarding increased engagement of students, when they use EduPack and apply tools for social impact assessment [10]

Intergenerational and Intra-generational equity

EduPack & Education Resources help to provide knowledge and build skills to tackle sustainability challenges in teaching [11, 12] Free students’ software and on-line self-learning courses

Living well within planetary boundaries

Support of charities that do work within sustainability remit

development include the need to address the social and human capitals and enabling conditions already mentioned as well as to take into consideration the competences they should developing in the users as learning outcomes aligned with the courses implemented. The next step would be to explore how sustainability learning outcomes intended to be achieved in these courses, were facilitated by using EduPack and/or other educational resources through student and educator surveys and/or interviews. The selection of an appropriate university course in materials science/natural science that will implement the EduPack and its accompanying education material can serve as a case study to help clarify the concepts introduced in this working paper and set an example for others to follow. Further topics to explore include, how other EdTech providers enable sustainability learning/teaching and even potentially nudging users for more sustainable choices and/or how they educate users in sustainability and the SDGs. Moreover, in general, how EdTech consider their impact on Social and Human capital and the SDGs in their software solutions and interactions to support educational institutions in fostering sustainability competencies, SDGs learning outcomes and action-oriented pedagogy, to support UNESCO call for transformative actions [13].

References 1. Shayan, N.F., Mohabbati-Kalejahi, N., Alavi, S., Zahed, M.A.: Sustainable development goals as a framework for corporate social responsibility. Sustainability (Switzerland), 14(3) (2022). https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031222

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2. Bernhard, F.: United Nations Global Impact, Reporting on the SDGs - Enhance and mainstream corporate reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved June 27, 2022 (2022). https://www.unglobalcompact.org/take-action/action-platforms/sdg-reporting 3. UNESCO: Education for sustainable development goals: learning objectives. Education for Sustainable Development Goals: learning objectives; 2017 (unesco.de) (2017). Accessed 11 Jul 2022 4. Kioupi, V., Voulvoulis, N.: Education for sustainable development: A systemic framework for connecting the SDGs to educational outcomes. Sustainability (Switzerland) 11(21) (2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/su11216104 5. Sajeva, M., Sahota, P.S., Lemon, M.: Giving sustainability a chance: a participatory framework for choosing between alternative futures. J. Organ. Trans. Soc. Change 12(1), 57–89 (2015) 6. Porritt, J., Parkin, S.: Forum for the Future, 2007. The Five Capitals Model–a framework for sustainability. Action for a Sustainable World (2007). https://www.forumforthefuture.org/. Accessed 11 Jul 22 7. Ansys.com, Ansys Education Resources | Ansys Granta EduPack https://www.ansys.com/aca demic/educators/education-resources 8. Ansys Inc. 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report. [online] Canonsburg: Ansys Inc. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/C2014-0-01670-X. Accessed 11 Jul 2022 9. Ashby, M.: Materials and Sustainable Development. ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/C2014-0-01670-X 10. Vakhitova, T., Ashby, M.: A tool for introducing Social Life Cycle Assessment of products and feedback from its users. In: Proceedings EESD 2020 Conference (2020). https://www. eesd2020.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Vakhitova_et_al_EESD2020_11_Style.pdf 11. Vakhitova, T., Shercliff H., Ashby, M.: Taking Stock: Sustainability in Engineering Teaching; case of CES EduPack – software for academics, Proceedings EESD 2015 (2015). https:// open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/52657/items/1.0064736 12. Ashby, et al.: White Paper “A tool for introducing Social Life Cycle Assessment of products and feedback from its users”. In: Paper: Social Life-Cycle Assessment and Social Impact Audit Tool | Ansys (2017) 13. United Nations: The Sustainable Development Goals Report (2018). https://sustainabledeve lopment.un.org/content/documents/2569Partnership_Exchange_2018_Report.pdf. Accessed 17 Jun 2022

Technology Enhanced Learning

Reshaping Teaching-Learning Process During COVID – 19 Pandemic Rita Karmakar1(B)

and Sukanta Kumar Naskar2

1 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences, Amity University Kolkata, Kolkata, India

[email protected] 2 NITTTR, Kolkata, India

Abstract. The education sector and the students are the ones who have been largely affected by the spread of the global pandemic. The sudden outbreak of the coronavirus has taken an enormous emotional and psychological toll on people. Across the world, people had to face various problems starting from very simple daily life necessities to education, work-related problems. In the domain of education, adaptability came along with a set of challenges and took some time to settle. The transition in the teaching-learning process across the world has been truly undeniable. Like all other things, even this new mode of imparting education has its own set of benefits as well as drawbacks. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, a lot of research has been going on in understanding the kind of psychological impact it causes and how the students are impacted due to reshaping the teaching-learning process. As per UNESCO 2020 report, greater will be the risk of children losing out on their youth, and future due to the closure of the educational institutes. Adequate training and assessment are required for the teachers to adjust to the new technology-based learning. This article tried to analyze the transition in the teaching-learning process and its effect on students and how is it affecting their quality of life as well as we also shed some light on how it has shown some positive aspects and has proved to enrich the learning process amidst the adversities. Keywords: COVID-19 · Reshaping teaching – learning process · Technology-based learning

1 Introduction Civilization and humanity progress and evolve in their own mysterious ways, but sometimes certain events occur that leave a scar on the timeline, even when we are way past it. These events affect us in a much more way, that what would have happened without it. The COVID-19 pandemic is one of such events. The disease infested itself and spread through the population like wildfire through a dry forest and before we could even realize WHO (World Health Organization) declared it as a pandemic. It shook the very foundations of modern civilization at a time when most people thought that pandemics were a thing of the past. It showed us how vulnerable and helpless we are in the face of the forces of Mother Nature. The lockdown was dreadful for most people- unable to move out of their house to work or study, restricted to only the necessities. Even © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 499–510, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_48

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then, thousands of people lost their lives, millions lost their livelihood and were forced below poverty line. Healthcare workers worked for entire weeks without resting, still the healthcare system was crippled. The rate of infection was much more than anybody could have ever imagined and because of that it led to the lockdown. But there is a silver lining to this and thus people began to adopt new and better practices. Humanity has always overcome whatever was thrown at it. The vaccine was finally discovered, and the numbers started dying down. But even now, we can feel the ripples caused by the impact of the pandemic. Here we analyze one such thing that the pandemic gave rise to, online education, and its impact on mankind. According to UNESCO 2020 report, to ensure safe return to educational sectors to ensure better emotional and psychological wellbeing, at least 100 million of teachers and educators needs to be give priority as regards to vaccination. All being said and done, the return would not be as easy, but it will surely be worth the wait. 1.1 Impact of COVID-19 on Human Life When the world first heard of COVID-19, people thought of it as something very temporary. However, when the lockdown started and kept on increasing indefinitely people became aware of the gravity of the situation the impact of COVID-19 and things associated with it have been quite severe on the day to day lives of people. The COVID-19 has led to the significant loss of human life and poses serious challenges to businesses and financial sector, healthcare, and education. Owing to the pandemic many migrant workers and daily wage earners are at the risk of falling below poverty line and even becoming undernourished. Across the world, this number is currently around 700 million and could easily surpass 800 million by the end of the year. People lost their jobs; companies were shut down indefinitely and the biggest concern was the uncertainty. The GDPs and per-capita incomes of many nations plummeted as the Governments struggled with rising unemployment, a crippled healthcare system and the ever-spreading pandemic. The pandemic also took its toll on the healthcare sector. It brought to light the glaring flaws in the nation’s healthcare system and infrastructure. Hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare institutions struggled to provide basic medical facilities and care to the rising number of Covid infected patients. Healthcare workers spent entire days at hospitals to overcome the personnel shortage. However, gradually the systems coped up with the adversity of the pandemics and new facilities were established. The educational sector was the hardest hit. Schools, colleges, and universities were closed, and learning was put on hold. To overcome this issue, the entire educational system adapted to the online system. The time in which online education became the new normal is praiseworthy. Recent research by Haleem et al. [1] suggests that the impact of COVID-19 is not only extensive, but it seems to have far more reaching consequences and these consequences touch upon all the sectors of human life. From the difficulties and challenges faced during the diagnosis to the overload of patients and burnout of the medical practitioners in the health care sector, to slowing down of the economy around the world affecting people’s financial condition the most, to affecting the social sector which has a huge implication on people’s mental health.

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The pandemic has taken a toll on the emotional well-being of people, now that people are restricted to their home and most of the work is done from home, a study by Lades et al. [2] suggests that the limited time spent outdoors seems to have an increased positive affect and less of negative affect. Activities such as going for walks, pursuing one’s hobbies, spending time with family were found to be mostly associated with greater affective benefits for people, whereas gathering of information via the mass media or social media and homeschooling were found to be associated with negative affect. 1.2 Pre and Post of COVID-19 Pandemic in the Teaching-Learning ProcessReshaping the Paradigm The teaching-learning process has always been evolutionary in nature, it kept changing from time to time depending upon the new advancements which were being made. The modifications in the teaching-learning process also marked progress in the domain of education. Though, the means of education across the world has always been very much on an offline mode. That is the rote method of teaching-learning is what which has been preferred and practiced imparting education. Pre COVID-19 pandemic, the classical method of teaching-learning involved face-to-face interactions among students and teachers in the classroom setups. It cannot be emphasized more on how important factor it has always been for a teacher or facilitator imparting education to be able to communicate while discussing something, and to be able to look at the non-verbal expressions of the students which always gave a clear picture of how much the students were understanding. It also helped a teacher to identify whether any student was facing any problem, if they were attentive or not and most importantly more interactions were something that encouraged a teacher to better the overall teaching-learning experience. A typical classroom setup facilitated peer to peer learning, class participation, teamwork, and at the same time it also instilled motivation and interest among the students. Face to face interaction is something which can never be compared with anything, being able to share our thoughts, ideas, feelings have been something which always made the teaching-learning experience more wholesome in nature. The outbreak of the corona virus in 2020 was never imaginable until it happened and brought a drastic and undeniable change in the world across various sectors, education and teaching-learning process being one of the sectors where a sudden shift in the paradigm was noted. Across the world, the method of teaching-learning shifted from being offline to online or remote mode within a span of time. With the introduction of the online mode of teaching-learning, it has been nothing less than revolutionary in the field of education. What all was not even given a thought before, suddenly seemed like a possibility to all. From the comfort of home, family members, now students and teachers were able to interact with each other, learn, attend various educational events such as online webinars, conferences, and alongside all this, it also became a possibility were many more sources became accessible in turn enhancing many more learning opportunities. Through a study by Korkmaz et al. [3] it was highlighted that a massive paradigm shift has been noted due to the outbreak of the corona virus and this shift shall remain in some way as it has changed the way education and teaching-learning was viewed before. The central and core domains of education such as the necessity of taking the certificate examinations shall still prevail but many other aspects of education

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and examination shall change. Mondol and Mohiuddin [4] through their study stated the importance and the need of orientation for this technology-based teaching-learning method. To make this shift more viable in nature, it should be marked by improvisations and corrections based upon the experiences of the students and teachers. The use of information technology in the online mode of teaching became inevitable. During lockdown, learning management system (LMS) became one of the most valuable technologies utilized to maintain the continuity of teaching-learning process. LMS provides a unified platform to communicate and coordinate instructional events, conducting training and online courses in an organization. During lockdown, LMS helped most of academic institutions to sustain in the long run by promoting online collaborative learning. LMS promoted e-learning among students by enabling them to continue teaching-learning process by exchanging information and resources irrespective of time and place. In LMS, teachers play the role of facilitators who encourage and guide students to conduct research and apply knowledge in order to gain competitive advantage. Watson & Watson [5] LMS is able to monitor the learning progress, endlessly providing important information and knowledge, and employing continuous assessment of learning outcomes. According to Kitchen & Berk [6], LMS also permits teachers to promote application-based education and thereby leads to continuous improvement. LMS eases the teaching learning process as it includes the options of sharing online charts, teaching materials, meeting and storage of teaching materials and files. The sharing of a variety of teaching materials in the form of MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, audio, and video files has become very common with the advent of LMS. LMS allows teachers in monitoring students’ performances with the help of online quizzes and rubric-based assessment of submitted assignments. There are four types of rubrics used for assessing the performances of students. These are Holistic, Analytical, Generic and Task-specific. Rubrics are efficient, most effective and objective tools for evaluating performance, assignment and activities. Rubrics not only help students to clarify their expectations and objectives but also make them more responsible so that they can bring about necessary changes in their behaviour and consequently improve their performances in the long run. The following Table 1 gives summary of reshaping teaching learning process during pre and post COVID 19 scenarios. Table 1. Teaching Learning process during pre and post COVID 19 scenarios Parameters

Pre COVID-19

Post COVID-19

Medium

Offline, face to face

Online, hybrid using LMS

Communication

Typical classroom/blackboard, Virtual, limited scope of whiteboard teaching backed up with expression appropriate expressions (continued)

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Table 1. (continued) Parameters

Pre COVID-19

Post COVID-19

Materials of teaching

Textbooks and reference books

Video tutorials, presentations,

Mode of examination

Traditional paper-based examination Online examination (e examination)

Assessment

Traditional assessment

Rubric-based assessment

1.3 Objectives of the study Due to the sudden and dire necessity which led to the paradigm shift in the teachinglearning process, it has been even more important now to understand its effectiveness, characteristics, and other aspects to get better viewpoint of it. Thus, through the present study, the aim is to – • To study the reshaping of the teaching-learning process during the COVID-19 outbreak. • To study the aftereffects of COVID-19 on the teaching-learning process. 1.4 Impact of the Paradigm Shift on the Teaching-Learning Process The educational sector and the people associated with it were among the ones worst affected by the pandemic. Initially when the lockdown started and all the school, colleges and universities were closed, the students interpreted it as a few days of relief amidst their busy schedules. However, the lockdown kept on increasing and their ‘vacations’ became longer. As stated earlier, the worst aspect of this was the uncertainty. Formal education, learning and teaching activities were paused for an indefinite time. To find a way around this difficulty the educational institutions came up with the solution of online and distant learning. This allowed teachers and students to interact as in a plane old classroom but from the safety of their homes. This meant that the process of imparting education could be resumed. As mentioned before the efforts on the part of the educational institutions were prompt, innovative and quickly developed in response to the urgent need of resuming the teaching and learning process. When educational institutions like schools, colleges and universities switched to the online mode of imparting education, initially there was a lot of confusion among the students, teachers and even the parents. All parties concerned questioned the viability of the new medium and students were taken aback by the sudden change in teaching practices. The way was unconventional and so it came along with its own set of doubts, fear, tension, and anxiety. The teachers also had to adjust and adopt new practices to ensure that their knowledge sharing methods remained relevant. Starting from college/university students to school-going kids, everybody had doubts about the exam procedures, marking schemes and most importantly whether they would need to repeat the year. The situation was worse for people appearing for Class X and

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XII boards and final year college exams. Also, no matter how much of the education process is made online, research will always require offline work. Thus, people involved in research had to leave their work abruptly and hence the creation of knowledge or contribution to the origin point was affected. 1.4.1 The Negative Impact of the Paradigm Shift Due to this new form of teaching-learning process, the students started to have longer periods of screen time which not only started to affect their eyes, but it also induced frustration, irritability, and mood swings among students. The long and constant hours on screen and sitting and looking at it also influences the students physiologically such as experiencing headache, muscle aches and back aches. These have become some common areas of concern among students. The lack of face-to-face interaction, lesser amount of interaction with classmates and not so interactive classes have made students less interested in online education, it has somewhat also lowered the quality of education because not every student can communicate just like the way they used to in their normal classrooms and this has led to students experiencing monotony, lack of motivation and boredom. According to Jena [7], certain factors such as inadequacy related to supporting infrastructure needed for online mode of education, limited skills of the teachers in maintaining the new technology-based mode of learning and lack of student to student and teacher to student social interaction were found to be negatively impacting the paradigm shift in the teaching-learning process. According to Educationasia.in [8], during lockdown there was serious concern related recruitment as most of the graduate students did not get placement. During lockdown, there was no recruitment in most of the Government and non-government sector and the fate of most of the graduate freshers became uncertain. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s rate of unemployment increased from 8.4% in mid-March to 23% in early April and the urban unemployment rate to 30.9%. In a study by Aristovnik et al. [9] it was found that students were highly concerned about their studies, career, future and how it is being affected due to COVID19, and this led to them experiencing boredom, frustration, and anxiousness. Another consequence of the pandemic and the subsequent online medium of education arising from it was that academic and research ethics went for a toss. People were found blatantly copying from others’ answers in exams or utilizing someone else’s research and passing it off as their own in a somewhat modified form. A proper internet connection became a necessity as without its students got disconnected from their respective educational institutions. In a study by Adnan et al. [10] it was emphasized that in developing nations or in underdeveloped nations many of the students fail to get access to internet and electronic devices for the remote mode of learning. Alongside this, the absence of face-to-face interaction with the teachers, lack of socialization was some of the important concerns of higher education students. Research suggested that women were subjected to greater psychological distress due to the global pandemic and we’re more prone to face stress, anxiety, and depression Ho et al. [11]. The students had to face an unknown uncertainty and this constant nature of not knowing what would come up next, made them feel under a significant and constant tension, stress, and fear. These psychological distresses in turn caused them to feel under pressure and thus many students failed to perform well or give their best due to the new mode of teaching learning.

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Due to the outbreak of pandemic, many families had patients suffering from COVID19 and worldwide many students also had COVID-19. As we know that this disease takes a physical and emotional toll on people and thus students who suffered because of the virus also had to face higher amounts of stress due to the trauma or the sudden experience of the disease. In a study it was found that students were affected due the COVID-19 the most, leading to greater levels of anxiety and even increased levels of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder was found by Pragholapati [12]. Certain factors like academic delays, economic problems, daily life issues were found to be positively correlated with anxiety and social support as a factor was found to be negatively correlated with anxiety, this was highlighted in a study by Cao et al. [13]. In a recent study by Ochavillo [14] it was found that majority of maritime students faced a difficult time coping paradigm shift because of not having computers for attending the classes, poor internet connectivity and lack of personal wellbeing. They also seemed to prefer face to face interaction more as compared to the online mode. A study by Daniel [15] stated that the transition from the new mode of teaching learning process to the initial is not going to be an easy one. The educational institutions must adopt unique and flexible approaches to correct the damages that has been done to the students. 1.4.2 The Positive Impact of the Paradigm Shift However, despite all the negatives, the online mode of education did have its benefits. The foremost benefit was that students got to continue their education when the rest of the world was struggling to cope with the effects on the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown. It upskilled the teachers as well as the students in the uses of digital infrastructure and boosted the rate of adoption of technology. A study by Huda [16] revealed that due to the emergence of the new style of education, there is a growing need for the enhancement of skills by the academicians. Apart from this, the newly joined academicians will be more focused on the changing patterns of education and would give more importance on skill-oriented teaching-learning process. Students could focus on the learning itself without being bothered about the travel to and from the centers of learning. This led to increased available time for the students. The teaching sessions became much more interactive, and application based to keep the students attentive and engaged, which was comparatively difficult on the online platform when compared to offline mediums. Similarly, exams also tested for the conceptual clarity, implementation and understanding of students to effectively evaluate them over the online medium and discourage cheating. Alongside this due to this new form of teaching learning process, it has made it possible to organize national and international conferences, seminars which not only encouraged wider and greater amount of student participation, but it also saved a lot of cost and time in travel. People are now getting a chance to communicate with other people from the ease of their home and still learn something new. A study by Ahuja and Bala [17] supported the fact that COVID-19 pandemic has been a blessing in disguise as it gave the opportunity to people to experiment with platforms, tools, and technologies to make the teaching-learning experience more meaningful in the given scenario. It also gave us the time to be more knowledgeable and productive while developing new skills and through continuous online learning and assessment. Jena [7] suggested that COVID-19 has also created opportunities for many

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educational institutions to strengthen technological knowledge and upgrade their infrastructural facilities in order to effective and continue with education system even during the lockdown. With the advent of online learning, the main stakeholders of educational system such as students, teachers, parents and local guardians are constantly able to access educational activities and consequently are able to share their opinions over the e-platform. 1.5 After Effect of COVID-19 on Teaching-Learning Process Considering both the positive as well as the negative impacts of the paradigm shift, it can be still very clearly seen that due to this global shift in the ways of imparting education which was somewhere necessary for educational institutes and educators to review and perhaps have a critical look at their teaching styles and methods, the overall learning outcome, and most of all on how technology can be used in various innovative ways to create a better and more wholesome experience for their students. One of the after-effects COVID-19 on teaching learning procedures might be that we would have a wide variation in knowledge and skillsets of students of subsequent years consisting of the pre-covid and covid batches. Students would need to be much more capable and competitive to find jobs, based on their learning, in a market where employment is scarce. However, the additional skills they acquired during their online sessions might prove to be the differentiating factor. Apart from this, when the educational institutions open the students will take enough time to go back to that routine, they might feel exhausted due to the travel and other things. Research study by Mbhiza [18] emphasized that to cope with the greatest paradigm shift in the history of education, educational institutions now must rethink about the content which has to be shared and used for imparting knowledge to meet the increasing demands of the new age paradigm shift. Siegel et al. [19] emphasized on the fact that the new practices, lessons learned during this shift will be beneficial in improving the teaching-learning process as people move to the post COVID-19 academic world. Going forward, when the educational institutions are finally allowed to reopen, they should adopt a blended form of teaching and learning, which would retain the positives from both mediums. This would ensure that an optimality is reached and that the educational infrastructure has been upgraded and that we have made the best out of one of the worst times in recent human history. In a research study by Jena [20] it was emphasized that many new techniques and modes of education have emerged which were not imagined in a country like India earlier, due to these new interventions now new ways of teaching learning is being outlined for higher education. 1.6 Initiatives Taken by the Government As of October 2021, after almost a year and a half of been into the pandemic, a lot has changed across the globe. The world has faced uncountable, some difficult challenges which might have been hard to handle in the beginning, but it surely did make the world leaders question about various things which were previously not given a conscious thought until the outbreak of the corona virus in 2020.

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Considerable research has been going to understand the effect of the COVID-19, recent study revealed that policy implementation level intervention is required to understand the requirements of the situation. Further in-depth investigation as well as exploration is much needed for effective teaching-learning methods for future use. COVID19 also raised the utmost importance and necessity of having access to internet services along with quality bandwidth in different parts of developing countries like India, Pokhrel and Chhetri [21]. By 17th May 2020 an initiative named as the PM eVidya was started by the Indian Government, it was aimed at providing equitable and multi-mode access such as digital, online, and on-air modes of education. Some of the notable digital initiatives by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for secondary and higher education are Diksha e-learning portal, e-pathshala, National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) portal, Swayam Prabha and e-PG Pathshala. Alongside the initiatives taken by the central government, initiatives by the state governments were also taken, which included mostly either upgrading the already existing E-learning platforms or starting new ones to meet the demands of the current scenario. To determine the success of these initiatives, regular feedback is being collected from the users, Singh et al. [22]. In addition to this the difficulties faced by differently abled children were understood and further one specific DTH(Direct-to-home) channel has been introduced dedicated to children with hearing disability. For children with hearing and visual disability, using sign language digitally accessible study materials has been prepared and they are being uploaded on medium like YouTube and NIOS (National Institute Of Open Schooling) website for even easier and hassle-free access. Apart from India, research study based on the impact of COVID-19 on the teachinglearning process in Pakistan revealed that despite facing many challenges to continue the education on online mode, their government was able to create awareness and take appropriate steps such as broadcasting online classes on National Television promoting tele education and the need for using technology in the best as well as effective way possible to adapt with the shift in paradigm post COVID-19, Maqsood et al. [23]. Initiatives such as ‘Disrupted classes, undisrupted learning’ was being introduced by the China Government to ensure that students were able to access the flexible way of online learning. The ministry also laid emphasis on appropriately encouraging and aiding students on their achievements and urged that the higher educational institutes take up multi-dimensional evaluation approach, Zhu and Liu [24]. Study conducted by Ejaz, Khaliq and Bajwa [25] revealed that during the first phase of school closure, Pakistan introduced the TeleSchool initiative in association with EdTech providers to provide free learning content among elementary, secondary and higher secondary school students. In December, the government launched first Radioschool in order to provide education during the second phase of school closure. Bangladesh Case Study [26] revealed that Bangladesh government also recognized the need for online teaching learning during country lockdown in order to keep education sector running. Some of the remarkable initiatives by Bangladesh government are national mobile education platform through IVR (Interactive Voice Response) with toll-free calls, TV broadcasting and various online platform such as YouTube, Google Classroom and Zoom etc. UNESCO [27] reported

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that Bangladesh government in association with UNESCO Capacity Building for Education (CapED) took an initiative to broadcast “Ghore Bose Sikhi” for educating primary education school students through radio. 1.7 Conclusion The outbreak of a global pandemic has changed everyone’s life across the world in an enormous way. People have now more insight about how life can be challenging and at the same time how can we be efficient in handling those challenges. The global pandemic did cause huge amount of loss, but it taught lifelong lessons to people as well. It has always been a lifelong debate about the importance of mental health in our lives, but not so often we saw people giving their mental health enough importance and seeking for help when needed. This scenario has undoubtedly changed due to the outbreak of corona virus, as discussed earlier in this paper that people were largely affected by psychological distress due to various reasons. The positive aspect of it is that more and more people were seen to come up and seek help, it has been a huge leap in the field of psychology. Numerous sessions have been organized by different educational institutions, mental health organizations, NGOs, and hospitals on how to deal with the psychological impact and coping mechanisms that would help people. People from all ages and from different backgrounds were found to participate in these sessions and webinars. This understanding that due to the different life situations it not only affects us physically, but it also affects us emotionally and the fact that mental health and physical health have a relationship was much more needed for people to understand. The stereotypic notions about the field of psychology are somewhere reduced and thus encouraging more people to take up this field. Before the pandemic hit, people would have not even considered many things, but now after having experienced something so severe many wise realizations have hit everyone. Just like the unimaginable global paradigm shift in the teaching-learning process which came along with its own set of ups and downs, but also succeeded in making human beings understand on how advancement and a shift was somewhere necessary to rethink about the ways education was being imparted for so long. Once again, with this paradigm shift it was made clear how technology has been a boon to mankind and can be a very useful and effective resource to change the idea of the teaching-learning process. The pandemic has also taught us the effectiveness of Blended (hybrid) teaching-learning process, the rise in the use of learning management systems, improvement of collaborative learning, digital literacy, e platform for sharing online material, open and distance learning for better time management and worldwide expose in education system.

References 1. Haleem, A., Javaid, M., Vaishya, R.: Effects of COVID 19 pandemic in daily life. Current Med. Res. Pract. 10(2), 78–79 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmrp.2020.03.011. PMID: 32292804 2. Lades, L.K., Laffan, K., Daly, M., Delaney, L.: Daily emotional well-being during the COVID19 pandemic. British J. Health Psychol. 25(4), 902–911 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1111/bjhp. 12450

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3. Korkmaz, G., Toraman, C., Duran, V.: Paradigm shift in education in the post-COVID-19 world: Is decentralized education possible? Int. J. Curric. Inst. 13(3), 3318–3343 (2021) 4. Mondol, M.S., Mohiuddin, M.G.: Confronting COVID-19 with a paradigm shift in teaching and learning: a study on online classes. Int. J. Soc. Polit. Econ. Res. 7(2), 231–247 (2020). https://doi.org/10.46291/IJOSPERvol7iss2 5. Watson, R., Watson, S.: An argument for clarity: What are learning management systems, what are they not, & what should they become? TechTrends 51(2), 28–34 (2012). https://doi. org/10.1.1.394.9436&rep=rep1&type=pdf 6. Kitchen, R., Berk, S.: Educational technology: An equity challenge to the common core. J. Res. Math. Educ. 47(1), 3–16 (2016). https://doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc.47.1.0003 7. Jena, P.K.: Impact of pandemic COVID-19 on education in India. Int. J. Current Res. 12(7), 12582–12586 (2020). https://doi.org/10.24941/ijcr.39209.07.2020 8. Educationasia.in: The Impact of COVID-19 on Education and Education Sectors, Know Here (2020). https://educationasia.in/article/the-impactof-covid-19-on-education-and-educat ion-sectors-know-here 9. Aristovnik, A., Keržiˇc, D., Ravšelj, D., Tomaževiˇc, N., Umek, L.: Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on life of higher education students: a global perspective. Sustainability 12(20), 2–34 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208438 10. Adnan, M., Anwar, K.: Online Learning Amid the COVID-19 pandemic: students perspectives. J. Pedagog. Res. 2, 45–51 (2020).https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.%202020261309 11. Ho, C.S., Chee, C.Y., Ho, R.C.: Mental health strategies to combat the psychological impact of COVID-19 beyond paranoia and panic. Ann. Acad. Med. Singapore 49(1), 1–3 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102066 12. Pragholapati, A.: COVID-19 Impact on Students, 11 May 2020. https://doi.org/10.17605/ OSF.IO/NUYJ9 13. Cao, W., et al.: The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry Res. 287, 112934 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112934 14. Ochavillo, G.S.: A paradigm shift of learning in maritime education amidst COVID-19 pandemic. Int. J. Higher Educ. 9(6), 164–177 (2020) 15. Daniel, S.J.: Education and the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospects 49(1–2), 91–96 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-020-09464-3 16. Huda. N. U.: Present Paradigm Shift Require Innovative Teaching Learning Skills (2020) 17. Ahuja, K., Bala, I.: COVID-19: Creating a Paradigm Shift in Indian Education System. In: AlTurjman, F., Devi, A., Nayyar, A. (eds.) Emerging Technologies for Battling Covid-19. SSDC, vol. 324, pp. 195–221. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-03060039-6_10 18. Mbhiza, H.W.: Shifting paradigms: rethinking education during and post-COVID-19 pandemic. Res. Soc. Sci. Technol. 6(2), 279–289 (2021). https://doi.org/10.46303/ressat.202 1.31 19. Siegel, A., Zarb, M., Balser, T.: Learning from COVID. In: Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (Virtual Event, USA) (SIGCSE 2021), New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery (2021). https://doi.org/10.1145/ 3408877.3439521 20. Jena, P.K.: Impact of COVID-19 on higher education in India. Int. J. Adv. Educ. Res. (IJAER) 5(3), 77–81 (2020). https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/jg8fr 21. Pokhrel, S., Chhetri, R.: A literature review on impact of COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning. Higher Educ. Future 8, 133–141 (2021). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/ 10.1177/2347631120983481 22. Singh, M., Adebayo, S.O., Saini, M., Singh, J.: Indian government E-learning initiatives in response to COVID-19 crisis: a case study on online learning Indian higher education system. Educ. Inf. Technol. (Dordr) 26(6), 7569–7607 (2021)

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23. Maqsood, A., Abbas, J., Rehman, G., Mubeen, R.: The paradigm shift for educational system continuance in the advent of COVID-19 pandemic: mental health challenges and reflections (2021). Current Res. Beh. Sci. 2, 1–5 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2020.100011 24. Zhu, X., Liu, J.: Education in and after Covid-19: immediate responses and long-term visions. Postdigital Sci. Educ. 2(3), 695–699 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-020-00126-3 25. Ejaz, M., Khaliq, N.R., Bajwa, Y.: COVID-19 spurs big changes in Pakistan’s education (2021). https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/covid-19-spurs-big-changes-pak istans-education. Accessed 25 Mar 2022 26. Bangladesh Case Study: Situation Analysis on the Effects of and Responses to COVID-19 on the Education Sector in Asia (2021). https://www.unicef.org/rosa/documents/bangladeshcase-study. Accessed 29 Jun 2022 27. UNESCO: Bangladesh Brings education to the Airwaves (2020). https://www.unesco.org/en/ articles/bangladesh-brings-education-airwaves. Accessed 29 Jun 2022

Automatic Short Answer Grading Using Universal Sentence Encoder Chandralika Chakraborty1 , Rohan Sethi2 , Vidushi Chauhan2 , Bhairab Sarma3 , and Udit Kumar Chakraborty1(B) 1 Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Sikkim Manipal University, Sikkim, India

[email protected]

2 Dell Technologies, Bangalore, India 3 University of Science & Technology Meghalaya, Baridua, India

Abstract. Automatic Evaluation of Text Answers, popularly known as Automatic Short Answer Grading (ASAG) is an area of research and development currently. The widespread acceptance of online learning and increased number of enrolments in such courses has necessitated the creation of a method that can be applied across platforms for all types of supply based answers. The current paper proposes a simple technique using the Deep Learning Based Universal Sentence Encoder to generate vectors for each answer. These vectors can then be compared against vectors generated from model answers to get the final score for the student’s answer. Experimental results show that for a sizeable dataset, the approach works well and can be considered a reliable approach. Keywords: Automatic Short Answer Grading · Vector · Word Embedding · Cosine Similarity · Universal Sentence Encoder · Confidence

1 Introduction Examinations are an important component of the teaching learning process. The basic purpose being reinforcement of the learning accomplished by the student. Evaluation of learner’s responses to questions therefore has to be correct, uniform and impartial. However, these criteria are not always met. In schools and universities, with a large number of enrolments, the teacher–student ratio can be high. In the Indian scenario, this ratio is as high as 1:20 in technical courses [1], resulting in even the time allotted for evaluation being insufficient [2]. The issue gets further complicated by the introduction of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) based content delivery with universities pitching in with online lecture delivery resulting in increased enrolments. Manual evaluation of a large number of answer scripts has various problems associated with it. While timely delivery is the most highlighted, uniformity in evaluation standards is also an issue. Evaluation styles differ, and so do expectations from learners. Uniformity may be achieved to a certain degree using rubrics, but the basic interpretation is still human dependent. Additionally, rubrics preparation needs time and training [3]. Automatic short answer grading is the task of assessing short natural language responses to objective questions using computational methods [4]. These usually cover © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 511–518, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_49

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answers to questions with multiple choices, fill-in-the missing-words, single sentence answers and short answers written in natural languages. The computational complexities involved in evaluating the natural language answers have resulted in wide acceptance of multiple choice and single word answer-based questions. Their popularity being credited to objectivity and quantifiability, the popular segment has their drawbacks, as it is difficult to check the learners’ knowledge and understanding of the proof and the theoretical aspects [5]. Apart from these, the close-ended questions can also be scored from by using guess work [6]. On the other hand, open-ended questions expect the learner to construct answers in natural languages using knowledge, logic and linguistic abilities simultaneously. These answers have no fixed methods and may also have multiple solutions [7]. This contributes substantially towards the difficulties in strategizing and solution building for automated evaluation of text-based answers. To standardize ASAG, short answers have been defined to meet the following fivepoint criteria, viewed from the perspective of evaluation have to meet the five-point criteria [4]: 1. The question must require a response that recalls external knowledge instead of requiring the answer to be recognized from within the question. 2. The question must require a response given in natural language. 3. The answer length must be restricted. 4. The assessment of the responses should focus on the content instead of writing style. 5. The level of openness in open-ended versus close-ended responses should be restricted with an objective question design. ASAG returns substantial literature consisting of different approaches tried by esteemed researchers. However, a solution acceptable to all has not yet been formulated. A comprehensive survey of Automatic Short Answer Grading is available in the highly cited work by Burrows et al. [4], which covers in much detail the progress made till 2015. Recent approaches to ASAG show trends shifting gradually to Machine Learning and Deep Learning based techniques. This approach needs the text information to be converted to vector representations for use in Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models. There are various embedding techniques available for the purpose. However, not all suit every requirement and the choice parameters are yet to be correctly identified. This paper reports experiments conducted on text data for ASAG using Universal Sentence Encoder. The results are presented with discussions on the suitability of the encoder on the data used with analysis.

2 Literature Review ASAG has been an area of active research for quite some time now. The paper by Burrows et al. [4] provides a comprehensive survey of the developments made prior to 2015. Post 2015, the focus has mostly been directed towards Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based approaches. Supervised machine Learning approaches use well labelled data to train networks in performing tasks on data that it has not been exposed

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to before. Employed to ASAG, unsupervised techniques use word and text similarity measures to grade student’s responses with respect to reference answers [8]. In his thesis, Roy [8] proposes a number of novel ASAG techniques based on machine learning and computational linguistics principles with extensive empirical evidence on multiple datasets. The work reports about 20% improvement over existing results on correlation. This also presents brief successes of about 8% improvement using ensemble based techniques. The primary findings of this work however point towards use of ensembles for better performance. Most work using Deep Learning use embedding techniques for vectorization and find the vector distances between some standard identified for the problem. In [9], the authors used a bag of words and k-means clustering to group similar answers. Although the paper reports a correlation of 0.83, the sample space is rather small with only 29 students’ responses from ten assignments and two examinations. Further, the approach did not work for synonyms used in the students’ responses. Similar work, done by Lubis et.al. [10] tried using word embedding with only one model answer and semantic analysis. The experiments were conducted on a rather limited dataset of 224 responses with a correlation value of 0.7085. The essence of word embedding consisting of capture of the context could not be explored here as semantic analysis measures were taken separately. The actual process of evaluation being dependent on the input embedding, a proper evaluation of all embedding models needs to be conducted. To this end, the work by Ghavidel et.al. [11], compares Bidirectional Encoder Representations (BERT) an autoencoder with XLNET, a bidirectional transformer for performance. However, the dataset being rather limited, a reliable comparison does not come out. On the chosen dataset, both perform equally well. The work done, as presented in this paper, tries to mitigate the complexity of the ASAG process, by adopting the classical approach to learners’ response evaluation. Using the Universal Sentence Encoder over other task specific embedding techniques, the experiments were conducted on a reasonably sized dataset having 1272 student’s answers. To ensure correctness of the process, the scores were compared against the average score of five human evaluators. The results show substantial improvement over currently reported results.

3 ASAG Methodology While multiple techniques have been employed over the years to automatically grade or score short answers, none has been accepted as the gold standard for ASAG. As against the information extraction [12] or student’s wisdom approach [13] the current paper sticks to the classical approach. In this work, the student’s answers are evaluated with respect to model answers which are expected to be provided by subject experts. The methodology is implemented as shown in Algo BasicASAG.

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Algo BasicASAG 1. 2.

3.

Begin For each of the Model Answers, do a. Encode ModelAnsweri b. Store Vector as MAi For each of the Learners’ Responses a. Encode LearnerResponsei b. Store Vector as LRi c. For each vector MAj i. Compute Cosine Similarity between LRi and MAj ii. Store value as CSij d.

4.

Compute Scorei =

End

The scores are actually average of the cosine similarity values between the vectors. Cosine similarity is a measure of similarity that is used to compare documents represented as vectors. If x and y are two vectors for comparison, the cosine similarity is computed as: x.y (1) sim(x, y) = ||x||||y|| In Eq. 1, ||x|| is the Euclidean Norm of vector x, and is calculated as:  x12 + x22 + x32 + ... + xn2

(2)

The measure returns the cosine of the angles between the two vectors under consideration. A cosine value of 0 signifies orthogonal vectors, meaning thereby that the vectors are dissimilar. A cosine value of 1 signifies that the vectors are identical. While Euclidean distance returns the distance between two points, a cosine measure is better representative of concepts as embedded in texts. Euclidean distances may vary even due to document sizes, but cosine measure is more advantageous when the purpose is to measure the document’s perspective [14].

4 Universal Sentence Encoder Word embedding or encoding is used in Artificial Neural Networks. The purpose is primarily to encode linguistic information to numerical data that can be handled by the neural model. Many embedding techniques are available for the purpose, some popular ones being Word2Vec, BERT, FastText etc. The present work used Universal Sentence Encoder to encode the sentences into vectors. A major drawback of other encoding techniques lies in the way they function. These methods encode individual words separately and then encode the sentence by appending

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Fig. 1. Universal Sentence Encoder process

the words vectors. As a result there is information loss and word order information fails to be embedded in the vector. The Universal Sentence Encoder encodes text into high-dimensional vectors that can be used for text classification, semantic similarity, clustering, and other natural language tasks. Implemented in two models, as shown in Fig. 1., namely the Transformer Encoder and the Deep Averaging Network (DAN), the encoder returns 512-dimensional numeric vector representations of each sentence or even a short paragraph. The current paper uses the DAN model as it is less computation-intensive with marginal loss of accuracy [15].

5 Experimentation and Results The method described in Sect. 3, Algo BasicASAG, was implemented in Python and executed on the Kaggle dataset. The dataset consisted of 1272 answers from which five (05) full-scoring answers were identified as model answers. These model answers were considered as benchmarks for the correctness and the other responses were compared. Initially, the five model answers were encoded using the Universal Encoder. Subsequently, for each of the student’s responses, the answers were encoded using the Universal Sentence Encoder and the vectors generated compared with each of the five model vectors for cosine similarity. The code executed on Google Collab on 1272 number of answers, compared with the rounded average of score of 5 model answers returned results as shown in Fig. 2. These results are summarized and presented in Table 1 and plotted in Fig. 3. The numbers show that 38.8% of answers have exactly the same evaluation scores returned by the automated evaluation scheme and 53% had a deviation by 1 mark. If benevolence is considered as a factor for evaluation, then the instances where the

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Fig. 2. Plot of Rounded Average Score

Table 1. Summary of Results xxxxx

No Diff

Higher by 1 mark

Higher by 2 marks

Higher by 3 marks

Rounded Avg. of Hum. Sc

494

308

73

0

Rounded Avg. of Mac. Sc

494

378

17

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Fig. 3. Comparison Chart

machine has graded the answer higher than the human evaluators by 1 mark may also be considered correct and the accuracy of the approach would be up by 30% to 68.55%.

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Considering the task as proving the null hypothesis, as in Eq. 3 and the alternative hypothesis shown in Eq. 4, a both-tail z-test was carried out: H0 : μd = 0

(3)

H1 : μd = 0

(4)

The details are shown through equations Eq. 5 to. Checking for 95% confidence: P(−z α/2 ≤ z ≤ zα/2 = 0.95

(5)

P(z > zα/2 ) = 0.025

(6)

Computing the mean difference between the average scores of human evaluators and the automatic evaluation scheme proposed, and the standard deviation, the values are found to be 0.034 and 0.9169 respectively. μd = 0.034

(7)

σ = 0.9169

(8)

Computing the z-score using Eq. 9, the value obtained is 1.32: z=

μd − 0 √ σ/ n

(9)

Considering the confidence level of 0.95, as shown in Eq. 5, the z-score for 0.025, as shown in Eq. 6, is 1.96. Therefore, as the value 1.32 lies within the interval − 1.92 to 1.92, it can be said that the null hypothesis of Eq. 3 holds good.

6 Conclusion The proposed method for Automatic Short Answer Grading is simplistic in approach and effective in computing the scores. The vectors being considered reflective of the knowledge content of the answers, a cosine similarity between two such vectors would return the difference in score. However, the method is reliant on the efficacy of the Universal Sentence Encoder and it remains to be seen whether it works with same or at least similar accuracy with other types of answers. The deviation of 2 or more marks in a 3 marks question, though limited to 6.4% is also an area of improvement where some effort is due.

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References 1. Chakraborty, M.: Here’s why DU teachers are not evaluating answer papers since May 24. Hindustan Times, June 15, 2018 (2018) 2. Gafoor, K.A., Umer Farooque, T.K.: Incongruence in scoring practices of answer scripts and their implications: need for urgent examination reforms in secondary pre-service teacher education. In: Proceedings of UGC sponsored national seminar on Fostering 21 st Century Skills: Challenges to Teacher quality, August 22–23, 2014, Kerala, pp. 2–5 (2014) 3. Sharma, R.: (2017), “Model Rules: Board to train teachers how to evaluate answer-sheets”. The Indian Express, September 8, 2017 4. Burrows, S., Gurevych, I., Stein, B.: The eras and trends of automatic short answer grading. Int. J. Artif. Intell. Educ. 25(1), 60–117 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-014-0026-8 5. Chang, S.-H., Lin, P.-C., Lin, Z.C.: Measures of partial knowledge and unexpected responses in multiple-choice tests. Educ. Technol. Soc. 10(4), 95–109 (2007) 6. Lau, P.N.K., Lau, S.H., Hong, K.S., Usop, H.: Guessing, partial knowledge, and misconceptions in multiple-choice tests. J. Educ. Technol. Soc. 14(4), 99–110 (2011). http://www.jstor. org/stable/jeductechsoci.14.4.99 7. Yee, F.P.: Using Short Open Ended Mathematics Questions to Promote Thinking and Understanding. National Institute of Education, Singapore (2002) 8. Roy, S.: New Techniques for Automatic Short Answer Grading [Doctoral thesis, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore] (2017) 9. Suzen, N., Gorban, A.N., Mirkes, E.M.: Automatic short answer grading and feedback using text mining methods, ArXiv:abs/1807.10543 (2018) 10. Lubis, F.F., et al.: Automated short answer grading using semantic similarity based on word embedding. Int. J. Technol. 12(3), 571–581 (2021) 11. Ghavidel, H.A., Zouaq, A., Desmarais, M.C.: Using BERT and XLNET for the Automatic Short Answer Grading Task. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2020) - Volume 1, pages 58–67 (2020) 12. Hasanah, U., Permanasari, A.E., Kusumawardani, S.S., Pribadi, F.S.: A review of an information extraction technique approach for automatic short answer grading. In: 2016 1st International Conference on Information Technology, Information Systems and Electrical Engineering (ICITISEE), pp. 192–196 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICITISEE.2016.780 3072 13. Roy, S., Dandapat, S., Nagesh, A., Narahari, Y.: Wisdom of students: a consistent automatic short answer grading technique. In: Proceedings of the 13th Intl. Conference on Natural Language Processing, Varanasi, India. December 2016, pp. 178–187 (2016) 14. Wang, J., Dong, Y.: Measurement of text similarity: a survey. Information 11(9), 421 (2020). MDPI AG. http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/info11090421 15. Cer,‘D., et al.: Universal Sentence Encoder (2018). arXiv:1803.11175v2 [cs.CL]. https://doi. org/10.48550/arXiv.1803.11175

What Determines Student Satisfaction in an eLearning Environment? An Analysis Mihai Caramihai(B) and Irina Severin University POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania [email protected]

Abstract. The way of learning using eLearning is strongly encouraged, it helps students to participate in the learning process regardless of their location or time differences. Using eLearning, students save time and energy, for example: the time allocated to transportation to the educational institution can be used for study. The approach of an eLearning system is increasingly found in most educational institutions everywhere, offering the opportunity to encourage young students to choose an eLearning faculty. The aim of this paper is to investigate and understand academics’ attitudes towards integrating eLearning into Education, but from a student’s perspective. After reviewing the literature, it can be suggested that there is great potential to use only eLearning in education. However, it is understandable the existence of obstacles which restricts its integration among the students. Thus, the following main objective was formulated: to ascertain the attitude of students towards using eLearning in education. The finding from this study will help educational policymakers and faculty members to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the attitudes, motivations and concerns that exist surrounding the integration and development of eLearning in the field of education. Keywords: eLearning · Questionnaire survey · Literature study

1 Introduction: Cognitive Factors in eLearning vs. Traditional Learning In this digital world, a constant demand in improving the quality of learning is present. The younger generation has grown up with technology, and these students represent the ones who adopted the new advances in technology (Jones 2002; McHaney, 2011). Nowadays, technology is incorporated in the classroom more and more and in this context, we can talk about eLearning. A debate between online and traditional learning is present and the corona virus made it even more relevant, as students in many countries suddenly started to learn online (Caroline 2020). At the same time, despite the rising popularity of online courses, traditional (classroom) training is fighting back and trying to adopt newer means of retaining learners’ interest. There are always two sides of the coin. For some individuals, online training is more appropriate, while for others classroom training is the preferred delivery method (Barindra 2018). © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 519–529, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_50

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Cognitive aspects of learning refer to thinking processes and mental procedures involved in the learning process. Cognitive factors which may influence learning can be the learning processes (of memorizing and accumulate information) and the higher-level processes (the understanding, application, analysis and evaluation). Another important factors that can influence learning represents the prior knowledge or learning experience (Queensu 2020). However, in case of eLearning, the spatial and temporal context is changed and so the cognitive factors may differ in this case in contrast with traditional learning. eLearning. As more and more countries gain access to high-speed internet, eLearning will continue to grow at a rapid speed. Moreover, with the start of the pandemic online learning takes place over the internet where the training, content and courses are accessible anywhere, anytime. Many factors make students thinking that eLearning is an attractive option. Advantages such as studying comfortable from home and at your own pace plays an important role in adopting eLearning. Even today there is a vast number of people who are hesitating in trying eLearning. Some may say that the cognitive learning theory and the teaching methods may not fit in an eLearning environment. However, the way students absorb, process, and retain information is still the same. With younger generation who are eager to learn in that way in which they feel the most comfortable, traditional higher education institutions must push their integration of eLearning in their classes, in this way it may be ensured the greatest learning transfer. Moreover, eLearning offer the opportunity to use artificial intelligence (AI) in order to improve traditional teaching methods (Sattar 2017). Traditional Learning. Traditional learning is classroom based, where a teacher moderates the flow of information and knowledge and students will deepen their knowledge through homework, exercises at home. Classroom learning has been adopted since ancient time in which students are taught similar things by the same teacher, with the same methods. It is said that regular attendance to classes helps students interact with others, be better disciplines, following a regular schedule, because if the student does not attend the classes, he may miss the topic taught or even getting bad marks. On other aspect, the traditional teaching method focuses more on the material itself rather than the learners, who are somehow forced in harmonizing their learning ability and techniques. Therefore, traditional classroom focuses on wrote learning, rather on stimulating the senses or the mind (Li et al. 2014).

2 Spatial Co-ordinates Spatial Thinking. Cognitive psychology refers to the understanding of how human represent and process spatial information, in other words the spatial thinking and the way people perceive the space when thinking in space, about space and how the space is used to think (Hegarty and Tarampi 2015).

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Spatial thinking begins with the ability to use space as a framework to think. An expert spatial thinker visualizes relations, imagines transformations from one scale to another, mentally rotates an object to look at its other sides, creates a new viewing angle or perspective, and remembers images in places and spaces. Spatial thinking also allows us to externalize these operations by creating representations such as a map (Council, National & Studies 2005). Spatial thinking comes in many guises. It can rely on any of the senses; it can take place entirely in the mind or it can be supported by tools. According to Dawson and Fernald (1987), spatial thinking is divided in two elements, how people think about space and how people use space to think in situations when individuals use spatial representations to think about other entities (abstract/concrete). At the same time, thinking about space is distinguished in other two elements, the scale of objects (thinking about space) when the person can imagine object transformation and interaction, and the scale of environments (thinking in space) when the person tries to understand the layout of a new environment and even planning a map. Spatial thinking is powerful and pervasive, underpinning everyday life, work, and science, from literature, art to chemistry and mathematics. Spatial thinking can be present both for important scientific expertise or in everyday judgements (Council, National & Studies 2005). Spatial Learning. Spatial learning is an effective learning method that is based on spatial thinking. People who use spatial learning tend to be more attracted to images, colors, schemes, and other visual representations, in this way they can organize communicate more efficiently the information. In this case, the spatial sense is also present, and it means such people have a good sense of directions. For this type of people, eLearning can fit much better their need, rather than traditional learning (Chamizo 2002). These types of skills are truly important for students because it gives them the opportunity to memorize more efficiently large amount of information. In today education, students are required to understand information using spatial thinking, at first it may look a bit complex, but with exercise the students may accommodate with this type of thinking. Learning to Think Spatially examines how spatial thinking might be incorporated into existing standards-based instruction across the school curriculum. Spatial thinking must be recognized as a fundamental part education and as an integrator and a facilitator for problem solving across the curriculum. Using appropriately designed support systems tailored to the context, spatial thinking can be taught formally to all students. A geographic information system (GIS) offers one example of a high-technology support system that can enable students and teachers to practice and apply spatial thinking in many areas of the curriculum (Council, National & Studies 2005).

3 Time Models and Learning Process In cognitive processes, people capacity to sense the time plays an important role. Time perception is considered one of the first abilities which evolved in biological systems (Gerstner 2012). However, until recently temporal aspects of cognition were rarely

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considered in researches, but now some studies have integrated the time component (Holcombe 2013). Much of our everyday behavior is governed by psychological processes involving timing intervals and integrating temporal intervals into sequences. For example, waiting for the next train depends on when the previous train left the station platform and the posted intertrain interval. (Balsam 1984; Church 1989; Gibbon and Allan 1984; Gibbon and Balsam 1981; Maier and Church 1991; Blaisdell 2009). Time Processing Mechanism in the Brain. Temporal Cognition (TC) encompasses the set of brain functions that enable experiencing the flow of time and processing the temporal characteristics of real-world phenomena. Temporal Cognition develops gradually in humans starting from the late infancy (at about the age of 12 months) when primitive ability to experience the flow of time is obtained (Arterbery 1993), continue during childhood implementing the ability to think of future at about the age of 4 years (Atance and Jackson 2009), and become fully mature to adult-like levels by the age of 12 years (Droit-Volet et al. 2006, Maniadakis Maniadakis and Trahanias 2011). The investigation of the brain mechanisms responsible with the perception and processing of time has become popular in brain science during the last decade. Contemporary review papers and special journal issues have summarized the scientific findings in the field (Allan and Church 2002; Ivry and Schlerf 2008; Tarlaci 2009). Thus, it has come to know that in brain it does not exist any region which works for sensing the time in contrast with other senses where cortical regions are involved. However, cerebellum, right prefrontal cortex, insular cortex is said to be one of the areas responsible for time sensing (Wittmann 2009). In TC, many brain areas are involved because many cognitive processes like attention, decision making, emotions etc. contribute to sensing time (Livesey et al. 2007). Therefore, if one of these processes is perturbated it might also affect the time experience. Overall, time plays an important role in binding our experiences, mental states, goals, and behaviors, significantly supporting our daily activities.

4 Associative Processes in Spatial-Temporal Cognition Associative processes are responsible for building the structural-representational framework based on which cognitive processes of computation and inference can act. Therefore, associative processes are involved in building spatial, temporal, and causal maps. Evidence comes from studies on simple associative acquisition such as Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning, higher-order conditioning procedures such as sensory preconditioning and conditioned inhibition, and from cue-competition studies. These processes have roles in acquisition and expression of spatial maps. Spatial Cognition was addressed by Tolman (1948) when cognitive map has been known as a tool for understanding spatial memory and cognition. Broadly speaking, spatial abilities play a very important role in order to have the ability to navigate and have orientation, locate important things in this world. The cognitive map describes some aspects of spatial behavior, this map has been used to understand processes of timing and associative memory (Honig 1981) and the most important feature represents

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the capability to compute novel routes between separate spatial location (Tolman 1948). For example, pigeons tend to use landmarks on touch-screen or in an open field to have the ability to find a hidden goal, which means that they are learning the spatial vector between the landmark and the goal (Blaisdell and Cook 2005). A vector is a metric responsible with encoding distance and direction between two points in space, so a vector can be conceptualized as a spatial map between two objects. Moreover, timing and temporal intervals plays a huge role in human behavior. For example, people will wait for the next train will depend on when the previous train left the station and the posted inter-train interval. Similarly with spatial cognition, the acquisition and integration of temporal maps is also present. In summary, spatial and temporal maps can be acquired during associative learning procedures such as Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning.

5 Enhancement of Acquisition of Skills – A Student’ Vision Description and Justification. Spatial representations are powerful cognitive tools that can enhance learning and thinking. This position is based on three claims, each of which has significant implications for teaching and learning about spatial thinking. First, creating spatial representations is a powerful way to encode new information that one wishes to recall at a later time. Second, generating images of “old” information that has already been learned and of the situations in which it was learned can powerfully aid in recalling the information at later times. Third, some problems are more readily solved using spatial representations, whereas in other cases, trying to use spatial representations can interfere with problem solving (Council, National & Studies 2005). Emergent academics’ conceptions concerning the temporal properties of eLearning indicate the existence of unregulated and unaccounted for dynamics, which are a direct consequence of transitioning from campus-based lecturing to teaching online using the affordances of virtual learning environments. This transition produces disruptions to established workload metrics and work patterns, as well as conflicts with dominant modes of instructional delivery that are not synchronized with the demands of online interaction and immediacy (Martins and Nunes 2016). This research is motivated by the need to understand potential spatial-time related factors that can influence to adoption, in order to increase the performance, interaction, manage the workload. Since negative conceptions concerning the temporal and spatial properties of eLearning will surely affect the intention to adopt eLearning system. Therefore, understanding eLearning practice expressed through students’ sensemaking processes is important. By mapping and theorizing the students’ conceptions of temporal spatial properties of eLearning, it is hoped to contribute with more information that can be used in the design of eLearning arrangements. Study’s Objectives. The aims of this study are to investigate students’ conceptions regarding the eLearning environment, taking into account its spatial and temporal properties. The study will help to understand those factors which can influence the acceptance of eLearning by students. After reviewing the literature, it can be suggested that there is great potential for eLearning.

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Research Question: How students perceive the spatial and temporal properties of eLearning? Study’s Objective: To identify students’ perception regarding eLearning. Study Design and Method [26]. The study was carried out at University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania with 93 students of Faculty of Automatic Controls and Computers who formed the subject of this study. The answers to the questionnaire were written by students from years 1 and 2 of study/bachelor (Design of algorithms and Object-oriented programming courses) The research design has included as instrument a structured questionnaire [27] with quantitative responses, measured on a 6-point scale from 0 to 5 (0 = Not important, 1 = Very low importance, 2 = Low importance, 3 = Medium importance, 4 = High importance, 5 = Very high importance).

Table 1. Mapping of questionnaire items Questionnaire Items

Questions

Curricular area

Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4

Spatial analysis of the courses

Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9

Evaluation

Q10, Q11, Q12, Q13, Q14, Q15

Temporal analysis of the courses

Q16, Q17, Q18, Q19, Q20, Q21, Q22, Q23

Learning performance

Q24, Q25, Q26, Q27

The questionnaire consisted of 27 questions classified in 5 categories/items concerning 5 different aspects of eLearning, such as curricular area, spatial analysis of the courses, evaluation, temporal analysis of the courses, social opportunities. Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated in order to see the internal consistency of questionnaire and the value obtained was 0.836 which shows the internal validity of the questionnaire is accepted. Table 1 illustrates the mapping of questionnaire items. To follow the aims of the study, a descriptive analysis of the questionnaire was realized to see students’ perspective toward eLearning, therefore every item (category) with its questions were represented with a stacked bar, to see the proportion of responses. The analysis was conducted using the IBM SPSS statistical software. Discussion and Results. A number of 93 students formed the subjects of this research. The study was carried out at University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania on students of Faculty of Automatic Controls and Computers. Descriptive Analysis. In order to achieve the objective, the questions responses concerning every item (category) separated will be analyzed in a graphical way so that the perspective of students regarding eLearning will be identified accurately. In Fig. 4.2. it is shown the percentage of the responses regarding to Curriculum area of eLearning which refers the way how the learning activity, teaching methods and knowledge development in eLearning correspond with their expectation.

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Fig. 1. Students’ responses for questions concerning the Curriculum area

Regarding the Curriculum area in the context of eLearning (Fig. 1.), students overall perceive a medium importance (Mean = 3,29, Verdict = Medium importance). A significant percentage of students consider Curriculum area in eLearning with high importance and very high importance. This means that in some cases the students are almost or at least convinced with the curriculum area in eLearning and in other cases they feel satisfied.

Fig. 2. Students’ responses for questions concerning the spatial analysis of the courses

It can be interpreted that in most cases curricula meets their expectations and it also plays an important role for them in developing their knowledge. In case of teaching methods and testing activity like exercises or quizzes, a significant number of students

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consider that they are satisfied, it may mean that they do not feel a specific change in their learning activity or that new methods are used with success. The aspects in spatial analysis of the courses (Fig. 2.) refers to spatial properties of eLearning such as spatial learning, the design and visual impression of courses, spatial analysis and their effect on the students. Regarding the Spatial characteristic of eLearning (Fig. 2) students overall perceive a high importance (Mean = 3,89, Verdict = High importance). A significant percentage of students consider the spatial property of eLearning with high importance and very high importance and only a few of them consider a low importance. Students perceive the visual elements of the courses with very high importance and this means that the spatial property of eLearning is satisfying their need. They also consider that the visual content in online classes allows them to better accumulate knowledge. In summary, in students’ perspective the visual impression of courses plays an important role in eLearning and make students more satisfied in contrast with traditionally methods.

Fig. 3. Students’ responses for questions concerning the assessment/evaluation.

In Fig. 3. it is shown the perspective of students regarding their evaluation. Overall, it can be sad the students perceive the evaluation methods with medium importance (Mean = 3,42, Verdict = Medium importance). Therefore, it can be sad that from the students’ perspective in most cases, are at least satisfied with the evaluation methods. A significant number of students consider the evaluation criteria are clear and it means they are satisfied with this aspect. Moreover, from their perspective, it is given a high importance regarding the matter of taking into account the student’s capability to solve quizzes and his capability to synthesize gathered knowledge. Regarding the temporal analysis of online courses (Fig. 4) students overall perceive a high importance (Mean = 3,72, Verdict = High importance). A significant percentage

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Fig. 4. Students’ responses for questions concerning the temporal analysis of the courses

of students consider the temporal property of eLearning with high importance and very high importance and only a few of them consider a low importance.

Fig. 5. Students’ responses for questions concerning the social opportunities

Between students it exists a strong agreement regarding the importance of unlimited availability in case of online courses, which means this represents an important factor for eLearning. It can also be seen a very high agreement in case of the second questions, where students consider that during online courses their only limitation represents their own learning schedule. From students’ perspective the flexibility of online classes plays an important role.

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An interesting point represents the students’ perspective regarding their interaction with teachers in the eLearning environment. It can be interpreted that they feel it is not that important or it is not needed to lower their interaction with teachers in the eLearning environment, so they may prefer to maintain the same interaction or they want an even more interaction with their teachers. Regarding the social opportunities of eLearning (Fig. 5) students overall perceive a high importance (Mean = 2,78, Verdict = Medium importance). It exists a rather interesting division of responses. For example, a significant number of students consider that in case of online courses they do not have more opportunities to interact with others, they may refer that during online classes their interactions might not be increased in contrast with the traditionally classes where students may communicate with each other when their teacher is presenting, but there still exists the text method which can make students interact with each other. Most of the students are part of a group where they can exchange their ideas regarding a learning subject and in this case, they give a high importance. Moreover, it can be seen that the time spent within online community is not higher than on individual study in their perception, therefore eLearning may help students in a positive way. Another important aspect for a student represents the sharing of information. They give high importance and consider that in an online community sharing individual notes plays an important role in their learning activity.

6 Conclusions In conclusion, students see eLearning from different perspectives, some of them are agreeing with this type of modern learning, and some are still trying to discover the advantages offered. However, the significant presence of high importance shows that in most cases students are at least satisfied and are trying to take into consideration eLearning. Although, it is understandable that some of the students are still not convinced about the modern learning methods, but with time it is possible to accommodate and take advantages of the eLearning opportunities. Students appreciate eLearning for the flexibility of time and accessibility of teachers it offers. However, academics cannot be permanently available online and the pressuring demands to promote online learning effectiveness push them into an array of very demanding activities such as: increasing the intelligibility of materials by designing easily navigable contents; offering guidelines on how to use resources etc. In this case, regulations should be taking into account. By mapping and theorizing the students’ conceptions of temporal – spatial properties of eLearning, it is hoped to contribute with more information that can be used in the design of eLearning arrangements.

References Arterbery, M.: Development of spatiotemporal integration in infancy. Infant. Behav. Dev. 16, 343–363 (1993)

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Atance, C.M., Jackson, L.K.: The development and coherence of future-oriented behaviours during the preschool years. J. Exp. Child Psychol. 102, 379–391 (2009) Allan, L.G., Church, R.M.: Special issuehonouring the career of professor John Gibbon. Learn. Motiv. 33 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1006/lmot.2001.1114 Droit-Volet, S., Delgado, M., Rattat, A.C.: The development of the ability to judge time in children. In: Marrow, J.R. (ed.) Focus on Child Psychology Research, pp. 81–104. Nova Science Publishers, New York (2006) Droit-Volet, S., Meck, W., Penney, T.: Sensory modality and time perception in children and adults. Behav. Process 74, 244–250 (2007) Ivry, R., Schlerf, J.: Dedicated and intrinsic models of time perception. Trends Cogn. Sci. 12, 273–280 (2008) Jones, S.: The Internet goes to college: How students are living in the future with today’s technology. Pew Internet and American Life Project, Washington, D.C. (2002) Jones, S., Johnson-Yale, C., Millermaier, S., & Pérez, F. S. (2009). U.S. college students’ Internet use: Race, gender and digital divides. J. Comput.-Med. Commun. 14, 244–264 Caroline, C.: Online learning vs. traditional learning (2020). https://www.easylms.com/knowle dge-center/lms-knowledge-center/online-learning-vs-traditional-learning Barindra, D.: Traditional Learning Vs. Online Learning (2020). https://elearningindustry.com/tra ditional-learning-vs-online-learning Sattar, Ed.: Cognitive Learning and Its Relationship With Online Education (2017). https://www. td.org/insights/cognitive-learning-and-its-relationship-with-online-education Li, F., Qi, J., Wang, G., Wang, X.: Traditional classroom vs e-learning in higher education: difference between students’ behavioral engagement. Int. J. Emerg. Technol. Learn. (iJET). 9, 48 (2014). https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v9i2.3268 Hegarty, M., Tarampi, M.R.: Teaching Spatial Thinking: Perspectives from Cognitive Psychology. TSTIP@COSIT (2015) Council, National & Studies, Division & Resources, Board & Curriculum, Committee & Geography, Committee. Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Curriculum (2005). https://doi.org/10.17226/11019 Dawson, G., Fernald, M.: Perspective-taking ability and its relationship to the social behavior of autistic children. J. Autism. Dev. Disord. 17, 487–498 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF0148 6965 Chamizo, V.D.: Spatial learning: conditions and basic effects. Psicologica 23, 33–58 (2002) Livesey, A., Wall, M., Smith, A.: Time perception: manipulation of task difficulty dissociates clock functions from other cognitive demands. Neuropsychologia 45, 321–331 (2007) Maniadakis, M., & Trahanias, P.: Temporal Cognition: A Key Ingredient of Intelligent Systems. Frontiers in Neurorobotics 5 (2011) Tolman, E.C.: Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychol. Rev. 55, 189–208 (1948) Holcombe, A.: The temporal organization of perception. In: Wagemans, J. (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Perceptual Organization. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2013) Martins, J., Nunes, M.B.: The temporal properties of e-learning: an exploratory study of academics ’ conceptions. International Journal of Educational Management, 30(1), 2–19 (2016) Blaisdell, A.: The Role of Associative Processes in Spatial, Temporal, and Causal Cognition (2009) Wittmann, M.: The inner sense of time. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 364, 1955–1967 (2009) Caramihai, M., Severin, I., Bogatu, A.M.: An Assessment Algorithm for Evaluating Students Satisfaction in e-Learning Environments: A Case Study (2020) Caramihai, M., Severin, I.: The spatial and temporal properties of elearning: an exploratory study regarding the students perspective. In: Balkan Region Conference on Engineering and Business Education, p. 369 (2019)

Lego Technology as a Means of Enhancing the Learning Activities of Junior High School Students in the Condtions of the New Ukrainian School Nadiia Pasieka1(B) , Yulia Romanyshyn2 , Svitlana Chupakhina1 , Nataliia Matveieva1 , Nataliia Zakharasevych1 , and Mykola Pasieka2 1 Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk 76016, Ukraine

[email protected], [email protected] 2 National Technical University of Oil and Gas, Ivano-Frankivsk 76058, Ukraine

Abstract. The use of interactive LEGO technology as a means of enhancing learning activities allows learning through play and learning by playing. In the classroom, younger students can learn by playing with the LEGO constructor. At first glance, it may seem that creating models that you make up for yourself is easier, but it is not. You think up a model, you start to assemble it, and suddenly you realize that the parts are missing or they do not fit at all - you have to figure out what and how to use them. It is nice to find a new way in the context of the New Ukrainian School. In most cases, the use of LEGO technology begins in early childhood. Unlike adults, elementary school children enjoy the creative process of children’s construction, rather than creating something and then watching and appreciating it. Any activities with elementary school children are organized for specific purposes, such as physical development, language development, memory, and drawing skills. Children’s construction is no exception because construction courses also have certain practical goals. During construction activities, students learn new words and concepts related to the geometry of shapes, materials used in construction, modeling rules, etc. Therefore, when constructing develops pupils’ motor skills, attention, logic, spatial thinking, and creativity, and when modeling young students develop perseverance, a desire to see things through, ability to work both independently and in a team. Keywords: Interactive technologies of LEGO · Education activities · Junior high school students · Model of using LEGO technologies · Learning process · Educational technology

1 Introduction The reform of general secondary education in Ukraine, in particular the implementation of the concept of the New Ukrainian School and the State Standards, requires radical changes in learning activities, principles, conditions, and methods of implementation, as well as the content, forms, and methods of elementary school teachers. Among such new © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 530–541, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_51

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technologies, the leading place is taken by universal game methods of intensification of learning, in particular LEGO interactive technologies. At present, the focus is on preparation for the implementation of these interactive technologies to enhance the learning process, which has become the focus of domestic elementary school teachers. Nowadays LEGO bricks have become an indispensable material for elementary school students. LEGO interactive technology is interesting because it combines elements of play and experimentation. Every elementary school teacher has found something useful from it - physical education teachers use constructors as non-standard equipment, and practical psychologists perform tests and relaxation exercises. With the help of LEGO cubes, elementary school students can learn math, and language, learn about the environment, and even draw cubes! The designers are reliable assistants in the work of speech therapists and remedial educators [1, 2]. Lessons with LEGO constructors are varied and interesting for younger students at the New Ukrainian School. As lessons in the form of a game promote psychological comfort, there is no nervousness, which will affect the quality of training materials. With the help of LEGO cubes, elementary school students can build, dream and bring their ideas to life. They enjoy working and hope to get a result. As we all know, every success stimulates a student’s desire to learn. Teachers at the New Ukrainian School have noticed that LEGO sets are the best visual aids and educational toys due to the variety of teaching methods [3]. Therefore, when using interactive LEGO technology for learning, remember that it should bring happiness and encourage younger students to search for answers. You should use instructions, references to students’ life experiences, guiding questions, and examples. Also, pay attention to the text, the text should be sincere, easy to understand, and appropriate to the age of the students. Throughout the lesson, the teacher is very close to the students, inspiring them to perform the task independently, trying to help, encourage, prompt, observe, and interest in the process. When students learn how to use the constructors, they can go on to complete more complex individual and group tasks. All of this contributes to the overall development of every elementary student in the classroom [4, 5]. The study aims to theoretically confirm and experimentally verify the possibility of learning through interactive technology LEGO as a means of enhancing the learning and cognitive activities of younger students in the New Ukrainian school. According to the goal of the research, the following tasks were defined: • to characterize the main regularities of learning activities of junior schoolchildren with the use of interactive LEGO technology; • to determine the psychological and pedagogical peculiarities of the development of junior schoolchildren; • to study pedagogical resources of interactive LEGO technology in the process of organization of elementary schoolchildren’s learning activity; • determine methodological features of the application of interactive technology LEGOconstructor as a means of activating the learning activity of elementary school- children in the conditions of the New Ukrainian school;

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• conducting research and experimental work on the application of interactive technology LEGO in the educational process and the organization of extracurricular educational and cognitive work of younger students; • analyze the comparative effectiveness of traditional and experimental methods. The subject of the research: peculiarities of using interactive LEGO technology as a way to activate learning activities of elementary school students in the conditions of the New Ukrainian school. The hypothesis of the study: the use of interactive technology LEGO contributes to the activation of learning activities of junior high school students of the New Ukrainian school. Research Methods: • theoretical level (analysis of scientific and methodological literature on the research issues, comparison, generalization, and modeling); • empirical level (experiment, educational observation, questionnaire survey, analysis of the progress of junior students); • statistical methods (methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis of research results).

2 Scientific-Theoretical Review of LEGO Interactive Technology Learning Opportunities: An Analysis of Global Learning Theory and Practice Today it is hard to find a junior high schooler who would not know what a LEGO constructor is and would not use it in play. It promotes the development of fine motor skills and vision, designers help foster, spatial thinking, reinforce concepts of color, size, length, and height, and learn numbers. Games with designers and building blocks form concrete thinking, imagination, and fantasy because, to build something, you must first offer it, and then translate it into reality. But few people know that the father of constructor “LEGO” is a Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, who in 1932 founded a company producing wooden toys. The main task of this company was to create toys that develop the imagination, creativity, and creativity of students. In a small carpentry workshop, a giant gaming empire called LEGO was created. On the wall of the workshop hung a sign that read, “Only better is good enough. “Today, that phrase applies to any new LEGO development. The name LEGO comes from the words “Leg” and “Godt,” which is Latin for “to learn.” At first, LEGO parts were made of wood, then non-toxic plastic. The cubes became plastic with identical studs, which allowed them to be connected [6, 7]. Soon LEGO sets were created so that younger schoolchildren could build their own houses and cities, adding elements such as traffic lights and road signs. The company was constantly developing them and supplementing them with smaller sets, which pushed the boundaries of the LEGO world and had a big impact on the sales process. Since its founding, LEGO constructors attracted the attention of teachers and were in demand by educational institutions: kindergartens, and elementary schools. The result was the development of a special LEGO set for educational purposes. The youngest student

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compares objects stacked or stacked on top of each other, analyses and breaks down his toys into parts; stacked, made up of cubes or rod “houses,” is classified and generalized by color. The child does not set goals and plans his or her actions, he or she thinks he or she is acting [8, 9]. When the result of any operation (tester, designer’s work) cannot be completely predicted, objective thinking is very necessary. Then the younger students develop visual thinking associated with the function of the image, when a person solves a problem, he/she analyses to compare and generalizes different images, ideas about phenomena, and objects. When studying an object, the student does not need to touch it with his hands but needs to perceive and imagine the object LEGO Constructor helps to develop thinking. A common feature of LEGO technology is that younger students work with ordinary objects rather than algorithms. They were free to be creative first, and they came up with a combination depending on which robot would perform the function. In short, we created creators and discoverers. One of the company’s main principles is that all kits must be compatible with each other. LEGO instructions contain only basic settings, and they do not need to be followed. Therefore, the creator of the constructor [10, 11] maintains the value of the LEGO brand: • imagination: curiosity asks "why?" And offers an explanation or possibility ("if…then"). Playfully asks: "What if?" He imagined how it would usually turn into an extraordinary idea, a fantasy. The ability to dream is the first step toward achieving this goal. Free play is the basis of creativity, so students can use their imagination; • creativity is the ability to come up with new, surprising, and valuable ideas and things. Systematic creativity is a special form of creativity, combining logic and reflection with grammar and imagination; • happiness: pleasure is the happiness we feel when we are fully immersed in things that require skill (the joy of overcoming difficulties) when our ability to perform the tasks before us and move toward the goal. Happiness consists of the process itself and its completion. Happiness combines activity, exciting adventures, cheerful childlike enthusiasm, and delight in the amazing discoveries you can make or create; • learning: training is the ability to experiment, improvise, and discover, to expand our thinking and range of activities (including hands and brains), and to help us see and appreciate many points of view; • caring: we hope to make a difference in the lives of junior high school students, our partners, colleagues, and the world around us and make their lives better. Everything we do has their best interests in mind. Do what we can for others, not because we have to do it, but because they are quick to respond and care about others. Anxiety is related to humility, which means “thinking no worse of ourselves, but less of ourselves”; • quality: means continuous improvement so that toys are the best for younger students and their development, as well as the best for society and partners. In remedial education, the problem of using LEGO Constructor is presented by T.V. Luss. In her book “Skills of forming constructive play activity of children with LEGO” she proposed a program using LEGO constructors, where she provided guidelines for forming constructive play activities with LEGO at an early stage of the system [12–14].

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In her N. Putri Rofiva, N. Astin and A. Nurindiyani [15] makes suggestions for using LEGO constructors in remedial teaching methods: • dramatic games (younger students have an opportunity to create their characters and give them desired qualities; • pedagogical games (based on learning games that are already described in general and special teaching methods) elementary school teachers can develop a variety of aids and use them in practice to develop and correct speech and psychological processes of younger students, to foster interest in learning, to form communicative functions) • diagnostics (free constructive-play activities not only allow the teacher and junior high school students to quickly establish contact, but fully reveal some features of students in the formation of emotions, will, and motor zones, identify students’ language skills, and establish the level of development) [16]. In foreign education, the problem of using LEGO constructor is dealt with by teacers N. Zygouris, A. Striftou, A. Dadaliaris, G. Stamoulis, A. Xenakis, and D. Vavougios [17].

3 Organizational Content and Characteristics of the Learning Activities of Young Students in the New Ukrainian School The New Ukrainian School (NUSH) is a large-scale educational reform that has begun in recent years and is planned for the next decades. The main goal is to create a school “that will be interesting to learn and give students not only the knowledge they have now but also the opportunity to apply it in life. Now the main task of junior high school students in the New Ukrainian School is not so much the study of individual subjects, but rather the so-called competencies over 12 years of schooling. The acquisition of any competency is a combination of knowledge, skills, thinking, reasoning, and values. Depending on the presentation of the material, however, junior high school students may acquire several competencies in a single school subject. Reformers believe that learning in the New Ukrainian School should be interactive and interesting. The task of teachers is to teach younger students to learn and develop comprehensively, to help students realize knowledge in real life, to stimulate critical thinking and imagination, to stimulate curiosity, and also in the New Ukrainian School there is no homework. In class you don’t have to sit quietly at the table, you can stand up and walk around the classroom if you want, or even sit on the floor - you can listen to the teacher without disturbing your classmate, the keyword is “listen. In the New Ukrainian school, there is no concept of “schoolchildren”, only “listeners”. Most subjects should be conducted in an interesting playful way. Learning outcomes are not a new benefit of the program because teachers have found that students learn the most useful part of the program [18, 19]. Priorities for reforming general secondary education as defined by the New Ukrainian School Concept are reflected in the State Standard for Elementary Education (2018), which since September 1, 2018, applies to students in the 12-year general education, secondary education programs (for students in grade 1). All others (grades 2–4) worked

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following the National Standard for Elementary General Education (2011). The State Standard for Elementary Education (2018) states that elementary education has two learning cycles (grades 1–2 and 3–4) that are age-appropriate and responsive to the needs of younger students and bridge the learning gap. The content of education in the document is presented in nine educational areas: linguistic, literary, mathematical, natural, technological, informational, socio-medical, physical, cultural, social-historical, and artistic. Each area is described in terms of general learning outcomes and required class learning outcomes. The general learning outcomes are presented along with a description of the key and subject competencies that a cycle III graduate should possess, and the ultimate effect of building the educational trajectory of students who enter education at the general secondary level is defined [36, 37, 38]. The main idea of the New Ukrainian School is competency-based learning. This means that junior high school students not only acquire knowledge but also learn how to apply it in practice and improve their skills. The required learning outcomes indicate which components of key and subject competencies should be developed at the end of each learning cycle. The main document to ensure that students achieve the educational outcomes defined in the relevant State standard of general secondary education is the educational program of general secondary education (Article 33 of the Law of Ukraine “On Education”, Article 15 of the Law of Ukraine “On Education”). The educational program of the institution operating at different levels of education may be integrated (from grade 1 to 11/12) or for a particular level of education [20, 21]. Practical recommendations on the organization of open space for the concept of “New Ukrainian School”, applies all the space you have at your disposal! These are huge school corridors, almost always empty. The whole space of the corridors can be used as a recreation area, where you can place soft modules, sofas, interactive equipment, and other things. These same equipped hallways can also be used for group activities and mandatory morning activities, thus saving space in the classroom. Younger students attending first grade are very young; they don’t understand much. For example: “Why do they have to learn and go to school every day.” They do not know how to treat their peers as a team. Therefore, it is correct to motivate schoolchildren, because the motivations are different. Friedman L.M. distinguishes between external and internal motives. External social motives are altruistic motives and duty motives. Altruistic motives are connected with readiness to do good to people, collective or society as a whole. In elementary school, these themes are, for example, “To make our class better”, “To learn and heal people” and others. Motives of duty are connected with readiness to obey norms, and laws, to be a full member of society. In the younger school age, such motives are, for example, “All children should learn”. External personal motivation is the motivation for evaluation and success, motivation for self-affirmation, and motivation for happiness. Assessment and success motivation are related to receiving positive feedback and concrete results. In the early stages of school, learning more often occurs to get high marks or verbal recognition from important people (teachers, parents): “Write good test papers” and “Praise to parents”. The motivation of self-assertion is associated with the hope to occupy a certain position and get a certain position among peers. In the primary grades, it is associated primarily with the desire to receive some assignments from teachers and take official leadership

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positions and then peer recognition: “Those who study well become older” and “Their fathers will praise them”. Happy motives are associated with the desire to avoid trouble - this is usually coached under pressure from adults: “Because otherwise they will be scolded” [22, 23]. LEGO designs have been researched and tested, there are many LEGO designs in all areas that can develop not only common fine motor skills but also mathematical calculation skills, logical thinking, and sensory development. The most important task that the New Ukrainian School must accomplish is learning through play. After all, play is a way for younger students to understand the world. It is in play that students will gain the abilities they need in life. Facts have proven that the most important thing is for students to feel comfortable and happy in the game, so that they can take the initiative, develop their ideas and actively interact with other participants in the game, so that young students can develop, communicate, work as a team, being proactive and able. to think critically. Every schoolchild loves and wants to play, but not everyone can learn to play themselves, applying different game technologies during the learning process. And playing with LEGO cubes effectively contributes to the development of junior high school students and the social significance of play technology is to complement students’ ideas about the world around them. These LEGO constructors allow schoolchildren to create and improve a new world that is extremely interesting to them. LEGO Constructor follows the principle that students learn and develop through the use of play technology in the classroom! Through our conversations with elementary school students, we have found that all students love to play, construct, and create. Constructor LEGO is amazingly bright and colorful, which provides students with an excellent opportunity for research, various learning experiments, and research activities. Learning, exploring, and understanding the world around them by playing and acting on their own experiences is much more interesting than just getting theoretical information about it. When younger students learn through play, they will confidently try to solve puzzles, experiment, think creatively, and try new things, because in play you can try again and again and not be afraid to make mistakes.

4 Methodological Peculiarities of Using LEGO Constructor Technology to Intensify Learning Activities Junior School Children Designers move with the times and can compete with the computer. LEGO construction sets have established themselves worldwide as educational products that meet high standards of hygiene, aesthetics, and durability. Because of their versatility, they are the most chosen educational toys, these LEGO construction sets encourage equal work of both the head and hands of younger students. LEGO has taken this very seriously and released a special LEGO Education WeDo learning set. Even though the set is now 18 years old, it’s only now that attention has begun to be paid to national schools. Each LEGO constructor has very important features for the development of younger students. Scientist N. Yu. Lavkina highlights the following advantages of LEGO constructors:

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wide technical characteristics; multifunctionality; aesthetic appearance; ability to construct, combining entertainment with the learning process.

Classic cubes, cylinders and bricks of different sizes, wooden constructions with fantasy shapes, block structures, and parts are closely related, for example, the famous LEGO cubes. Needle, tube or magnetic connection options are also available. The more diverse your design library, the wider the field of activity for younger students (little builders). Every year there are more new modern LEGO constructors. They are suitable for children of all ages, from 3 to 12–16 years, and LEGO designers are very popular among schoolchildren. In order not to make a mistake, you need to remember some rules. First of all, the LEGO constructor must match the age of your child. The younger the child, you can start constructing from an early age, the construction details should be more, and the number of parts should be limited so as not to distract the child. Closer to 5 years LEGO constructor becomes one of the main toys of the child and is actively involved in all role-playing games, so you should choose a set with more parts, figurines of people, animals, and other details with which they can think of, fantasize and create a new role. Games. However, do not be carried away with LEGO sets with a given plot, it limits the imagination of students, and the more options for composition, the better. Of course, it should be remembered that the quality of materials used by designers, their durability, and environmental protection guarantee health and safety. LEGO Duplo - a sparsely populated world, with all kinds of animals, cars, furniture, etc. These are architectural sets, represented by cubes of different colors and configurations, and themed sets - medieval castles, zoos, family houses, fire stations, hospitals, and scenes from cartoons. Therefore, Duplo is interesting even to parents who enjoy creating and fantasizing together with children, the advantages of the brand: • safety: large parts without sharp corners and are made of environmentally friendly and durable materials; • clever design to every detail: even a one-year-old child can easily fix the cube and the resulting structure is reliable; • brightness and saturation of colors foster the color perception of elementary school children • functionality: opening and closing doors and windows, firing the can- non, the driver himself, reproducing the sound of the train; • versatility: there are specially designed sets in the series. Each set has 2 assembly options. From the same parts, younger students can assemble airplanes and seaplanes, conventional helicopters, excavators, and tractors. With several Technic boxes, this young designer has a tremendous opportunity to realize an incredible imagination. Schoolchildren came up with such an interesting and useful the mechanism that even professional engineers were surprised by. For some kids, the first LEGO TECHNIC may be the beginning of their brilliant career. Another feature of the brand is the functionality of the design. Excavators have buckets, cranes have winches, off-road vehicles have steering mechanisms, and airplanes have tricky mechanisms that

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drive blades, gears, pins, and shafts. The structure remains open, so students can trace the principle of coordinating the elements and draw conclusions about the structure of special equipment and the laws of physics. The largest group in the LEGO series is the Millennium Falcon constructor from the LEGO Star Wars series. It comes with 5,195 pieces! But it’s not as good as the Taj Mahal set, which includes 5,922 parts. LEGO is designed for elementary school students (grades 1–4) but is not prohibited for use by older children. The set includes 158 parts (all compatible with other LEGO cubes and components). The LEGO Six Bricks constructor is not a fixed set of tasks and instructions, but an open system that encourages younger students to make discoveries, explore, experiment, find their answers to problematic situations, set goals and develop an action plan, and create and improvise according to their win needs. Games with tasks on six bricks have some features: • the tasks are aimed at the simultaneous development of several students, they can start with mathematical development, but end with the development of speech skills; • each task can be adapted to the age, development, skills, and needs of a particular student (e.g., by changing the number of blocks or the time allot- ted to complete the task). LEGO technology, based on built-in principles, combines elements of fun and experimentation. LEGO games are a way to explore learning and cognitive activities in the real world. Using LEGO sets in remedial and educational work with elementary school children allows for achieving sustainable positive effects in the development of speech, fine motor skills, mental and cognitive processes, imagination, and creativity within a short period. Using modern LEGO technology, we see some of their advantages over other innovative construction techniques and games which are used to develop the language of younger students. Creating a successful situation positively influences the results of learning activities: a successful experience instills confidence in students, the desire to achieve good results again and again the joy of success, and the positive emotions caused by successful activities will cause goodwill and inner happiness, which in turn has a beneficial effect on the overall attitude of students to the world around them. The use of learning exercises and modern technologies with the help of LEGO constructor helps to master program materials in all educational areas. Designers widely use design parts in the process of forming elementary mathematical notions, understanding the world around them, and speech development. In the process of direct learning activities, game exercises are widely used to develop logical thinking, attention, spatial positioning (“logical chain”, “continuous sequence”, “Find the law”, “What’s wrong”, “Symmetry”, “enough numbers”), consolidate the idea of the composition of numbers (“Add to the right number”, “What not”). With the help of LEGO constructor parts, a simple arithmetic problem on addition and subtraction was solved, and the concepts of “bigger”, “smaller”, “even”, “biggest”, and “smallest” were obtained. By constructing buildings according to a certain storyline, younger students learned to correctly act “right”, “left”, “back”, “front”, “bottom”, and “top” to form an understanding of the spatial relationship of objects. Completed construction helps consolidate the skills of schoolchildren with the use of prepositions in speech (“where is the object?”). LEGO constructor allows for

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to replacement of countless counting materials, which makes the learning process for teachers simple and convenient. “Constructor” is not only a set for assembling and playing, LEGO is a useful exercise for the brain, and, of course, it is also a tool for learning in the conditions of the New Ukrainian school! The significance of the LEGO constructor technology lies in the visualization of many processes. These activities can be incorporated into various school subjects to organize an interdisciplinary project. The student hears new information and immediately learns the principle of movement with the constructor, touches the hand, and looks at the assembled model, and the engineering process continues in the classroom. When younger students see how things work in the real world, new knowledge will be more effectively reinforced. Designers move with the times and can compete with the computer. LEGO construction sets have established themselves worldwide as educational products that meet high standards of hygiene, aesthetics, and durability. Because of their versatility they are the most chosen educational toys, these LEGO construction sets encourage equal work of both the head and hands of younger students.

5 Discussion and Conclusion The application of LEGO technology as a means of optimizing learning activities allows learning through play and learning in play. In the classroom, younger students can learn by playing with the LEGO constructor. At first glance, it may seem that it is easier to create models that you make up yourself, but it is not so. You think up a model, you start to assemble it, and suddenly you realize that the parts are missing or they do not fit at all - you have to figure out what and how to use them. It is nice to find a new way in the context of the New Ukrainian School. In most cases, the use of LEGO technology begins in early childhood. Constructing is a process of play, which activates the learning and cognitive activities of younger students in today’s learning environment. Unlike adults, students enjoy the process of children’s construction rather than creating something and then watching and appreciating it. Any activities with younger students are organized for specific purposes, such as physical development, language development, memory, and drawing skills. Children’s construction is no exception because construction courses also have certain goals: • Educational. During construction activities, students learn new words and concepts related to the geometry of shapes, materials used in construction, modeling rules, etc. • Development. When constructing develops pupils’ motor skills, attention, logic, spatial thinking, and creative abilities. • Education. When modeling, the younger students develop perseverance, a desire to see things through, and the ability to work both independently and in a team. Of all the existing toys LEGO designers are the best toys for the development of students as they develop creativity and independence in schoolchildren. Although computer games are becoming more and more popular, LEGO constructors are indispensable for the development of younger students. Students use construction

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materials and builder parts for action, repeatedly comparing, choosing, trying on, manipulating, making mistakes, and correcting mistakes. Therefore, applying LEGO constructor technology develops junior high school students learning and cognitive activities, and creativity, and encourages students to create different things based on a standard set of elements - as different as children’s imagination.

References 1. Hernández-Medina, A., Santiago-Acosta, R.-D., Hernández-Cooper, E.M.: Teaching basic mechanics with Lego. In: 2021 6th International STEM Education Conference (iSTEM- Ed), pp. 1–4 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/iSTEM-Ed52129.2021.9625142 2. Ponce-Sandoval, A., Monsalves, D., Riquelme, F., Cornide-Reyes, H.: MMLA approach to analyze collaborative work in Lego Serious Play activities. In: 2021 40th International Conference of the Chilean Computer Science Society (SCCC), pp. 1–8 (2021). https://doi. org/10.1109/SCCC54552.2021.9650375 3. Charnsamorn, C., Thanakitivirul, P., Khetkeeree, S.: Developing the descriptively verbal skills of undergraduate engineering student by playing a LEGO block building. In: 2020 International Symposium on Educational Technology (ISET), pp. 118–121 (2020). https://doi.org/ 10.1109/ISET49818.2020.00034 4. Park, C., Yang, H., Min, K.: Generating 2D lego compatible puzzles using reinforcement learning. IEEE Access 8, 180394–180410 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020. 3016091 5. Lópezfernández, D., Gordillo, A., Ortega, F., Yagüe, A., Tovar, E.: LEGO® serious play in software engineering education. IEEE Access 9, 103120–103131 (2021). https://doi.org/10. 1109/ACCESS.2021.3095552 6. Samara, E., Angelidis, P., Kotsiari, A., Kilintzis, P., Giorgos, A.: Robotics in primary and secondary education - the lego mindstorms EV3 implementation. In: 2021 6th SouthEast Europe Design Automation, Computer Engineering, Computer Networks and Social Media Conference (SEEDA-CECNSM), pp. 1–8 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/SEEDACECNSM53056.2021.9566240 7. Noor, F.H., Mohamad, F.S., Minoi, J.L.: Learning programming using lego mind-storms: analysis of learner experiences. In: 2020 IEEE 8th R10 Humanitarian TechnologyConference (R10-HTC), pp. 1–6 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1109/R10-HTC49770.2020.9357024 8. Mykhailyshyn, H., Pasyeka, N., Sheketa, V., Pasyeka, M., Kondur, O., Varvaruk, M.: Designing network computing systems for intensive processing of information flows of data. In: Radivilova, T., Ageyev, D., Kryvinska, N. (eds.) Data-Centric Business and Applications. LNDECT, vol. 48, pp. 391–422. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-03043070-2_18 9. Morales-Trujillo, M.E.: Learning software quality assurance with bricks. In: 2021 IEEE/ACM 43rd International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training (ICSE-SEET), pp. 11–19 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSESEET52601.2021.00010 10. Jintapitak, M., Kamyod, C.: The purposed combinational learning framework for an effective and creative multi-business model and innovation. In: 2019 22nd International Symposium on Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications (WPMC), pp. 1–5 (2019). https://doi.org/ 10.1109/WPMC48795.2019.9096184 11. Pasyeka, M., Sheketa, V., Pasieka, N., Chupakhina, S., Dronyuk, I.: System analysis of caching requests on network computing nodes. In: 2019 3rd International Conference on Advanced Information and Communications Technologies (AICT), Lviv, Ukraine, pp. 216–222 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1109/AIACT.2019.8847909

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Enriching Teacher Training for Industry 4.0 Through Interaction with a High School Engineering Project Igor Verner1(B)

, Huberth Perez1 , Dan Cuperman1 , Alex Polishuk1 Moshe Greenholts1 , and Uzi Rosen2

,

1 Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, 3200003 Haifa, Israel

[email protected] 2 Kfar Galim Educational Youth Village, 3086500 Haifa, Israel

Abstract. The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) has set new requirements for school education to prepare students for active lives in a technologically advanced society. It is therefore necessary for technology and engineering teacher education to be adapted to meet these demands. Our study explored a partnership approach, in which prospective teachers studied a technology and engineering education course and high school students performed a STEM project, both related to Industry 4.0. The goal of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of this approach concerning the acquisition of knowledge about IoT and system integration, and skills for teaching the concepts. The participants were the prospective teachers (PTs) and high school students (HSs), who took part in the partnership. Data were collected through questionnaires, reflections, and reports, and were analyzed using a mixed method. As found, the PTs gained a deeper understanding of IoT and system integration. They were enriched by visiting the school and attending the presentations of projects performed by the HSs. In turn, the HSs were enriched by the feedback that they got from the PTs on their projects. The lessons that the prospective teachers gave to the high school students were highly evaluated by both. Based on the study results, we recommend promoting education for Industry 4.0 through collaboration between schools and teacher training programs. Keywords: Education for Industry 4.0 · Technology and engineering teacher training · Teaching skills · System integration · Internet of Things

1 Introduction The comprehensive digital transformation of the economy and society, coined as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), demands essentially new professional skills. To answer this demand, it is necessary to upgrade technology and engineering education, and particularly school and teacher training programs [1, 2]. Modern teachers should know the new concepts and technologies and be capable to teach them while facilitating the development of Industry 4.0 thinking and learning skills that students will need for life [3, 4]. It is possible to empower technology and engineering teachers with these © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 542–552, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_52

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competencies through the generation of new teaching strategies and learning environments, and their realization in teacher training. Practice in teaching with these strategies and environments should be an integral part of the teacher training programs. Providing this practice requires the establishment of appropriate frameworks for cooperation between pedagogical institutions and schools. The development of such frameworks has just begun. Singh-Pillay presented a teacher education project at one of the universities in South Africa in which 18 pre-service technology teachers (PSTTs) explored a real engineering problem of designing a wireless IoT-based irrigation system for a small farm [5]. The PSTTs performed the projects in groups of three and constructed system models using programmable controllers, mobile communication modules, humidity sensors, relays, water pumps, LEDs, and other components. They used Python to control the irrigation process. The study indicated that the majority of the participants improved their understanding of wireless networks. From their reflections, they highly appreciated the project experience in using IoT to solve a real-world problem. The project helped them acquire a broader and deeper understanding of Industry 4.0 and fostered their awareness of the importance of exposing school students to its concepts and technologies. One possible framework for cooperation between pedagogical institutions and schools is through outreach programs, in which educators expose school students to Industry 4.0 concepts and technologies [6, 7]. We explored a different framework in which prospective teachers (PTs) study a course and high school students (HSs) perform a project, both related to Industry 4.0 and conducted through collaboration to enrich each other. Such frameworks are topical nowadays when school systems are open to partnership with academic institutions to prepare students for life in the new technological world and promote their further engineering studies. Our study examined the partnership between the teacher education course “Technology and Engineering Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution” at the Technion Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, and the school multidisciplinary project “Connected Mechatronics Systems for Edutainment” at a high school located in the vicinity of the Technion. The teacher education course focused on the acquisition of the technologicalpedagogical content knowledge [8] about the concepts and technologies of Industry 4.0 and methods to teach them at school. We developed the course based on the conceivedesign-implement-operate (CDIO) approach [9] adapted for technology and engineering teacher education [10, 11]. CDIO proposes creating learning sequences that begin with the study of theoretical fundamentals (conceive) and continue with learning practice in the design, implementation, and use (operation) of physical or virtual artifacts. Following the CDIO approach, in our teacher education course, the PTs studied pedagogical theories and fundamentals of Industry 4.0, performed hands-on activities with digital technologies, developed instructional materials on the subject, designed lesson plans, taught school students, and evaluated their learning outcomes. The teaching practice was conducted in cooperation with the above-mentioned high school course. The high school, we cooperated with, has a technical and engineering education program that includes specializations in software development and product design. Recently, the school offered a new specialization in system engineering and internet of things, the

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first of its kind in Israeli schools. The school reached out to our Center for Robotics and Digital Technology Education and requested an academic cooperation in teaching the new subject. The school teacher responsible for the new specialization, who is a graduate of our faculty and a coauthor of this paper, led the cooperation on behalf of the school. The initiative for the cooperation between the teacher education course and the school program was triggered by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the fall semester, classes at all levels of education in Israel were canceled or conducted remotely because of social distancing restrictions. As a result, students’ engagement and motivation deteriorated. During the spring semester, some of the restrictions were reduced, enabling us to deliver our teacher education course, implement the school project, and organize the collaboration between them. This study was directed to evaluate the outcomes of the teacher education course and its collaboration with the high school project.

2 The Courses 2.1 The Teacher Education Course A new teacher education course “Technology and Engineering Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution” was conducted at the Technion Faculty of Education in Science and Technology in the spring semester of 2021. Twenty one teacher education students participated, among them 8 majoring in electrical engineering, 7 in mechanical engineering, 3 in computer science, 2 in mathematics, and 1 in physics. All the students had a B.Sc. or higher degree in engineering and studied for a degree in STEM education at our faculty. Five students were already in-service teachers; seventeen students were males and four females. The goal of the course was to impart to PTs the knowledge of concepts and technologies of Industry 4.0 and the skills to teach the subject in high school. The course was designed according to the project-based learning (PBL) approach, in which learning is driven by the challenge of creating an authentic product and presenting it in the public domain [12]. The course assignment was to develop a smart connected pet treater prototype system for treating pets online from a distance and use the prototype to teach a lesson on IoT and system integration to high school students. The PTs performed the assignment in pairs. The PTs and HSs cooperated twice: at the public presentation of the school projects and at the closing event of the teacher education course. In the first meeting at school, the PTs attended HSs’ project presentations and gave feedback. In the second meeting at the Technion, each pair of PTs gave their lesson to a small group of HSs using the prototype system created in the course. The course included lectures and workshops. The lectures addressed the concepts, technologies, and smart connected systems of Industry 4.0, and elaborated on the prerequisite knowledge and skills, the related initiatives of the Ministry of Education, and relevant studies on robotics and digital technology education. In the workshops, the PTs learned and practiced collaborative 3D design with Onshape, 3D printing, Scratch programming for microcontrollers, and the basics of the internet of things (IoT).

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The PTs created their smart connected pet treaters in the robotics lab of the Center. The learning environment included 3D design and printing facilities, Lego building blocks and actuators, micro:bit and Arduino microcontrollers, a variety of sensors, and other peripherals. The software platforms were Onshape for collaborative cloud-based design and ThingWorx for IoT apps. In their project, the PTs worked in pairs to create devices that can feed, water, and amuse pets automatically, while the remote pet owners can also monitor and control the systems via a web browser. The PTs inquired about the needs of a specific pet, determined the necessary sensors and actuator, designed and 3D printed the needed mechanisms, programmed a microcontroller to control the system, created web IoT dashboards for the user interface, and integrated all these components into a single system. The educational challenge for the PTs in the course was to use the systems they created to teach concepts and technologies of Industry 4.0 to HSs. An example of a system created in one of the PTs’ projects, is the smart connected cat treater presented in Fig. 1.

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Dispenser Tray

Fig. 1. The smart connected cat treater project: A: Feeding device; B. CAD model of the food dispenser mechanism; C. IoT dashboard.

The cat treater is essentially an automatic feeder connected to the web for the purpose of monitoring and control. The system (Fig. 1A) includes a food dispenser that releases to the green tray measured portions of food from the container. The dispenser (Fig. 1B) was designed and 3D printed by the PTs and was mounted in a Lego bricks structure. The system contains an ambient temperature sensor and a food level sensor. The sensors and the dispenser’s motor are connected to an Arduino microcontroller equipped with web connectivity. The IoT web dashboard (Fig. 1C) was designed using the ThingWorx platform and contains indications of system activity, the ambient temperature, whether there is food in the tray, and the number of feeds the system triggered. The user can also manually trigger remote feeding by pressing the “Feed Now” button. 2.2 The School Project In February 2021, students and staff were back to school after several months of COVID19 remote learning. Tenth-grade students missed 6 months of classes. It was needed thus to provide the students with a break-out routine learning framework to support the return to intensive studies, regain learning skills, and foster motivation. The teaching staff

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decided to use an interdisciplinary STEM project as an educational tool to accomplish these objectives with the tenth-grade students majoring in computer science, systems engineering and product design. The theme of the project was “Games for collaborative joyful learning of all-age players.” The teaching staff considered the development of the technological games to be a rich source of a challenging assignment in which students of the three specializations will apply and develop their knowledge and skills in a collaborative environment. The project guidelines were formulated as follows - to develop a mechatronic system supporting collaborative gaming activities and providing users with data from remote sensors transmitted via IoT technology. The project focused on the concepts of the Internet of Things (IoT), which is one of the central concepts of Industry 4.0. The teacher implemented the interdisciplinary STEM education approach, in which the students: • Used sensors to acquire and investigate physical parameters. • Learned and applied the IoT technology. • Designed, constructed, programmed, and operated connected mechatronic systems for given tasks. • Experienced online collaborative design. Regarding assessment and credits, the proposed project leans on the existing technology curriculum which includes a tenth-grade project as part of the matriculation requirements. In parallel to the project, the teaching staff organized a 12-h hackathon day at which the students were taught by mentors and guided to develop a remote-controlled vehicle. The learning activities in the hackathon were not directly connected to the project assignment but provided the HSs with the knowledge they needed to accomplish the project. Participants of the project were 75 tenth graders, among them 25 system engineering majors, 28 computer science majors, and 22 product design majors. They were divided into 11 teams, each of which included at least 2 students from each major. All the projects were performed through the following stages: 1. Defining rules and design scenarios of the proposed game. 2. Identifying the intended participant audience of the game, their roles, and interactions. 3. Designing a connected mechatronic system. 4. Designing and producing the system components using the cloud-based CAD platform Onshape, 3D printing, laser cutting, and other digital technologies. 5. Integrating the components into a single mechatronic system and providing its connectivity. 6. Collecting data from the remote sensors and its analysis. 7. Programming the system for the game needs. 8. Designing system’s appearance and users’ gaming experience. 9. Testing and improving the system.

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Project work was distributed among the team members based on their majors and corresponding responsibilities. The computer-science students learned by themselves Python and programmed the micro:bit controller to control the system. The students majoring in systems engineering developed 3D models of mechanical components of the system using Onshape CAD software and fabricated them. They produced the system by integrating the mechanical and electronic components and provided it with IoT capabilities. The students majoring in product design shaped the mechatronic systems to comply with the guidelines of human engineering design. They also created the game logo as well as packaging and appearance solutions. For example, one of the team projects was a robotic game, in which each of the two players remotely navigates a mobile robot between given stations in the arena (Fig. 2A). When the robot reaches a station, the players pick a corresponding card and need to answer a trivia question printed on the card. During the game development process, the students measured off-the-shelf robot components (Fig. 2B), determined the dimensions of the components to be manufactured and designed the arena to allow the robot game. Figures 2C, 2D, 2E, and 2F present the sketch, the designed robot holder, robot programming by one of the students, and the ready-to-use robot developed by the students.

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Fig. 2. A. Game arena; B. Measuring off-the-shelf components; C. Robot sketch; D. RC holder CAD model; E. Micro-Python coding; F. Ready-to-use robot.

The project culminated with the open presentation of the projects that the students gave to their teachers, parents and siblings, representatives of the Ministry of Education,

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and PTs from the Technion course. Each project was presented by team members from the following perspectives: • System engineering - as an integrated mechatronic system, • Computer science – as a controlled and connected software system • User-centered design – as a friendly robotic game system. After the presentation, the PTs asked the teams questions that evaluated students’ understanding of the concepts applied in the projects and gave them constructive feedback.

3 The Study The goal of this study was to explore an approach to educate prospective teachers in Industry 4.0 and to provide them with the initial experience of teaching engineering systems and IoT to school students. The research questions were: 1. How did the teacher education course contribute to prospective teachers’ understanding of the concepts of IoT and system integration? 2. What were PTs’ reflections on the lesson they gave, and how did the lesson contribute to HS students’ understanding of the concepts of IoT and system integration? 3.1 Data Collection and Analysis The sources for data collected from PTs included a pre-course questionnaire, reflections on the lesson they gave to the HSs, and a final report. The pre-course questionnaire consisted of seven questions. The first three asked about PTs’ familiarity with the notions of integrative thinking and integrated system, and about their experience in integrating components into a system. The remaining four questions related to PTs’ knowledge about IoT. PTs reflected in writing on the lesson that they gave to the HSs. The reflections described how the PTs managed the lesson and how this experience contributed to their teaching skills. The final reports included the developed instructional unit, a postcourse questionnaire, and personal reflections on the course. Data collected from the instructional units related to PTs’ understanding of the concepts of Industry 4.0, IoT, and system integration. We also examined the quality of the units and looked for instructional objectives, topic presentations, and assessment plans. The post-course questionnaire consisted of two sections. The first section tested PTs’ understanding of the IoT technology using the same questions as in the pre-course questionnaire. The second section included four questions that inquired into the contribution of the course to PTs’ knowledge of IoT technology and fostering their integrative thinking skills. In the personal reflections, PTs evaluated the contribution of the course. The sources for data collected from HSs included a pre-project questionnaire and a questionnaire conducted after the lesson they were taught by the PTs. At the beginning

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of their project, HSs filled out a questionnaire that consisted of seven questions. The first two asked about the students’ familiarity with the concept of IoT and their experience in using IoT technology. The next three questions tested students’ understanding of IoT technology. The last two questions asked about students’ familiarity with integrated systems and experience in integrating components into a system. After the lesson given by the PTs, the high school students filled out a questionnaire that evaluated how the lesson contributed to their understanding of the learned concepts and the modeled integrated systems and how it helped to develop ideas for their future projects. In the analysis of the collected data, we applied a mixed approach. The quantitative data of the pre-course and post-course questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The qualitative data from the questionnaires and post-lesson and post-course reflections were analyzed using the thematic content analysis [13]. 3.2 Contribution of the Teacher Education Course Though at the beginning of the course, 80% of PTs noted their subjective familiarity with the concepts of IoT, only 40% answered that they have practical experience in using the IoT technology and explained how they used it. The course contribution to PTs’ understanding of the concepts of IoT was objectively evaluated by the comparison of the percentage of correct answers to the relevant questions in the pre-course and post-course questionnaires (Table 1). Table 1. Evaluation of PTs’ explanations of the IoT concepts (%). Concepts

Correct answers to questions on IoT Pre-course

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Thing in IoT

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86

Dashboard UI

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IoT platform

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86

The data presented in Table 1 indicate PTs’ better knowledge of the IoT concepts after the course. In the post-course questionnaire, all PTs appreciated the contribution of the course to their knowledge of IoT, 86% evaluated this contribution as high. All the PTs agreed that the exploration of IoT technology and experimentation with robotic systems in the course promoted their system integration skills, 57% evaluated the contribution as high. Specifically, they valued the course activities related to building mechatronic systems and incorporating IoT into them. 3.3 Contribution of the Prospective Teachers’ Lesson Before the lesson, 44% of the HSs noted familiarity with the concept of IoT, and 16% had experience in using the IoT technology. Regarding their knowledge about IoT, 61%

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correctly defined ‘thing’, 32% defined ‘dashboard’, and 24% correctly answered what an IoT platform is. 28% of the students were familiar with the concept of system integration, but only 12% had experience in integrating components into one system. After the lesson, the HSs noted that the lesson significantly contributed to their understanding of DC motors (34%), the principles of operation of the micro:bit controller and sensors (39%), and IoT (11%). 50% pointed out that the lesson helped them to develop ideas for their future technological projects. From the PTs end, in their reflections on the lesson, they expressed both their satisfaction with the experience and the positive feedback got from the HSs. Typical reflections were: “The students enjoyed the lesson, and it gave us a feeling of satisfaction.” “We felt that we could interestingly convey the material. The students expressed to us their satisfaction.” “I felt the lesson that we gave to the school students was the essence of the course we went through ourselves.” In their reflections, the PTs noted that in the lesson they gave, they for the first time practically used the teaching skills that they theoretically learned in other courses. They wrote: “The lesson was interactive, and the students were active all the time. We also evaluated the knowledge acquired by the students.” “We kept following the lesson plan and correct use of the concepts we taught.” “We exposed the students to the use of the learned concepts and technologies, and social challenges of the fourth industrial revolution.” In the reflections given at the end of the course, the PTs expressed their high positive evaluation of its contribution, especially to learning the concepts of Industry 4.0 and fostering the skills for teaching these concepts in high school. The PTs appreciated that the course exposed them to the theory and practice of novel technologies and pedagogies. Typical reflections: “The course was very important, with many theoretical and practical topics, including modern pedagogy.” “I really enjoyed studying the different fields. There was a lot of interest, and the course was very practical and instructive.”

4 Discussion and Conclusion The need to upgrade technology and engineering education and prepare the new generation of students for the era of digital transformation is widely recognized. The recent pilot initiatives in this direction showed practical ways to expose school students and teachers to the concepts and technologies of Industry 4.0. These initiatives have been made mainly through outreach activities. Their positive experience prompts the next

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step - to investigate how to integrate the learning of the new concepts and technologies in school and teacher education. In this study, we propose and practically explore an educational framework in which a teacher training course and a school project are both focused on education for Industry 4.0 and enrich each other through cooperation. In the course, the prospective teachers learned pedagogical methods, new concepts, and technologies, and practiced teaching them to the school students. From the other end, the high school students in their projects, developed mechatronic game systems and explored them from the system engineering, software development, and user-centered design perspectives. Our study indicated that the course advanced the prospective teachers’ understanding of and practical experience in system integration and IoT. The PTs noted that during the course they for the first time practically applied the teaching skills they had previously learned theoretically. They also note that the course exposed them to the theory and practice of pedagogies related to Industry 4.0 technologies. The high school students noted that they were enriched by the feedback that the prospective teachers gave on their projects. The lesson that prospective teachers gave to high school students was highly evaluated by both. The case study presented in [5] and our case study show possible frameworks to introduce PTs to the concepts of Industry 4.0 and to involve them in experiential learning of engineering systems integrated through IoT. In both studies, PTs highly self-evaluated their progress in understanding the concepts of IoT; in our study, this evaluation was supported by the results of the post-course questionnaire. While the course considered in [5] promoted critical thinking and problem-solving skills, our course focused on fostering the skills of system integration that are crucial for practice with engineering systems. The important common feature of the two cases was confronting the PTs with a real and meaningful problem that required creating an integrated engineering system connected through IoT. The PTs claimed that the project raised the awareness of their role as change agents in upgrading school technology and engineering education to meet the challenges of the new era. Based on the positive results of the study, the authors recommend promoting education for Industry 4.0 through collaboration between schools and teacher training programs. Acknowledgment. This research was supported by PTC Inc.

References 1. Richert, A., Shehadeh, M., Willicks, F., Jeshke, S.: Digital transformation of engineering education: Empirical insights from virtual worlds and human-robot-collaboration. Int. J. Eng. Pedagogy 6(4), 23–29 (2016) 2. Kaur, R., Awasthi, A., Grzybowska, K.: Evaluation of Key Skills Supporting Industry 4.0— A Review of Literature and Practice. In: Grzybowska, K., Awasthi, A., Sawhney, R. (eds.) Sustainable Logistics and Production in Industry 4.0. E, pp. 19–29. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33369-0_2

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3. Chai, C.S.: Teacher professional development for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education: a review from the perspectives of technological pedagogical content (TPACK). Asia Pacific Educ. Res. 28(1), 5–13 (2019) 4. Verner, I., Greenholts, M.: Teacher education to analyze and design systems through reverse engineering. In: Alimisis, D., Moro, M., Menegatti, E. (eds.) Edurobotics 2016. AISC, vol. 560, pp. 122–132. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55553-9_9 5. Singh-Pillay, A.: Pre-Service technology teachers’ learning experiences of teaching methods for integrating the use of technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In Naidoo, J., (ed).: Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century, Brill & Sense, Leiden, The Netherlands, 106–118 (2021) 6. Karaman, S., et al.: Project-based, collaborative, algorithmic robotics for high school students: Programming self-driving race cars at MIT. In: 2017 IEEE integrated STEM education conference, pp. 195–203 IEEE (2017) 7. Verner, I.M., Cuperman, D., Reitman, M.: Exploring robot connectivity and collaborative sensing in a high-school enrichment program. Robotics 10(1), 1–19 (2021) 8. Koehler, M.J., Mishra, P., Kereluik, K., Shin, T.S., Graham, C.R.: The technological pedagogical content knowledge framework, pp. 101–111. In Handbook of research on educational communications and technology. Springer, New York, NY (2014) 9. Crawley, E. F., Malmqvist, J., O¨stlund, S., and Brodeur, D.: Rethinking engineering education: The CDIO approach. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany (2007) 10. Verner, I. M.: Technology teacher education and outreach using the CDIO approach. In: Proceedings of the 11th International CDIO conference. Chengdu, China (2015) 11. Nguyen, N., Thai, T., Pham, H., & Nguyen, G.: CDIO approach in developing a teacher training program to meet the requirement of the industrial revolution 4.0 in Vietnam. Int. J. Emerg. Technol. Learn. (iJET) 15(18), 108–123 (2020) 12. Barak, M.: Problem-, project-and design-based learning: Their relationship to teaching science, technology, and engineering in school. J. Prob. -Based Learn. 7(2), 94–97 (2020) 13. Anderson, R.: Thematic content analysis. Description Presentation of Qualitative data (2007). Available: http://www.wellknowingconsulting.org/publications/pdfs/ThematicCont entAnalysis.pdf

Competency-Based Approach and Learning Plans in Moodle. A Case of International Engineering Educator Certification Program (IEECP) in Latin America Juan María Palmieri(B) Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, C1407IVT, 2300 Buenos Aires, Mozart, Argentina [email protected]

Abstract. The competency-based approach is in constant discussion in Argentina and Latin American universities. InnovaHiEd Academy and IGIP Argentine section are authorized training centers that offer the International Engineering Educator Certification Program (IEECP) to Latin American institutions and individuals interested in improving their teaching competencies. This paper describes the experiences of three consecutive online cohorts of the IEECP regarding the educational and technological decisions that allow the integrations of the CBE, outcomes assessment and learning plans into the Moodle LMS. This paper describes Moodle features to support competencies, outcomes assessments, learning plans, its configuration and contribution in the context of the IEECP. It also highlights evidence about the aforementioned innovations impact on teaching practices, learning model and student active role in the learning process. This article is intended to serve as a reference for those institutions and program managers interested in integrating the CBE approach of their online training programs in their Moodle LMS. Keywords: Competency based education · Learning management systems · Outcomes assessment · Learning plans · Moodle

1 Introduction The competency-based approach (CBA) is in constant discussion in Argentine and Latin American universities. The accreditation processes of engineering programs, based on local or international frameworks, lead to the need to update the teaching skills for these programs. The SAR-COV2 pandemic produced, in the region and the world, a process of virtualization of university education that showcased the need for improvement in programs and teaching competencies that prepare professors to deliver their courses through a competency-based and student-centered approach as well as the comprehensive evaluation strategies that these approaches require. The International Engineering Educator Certification Program (IEECP) [1, 2] is being offered in Latin America and Argentina since 2018 aiming to train engineering © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 553–564, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_53

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teachers on the aforementioned skills and to give access to the International Engineering Educator (Ing.Paed.IGIP) certificate [3]. Since March 2020, the IEECP has been entirely delivered in e-learning mode using a Moodle [4] based Learning Management System (LMS) that provides access to contents and is designed as an effective means of interaction, collaboration, teamwork, assessment and evidence of learning achievements. In this scenario, the organizers decided to address the integration of the IEECP competencies and learning outcomes through the necessary innovations of the LMS and teaching practices. These resulted in the introduction of educational and technological improvements regarding the outcomes assessment, online learning processes and teaching practices described in this paper. Likewise, these innovations have promoted the commitment and active role of the participants regarding their own learning process.

2 Background As proposed by [5] “Competency-based education (CBE) begins by identifying specific competencies or skills, and enables learners to develop mastery in each skill at their own pace. Learners can develop just the competencies or skills they feel they need, or can combine a whole set of competencies into a full qualification, such as a certificate, diploma or increasingly a full degree”. The following is the 2019 revised definition of CBE proposed by [6] in page 5: • Students are empowered to make important decisions about their learning experiences. How they will create, apply knowledge and demonstrate their learning. • Assessment is a meaningful, positive, and empowering learning experience for students that yields timely, relevant, and actionable evidence. • Students receive timely, differentiated support based on their learning needs. • Students progress is based on evidence of mastery, not seat time. • Students learn actively using different pathways and varied pacing. • Strategies to ensure equity for all students are embedded in the culture, structure, and pedagogy of schools and education systems. • Rigorous, common expectations for learning (knowledge, skills, and dispositions) are explicit, transparent, measurable, and transferable. The complexity of designing a CBE engineering curriculum is described in [7] to better prepare students for rapidly changing industry needs and ABET’s outcomesbased accreditation requirements. There is a need of better engineering graduates whose preparation and skills should span technical, professional and social requirements, as shown in (Fig. 1). During SAR-COV2 pandemic, the global closure of schools, universities and institutions demanded a large number of CBA programs and courses to shift to an online studying methodology. When CBA programs are delivered in e-learning mode, the LMS plays a key role in the learning model and process. During the pandemic, the need to promote the use of effective technologies that could provide effective support to CBA became explicit. In [8, 9, 10] this issue is addressed using Moodle to provide effective support to CBA programs through effective processes, configuration or development of extensions.

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Fig. 1. T-shaped professional

3 Competency Based Approach in Moodle From Moodle 3.1 upwards, it is possible to integrate CBA into the LMS in a flexible and adaptable way. This integration allows institutions to design and deliver online programs and careers entirely under the EBC model. It also fosters teachers to assess students, based on competencies and learning outcomes (LO), and provide valuable feedback to LMS Administrators, managers, teachers and students. (Fig. 2). 3.1 Competency Frameworks Competency frameworks organize hierarchical collections of competencies that integrate the academic design of the program or career into the LMS in a flexible way. These frameworks, built over taxonomies (competences, indicator, level, etc.), may be related to courses, activities and learning plans. Competency frameworks provide instructional design opportunities and LO assessment for teachers. Likewise, they enable valuable monitoring and improvement information for students and institutions. 3.2 Assessment Scales Assessment scales are designed and created by LMS Administrators according to program or career competencies, LO and expected levels of achievement. When related to course activities, assessment scales provide accurate evidence of student mastery or those areas where additional work is needed to achieve the expected learning. 3.3 Advanced Grading Methods: Rubrics By default, Moodle use numerical grading scales. When advanced grading methods are enabled, teachers can create rubrics and use them for assessing course activities. The

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use of rubrics allow teachers to provide timely, effective and meaningful feedback and help students to reflect over their learning process. [11–14]. 3.4 Learning Plans LMS Administrators can create Learning plan templates that define a set of competencies assigned to a group of students. Learning plans provide them a complete vision of their learning path, according to the competencies to be developed, and their progress as teachers evaluate activities in each course. The institution has a detailed view of the progress of each student and the evidences (activities) that show it.

Fig. 2. Moodle competency-based assessment workflow. Obtained from [15]

4 International Engineering Educator Certification Program (IEECP) in Latin America The International Society for Engineering Pedagogy (IGIP) [16] has created and developed the IEECP program to train university teachers, with an emphasis on technological careers, and give them access to the Ing.Paed.IGIP certificate. InnovaHiEd Academy [17] and IGIP Argentine section [18] are authorized training centers that offer the IEECP to Latin American institutions and individuals interested in improving their teaching competencies. From 2017 to date, six editions of the IEECP have been held with students from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Perú and Puerto Rico. From 2017 to 2019 it was delivered in hybrid (b-learning) mode, combining face-to-face classes and asynchronous activities using a Moodle based LMS. Since 2020, due to the SAR-COV2 pandemic, it has been delivered in e-learning mode combining synchronous meetings and asynchronous activities using the Moodle based LMS configured to support EBC. (Table 1):

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Table 1 IEECP Cohorts, number of students and learning mode.

5 Competency Based Approach Model of the IEECP The IEECP academic design in Latin America fosters the improvement of the following skills in each student. These competencies and LO are detailed in InnovaHiEd website: 1. Master the academic, scientific and systematically recognized internationally recognized competencies for Engineering Pedagogy. 2. Teach Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in a competent, effective, innovative and creative way taking into consideration the basic concepts of Educational Psychology and Engineering Pedagogy with an Active Learning and Student-Centered approach. The aforementioned competencies are accomplished through the following LO addressed, in a basic or advanced level, along the modules in which the IEECP is organized (Table 2): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Plan, manage and analyze teaching and learning. Mastering performance, communication, rhetoric, and scientific writing skills. Know the principles of ethics and engineering ethics in particular. Implement, analyze and manage contemporary educational technology. Plan and implement different forms and different methods of didactically effective laboratory work to implement theory in practice. Implement the principles of an intercultural learning environment. Implement active learning structures. Select appropriate evaluation and rating methodologies. Reflect on teaching and compile the self-analysis into a teaching portfolio.

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6 Competency Based Approach in the IEECP LMS In 2020, due to SAR-COV2 pandemic, IEECP organizers decided to deliver the Program in e-learning mode and, simultaneously, address the integration of the Program competencies and LO into the Moodle based LMS through the necessary technological and pedagogical innovations. This decision was based in concordance with the CBE, on which students are trained. 6.1 Moodle Course Design and Teachers Roles For each IEECP module, LMS Administrators create a course and assign teachers the standard Teacher role. Each course has a default set of sections (Mosaics) and teachers can autonomously adapt them according to the course needs (Fig. 3).

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Fig. 3. IEECP default course sections (in Spanish as set in the IEECP LMS)

6.2 Learning Outcomes Assessment According to what has been previously described, the first step to address the CBE integration into Moodle LMS, is to design an evaluation scale and a coherent set of rubrics that allows IEECP teachers to assess the activities that students carry out in the LMS according to the expected LO and remove the default numerical and letter Moodle grading scales. The assessment scale, identified as “Competency assessment”, has three levels of achievement for every LO: Not reached, Reached, Exceeded (Fig. 4). For each LO and activity, the level from which students are considered competent is Reached. Teachers could use pre designed set of rubrics, or design their own using the Advanced grading methods previously explained.

Fig. 4. IEECP Competency assessment scale (in Spanish as set in the IEECP LMS)

6.3 Competency Framework, Taxonomies and Competency Rules A competency framework was designed to reflect the IEECP LO, in the first taxonomy level (Competency), and the modules that addressed each LO, on a second level (Indicator). For each Competency, a rule indicates its completion when every second taxonomy level (indicator) is completed. (Fig. 5).

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Fig. 5. IEECP Competency framework and rules (in Spanish as set in the IEECP LMS)

6.4 Competency Framework, Moodle Courses and Activities For each IEECP module course, the LMS Administrators relates the corresponding second level indicators of the competency framework as course competencies, enabling teachers to relate them with course activities to provide the necessary evidence of development of each LO by students (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Moodle course competencies and activities (in Spanish as set in the IEECP LMS)

When teachers design and create a course activity, they consider its contribution to any course competency and the convenience of establishing the corresponding relationship. In order to have meaningful evidence, teachers exclusively relate the final activity of each module and, eventually, others that they consider valuable. Once the students complete course’s activities and, therefore, achieve course’s LO, teachers (or LMS Administrators) complete the Competence breakdown report to reflect the corresponding course competencies level in each student Learning Plan and provide meaningful feedback. 6.5 Students Learning Plans, Learning Process Monitor For each IEECP cohort, the LMS Administrators creates a Learning Plan template, made up of the second-level competencies of the Competency framework, and assigns it to the

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corresponding student cohort. Students can follow and monitor their learning process through course activities assessment, teacher feedback and Learning plans available in their Moodle LMS Personal area.

7 IEECP Online Learning Process Regarding the process for CBE students during learning, [19] states that once students log into the LMS, they should be able to access and engage the course materials and identify the competencies. This approach encouraged us to develop an online teaching and learning process made possible by the aforementioned adaptations of the Moodle LMS and teaching practices (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. IEECP online teaching and learning process since 2020 to date

8 IEECP Teachers and Students Opinion As previously mentioned, assessment is key in the IEECP Program. At the end of each module, students answer an online survey where they provide their opinion about modules objectives, activities and teacher performance. Likewise, at the end of each cohort, students complete another survey were they provide a comprehensive view of the training received, answering the following questions and using a satisfaction Likert scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree). 1. The topics covered were satisfactory. 2. The distribution of topics over time was satisfactory.

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3. The distribution of asynchronous and synchronous activities was satisfactory. 4. I acquired competencies that I did not have before participating in this Program. 5. The LMS and other ICT tools used in the Program promoted effective collaboration with teachers and peers. Since 2020 to date (Table 3), the survey includes a new question for the purpose of assessing the IEECP innovations described in this paper and aiming to identify the contribution of the Moodle LMS and learning process innovations regarding students’ commitment and active role (Fig. 8). This assessment has been extended to teachers regarding their teaching practices (Fig. 9). Table 3. 2020/2021/2022 IEECP Cohorts, number of students and teachers.

8.1 Students Opinions LMS promotes commitment and active role regarding your learning process. (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8. Student’s opinion in 2020, 2021 and 2022 cohorts

8.2 Teachers Opinions LMS configuration ease and promotes the design and assessment of activities based on learning outcomes. (Fig. 9).

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Fig. 9. Teacher’s opinion in 2020, 2021 and 2022 cohorts

9 Conclusions This paper describes the experiences of three consecutive cohorts of the Latin American IEECP, carried out between 2020 and 2022, regarding the educational and technological decisions that allowed the integration of the CBE, outcomes assessment and learning plans into the Moodle LMS. After describing Moodle features and the specific configuration of the IEECP Moodle LMS, evidence shows that its support to CBE is adaptable to IEECP LO. Likewise, in the context of the IEECP, eased teachers course and activities instructional design and promoted student commitment and active role regarding their learning process. These innovations and evidence encouraged the development of an online teaching and learning process based on competencies and LO, that we believe could be useful to other institutions or programs. Our next step will focus on improving the monitoring of students learning process and the analysis of competency’s evidence.

References 1. International Engineering Educators Certification Program (IEECP) Homepage, https://inn ovahied.academy/en/formacion-igip/, Last Accessed 11 June 2022 2. Programa de Certificación de Educador Internacional de Ingeniería (PCEII) Homepage, https://ciie.utn.edu.ar/pceii/, Last Accessed 15 June 2022 3. ING.PAED.IGIP Homepage, http://www.igip.org/ing-paed-IGIP.php., Last Accessed 15 June 2022 4. Moodle Homepage, https://moodle.org/, Last Accessed 11 June 2022 5. Bates, A.: Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for Designing Teaching and Learning. Tony Bates Associates Ltd., Vancouver (2015) 6. Levine y, E., Patrick, S.: What is CompetencyBased Education? An Updated Definition,» Aurora Institute, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED604019.pdf. (2019) 7. Rogers y, P., Freulers, R.: The "T-Shaped" Engineer. In: 2015 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference (2015)

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8. Hadullo, K.: Online Competency Based Education Framework using Moodle LMSLMS: A case of HEIS in Kenia. In: Int. J. Educ. Develop. Inform. Commun. Technol. 17(1), 193–206 (2021) 9. Rezghi, K., Mhiri y, H., Ghédira, K.: Extending Moodle functionalities with ontology-based competency management. Competency Manage. Proc. Comput. Sci. 35, 570–579 (2014) 10. Makoveichuk, K., Oleinikov, N., Ponomareva y, E., Makoveichuk, Y.: Analysis and Synthesis of Educational Content of Courses in Moodle LMS Based on the Competence Approach of FSES http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3057/paper19.pdf. (2019) 11. Center for Teaching Innovation, “Using rubrics,” Cornell University, https://teaching.cornell. edu/teaching-resources/assessment-evaluation/using-rubrics, Last Accessed 15 June 2022 12. Jönsson y, A., Panadero, E.: The Use and Design of Rubrics to Support Assessment for Learning. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311979731_The_Use_and_Design_ of_Rubrics_to_Support_Assessment_for_Learning (2016) 13. Office of Academic Assessment, “Developing and Using Rubrics,” University of Oklahoma, https://www.ou.edu/assessment/faculty-resources/creating-and-using-rubrics, Last Accessed 11 June 2022 14. TeachersFirst, «Thinking teachers Teaching thinkers https://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/ rubrics/why-use-rubrics.cfm., Last Accessed 11 June 2022 15. Koneru, I.: Exploring moodle functionality for managing open distance learning eassessments. Turkish Online J. Distance Educ. 18(4) 129–141 (2017) 16. International Society for Engineering Pedagogy Homepage, http://www.igip.org/, Last Accessed 15 June 2022 17. InnovaHiEd Academy Homepage, https://innovahied.academy/en/, Last Accessed 11 June 2022 18. IGIP Argentine section homepage, https://ciie.utn.edu.ar/igip-argentina/, Last Accessed 11 June 2022 19. Quan y, L., Yanning, J.: The Implication of Distance Learning in Competence-Based Maritime Education and Training. In: International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, vol. 16 no. 5 (2017)

Work in Progress: Technology Enhanced Learning – A View from “The Other Side” Ana M. B. Pavani(B) and Guilherme P. Temporão Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22451-900, Brazil {apavani,temporao}@puc-rio.br

Abstract. This work addresses a project under way of the practical implementation of Create-Share-Reuse of digital contents that are not educational resources but are used to develop them. They can be still images (photos, schematics, graphics), moving images (animations, videos), code for numeric solution of problems, interactive contents and texts. The management of such resources is possible when they are described and identified on the same repository that hosts courseware; this is the case under consideration. The classification of contents, the numbers in each class and their use in courseware is presented. This project is important because it makes possible for courseware development to be easier due to sharing and reusing contents that different authors create. Authors are innovative and independent faculty who also lead students and technical staff. Keywords: Courseware · Assets · Institutional Repository

1 Introduction 1.1 A View from the “Other Side”? When one thinks of Technology Enhanced Learning, the first ideas that come to mind are inverted classroom, blended learning, remote labs, active learning and so on. There is no doubt that they are very important due to their focus on the learning processes and, as a consequence, on the students. At the same time, for Technology Enhanced Learning to be implemented, there are players - other than the teachers and instructors - which possess complementary skills that are also needed. These include content developers, instructional designers and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts. In this article, we focus on the point of view of these other players – hence, the other side – especially from the perspective of the “curious player”. A “curious player” is the content developer who also implements most of the courseware. The profile is that of a faculty who enjoys ICT and tries (needs) to be as independent as possible to work in his/her own pace. This work addresses a portfolio of projects, with a focus on one, developed by faculty with this “curious player” profile. The option to examine one of the projects of this set of “curious faculty” was based on the fact that they are: (1) creative/innovative; (2) active; © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 565–573, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_54

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and (3) do not like to waste time and efforts. This work shows a way of creating, sharing and reusing digital materials that are developed by faculty and students and shared within this group. Any member of the university with similar characteristics and objectives is welcome to join. 1.2 The Context A group of faculty in the area of Control & Automation Engineering and Electrical Engineering at Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) has actively been engaged in Technology Enhanced Learning for over two decades. Among the many activities, it is possible to highlight some: • The development of digital online courseware to enhance traditional face-to-face learning starting in 1995. At that time, ICT tools were a lot more limited than they are now and the speed of the Internet was low. This activity was quite challenging. As time went by, courseware became more sophisticated – animations, videos and simulations were included. Simulations are performed using SciLab (www.scilab.org) which has been integrated to the LMS [1] and IR [2] platform [3]. • Adoption of Blended-Leaning (b-learning) [4] in some courses in 2014.1 (first semester of that year – Mar-Jul). In the reference b-learning is defined as having 30–79% of the contents delivered online. B-learning was adopted along with Flipped Classroom which is defined at The University of Texas at Austin Faculty Innovation Center (https://facultyinnovate.utexas.edu/instructional-strategies/flipped-cla ssroom) webpage as “a flipped class is one that inverts the typical cycle of content acquisition and application so that: (i) students gain necessary knowledge before class, and (ii) Instructors guide students to actively and interactively clarify and apply that knowledge during class.” • The introduction of Remote Labs in 2016 to give students more flexibility in fulfilling their experimental tasks. The Remote Labs are also integrated to the platform [5]. When the Covid-19 pandemic forced the university to switch to remote learning, the impact on this group was less intense than on other faculty. For this group, the switching stimulated the development of additional courseware and the speed up of the deployment of other Remote Labs. 1.3 Faculty as Active Players in Courseware Development Faculty in the group are active players in courseware development. They create and edit their videos, they write the scripts of hypermedia learning objects, they write the scripts, and sometimes the Scilab code of the simulator objects, to name a few. A characteristic of the faculty in this group is that they work in a cooperation mode. They share contents, exercises, code, images (block diagrams, schematics, graphics, photos etc.). The platform (LMS + IR + Remote Labs) supports this sharing since all contents are described as resources on the IR and authors inform if and with whom they can be shared. Among the digital items that faculty share, there are two very different sets and this is addressed in the following section.

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1.4 The Organization of This Work This work is divided in 4 sections besides this introduction. Section 2 contains some basic definitions used to characterize digital learning contents and other digital materials used to create them. Section 3 is devoted to introduce the project of managing a subset of the digital items – the digital files that are not learning materials but are used to create them. Section 4 presents the current results of the project. Section 5 comments on the results and introduces the next steps.

2 Digital Learning Contents There are quite a few ways of referring to digital learning contents. They have similarities and differences. At the same time, they aim at identifying and describing educational contents. MERLOT – Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching (www.merlot.org) calls them Materials. MERLOT hosts a collection of references to over 99,000 materials in all different subjects. Two other expressions are very important in ICT supported learning to identify educational resources. They are Learning Object (LO) and Shareable Content Object (SCO). LO is defined in page 1 of the IEEE Standard for Learning Object Metadata [6] as: “For this standard, a learning object is defined as any entity – digital or nondigital – that may be used for learning, education, or training.” LOs are items that can be combined for teaching and learning – they can be aggregated to yield larger contents or disaggregated to generate smaller pieces. Since LOs are not necessarily digital, the definition allows, for example, Remote Labs to be identified, described and referred along with other educational resources. “The Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is a model that references and integrates a set of interrelated technical standards, specifications, and guidelines designed to meet high-level requirements for e-learning content and systems.” [7] page 11–4. The SCORM defines SCO as: “SCOs are the smallest logical unit of information you can deliver to your learners via an LMS.” [7] page 3–3. Comparing the definitions/uses of Materials, LOs and SCOs, it is easy to understand that they have: • Differences: SCOs are to be delivered via LMSs while LOs can be non-digital, thus, not to be exclusively delivered via LMSs. Materials are to be delivered and used online. SCOs must be compliant to SCORM specifications that allow them to be delivered by any SCORM compliant LMS and this does not happen with Materials and LOs. • Similarities: Materials, SCOs and LOs have educational purposes and are units/entities. The similarities are very important in terms of the work presented in this paper. Another concept that must be taken into consideration is composed by three words: Create-Share-Reuse. It expresses the flexibility that digital contents have – they can be shared and reused thus stimulating collaborative work.

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Reuse and reusable were used by Wiley [8] more than two decades ago when he introduced the terms reusable chunks of instructional media, reusable instructional components, reusable digital resources, reusable learning objects (LO). Nine years later, the term Reusable Learning Objects (RLO) was introduced by Alsubaie and Alshawi [9]. Materials, LOs, SCOs, RLOs, Reusable Chunks of Instructional Media, among others, are all related to Create-Share-Reuse digital learning materials. They have in common the fact that they can be managed by LMSs – they are identified as addressing one or more topics and have learning objectives.

3 Create-Share-Reuse Assets – Description of the Project 3.1 What Are Assets? The Merriam-Webster online dictionary presents definitions of assets (https://www.mer riam-webster.com/dictionary/asset) related to property, advantage, item of value and something useful in defeating an enemy. These are not the meanings in the context of this work. In this work, the meaning of asset is that presented by SCORM. SCORM defines a lower level digital item – Asset. It is: “Assets are electronic representations of media, texts, images, sounds, HTML pages, assessment objects, and other pieces of data. They do not communicate with the LMS.” Assets can be building blocks of LOs, RLOs and SCOs and “can be redeployed, rearranged, repurposed, and reused in many different contents and applications”. [7] page 3–2. Though assets do not communicate with LMSs, they are digital files that can and must be managed. This means stored, described, controlled and distributed by IRs. The platform used at PUC-Rio is the integration, on one system, of an IR, an LMS and Remote Labs [3, 5].Thus, the platform is capable of managing assets and this work presents a model to do it. All digital contents used on the LMS and/or the Remote Labs are stored on the IR Each one is described with a large number of metadata elements that include: (1) DCMES – Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, ISO15836–2003, whose elements are specified on https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dcmiterms/; (2) ETD-ms (https://ndltd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/etd-ms-v1.1.html) used for Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD); (3) many elements of IEEE LOM [6]; and (4) many local elements necessary to organize and control collections, tests, courseware, etc. There is control of versions, translations, parts, etc. The abundance of elements in the metadata set used on the platform allows the description of contents to be detailed and precise. But this description applied to contents that are either LOs or scholarly communication (ETDs, articles, journals, senior projects, etc.) and has been this way for many years. But this description did not apply to elements (parts) that were embedded in the learning materials – they are assets according to SCORM. Since the platform has an IR as part of its architecture, the suitable set of metadata elements could be added, if needed, for the assets to be described. A little less than 10 years ago, the system was prepared to host assets – no new tables were necessary on the database and no new programs were required. The only

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additions were elements in the domains of some elements. The preliminary results of this project – the organization of the collection of assets – was presented and published in the Proceedings of the of ICEE 2015 – International Conference on Engineering Education [10].An enormous work has been devoted to identifying all assets in different digital contents, describe them and make all relations to contents according to the Relation elements of Dublin Core Metadata Element Set. 3.2 Initial Steps The examination of the Digital Learning Contents on the platform was necessary. The collection of courseware under consideration is focused in Control & Automation and Electrical Engineering thus contents have a lot in common and many assets were identified. For example, schematic representations of electric circuits and numeric solution of equations that model systems are used in many subjects. When control systems are considered, analogous models of electrical and mechanical systems use the same differential equations and code used to solve one can be used to solve the other. In order to start the project, three steps were taken. • Identifying and classifying asset types used in the contents. The decision was to follow the classification used for all resources on the platform. It is a two-level classification: the first level is Type, as defined by the DCMES, whereas the second is Subtype, a local definition to allow a more precise identification of the resources. • Identifying the assets that exist in all resources, classifying them and linking them to the corresponding resources. The platform uses DCMES Relation elements for the linkages and this was applied to assets too. The number of assets is very large and unfortunately this work has not been finished so far. • Establishing a method of describing the assets when the resources are created and linking them at the same time. This step was very necessary in order to stop the growth of the number of non-identified assets. Table 1 shows the results of the classification of the current assets. Both type and subtype are presented and the numbers in each pair are listed. Unfortunately, all contents have not been examined to identify assets. It is estimated that between 200 and 300 assets are still missing.

4 Create-Share-Reuse Assets – Results of the Project As shown in Table 1, there are over 1,100 assets and quite a few to go. Since contents are always under development, the numbers will increase. Section 3 presented the Creation of assets. This section addresses Share and Reuse terms of the expression. 4.1 Who Creates Assets? Creators of assets are the authors of the contents – they are special “curious” types of authors. The authors are faculty, graduate & undergraduate and technical staff. Students

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are a very special type of authors – they learn when they are creating a content and many times they suggest topics that are of interest. Students may work as interns or as part of a team with a grant. The number of authors who created the assets is 32. This number yields an average of 36 assets/creator. All creators agree that assets are to be shared. 4.2 How Are Assets Reused? One asset is considered used by the relation it has with a content – even if it used many times in the same content (it happens!), the number is one. Contents are courseware and online exercises that are used for tests and assignments; there currently are 1,823 such exercises. The platform offers many managerial tools and statistics. One of them is the number of uses of each asset in both a content and an online exercise. Table 2 shows the uses of assets in both Contents and Exercises. Table 1. Classification of assets on the platform. Type

Subtype

Number of assets

Still image

Block diagram

74

Simulation diagram

32

Schematic

243

Schematic with photo

2

Interactive content

Moving image

Photo

79

Bond graph

2

Graphic

373

Table

9

Screen shot

11

Image with instructions

12

Interactive exercise

1

Simulator in html5

13

Hypermedia topic

87

Animation

4

Demo

2

Topic

21

Text

Equipment configuration

30

Software

Code for numeric solution

164

Total

1,159

Examination of raw data indicates that the numbers of uses are quite distinct – there are assets whose uses have not been identified so far and there are others with over

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Table 2. Uses of assets in contents and in exercises. Digital material

Use

Average

Contents

2,129

1.84

Exercises

1,240

1.07

Total

3,369

2.91

30 uses; one is used 70 and another 78 times. Table 3 shows the numbers of assets by numbers of uses and Fig. 1 is the corresponding histogram. Table 3. Numbers of assets by numbers of uses. Number of uses

Number of assets

0

8

1

471

2

385

3

95

4

60

5

29

6 to 10

68

11 to 20

28

21 to 30

7

> 30

7

Total

1,158

5 Comments and Next Steps This is a project under way for two reasons. The first is that there are many assets that have not been treated and this must be addressed. The second concerns the maintenance of the protocol of implementing new materials and treating the assets at the same time. The authors expect the numbers of uses to increase as both actions are taken. The real problem that is identified is related to the behavior of the “average faculty”. They are not used to collaborative work and are loners. For this reason, there must be a lot of duplicate work not only related to assets but also to courseware. Over and above, there is an “initial cost” associated to the management of digital contents that most faculty are not aware of. The authors are consistently discussing such topics when other faculty seem to be interested. It may take time, but it is necessary to keep doing it. Collaboration is a key concept to offer students more courseware.

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500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0

1

2

3

4

5

6 to 10 11 to 20

21 to 30

> 30

Fig. 1. Histogram of number of assets by number of uses.

References 1. Wright, C.R.V. Lopes, Montgomerie ,T.C., Reju, S.A., Schmoller, S.: Selecting a Learning Management System: Advice from an Academic Perspective, EDUCAUSEreview (https://er.educause.edu/articles/2014/4/selecting-a-learning-management-system-adv ice-from-an-academic-perspective) (2014). Last Accessed Jan 2022 2. Lynch, C.: Institutional Repositories: essential infrastructure for scholarship in the digital age, ARL Bimonthly Report, no 226, USA (2003) 3. Temporão, G.P., Pavani, A.M.B.: The Integration of an Institutional Repository and a Learning Management System: a Case Study. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED 2019), pp. 3314–3320, Spain (2019) 4. Allen, I.E., Seaman, J.: Class Differences: Online Education in the United States, 2010, The 8th Annual Report on the State of Online Learning in U.S. Higher Education, 2010, Babson Survey Research Group. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED529952.pdf Last Accessed from Jan 2022 5. Pavani, A.M.B., Barbosa, W.de S., Calliari, F., Pereira, D.B.de C., Lima, V.A.P., Cardoso, G.P.: Integration of an LMS, an IR and a Remote Lab. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation (REV 2017), pp. 427–442, USA (2027) 6. "IEEE Standard for Learning Object Metadata. In: IEEE Std 1484.12.1–2002 , vol., no., pp.1–40, 6 Sept. 2002. https://doi.org/10.1109/IEEESTD.2002.94128. Last Accessed May 2022 7. “ADL Guidelines for Creating Reusable Content with SCORM 2004”. (2008), available https://adlnet.gov/assets/uploads/ADLGuide2004_Final_073108.pdf. Last Accessed May 2022 8. Wiley, D.A.: II.: Learning Object Design and Sequencing Theory, PhD dissertation presented at Brigham Young University, United States, June 2000, available https://opencontent.org/ docs/dissertation.pdf. Last Accessed May 2022

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9. Alsubaie, M., Alshawi, M.: Reusable Objects: Learning Object Creation Cycle. In: Second International Conference on Developments in eSystems Engineering, 2009, pp. 321–325. https://doi.org/10.1109/DeSE.2009.63. Last Accessed May 2022 10. Pavani, A.M.B.: Creating a Cokkection of Assets in Electrical Engineering – a Project Under Way. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering Education (IEEE 2015), pp. 315–322. Available at http://icee2015.zsem.hr/images/ICEE2015_Proceedings.pdf. Last Accessed May 2022

The Internet of Digital Twins: Advances in Hyperscaling Virtual Labs with Hypervisor- and Container-Based Virtualization Michael Dietz(B) University of Applied Sciences, Nuremberg, Germany [email protected] Abstract. Cloud computing enables the provision of virtual personal computers (PCs), known as virtual machines (VMs), using virtualization. VMs with specific applications can thus provide a generic usage concept for virtual PCs. As stated in [1] the concept of digital twins is based on the idea that a digital informational construct about a physical system could be created as an entity of its own. The combination of both concepts leads to the definition of virtual labs using digital twins for engineering education, which was defined in [2] as follows: “The merger of a digital twin (the test rig model) with a virtual PLC (the control system) as part of a virtualized PC accessible through a VPN network connection are the components that merge into the virtual lab environment.” Based on earlier works, this paper presents some advances in developing the IT concept for massively scaling up virtual lab environments using public cloud service providers and describes some major virtualization concepts. Keywords: Virtualization · Hypervisor · Containerization · Education · Digital twin · Cloud computing · Virtual labs · Remote desktop, docker

1

Introduction

This paper presents some advances in the development of an IT concept for massively scaling up virtual lab environments using two public cloud service providers. The intended goal is to show how one designs a virtual lab environment based on virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). However, given the variety of possible implementations for VDI, getting started can be a bit confusing. Our goal, therefore, is to provide a summary of what has been learned to date and to offer others a starting point for their own projects. In [3,4] the description of the seminar “Digital twins for virtual commissioning of production machines” a training environment for automation technology is presented and the evolutionary steps of the virtualization concept with VDI are elaborated. VDI often uses what is known as hypervisor-based virtualization, but that is only one of many technologies available. Depending on the operating system (OS) there are other c The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023  M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 574–586, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_55

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solutions, and each technology has its special advantages and disadvantages. This paper is intended to highlight current advances and help others decide which virtualization technology is right for a particular application area. Section 2 explains and defines some of the relevant technical terms and concepts. In Sect. 3, we describe the state of the art of virtualization in education and provide some examples. In Sect. 4, we present an exemplary approach to a system architecture for a virtual industrial cybersecurity lab, and we apply the concept to a public cloud infrastructure in Sect. 5. Existing results and practical experiences are discussed in Sect. 6. Finally, we draw a conclusion and provide suggestions for future work.

2

Technical Terms and Cloud Computing Services

This section introduces some terms and concepts necessary for understanding virtualization technologies and common cloud services operation models. Two technical terms—hypervisor and containerization—are treated in depth. But first, we focus on how to take full advantage of the virtual resources. This section assumes some basic knowledge of the Linux operating systems. 2.1

Separation of Responsibilities in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Cloud Service Operation Models

Taking advantage of the many benefits of cloud computing can be difficult in today’s current technological environment, as one must possess basic computer science knowledge and at least intermediate system administration skills to configure the resources in a virtual data center. In addition, it is necessary to consider how one can optimally use the advantages of cloud computing for the task at hand. Multitenancy and demand-side service aggregation are often difficult for software developers to implement themselves. If something is done wrong in the process, you may realize only a small portion of the potential cost savings that you could achieve through the use of virtual infrastructure, as Microsoft pointed out in 2010 in the article “The Economics of the Cloud” [5]. Virtualization can be thought of as the creation of a virtual environment from a physical reality. As [6] points out, in cloud computing, virtualization is often understood to mean a wide variety of concepts and technologies that serve to virtualize the hardware and software infrastructure for the following purposes: multiplicity, i.e., running multiple VMs on one physical server; decoupling, i.e., removing the dependency on the particular server environment (e.g., moving a VM from one virtualization host to another at runtime); and, finally, isolation, i.e., avoiding any physical side effects that may occur between VMs (e.g., ensuring that an infinite loop on one VM does not affect another VM). An understanding of the service models infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS) is mandatory, and those concepts have already been described in [4]. In IaaS, a cloud service provider offers virtual computing resources, typically computing power and storage, via the Internet. Users can create virtual servers themselves or rely on a

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compilation provided by the vendor, and they can start or delete any number of instances in a short time. As pointed out in [5], running applications via the IaaS option on virtual resources is “a bit of a horseless carriage” as advantages “can only be unlocked when an intelligent resource management” is used. The IaaS solution is far from ideal because, for one thing, applications designed to run on a single server cannot be easily scaled up or down without significant additional programming effort for load balancing, automatic failover, redundancy, and active resource management. This limits the extent to which apps are able to aggregate demand and increase server utilization. A second reason is that traditional program packages are not written for multitenancy, and simply hosting them in the cloud does not change this property. Figure 1, adapted from [7], shows the different areas of responsibility for IT services operated on premise compared with a cloud service model.

Responsibilities

Managed by the Costumer

Application Data Runtime

Middleware OS Virtualization Servers

Storage

IaaS

PaaS

SaaS Managed by Cloud Service Provider

OnPremise

Networking Fig. 1. Areas of Responsibility: IaaS (Infrastructure as a service), PaaS (Platform as a service), and SaaS (Software as a service)

2.2

Hypervisors

Virtualization of hardware resources is the fundamental prerequisite for exploiting the automation possibilities of cloud computing, and it is also of great importance for the increasingly extensive and complex cloud service portfolio. As previously mentioned with respect to the term multiplicity, virtualization makes it possible to split the physical resources of a server and run multiple OS instances on one and the same server. The requirements of each instance are retrieved from a hypervisor and transferred to the existing server hardware. The term hypervisor has been described in [4]; we expand upon that in the current work by considering another virtualization technology. For a better understanding, let’s briefly review the function of the hypervisor: a hypervisor manages

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host and guest resources and includes virtual CPUs/RAM/networks/storage. Two virtualization technologies are distinguished: paravirtualization (type 1) and full virtualization (type 2). A short description of OS-level virtualization, also called containerization, is provided next. 2.3

OS-Level/Container Virtualization

When they talk about virtualization, people are very often referring to hypervisor-based virtualization, as mentioned in [8]. Containers, on the other hand, can be used in a similar manner as hypervisor-based VMs, but they work slightly differently. In container-based virtualization, there is no hypervisor because each application runs directly as a process in the host OS. According to [9], Docker is a popular open-source technology for managing and running Linux containers. Docker provides not only the ability to run containers but also a platform for sharing, versioning, and archiving containers. Principles of Container Virtualization. Apps running on a traditional OS can query all of the resources of a computer (connected devices, network shares, etc.), but apps running inside a container can see only the particular container content and the devices associated to the container. Such container instances can look like a real PC from the perspective of the apps running inside them. Therefore, as [8] also states, container-based virtualization is “a lightweight alternative to hypervisor-based virtualization...there are many scenarios where speed, simplicity and only the need to isolate processes prevail and container-based virtualization meets these requirements.” To understand the principles of Docker, it is first necessary to understand the principles of Linux Containers (LXC). LXC is not a single functional unit; rather, it is a summary of many sub-aspects, some of which have been part of the Linux kernel for many years, such as, e.g., control groups (cgroups), a functionality that limits resources and allows Docker to limit each app in terms of CPU time, memory amount, and many other things—see [10] for further details. Early implementations of such sub-aspects were FreeBSD Jails in the OS FreeBSD 4.0 in the year 2000, as described by [11], and an early proprietary implementation from 2005 by Oracle called Solaris Zones [12].

3

The State of the Art

In this section we examine a few virtual lab implementations in education. First developments in online labs were reported in the late 1990s as mentioned in [2]. There are, in fact, countless such projects—the systematic mapping study by [13] lists 94 published papers about virtual labs. Thus, the following projects reflect only a fraction of past and current projects. For presentation here, we have selected work that demonstrates relevant approaches and similarities to our work; for further research [14–16] are recommended.

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Apache Virtual Computing Lab. North Carolina State University (NCSU) provides a remote-access service enabling users to reserve a virtual computer with a desired set of applications and access it remotely via the Internet. According to NCSU’s website [17] the Virtual Computing Lab (VCL) was initiated in 2004 to efficiently use hardware investments and to provide remote access. The elements and operations of the VCL are thoroughly described in a 2007 paper by [18]. In November 2008, NCSU donated the VCL source code to the Apache Software Foundation as part of ongoing efforts to expand the VCL community and foster open-source development. In 2020 NCSU decided to move VCL Windows systems to Microsoft (MS) Windows Virtual Desktop, now renamed Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), due to an increase in MS licensing costs—see [19]. The price increase for a MS Windows virtual desktop access (VDA) license affected any student needing to remotely access a university Windows desktop from a personal device. An individual VDA license in the student’s name was required. Therefore, the university decided to change the virtual IT infrastructure to AVD services to grant access without an individual VDA license requirement. Development Strategies for Online Labs. In their study, Saenz and colleagues [15] analyze several design solutions for virtual labs and study the main obstacles encountered. The authors describe in detail the aspects of data processing and related difficulties. They consider strategies for communication between users and laboratories as well as the user interfaces for operation. Finally, they present all the information necessary for a general solution that solves or minimizes the presented problems. The authors describe three categories of obstacles. First, the technical complexity of online labs puts high demands on the individual developers’ technical skills and the resources to set up the lab. According to the authors, development is generally not recommended for technically inexperienced people—an example by [20] is referenced. The second challenge refers to the need for a widespread standard as it would allow labs to be shared among different institutions which could, in turn, increase motivation for development and use of labs. The third obstacle is meeting the requirements of the end users of the online labs as many wish to conduct online labs with their smartphones similar to access learning resources or browse the Internet. Cloud Computing Adoption. Qasem and colleagues [16] use a systematic literature research method to review published articles on cloud computing adoption in higher education institutions. They characterize their findings as follows: “The outcomes include a coherent taxonomy and an overview of the basic characteristics of this emerging field in terms of motivation and barriers of adopting Cloud Computing (CC) in higher education institutions (HEIs), existing individual and organizational theoretical models to understand the future requirements for extensively adopting and using CC in HEIs, and factors that influence the adoption of CC in HEIs at individual and organizational levels.”

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Below we briefly describe some of the results stemming from their research questions, questions that are relevant to our own work: What research evidence indicates the adoption of cloud computing in HEIs? The results demonstrate that adoption of cloud computing in HEIs is a current topic, attracting considerable attention from researchers. A gap exists in the research about the post-adoption phase of cloud computing both at the organizational level and the individual level, and there are few reports on virtual laboratory systems. What inspires HEIs to adopt CC technology in their institutions? A total of 10 reasons where identified and described in detail, most relevant for this work are the following reasons of Virtualization, Readily Accessible Online Applications, Flexible Learning Environments and Scalability of Specialized Cloud-based Systems (CBS) What are the barriers that may prevent the extensive adoption of CC in HEIs? Concerns about licensing and pricing, reliability, security and management, and privacy are four of the eight barriers the authors mention. Those barriers are also evident in this author’s daily work. Key Finding. A taxonomy of cloud computing adoption in HEIs affords us an overview of the current research topics, from which we can identify four main research categories and several subcategories. The taxonomy creates a new vocabulary in support of the process of advancing the field, using the taxonomy, we can classify the focus of the current paper into:  Main category: Proposals of Frameworks to Develop and Operate CBS  Sub category: Virtual Laboratory Systems

4

System Architecture

This chapter describes a practical use-case for virtualization with an example project. As a conceptual extension to the original system architecture of the example, it is shown briefly which components can be virtualized using an approach with hypervisors and/or containers. The following description is based on two common cloud service providers in Germany, Microsoft Azure and IONOS, the two differ in terms of their functional scope and configuration interfaces, making them well suited to present two alternative approaches. Each vendor of Programmable Logic Controllers [PLC] provides an integrated development environment (IDE) for their specific PLC runtime hardware. Since PLCs required fast calculation of single bits, so-called application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) were used instead of general-purpose CPUs, which prevented simple simulation capability in the early 1970s. Yet, today most vendors provide an ease-to-use PLC simulation for testing purposes which can also be executed in a VM, e.g. PLCSimAdvanced by Siemens or CODESYS. 4.1

Exemplary Use Case: The Virtual Industrial Cybersecurity Lab

The author of [21] describes a project to learn about operational and informational technology in automation and actually manipulate the data of an industrial protocol like Modbus. The project architecture is based on several VMs

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which are executed on a real PC and a type-2-hypervisor. It is stated that one barrier to entering the field of industrial cybersecurity is the high cost associated with the hardware and software required, with virtualization being one way to overcome this barrier.

Type-2-Hypervisor VM pfsense

WAN

Windows 10 – Real PC

Internet

LAN - Host Only Network VM

VM

VM

local

OPENPLC

SCADABR

KALI Linux

Digital Twin

Fig. 2. Virtual industrial cybersecurity lab - system architecture

Each VM is connected by a so-called host-only network. Furthermore, a connection to the Internet is given using pfSense, a firewall/router software distribution. The PLC in combination with a digital representation of the industrial plant/machine, the digital twin, are the main components of the project. The PLC runtime is realized with the open source software OpenPLC Editor/Runtime as first described in [22]. The Runtime software allows PLC programs created with the OpenPLC Editor to be executed on various hardware platforms such as the popular Raspberry Pi. As shown in Table 1, common industrial PLC software requires a Windows operating system and far more RAM, CPU, and disk space than the open source software, whose runtime part is actually executable on an Arduino microcontroller and in virtual environments such as a VM or a container. In Fig. 2 the light blue filled boxes mark the components of the system architecture which have also been virtualized in the public cloud using containers, see [23–25]. A digital twin, dark blue box on the right, requires more resources depending on the simulated process and if e.g. a 2D or 3D-visualization of the plant/machine is required. Current industrial software applications for virtual commissioning using a digital twin are not yet suitable for container-based virtualization. However, virtualization is possible in a hypervisor-based VM if there are no additional requirements for 3D acceleration by the graphic card hardware, as is possible with WinMOD [26], a software specialized for virtual commissioning. In Chap. 6 these different aspects will be summarized. The concrete implementation of the example project in a public cloud is described next.

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Table 1. System Requirements for PLC Integrated Development Environments CODESYS IDE V3.5 Siemens Step 7 TIA Portal V16 OpenPLC Windows

Windows

Windows, Linux, MacOS

2.5 GHz CPU

3.4 GHz CPU

depends on hardware

8 GB RAM

16 GB RAM

depends on hardware

12 GB Disk space

50 GB Disk space

depends on hardware

5 5.1

Public Cloud Implementation Implementation with Azure Virtual Desktop

Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) by Microsoft is a cloud service that virtualizes Windows 10 desktop environments. It has been generally available since September 2019 and is marketed primarily to enterprise customers rather than individual users. As stated before, a virtual desktop infrastructure, or VDI, can be implemented in different ways, and AVD comes with prebuilt services that support the configuration and deployment of virtualized desktops. AVD fulfills such requirements as “provide platform-independent user remote access” and “use a preconfigured VM with all needed applications”. Other requirements it meets are referenced in [3]. With AVD, one can implement the described example and create VMs. However, the following description is to be understood as a general VDI solution where one can also create VMs or containers for other use cases as required. The planning stage began with considerations for what is known as a landing zone. The landing zone describes the setup of the required infrastructure, the goal is to take a holistic view rather than focusing on current use case–specific requirements. The “hub-and-spoke” architecture preferred by Microsoft was used, which ensures a stable and scalable basis for working in a hybrid environment, combining on-premise and public cloud infrastructure. A first step in Azure to separate different projects is to create what are known as resource groups. Each resource group contains the resources, such as virtual machines (VMs), virtual networks (VNETs), network security groups (NSGs), containers and so on, for a specific project or department (Fig. 3). The container instances shown were additionally configured outside the AVD using the Azure container services. The OpenPLC runtime web server was made publicly accessible via a web browser using a public IPv4 address. Due to space restrictions, we can explain only a few steps in detail, a total of 16 stages were implemented as the list below shows, including, e.g., a so-called golden master-image VM, identity management with Azure Active Directory and much more, to finally realize the requirements for an automatically scalable AVD Session Host Pool and container instances. Finally, please note that the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union applies, as the virtual servers are located in Europe.

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Fig. 3. AVD Hub-and-Spoke system architecture with containers

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 5.2

Create a landing zone Create resource groups Create VNETs and subnets Connect VNETs through peering Set up a storage account with FSLogix Create a domain controller Install Azure Active Directory (AD) Connect Configure Azure AD Connect and synchronize identities Create groups, users, and group policies Set up AVD golden master-image VM Install and configure AVD Admin and its application programming (API) communication Set up AVD hostpools, workspaces, and application groups Configure Azure storage accounts with AD authentication Configure FSLogix group policy object (GPO) Configure Azure file storage NTFS permissions for FSLogix Deploy AVD session hosts including complete life cycle Implementation with IONOS’ Data Center Designer

Unlike Azure AVD, IONOS’ so-called Data Center Designer(DCD) offers several built-in features that allow you to easily create your own hyperscaling concept— but you need to create that concept yourself. As indicated in 2015 by [27], open source cloud management platforms are available and standard management interfaces are defined, yet the technology is “...virtualization managment in the cloud is still in its infant days”. The virtualization in IONOS is based on a so-called kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) which is an integral part of Linux. KVM is a type-2 hypervisor and uses hardware-assisted paravirtualization which means that the guest

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OS (Windows, Linux, MacOS, etc.) interacts directly with the hypervisor and requires drivers specifically designed for it. A preliminary concept for the architecture is shown in Fig. 4, no further details are available yet.

6

Results and Discussion

The digital twin is a demanding component as it requires realtime fieldbus communication with the PLC for virtual commissioning. Yet, in education the realtime property may be neglected in special training environments. The entirely new system architecture with Azure AVD presented here is now dynamically scalable. Evaluation results on the practical use of virtual laboratories in real learning situations can already be read in [3]. PCs at home

Virtual Data Center Firewall pfSense

Admin VM

VNET

Admin VM

Domain Controller

Internet

On-premise PCs

Dynamic scalable Pool of user VMs

File

Manually created user VMs and containers

Virtual Deskop Infrastructure Management

Fig. 4. Preliminary system architecture with IONOS

The environment has yet to be tested with students, however this step is currently being prepared simultaneously with the didactic interventions using the design-based research approach, see [2]. The implementation in IONOS is currently in a planning phase and three options have been identified yet. One option is to create and manage a small number of VMs graphically in the DCD and start/stop the VMs manually. Next, a simple calendar management software can be developed to interact with the IONOS Cloud API and lastly, a proprietary or free virtual desktop infrastructure software can be used to manage the virtual infrastructure. The previously described technical challenges in VDI management from 2015 are still relevant today; topics such as scalability, monitoring,

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views, multi-cloud platforms and, of course, security have to be addressed themselves, which shows how extensive the process can be. Every virtualization option of each component of the virtual industrial security lab example is provided in the following Table 2. Table 2. Options using hypervisor-based or container-based virtualization

7

Component

Virtual machine

Container

Difficulty

Digital Twin

Yes, without 3D-acceleration No

PLC Runtime

Yes

Yes, open source easy

PLC Editor

Yes, with commercial IDEs

No

Human Machine Interface

Yes, with commercial IDEs

Yes, open source medium

medium easy

KALI “Attacker Machine” Yes

Yes

medium

pfsense “Firewall/router”

No

medium

Yes

Conclusion and Future Work

This paper gives an overview of advances in the development of a IT concept for virtual labs using virtualization and cloud computing technology. The IT concept is in a phase of market exploration and currently implements a virtual desktop infrastructure in different cloud service providers to get hands-on experience in the field. The price of the virtual hardware depends, among other things, on the number of vCPUs, RAM, HDD, etc. but especially on the performance of the graphics card. For this reason, resource-saving applications with simplified physics behavior of the digital twin, have an advantage over full physics simulations and can be virtualized much more cost-effectively. Direct support of graphic cards is still an issue in cloud computing and CAD applications or 3D computer games are at a disadvantage here. For future work, it is planned to do performance evaluations of the virtual lab environment regarding the PLC task cycle time and the digital twin calculation cycle time. Furthermore, a benchmark test following the DESMET method by [28] is also partially applicable. This research is funded as part of the program “Strengthening University Teaching through Digitization” via the “Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre” of the German federal and state governments [FBM2020-EA2700-07250].

References 1. Grieves, M.: Digital twin: mitigating unpredictable, undesirable emergent behavior in complex systems (Excerpt) 2. Dietz, M., Meissner, B., Goppelt, F., Schmidt-Vollus, R.: On the development of virtual labs using digital twins and a proposal for didactic optimization using design-based research. In: 2021 Fifth World Conference on Smart Trends in Systems Security and Sustainability (WorldS4). IEEE, pp. 186–191 (2021)

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3. Dietz, M., Meissner, B., Schmidt-Vollus, R.: Teaching digitalization and systems modeling for virtual commissioning using virtual labs. In: IEEE 29th International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE). IEEE 2020, pp. 440–445 (2020) 4. Dietz, M., Abebe, A., Lederer, J., Michl, T., Schmidt-Vollus, R.: Case study of a virtual lab environment using virtualization technologies and a desktop as a service model. In: Auer, M.E., Tsiatsos, T. (eds.) IMCL 2021. LNNS, vol. 411, pp. 799–811. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96296-8 72 5. Rolf Harms, M.Y.: The economics of the cloud (2010). https://news.microsoft. com/download/archived/presskits/cloud/docs/The-Economics-of-the-Cloud.pdf 6. Kratzke, N.: Cloud-native Computing: Software Engineering von Diensten und Applikationen f¨ ur die Cloud. Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH Co KG (2021) 7. Vacca, J.R.: Cloud Computing Security. CRC Press (2020) 8. Eder, M.: Hypervisor- vs. Container-based Virtualization. Ph.D. dissertation (2016) 9. Boettiger, C.: An introduction to Docker for reproducible research. ACM SIGOPS Oper. Syst. Rev. 49(1), 71–79 (2015) 10. Bellasi, P., Massari, G., Fornaciari, W.: Effective runtime resource management using linux control groups with the BarbequeRTRM framework. Ph.D. dissertation 11. Syed, M.H., Fernandez, E.B. (eds.) The Software Container Pattern, ser. Proceedings of Conference on Pattern Lang. of Program HILLSIDE (2015). https://hillside. net/plop/2015/papers/proceedings/papers/syed.pdf 12. Oracle. Hardware and software requirements for oracle solaris kernel zones (2005). https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E36784 01/html/E37629/gnwoi.html#scrolltoc 13. Baldassarre, M.T., Caivano, D., Dimauro, G., Gentile, E., Visaggio, G.: Cloud computing for education: a systematic mapping study. IEEE Trans. Educ. 61, 234–244 (2018) 14. Ma, J., Nickerson, J.V.: Hands-on, simulated, and remote laboratories. ACM Comput. Surv. 38(3), 7 (2006) 15. Saenz, J., de La Torre, L., Chacon Sombria, J., Dormido, S.: A study of strategies for developing online laboratories. IEEE Trans. Learn. Technol. 14, 777–787 (2022) 16. Qasem, Y.: Cloud computing adoption in higher education institutions: a systematic review 7, 63 722–63 744 (2019). https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ielx7/6287639/ 8600701/08712496.pdf?tp=&arnumber=8712496&isnumber=8600701&ref= 17. NCSU. The hist. of VCL. https://vcl.ncsu.edu/vcl-history/ 18. Averitt, S., et al.: Virtual computing laboratory. https://vcl.ncsu.edu/files/2015/ 09/VCL ICVCI May07.pdf 19. NCSU. Windows Application Access Now Backed by Microsoft’s Windows Virtual Desktop Service’. https://vcl.ncsu.edu/2020/09/16/windows-application-accessnow-backed-by-microsofts-windows-virtual-desktop/ 20. Schauer, F., Krbecek, M., Ozvoldova, M.: Controlling programs for remote experiments by easy remote ISES (ER-ISES). In: 2013 10th International Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation (REV). IEEE (2013) 21. Cantera, R.: Virtual Industrial Cybersecurity-Lab. https://rodrigocantera.com/ en/virtual-industrial-cybersecurity-part-0-road-to-virtualization/ 22. Rodrigues Alves, T., Buratto, M., de Souza, F.M., Rodrigues, T.V.: OpenPLC: An open source alternative to automation. In: IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC 2014). IEEE 2014, Piscataway, NJ, pp. 585–589 (2014) 23. Alves, T.: OpenPLC v3: OpenPLC Runtime version 3. https://github.com/ thiagoralves/OpenPLC v3 24. gamb1t. Using Kali Linux Docker Images. https://www.kali.org/docs/containers/ using-kali-docker-images/

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25. OpenPLC Forum. OpenPLC Scada BR with no hardware. https://openplc. discussion.community/post/openplc-scadabr-with-no-hardware-11618421 26. WinMOD GmbH. WinMOD for virtual commissioning-and more! https://www. winmod.de/english/ 27. Granville, L.Z., Esteves, R.P., Wickboldt, J.A.: Virtualization in the Cloud, ch. 2, pp. 23–47. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. (2015). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ abs/10.1002/9781119042655.ch2 28. Kitchenham, B., Linkman, S., Law, D.: Desmet: amethodology for evaluating software engineering methods and tools. Comput. Control Eng. J. 8, 120–126 (1997)

Perception Towards “Zoom” Live Lectures by Master’s Students of Sweden Ziyad Elbanna1 and Manuel Mazzara2(B) 1

2

Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden Innopolis University, Innopolis, Russian Federation [email protected]

Abstract. Zoom has become a powerful tool of online education in today’s society. Ensuring the quality of online education platforms has been a growing concern for the last several years. However, there is a lack of research in this field especially in relation to the perspectives of students. Hence, there is a need for more empirical research in this area. This study used qualitative methods to investigate the perception of master’s students of Sweden regarding their experience using Zoom in online education. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three students and the method of interpretation chosen was thematic analysis through an inductive approach. The findings of this study revealed that better interaction, improved brainstorming, and easier participation were the themes contributing to the benefits of Zoom over other applications like: Google meet, Skype and Microsoft teams for online lectures. The drawbacks of Zoom were misusing Zoom features, and limited space for taking notes. These findings can be used by instructors in the future to understand the perception of students and improve the use of Zoom education.

Keywords: Online learning

1

· Zoom

Introduction

Corona-virus disease (COVID-19) outbreak provided a lot of challenges for educational institutions [11]. After this pandemic, a significant shift from traditional learning to online learning occurred, which resulted in many types of research investigating the effect of such change on students [10]. Due to the spread of Covid-19, governments issued various policies like social distancing and isolation, especially in the case of a large number of gatherings, leaving institutions with no choice but using internet-based applications to continue delivering educational content and assignments for students. Serhan et al. point out in their research that: “Zoom software was the choice of many government agencies, universities, non-profit organizations, and individuals to teach online classes as an alternative to face-to-face ones” [14]. Zoom is a web-based video conferencing tool which provides high quality video, audio, and screen sharing. It has been used for virtual conferences, online lectures and c The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023  M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 587–598, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_56

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webinars. Professors and teachers can use the various features of Zoom to create interactive learning environments, that includes a virtual white board with annotation capacity to explain concepts, breakout rooms for creating small collaborative group work, polls for feedback, and chat to facilitate class discussions, to name just a few. In addition, zoom meetings can also be recorded and made available for future reference [14]. Zoom is one example of TMLs (Technology mediated learning systems) that emerged in the recent years, TMLs are environments at which students’ interactions with learning materials, and teachers are mediated through ICT (Information and communication technology) instead of traditional classroom teaching. Although many organizations and institutions use Zoom as means for delivering live course content to students, there is still very little empirical research in the personal experiences of students. A previous research was made by Tatravulea et al. [15] to study the effectiveness of the educational process when switching from traditional learning to online learning. Still, they state that their research study lacked in-depth empirical data about the facilitators and barriers of switching into online learning and that their research lack data about “personal experiences” that can be obtained using phenomenological research strategy [15]. Thus, it was essential to do more research on the student perception about Zoom to conclude what can be perceived as beneficial and challenging in this learning process from the perspective of students. There are many variables affecting the experience of students during Zoom lectures. 1.1

Research Problem

The introduction of hybrid-teaching learning models generally referred to as TMLs has resulted in a major shift from traditional learning to online learning [9]. The reason for this shift was not only because of the emersion of these tools but also due to the COVID-19 pandemic spread which pushed governments to issue various policies like social distancing and isolation, especially in the case of a large number of gatherings, leaving institutions with no choice but using TMLs to continue delivering educational content and assignments for students. Maqableh states that as a result, many types of research investigating the effect of such change on students were performed [10]. Zoom is one of the most used TMLs during the peak COVID-19 season and afterwards, Thats the main reason why Zoom is chosen as a narrow research area in this study. Mpungose argues that “Many lecturers found Zoom to be a useful platform to enhance effective and synchronous e-learning activities” [12]. However, there is a need for more empirical research in the field of online learning using TMLs as “the effect of the abrupt switch to online learning on students and education is not yet fully understood and further studies should be done” [4]. The study by Tartavulea states that the needs of online learners should be investigated. “Unified approaches at university levels helped ease the transition to online learning, by ensuring that the educational process continues with similar quality

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standards, by providing adequate technologies to instructors and students and by putting a strong emphasis on the learners and their needs.” The research study also lacked in-depth empirical data about “personal experiences” that can be obtained using phenomenological research strategy. Another study by Hamid recommends “to explore the topic of Zoom learning in a new study which uses rigorous data analysis methods” [8] Tatravulea’s research also states that in Europe, the European Commission (2020) emphasizes that “COVID-19 is reviving the need to explore online teaching and learning opportunities”. Therefore, to search for different perspectives in this field, like that of students, can be a valuable empirical contribution to comprehend better how these tools are perceived by students and to comprehend what are the benefits and challenges of using such tool. 1.2

Aim and Research Question

The aim of this study is to enter the space of the mostly used TML Zoom for online learning and explore what the benefits and challenges are presented to students with the use of such platforms for online classroom teaching in comparison to other TMLs. While most of the research found on this topic, mainly refers to the effects of the abrupt switching from traditional learning to online learning on students, this study intends to focus on the effects of Zoom application specifically and analyse the general ideas of advantages and disadvantages of using it to understand the desirability of Zoom and how it can be improvised. To limit the scope of this study, the perspectives that will be taken are the ones from the master’s students only. Although this can be asserted as a limitation, because the use of Zoom is not only limited to master’s students but also to all levels of education. Hence, the proposed question will be: How are Zoom live lectures experienced by master’s students of Sweden? The question can be dissected into two sub-questions that represent the aim of the study: What are the challenges of using Zoom as a TML for live lectures? What are the benefits of using Zoom as a TML for live lectures? 1.3

Delimitations of the Study

The main delimitation for this study is that it will be delimited to “live” lectures given by professors of higher education to computer science master’s students of KTH, Karolinska, and Stockholm Universities in Stockholm, Sweden. The participants will be delimited to computer science field as its the field which mostly deals with online lectures and deliverables like projects and assignments unlike other fields which need more FTF meetings. The study also focuses on lectures containing about 30–100 students in a virtual classroom, groups containing a number more that 100 or 3 less than 30 students are excluded. Since online education have many forms like: live lectures, recorded lectures, BSLE environments, only live lectures will be included in this study and the rest will

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not be a part of our study, also the main participants will be master’s students from KTH, Karolinska, and Stockholm universities only. The choice was made, taking into consideration the importance of grasping the perspective of higher education computer science (Master’s) students about Zoom but also the limited resources and time available for collection of data.

2 2.1

Method Research Strategy

A strategy is how we plan actions to achieve the goals or results that we need [6]. When we write about the research strategy, we explain how we are going to plan our actions to achieve the data which we are doing the research study for. This present study focused on how higher education students perceived using digital platforms such as Zoom in online learning during COVID-19 season and whether it is a suitable type of classroom to substitute the normal teaching method in the future. There is no single strategy that can be recommended ‘best’ in all circumstances, we firstly must decide whether its feasible, suitable and ethical [6]. Due to the aims and research question of this study, different strategies might seem to apply such as: Phenomenology, Grounded theory, Survey, and Experiments. In fact, many previous researches investigated the perception of different users about online learning platforms and TMLs such as Google meet, Skype and Zoom by using survey strategy, the strategy that is best suited when the study needs to assess the perception of a large number of people. Still, there is a lack of in-depth data which can be gathered using phenomenological strategy. A phenomenological approach concentrates its efforts on the kind of human experiences that helps us to gain in-depth knowledge and data from the participants which is currently lacking as stated by Tartavulea et al. Experimental strategy is excluded from this research due to the time and resource limitation in this course. Moreover, grounded theory analyses the empirical data to develop some theories where theories are lacking. Thus, this method is rejected as it doesnot align with the aim of this research strategy. By comparing different strategies together, its concluded that the most beneficial, and suitable strategy for the study is phenomenology. 2.2

Data Collection Method

To answer the previously presented question: How are Zoom live lectures experienced by master’s students of Sweden? One should propose an open and flexible method where the participants can engage with their experiences and emotions. For this reason, this study is based on a qualitative data collection method, where the data collection method of choice is semi-structured interviews. The data collection method chosen for this study is semi-structured interviews. The main reason for choosing this method is to engage with the higher

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education students and to obtain deeper knowledge of their feelings, emotions, experiences and opinions [6] about the usage of Zoom application to receive lectures from their teachers. This method offers the possibility to have some structured questions. Still, it also permits open-ended answers that can restructure the question posed. This can also reflect a deeper approach to answers and outcomes of the interview. However according to Denscombe, the disadvantages of this method is that it cant be representative. Interviews provided us with in-depth and detailed information about the experience of students using Zoom for attending lectures, which is a good source of insights. The questions of the interviews will primarily focus on the topic of Zoom lectures, continuing with some personal questions about the experience and different opinions regarding this method of learning. Semi-structured interviews are chosen as both interviewer and the interviewee can have freedom of thoughts, this data collection method was previous done by [8] and [7] in their research. Structured interviews are not used because they are mostly the domain of quantitative survey design as the questions are close ended, our research is qualitative, hence this approach is avoided. Unstructured interviews are also avoided as they produce large amount of text which is difficult to analyse and they are time consuming and require a skilled interviewer, thus due to the time limitations of the research study, this method will be avoided. Finally, after comparing the strengths and weaknesses of each method and due to the time and resources limitations that we are currently experiencing, observations method will be rejected and the data collection method will be limited collection method to interviews. Face-to-face interviews will be conducted instead of online interviews as the body language and facial expressions will be more clearly identified and understood, and because the ability to meet the selected students is available. 2.3

Participants

The participants in this research are the students of Computer Science Master’s programme at the Department of Computer Science at KTH Royal institute of technology in Stockholm. Convenience sampling was used for the data selection strategy, this means that from a large group of students currently enrolled in the Master’s programme, a ‘first to hand’ sampling method was applied [6]. This choice was made depending on the easy accessibility of these students to the researcher. The drawback of this method is that it might not give us all the necessary input, because the choice was made by the convenience of the researcher. Hence, the purpose of saturation was not achieved, because a sample only three students in a population of more than hundred students, we cannot reassure that further data collection is unnecessary. Due to the time constraints of this research, the researcher conducted interviews with only three students. If the time frame was not limited, more participants could have been chosen using snowball sampling, where the participant would refer the researcher to other participants, nominating others to be

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included [6]. In this case, the results could be considered more accurate as more participants would take part in the research. 2.4

Data Analysis Method

The data analysis method applied in this study is thematic analysis. According to Braun, this method procides a useful and flexible research tool, which can potentially provide a detailed and rich, yet complex, account of data [3]. The data is collected using semi-structured interviews then analyzed by encoding themes and comparing them. According to Braune and Clarke guidelines, data is analysed in six phases. In phase one, we start by getting familiarised with the interview by transcribing audio, reading through text and taking initial notes. In the second phase, we do initial coding. Codes identify a feature of the data that appears interesting to the researcher, and refer to “the most basic segment, or element, of the raw data or information that can be assessed in a meaningful way regarding the phenomenon” [3]. In this research this will be done by highlighting text that summarizes positive and negative experiences while using Zoom Application. After that in phase three, we start generating themes, themes are patterns identified among several codes which are done by combining different codes to form an overarching theme [3]. In the research, lets say we have two codes that discuss time management and study-pace flexibility respectively, combining them together will introduce a pattern which is the theme of these two codes, which is flexibility. Then we review themes and construct relations between them in phase four. Next, themes are named by identifying their principle aspects. In phase 6, a report is created to further explain and elicit the themes formed. To compile text into themes, Atlas.TI was used as a software tool. This method is described and performed in a previous research by [5]. 2.5

Research Ethics

In qualitative research, ethics are an essential part. Participants need to ensure that the researchers have behaved ethically. This means that when conducting the research, we will take into consideration all the guidelines to prevent any ethical manners. As Denscombe [6] stated: “the four essential principles for the research practices are to protect all the interests of the participants, ensure that each participant is voluntary and based on the informed consent, to avoid deception and to operate with scientific integrity and comply with the laws of the land.” In our research study, everything will be fulfilled. Before the interviews, we are going to send consent forms to each participant, where essential information is given, like the aim of the research, participant anonymity, and the right to not participate. There are no ethical risks with our research, and there is no legal issue, as the participants remain anonymous as well as the answers.

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593

Results Data Collection and Analysis

The first step of data collection was booking a day for interviewing each participant. Face-to-face interviews were chosen as body language will be more clearly identified and understood, and because there was a chance to meet the selected students. The interviews were booked on a course of one week, one interview per day. The duration of the interviews were approximately 30 min, and notes were taken to describe the body language of the interviewees. Since the time to conduct, transcribe, and analyze interviews were short, only four participants were chosen for conducting the interview. More interviews would have been conducted if there was more time available, which would have resulted in more data to analyze and fewer limitations and biases for the research. All interviews were conducted face-to-face after meeting with the participants in the KTH university in Stockholm. All of them were audio-recorded and transcribed using Rev.ai tools. After transcribing the interviews, the transcript was then revised and the final transcript was rewritten. The nationality, name, and university of students were anonymized so that the identity of the students remains anonymous. The next step was to do the analysis of the transcription. The analysis method used was the thematic analysis using Atlas.ti cloud service. Different paragraphs were summarised which describe the contents of the paragraphs then chunks of texts that have the same meaning were used to form “codes”. Next, different patterns were identified and grouped together to form “themes”. Themes are groups of codes joined together. The above steps were done as follows: Firstly, a new project was created in Atlas.TI web application. Then codes were generated from paragraphs, recall that codes are important sections in the paragraph which highlight their content. After that, patterns among different codes were identified and themes were created. The below picture show how the codes are created. 3.2

Findings

Themes were created based on different patterns of codes. Different themes can be divided into two clusters. Since the research question to be answered was: What are the benefits and challenges of using Zoom for live lectures?, the themes can be divided into: positive experiences, and negative experiences. The themes corresponding to the positive experiences are: Ease of participation, improved brainstorming, and better interaction. On the other hand, the themes corresponding to the negative experiences are: security concerns, and space limit for notes. Although there were many interesting topics and themes approached during the interviews, the five themes selected try to compile the benefits and challenges of using Zoom in relation to the interviewees experiences. All the themes include the transcription of the interviews, through this the importance of each theme can be analysed.

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The findings can be divided into two clusters: Positive experiences/ benefits, and negative experiences/ challenges. Positive experiences and benefits: 1. Ease of participation All three participants agreed to the easy process of joining Zoom online lectures which doesnot require passwords. One of the most helpful features which Zoom offers to the participants is the ability to join without having to waste time on creating an account to join .. this saves alot of time when I have to attend a lecture (Interviewee, 26, KTH university). The second interviewee states that Zoom has an advantage over other TMLs in saving time, as other applications like Google Meet, Skype, and Webex require a password for joining lectures. (...) I experienced alot of TMLs throughout my college years after COVID in my master’s and in my bachelor’s, Zoom has a very useful feature which saves the time of creating an account to participate in lectures. You can participate immediately by the press of a button, this however has some disadvantages ... (Interviewee, 27, KTH university). The third interviewee further explains that if a teacher want to speed up the administrative process, he can do some adjustments to manage meeting comprising a hundred or more students. Its so easy to join lectures, as no registration is required.. Also if the teacher want to speed up the administrative process for students to participate in the lectures, they can opt to disable the password protection feature.. This is useful for meeting comprising 100 or more students (Interviewee, 25, KTH university). 2. Improved brainstorming Zoom has alot of added features which developers add to ease the process of learning to students and teachers, one of the features is a collaborative whiteboard which allows students to collaboratively brainstorm. (...) I dont know if this extension is added in other applications or not, but alot of teachers explain the lecture on a physical white board, but Zoom has added a collaborative whiteboard which made this unnecessary. It’s very helpful to both students and the teacher.. (Interviewee, 27, KTH university). Another interviewee stated that this feature helped him to explain a question to the teacher, and also helped the teacher to brainstorm. When I ask a teacher about something I don’t understand and I wait for his feedback, I usually expect him to brainstorm the question on the whiteboard which is what he actually does on Zoom .. (Interviewee,26, KTH university). Participants also perceived the chat in Zoom application as an easy way to introduce their questions to the teacher and not forgetting about them. Um, And of course the chat in classrooms, you don’t have, uh, uh, this option and you have to, um, stop the lecture and, uh, make your question, whereas in chat, the lecturer can, uh, choose when to get the questions. And you can write the questions there and not forget about them (Interviewee, 25, KTH university).

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3. Easier interaction Another iconic feature of Zoom application which helped ease the process of education for teachers is the gallery view for a large group of students. The interviewees state the this is very useful when the teacher wants to interact with all the students and want the cameras to be on and the mic unmuted. I experienced most of video conferencing platforms, but Zoom has a useful feature which enables the user to toggle between the active speaker and the gallery view. Other applications dont offer this feature (Interviewee, 26, KTH university). In one of the lectures, the teacher wanted to interact with all of us and ask random questions to many users, o he used the gallery view feature to ask random people questions (Interviewee, 25, KTH university). Zoom has helped the process of educating students by adding alot of extra features that some applications dont have. One interviewee states that these features helped improve the communication between the students and the teacher. I like how Zoom has added the emoji of “Raise hand” and Uh, I like using the emoji with the symbols. The reactions, uh, that makes, makes it, um, uh, easier to interact with eachothers and with the teacher. (Interviewee, 25, KTH university). Negative experiences and challenges: 1. Misusing Zoom features Compared to other TMLs, Zoom had a disadvantage when the host disable the password protection feature, people who arenot invited to the Zoom lectures can easily enter. (...) This also have some disadvantages, some lectures might be private and some online meeting can be done to 5–10 students, but the feature of easily participating in a lecture has also its disadvantages which is that it allows anyone with the appropriate link to enter the meeting (Interviewee, 25, KTH university). In one of the meetings, the teacher wanted only 5 students to participate using a lik he shared .. alot of people didnot obey the instructions and many people used the link to attend the lecture .. this forced himm to use password protection lectures. (Interviewee, 27, KTH university). 2. Limited space for notes The white board offered by Zoom does not have large space to fit all the material that the teacher wants to explain. Several interviewees complained about this issue. When teachers run out of space in the white board, everything has to be erased, teachers cannot shift to another section of a white board or create a second white board to continue writing (Interviewee, 26, KTH university). If a student scrolls away from Zoom screen’s original position, the notes on the screen do not move along with the content that is being shared. Therefore, notes and markings have to be erased before the lesson continues. (Interviewee, 25, KTH university). These themes provided an answer for the research questions: What are the benefits, and what are challenges of using Zoom as an online learning application?.

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At the end of each interview, each participant was asked to evaluate the overall experience of Zoom online education, their answer was “excellent”. This answer implies that the participants were very satisfied with using Zoom in the context of online education.

4 4.1

Discussion Analysis of the Results

The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of master’s students in relation to Zoom live lectures. Through the gathering then using thematic analysis, five themes were generated; three describing the positive student experiences, and two describing the negative experiences using Zoom. The findings of this research were similar to other researches. Convenience, Better interaction, and brainstorming were reported in previous studies as the strengths of Zoom online education [1,2,14,14,16]. Agarwal findings also stated that Zoom online sessions helped students to better organize their time and that the material was very easy to access and the student participated in the lectures easily (2020). On the other hand, other themes contributing to negative student experiences can be found in similar research studies. Moore & Howland findings were the same as ours, they stated that the privacy of open Zoom lectures was a critical issue of Zoom online education (2002). Hassan argued that Zoom challenges can be addressed for future improvements, these challenges included technical faults of Zoom and time limitation of lectures (2020) [16]. The result analysis show that participants preferred Zoom as the online learning tool due to the presence of features that helped ease the process of education for the teachers and students. The quality of the communication between instructors and participants was good, this helped them share knowledge among each others. Instruction and teaching discussion posting was effective, participants used Zoom’s white board to brainstorm questions and post answers. The analysis also show that in the process of Zoom online education, the instructor plays a key role. Not only because he “faces” the students directly, but also because more responsibility is put on his shoulders like motivating students, and improve the quality of his teaching. Through the themes one can perceive the benefits and challenges of using Zoom in the education process. And as one of the participants reflect on: “I think this topic has not been explored as it should be by academics, and researchers” Hence to the research question presented: How are Zoom live lectures experienced by master’s students? the simplified answer is that Zoom is perceived as an important tool for education. However, there are some challenges when using Zoom which can be addressed for an effective use of the tool for education. The themes of the benefits and challenges of using Zoom serve as an answer to both research questions dissected from the main question. The result analysis show that CS Master’s students of Sweden are interested in the topic of Zoom for online education and the results obtained can add value to the field, contributing with the future experts experiences and opinions.

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The limitations of this study can be compromised in the small size of the sample, which might affect results making them unreliable and less generalizable due to the bias induced by ‘convenience sampling’. Atlas.ti was used in the analysis phase to ensure results were reliable. Another limitation to be considered is that the study only focused on master’s students at which a small number of people attend Zoom lecture, between 30–100 students, which may also affect the results. 4.2

Future Research

This study aims to show how CS master’s students of Sweden see the presence and usage of Zoom for education. Due to the limitations of time and resources, only three interviews were conducted for this specific study, further research is needed to battle the biases and limitations of this research. A randomized, prospective, large-scale interventional study could be of great benefit, not only in describing the perception of Zoom online lectures in a more reliable and credible way, but also in offering insights about the long term implications of Zoom use for online education. The future research strategy which could be used is Experiments and the data collection method which could be used is Observations. Future research could be performed through surveys and questionnaires, which would give quantitative data to support the findings, and will increase the credibility of the research [6]. 4.3

Conclusion

Research in the field of online education and its effect on students and society is very limited, more empirical research is needed to comprehend the effect and different perspective and uses [4,8,13,15]. The main findings of this study shows that students perceive Zoom as an important platform for education. Easier participation, better brainstorming, easier interaction, and the overall evaluation of students for Zoom are presented as pillars to better understand how Zoom is perceived by the students. Due to the small size of participants in this research study, the contributions and implications for the scientific community can be limited. Nevertheless, this study can be perceived as guidelines to future research. The presented literature, and the experiences of students show the importance of this area of research.

References 1. Adewole-Odeshi, E.: Attitude of students towards e-learning in South-West Nigerian universities: an application of technology acceptance model. DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 2. Agarwal, S., Kaushik, J.S.: Student’s perception of online learning during Covid pandemic. Indian J. Pediatr. 87(7), 554–554 (2020)

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3. Braun, V., Clarke, V.: Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual. Res. Psychol. 3(2), 77–101 (2006) 4. Burgess, S., Sievertsen, H.H.: Schools, skills, and learning: the impact of Covid-19 on education. VoxEu.org 1(2) (2020) 5. Castleberry, A., Nolen, A.: Thematic analysis of qualitative research data: is it as easy as it sounds? Curr. Pharm. Teach. Learn. 10(6), 807–815 (2018) 6. Denscombe, M.: The Good Research Guide: For Small-Scale Social Research Projects. Open University Press (2017) 7. Ganesha, P., Nandiyanto, A.B., Razon, B.C.: Application of online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic through zoom meeting at elementary school. Indonesian J. Teach. Sci. 1(1), 1–8 (2021) 8. Hamid, S.M.: Online digital platforms during Covid-19 in EFL classes: visual impairment student’ perception. ETERNAL (Engl. Teach. Learn. Res. J.) 6(2), 328 (2020) 9. Joia, L.A., Lorenzo, M.: Zoom in, zoom out: the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the classroom. Sustainability 13(5), 2531 (2021) 10. Maqableh, M., Alia, M.: Evaluation online learning of undergraduate students under lockdown amidst Covid-19 pandemic: The online learning experience and students’ satisfaction. Child Youth Serv. Rev. 128, 106160 (2021) 11. Mazzara, M., et al.: Education after Covid-19. In: Smart and Sustainable Technology for Resilient Cities and Communities (2022) 12. Mpungose, C.B.: Lecturers’ reflections on use of zoom video conferencing technology for e-learning at a South African University in the context of coronavirus. Afr. Identities 1–17 (2021) 13. Roy, H., Ray, K., Saha, S., Ghosal, A.K.: A study on students’ perceptions for online zoom-app based flipped class sessions on anatomy organised during the lockdown period of Covid-19 epoch. J. Clin. Diagn. Res. (2020) 14. Serhan, D.: Transitioning from face-to-face to remote learning: students’ attitudes and perceptions of using zoom during Covid-19 pandemic. Int. J. Technol. Educ. Sci. 4(4), 335–342 (2020) 15. Tartavulea, C.V., Albu, C.N., Albu, N., Dieaconescu, R.I., Petre, S.: Online teaching practices and the effectiveness of the educational process in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Amfiteatru Econ. 22(55), 920 (2020). https://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro 16. Hassan, W.A.S., et al.: Students’ perceptions of using zoom meet webinar during Covid-19 pandemic in technical and vocational education. J. Crit. Rev. 7, 19 (2020)

Advances in Machine and Technology Enhanced Learning

Studying the Spread of COVID-19 and Its Impact on E-learning: From a Deep Learning Perspective Hosam F. El-Sofany1,2 and M. Samir Abou El-Seoud3(B) 1 King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

[email protected]

2 Computer Science and Management, Cairo Higher Institute for Engineering, Cairo, Egypt 3 Faculty of Informatics and Computer, British University in Egypt (BUE), Cairo, Egypt

[email protected]

Abstract. COVID-19 is a respiratory infectious disease caused by a recently discovered Coronavirus. Since December 2019 and as of October 8, 2020, about 36.6 million (36,625,199) confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been registered globally by the WHO, with more than 1 million (1,063,780) deaths. This paper investigates statistically the spread of COVID-19 disease, which became a killer pandemic in Saudi Arabia. We demonstrate that the low apparent Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) (i.e., mortality rate) observed in Saudi Arabia, as compared with other countries, is strongly proportional to the number of infection cases. To present an effective statistical analysis of the end of COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers used the present evaluation of the Infection Fatality Ratio (IFR) of the COVID-19 reported until September 2020, depending on the reported CFR obtained from the Ministry of Health. The proposed analysis shows more realistic evaluations of the actual range of the deceased as well as more precise factors of how rapidly the infection spreads. The study demonstrates the more powerful elements causing the seriousness of the COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia. Finally, the researchers use the mortality number collected through the last seven months to predict both the overall number of infections and the period in which the infection will end in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The researchers presented the effect of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the E-learning sector in the KKU and BUE universities and the period in which the infection will end. Deep learning (DL) is a potentially powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tool in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper also addressed this issue and answered the question: can deep learning technology be used to early screen COVID-19 patients from their computed tomography (CT) images and what is the accuracy of this diagnostic tool. Keywords: Coronaviruses · COVID-19 · Epidemic in Saudi Arabia · Case fatality Ratio · Infection fatality ratio

1 Introduction Coronavirus is a member of a big group of RNA viruses that result in either common cold or killer diseases. Coronavirus was discovered in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. The © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 601–613, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_57

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WHO has settled for the name “COVID-19” for the infection caused by the coronavirus. According to the WHO, as of October 8, 2020, 36,625,199 infected cases have been confirmed (i.e., COVID-19 infection suspected cases with laboratory confirmation), with about 27 million recovered cases (27,553,880) and 1,063,780 deaths of COVID19 worldwide [1]. In Saudi Arabia, there were 338,132 confirmed, 323,769 recovered, and 4,972 deaths cases, while in Egypt, a neighboring country to Saudi Arabia, there were 104,035 confirmed, 97,492 recovered, and 6,010 deaths cases. Although almost all the initial cases have been recorded in China, COVID-19 has spread to 211 other countries. While nearly all cases have been linked to respiratory system problems and fever (shortness of breath, coughing, and pneumonia), subclinical or mild cases cannot be ruled out [2]. Nevertheless, not enough information is given about COVID-19 to provide final deductions about the disease spreading rate, medical demonstration, or how vast the spread is. The death rate in Saudi Arabia represents 0.48% of the global mortality rate; however, this number might change as a result of the growing number of cases and affected patients. The challenges in containing the pandemic continue to be difficult to assess. The new viral infection of COVID-19 is considered the most highly critical emergency in the 21st century worldwide. This has the ultimate ability in bringing down social and economic systems and industries and changing our lifestyles in the future. This paper focuses on the epidemic caused by COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia and presents the evolutionary stages of the virus that are different from those identified in other countries. With the rapid development of AI and digital image processing technologies, most researchers have applied these recent concepts in the medical domain, including image improvement and repair, image segmentation, and providing support for primary medical diagnosis. The Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) as a DL technology has a strong ability for nonlinear modeling and has extensive applications in medical image processing. In this research, a CNN model is used to classify CT image datasets and calculate the infection probability of COVID-19. The results might greatly assist in the early checking of patients with COVID-using deep learning technique.

2 Coronaviruses Overview Coronavirus is a family of viruses identified in China in 2019 that can cause respiratory tract infections that lead to common colds or more deadly infections like SARS and MERS. The stated symptoms of coronavirus are difficulty breathing, fever, dry throat, runny nose, and cough. On March 11, 2020, the WHO described COVID-19 as an outbreak of pandemic infection. COVID-19 is rapidly outspreading worldwide. The coronavirus genome is made up of approximately 30,000 basic nucleotides [3]. The researchers have used data from many sources including the Ministry of Health, COVID-19 Command and Control Center, the National Health Emergency Operation Center, and WHO’s databases that are collected from the last scientific findings of the international multilingual sources and knowledge on COVID-19 [2, 6]. This collected database shows inclusive multilingual sources of the present literature on the subject that is updated daily. Data analysis and histograms were performed using IBM SPSS version 16.0 for Windows. The frequency of infection cases of the COVID-19 and the fatality ratio was gathered. The statistical analyses of demographic, laboratory and

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clinical descriptive data were tabulated. Descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviation, and correlation were used to identify the age of the patients, duration of illness, and laboratory test results [4, 5].

3 The Case Fatality Ratio for Coronavirus in Saudi Arabia KSA confirmed its first case on March 2, 2020, being a Saudi citizen coming back from Iran through Bahrain. The COVID-19 epidemic is rapidly expanded across Saudi Arabia but particularly targeted the following cities and regions: Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Madinah, Dammam, Al Hufof, Qatif, Al-Jubail, Al Khobar, Taif, Baisha, Ad Diriyah, Hadda, Al Mubarraz, Yanbu, Najran, Al Jafr, and Mahayel Asir. These regions are the most important and richest in Saudi Arabia regarding their population, agriculture, industries, and commerce transaction. Riyadh topped the list of Saudi cities in terms of cases, recording 21,263 cases out of 89,011 cases in the Kingdom since the beginning of the pandemic until June 3, 2020. Makkah came in second with 15,895 infected cases—according to the coronavirus statistics on the MOH website—then Jeddah 15,156, Medina 9668, Dammam 5747, AlHofuf 3881, Al-Jubail 2753, Khobar 1982, Taif 1782, Qatif 1071, and Baisha 799. The MOH announced at the date of writing the article that 1869 new infections of coronavirus were recorded, making a total value of 89,011 cases confirmed cases in KSA so far, while declaring the recovery of 1484 cases, bringing the total recovered to 65,790 cases, and 24 new deaths, bringing the total deaths to 549. The MOH issued a complete guide about COVID-19 disease, to present methods of prevention and the necessary precautions for controlling this virus. The guide published in several languages through the ministry’s educational platform includes important advice for the elderly, diabetics, hypertensive patients, and cardiovascular patients, as well as people with chest and respiratory illnesses, those with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), kidney patients, cancer patients, pregnant and lactating women, and those with weak immunity due to obesity. It introduces them to dealing with the symptoms and to what should be done to protect these most dangerous groups of coronavirus infection. The guide presents the identification of health-launched electronic applications and the mechanism to benefit from them, in addition to the answers to the most common questions among people. Table 1 represents the cumulative record of COVID-19 infection in KSA (from June to September 2020) [2]. The authors collected and analyzed the presented data in Tables 1, from the Saudi MOH, COVID-19 Command and Control Center, and the National Health Emergency Operation Center. The term “Confirmed case” is a case that went through laboratory confirmation of the coronavirus infection. The term “Recovered case” means a previously confirmed case with either of the following: • For symptomatic patients (i.e., 10 days after the appearance of symptoms, plus at least 3 days without symptoms (e.g., without fever and respiratory infections) or 3 days without symptoms and one negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test). • For asymptomatic patients (i.e., remaining asymptomatic for 10 days after testing positive).

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H. F. El-Sofany and M. S. Abou El-Seoud Table 1. The cumulative record of COVID-19 infection in Saudi Arabia.

No.

Date

Total confirmed cases

Active cases

Total recovered

Total deaths

Total critical cases

No. of CFR% cities having at least one case

1

6/6/2020

98869

26402

71791

676

1484

173

0.68

2

7/6/2020

101914

28385

72817

712

1564

175

0.70

3

8/6/2020

105383

30013

74524

746

1632

176

0.71

4

9/6/2020

108571

31449

76339

783

1681

178

0.72

5

10/6/2020

112288

33515

77954

819

1693

180

0.73

6

11/6/2020

116021

35145

80019

857

1738

183

0.74

7

12/6/2020

119942

38020

81029

893

1820

185

0.74

8

13/6/2020

123308

39828

82548

932

1843

185

0.76

9

14/6/2020

127541

41849

84720

972

1855

186

0.76

10

15/6/2020

132048

43147

87890

1011

1897

186

0.77

11

16/6/2020

136315

45723

89540

1052

1910

187

0.77

12

17/6/2020

141234

48481

91662

1091

1859

187

0.77

13

18/6/2020

145991

50937

93915

1139

1877

187

0.78

14

19/6/2020

150292

53344

95764

1184

1949

189

0.79

15

20/6/2020

154233

54086

98917

1230

1955

189

0.80

16

21/6/2020

157612

55215

101130

1267

2027

189

0.80

17

22/6/2020

161005

54523

105175

1307

2045

189

0.81

18

23/6/2020

164144

52913

109885

1346

2122

194

0.82

19

24/6/2020

167267

53083

112797

1387

2129

195

0.83

20

25/6/2020

170639

51329

117882

1428

2206

195

0.84

21

26/6/2020

174577

52632

120471

1474

2273

195

0.84

22

27/6/2020

178504

54865

122128

1511

2283

195

0.85

23

30/6/2020

190823

58408

130766

1649

2278

195

0.86

24

1/7/2020

194225

59767

132760

1698

2272

197

0.87

25

2/7/2020

197608

58187

137669

1752

2287

197

0.89

26

3/7/2020

201801

59385

140614

1802

2291

198

0.89

27

5/7/2020

209509

62357

145236

1916

2283

198

0.91

28

6/7/2020

213716

62114

149634

1968

2254

199

0.92

29

7/7/2020

217108

60252

154839

2017

2268

199

0.93 (continued)

Studying the Spread of COVID-19 and Its Impact on E-learning

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Table 1. (continued) No.

Date

Total confirmed cases

Active cases

Total recovered

Total deaths

Total critical cases

No. of CFR% cities having at least one case

30

8/7/2020

220144

60035

158050

2059

2263

200

0.94

31

9/7/2020

223327

60131

161096

2100

2225

199

0.94

32

10/7/2020

226486

61309

163026

2151

2220

200

0.95

33

11/7/2020

229480

61903

165396

2181

2230

200

0.95

34

12/7/2020

232259

62898

167138

2223

2245

200

0.96

35

13/7/2020

235111

63026

169842

1143

2235

200

0.49

36

14/7/2020

237803

57960

177560

2283

2230

201

0.96

37

16/7/2020

243238

53246

187622

2370

2206

201

0.97

38

23/7/2020

260394

44269

213490

2635

2170

202

1.01

39

31/7/2020

275905

37381

235658

2866

2033

203

1.04

40

1/8/2020

277478

37043

237548

2887

2016

203

1.04

41

6/8/2020

284226

34082

247089

3055

1922

204

1.07

42

7/8/2020

285793

33752

248948

3093

1892

204

1.08

43

8/8/2020

287262

33692

250440

3130

1828

204

1.09

44

10/8/2020

289947

33270

253478

3199

1824

204

1.10

45

16/8/2020

298542

28181

266953

3408

1774

205

1.14

46

17/8/2020

299914

28093

268385

3436

1758

205

1.15

47

18/8/2020

301323

24942

272911

3470

1716

205

1.15

48

19/8/2020

303973

24949

275476

3548

1682

205

1.17

49

26/8/2020

310836

22136

284945

3755

1601

205

1.21

50

30/8/2020

314821

21284

289667

3870

1545

205

1.23

51

2/9/2020

317486

21020

292510

3956

1523

205

1.25

52

3/9/2020

318319

20373

293964

3982

1495

205

1.25

53

5/9/2020

319932

20041

295842

4049

1470

205

1.27

54

9/9/2020

323012

19881

298966

4165

1470

206

1.29

55

23/9/2020

331359

13004

313786

4569

1095

206

1.38

56

24/9/2020

331857

12465

314793

4599

1090

206

1.39

57

25/9/2020

332329

12068

315636

4625

1043

206

1.39

58

27/9/2020

333193

11505

317005

4683

1032

206

1.41 (continued)

606

H. F. El-Sofany and M. S. Abou El-Seoud Table 1. (continued)

No.

Date

Total confirmed cases

Active cases

Total recovered

Total deaths

Total critical cases

No. of CFR% cities having at least one case

59

28/9/2020

333648

11090

317846

4712

1034

206

1.41

60

30/9/2020

334605

10683

319154

4768

993

206

1.42

The term “Active cases” is calculated as “Active cases = Total confirmed – Total recovered – Total deaths”. The term “Deaths” refers to the death resulting from clinical illness in a confirmed case of COVID-19 unless another clear cause of death is present. On March 2, 2020, the Saudi government announced its first confirmed infection case of coronavirus who was a Saudi citizen coming from the Islamic Republic of Iran through Bahraini transit. The Kingdom announced the appearance of a second case, an associate of the first infected case, who arrived from the Kingdom of Bahrain without pointing out his recent visit to Iran (March 4, 2020). The Saudi MOH then reported three new cases of COVID-19: two couples who returned from the Iranian lands through the State of Kuwait and a second associate of the last infected individuals (March 5, 2020). The MOH confirmed 17 recent coronavirus infections, making the overall count in KSA 103 cases on March 14, 2020. The next day, it announced 15 new cases, which increased the total cases to 118 (March 15, 2020). The MOH recorded 154 recent infections of coronavirus, scoring a total of 1453 cases on March 29, 2020. On the same day, King Salman ordered free treatment to all COVID-19 patients, without any regard to the status of their visa or “iqama”. On March 30th , the Saudi authorities announced that the total COVID-19 infections were raised to reach 1563. On the first of April, 157 recent infections were registered, raising the total count to 1720 coronavirus cases. 99 recoveries and 6 deaths cases were also registered. The total count of affirmed coronavirus infections exceeded 10,000 by April 20, 2020. The total number of confirmed cases exceeded 22,000 as 1351 new cases were reported. Seventeen percent of the confirmed infected cases were of a Saudi nationality and 83% were immigrants (April 30, 2020). On the first of May, the overall count of confirmed infections exceeded 24,000 as 1344 new coronavirus cases were registered of an overall count of 24,097 positive cases. The total count of infections increased to be 62,000 with 33,478 recoveries, 636,178 tests, and 339 deaths (May 20, 2020). The overall confirmed infections exceeded 80,000 where the Kingdom took the first step of reopening on June 21, 2020 to try and get back to normal in all Saudi regions apart from Mecca. On June 3rd , the total count of positive confirmed COVID-19 infections exceeded 90,000, plus a recovery value of 74% denoting 68,159 recovered individuals. The overall count of confirmed infections was 141,234 with 4919 recent infections, where 2371 infections were found in Riyadh city (June 17, 2020).

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On July 3rd , the total count of coronavirus positive infections exceeded 200,000 with 140,614 recoveries and 1802 deaths. On July 14, 2020, Saudi Arabia recorded the highest number of recoveries of 7718 cases versus 2692 recent infections. On October 8th , the Kingdom recorded 338,132 confirmed cases (the highest infection rate in the Gulf countries) [11].

Fig. 1. CFR% of several countries until 20 August.

4 The IFR for Coronavirus in KSA The IFR% of COVID-19 is determined by calculating “the ratio between the number of deaths caused by a coronavirus and the overall value of infected cases”, while the CFR% is calculated using the number of “known” infected cases; therefore, CFR% represents a higher limit of IFR%. As a result, the process of obtaining a valid estimate of the IFR for COVID-19 is very much challenging because of the sophisticated laboratory measures used to determine the number of infections, which will eventually affect the overall number of tested persons. The real values of both CFR and IFR are normally computed at the ending period of the pandemic because the overall death is computed accumulatively at the end of the epidemic cycle. Another issue is that the rate of unknown cases is variable and can gradually become more dangerous. Other provisional explanations for the hazard of COVID-19 could be the high rate of smokers in Saudi Arabia and the fact that most Saudi citizens are antibiotic-resistant, where the commonness of smoking is comparatively higher among male citizens aged 25–44 years and those inhabiting north areas [13]. Furthermore, using antibiotic medications for COVID-19 infections is not aimed at preventing death but at avoiding bacterial infections; thus, if a more remarkable antibiotic resistance exists, it would only cause a minor count of deaths [14]. An example is estimating direct or indirect deaths connected to seasonal influenza (the count of indirect deaths is very important to consider in this situation as it is mainly associated with bacterial infections) in both Saudi Arabia and India (where the CFR% of COVID-19 is around 1.5%). In India, the yearly average rate of such deaths (associated with the 2017 flu) was 2266 [15, 16]. Another possibility in the lower value of CFR%

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in Saudi Arabia is that healthcare system organizations were prepared for such a critical crisis. Saudi Arabia is ranked the fourth-lowest country worldwide with 1.47% of CFR.

5 The Future Predictions of the COVID-19 Disease in KSA KSA has a special situation among the rest of the world countries by dealing with a similar Covid-19 infection such as MERS since 2013 [17]. From this year, Saudi improved the infection prevention and control system in the health sector [18]. Recently due to the new COVID-19 epidemic, the Saudi Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions has modified its main requirements for coronavirus to include COVID-19 [19]. The MOH designated more than 25 hospitals for COVID-19 patients, containing 80,000 beds for COVID-19 patients, and more than 8000 beds for the ICU unit, 2200 beds for suspected cases [20]. The authors used three kinds of data to draw future predictions regarding the termination of the coronavirus pandemic in Saudi Arabia. The more explicit data is the average of daily infection cases, but this information is mostly uncertain due to being highly dependent on the variable number of experiments conducted daily. Also, the actual number of infected people due to COVID-19 may probably be more than the number of samples in some regions. The count of infected individuals in an intensive care unit (ICU) may form another factor of the epidemic growth. Generally, the number of infected and ICU cases should be clinical because these cases suffer from respiratory problems and need to be hospitalized with a high scale of healthcare. Thus, the number of deaths that are cumulatively collected from the Saudi cities daily is the only number that has accurate statistical meaning. The authors have used this number to analyze the growth of the COVID-19 epidemic in Saudi Arabia and to estimate its termination. Since the authors are concerned with determining the approximate date at which the COVID-19 epidemic will terminate in Saudi Arabia and calculate the overall count of infections at the ending of the current pandemic, the authors should put into consideration the relationship between both the everyday accumulative count of fatalities and the accumulation number of infections. The number of both deaths and infections is related by the formula: IFR = Dn/In, where Dn is the number of deaths and In is the number of infected cases. Nonetheless, we should also put into consideration that death and infection are two short-term extremes of COVID-19: beginning with the infection, then the appearance of the symptoms, and terminating with recovery or death. To evaluate this situation, we should study the time frame between the infection phase and death, as well as infection and recovery. In the case of COVID-19, and according to the collected data in this study, the authors roughly calculate the average period from the infection to death case in Saudi Arabia which is about 12:14 consecutive days. This transformation is calculated as the sum of the standard incubation phase, approximated to be covered between 2 and 4 consecutive days, while the average period between the symptoms phase and death is 10 days. Then the researchers consider the following mathematical Eq. (1), to represent the cumulative number of deaths in Saudi Arabia: P(t) = K ∗

1 + me−tr , WhereK = (120 ± 2) ∗ 102 , m = −1.2 ± 0.2, n = 150 ± 9, r = 0.134 ± 0.004, 1 + ne−tr

(1)

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to present the growth of the COVID-19 epidemic in Saudi Arabia, as mentioned, the authors apply the accumulative daily number of fatalities to meet the proposed formula as it is a highly effective value in comparison to the overall registered infections. This means that Saudi Arabia has already exceeded the maximum rate of daily infected cases over the last two months (August and September 2020). Finally, by tracking the dates (see Fig. 2) when the proposed formula of the approximate number of people transmitting the infection has a value of 1, an estimation for the start of the pandemic in Saudi Arabia can also be obtained. Based on the applied IFR, we identify a starting period between January 25 and February 1, 2020. As a result, from the above-mentioned analysis, the researchers also estimate the termination period of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia to be from November to December 2020. Figure 2 shows the histogram of the new daily infections and the count of fatalities due to coronavirus between June 6 and June 30, 2020, in Saudi Arabia. In this period, Table 1 shows that, on June 17, 2020, Saudi Arabia recorded a maximum value of 4919 new cases but a minimum CFR of 0.79%. On June 7, 2020, Saudi Arabia reported a minimum recorded value of 3045 new cases. On June 30, 2020, a maximum death record of 50 deaths was reported, while on June 6, 2020, the deaths record were at a minimum of 34 deaths. On June 23rd , the CFR reached a maximum value of 1.24%.

Fig. 2. New cases and deaths during June 2020.

Figure 3 shows the histogram of the infected daily cases of COVID-19 between July 1 and July 31, 2020. In this period, Table 1 shows that, on July 6, 2020, Saudi Arabia recorded a maximum record of 4207 new cases, while on July 31, 2020, it reported a minimum record of 1686 new cases. On July 5, 2020, a maximum death record of 58 deaths was reported, while on July 13, 2020, the deaths record moved to a minimum of 20 deaths with a minimum CFR of 0.70%. On July 16th , the CFR reached a maximum record of 1.63%. Figure 4 shows the histogram of the new daily infections and the number of fatalities caused by coronavirus between August 1 and August 30, 2020. In this period, Table 1 shows that, on August 1, 2020, Saudi Arabia registered a maximum record of 1573 new cases, a minimum death record of 21 deaths, and a minimum CFR of 1.34%. On August 30, 2020, Saudi Arabia reported a minimum record of 910 new cases and a maximum CFR of 3.30%. On August 19th , a maximum death record of 42 deaths was reported.

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Fig. 3. New cases and deaths during July 2020.

Figure 5 shows the total accumulative cases, the new cases, total cumulative deaths, and last number of deaths reported on August 30, 2020.

Fig. 4. New cases and deaths during August 2020.

6 Studying the Impact of E-learning in KKU Through the Covid-19: From a DL Perspective With the rapid development of computer technology, digital image processing technology has been widely applied in the medical field, including organ segmentation and image enhancement and repair, providing support for subsequent medical diagnosis. DL technologies, such as convolutional neural network with the strong ability of nonlinear modeling, have extensive applications in medical image processing as well. Researchers introduced a new UTAUT model to evaluate the impact of the indicated factors on the students’ intention and behavior regarding the usage of the E-learning technique for full E-learning [21]. The study has shown possibly positive effects of using E-learning apps for implementing their learning activities now and in the future. The researchers also

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Fig. 5. Total accumulative cases, the new cases, total cumulative deaths, and the last number of deaths reported on August 30, 2020.

presented the descriptive statistics affecting the student results using E-learning while implementing learning assignments including exams, projects, forums, essays, presentations, and laboratories. The research experiments demonstrated both the composite reliability and the average variance extracted from the presented model. The experimental results have shown that 1) the factor loadings ≥ 0.75, CR ≥ 0.9, and AVE ≥ 0.75, which present appropriate proof for the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed UTAUT model, and 2) the total average of students that accept the E-learning is 82.99%, and who disagree is 8.13%, while who neither agree nor disagree is 6.44%.

7 Conclusions This paper investigates statistically the spread of COVID-19 disease, which became a killer pandemic in Saudi Arabia. The researchers have presented that the low reported CFR in Saudi Arabia, as compared with other countries, is strongly proportional to the number of infection cases. The authors used the present evaluations of the IFR of the COVID-19 epidemic reported until September 2020, to present an effective statistical analysis of the termination of COVID-19 in KSA, depending on the reported CFR obtained from the Ministry of Health. The proposed analysis shows more realistic evaluations of the actual range of the deceased as well as more precise factors of how rapidly the infection spreads. The authors demonstrated the more powerful factors causing the seriousness of COVID-19 in KSA. The researchers also used the cumulative number of deaths collected through the last seven months to predict both the overall number of infections and the period in which the infection will terminate in Saudi Arabia. The researchers introduced a new UTAUT model to evaluate the impact of the indicated factors on the students’ intention and behavior regarding the usage of the E-learning technique for full E-learning. The DL model presented in this paper was effective for the early screening of COVID-19 patients and showed to be a promising further diagnostic method for future clinical doctors.

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References 1. World Health Organization. Global research on coronavirus disease (COVID-19). https:// www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-cor onavirus-2019-ncov, Accessed 2020 2. KSA – Ministry of Health (MOH), COVID-19 Command and Control Center (CCC), https:// covid19.moh.gov.sa/. Accessed 2020 3. Giwa, A.l., Akash, D.: Novel Coronavirus COVID-19: An overview for emergency clinicians. Emerg. Med. Pract. 22, 1–21 (2020) 4. Coutard, B., Valle, C., Lamballerie, X., Canard, B., Seidah, N.G., Decroly, E.: The spike glycoprotein of the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV contains a furin-like cleavage site absent in CoV of the same clade. Antiviral Res., Elsevier. 104742(176), 1–5 (2020) 5. World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Weekly Epidemiological Update and Weekly Operational Update. Situation reports: https://www.who.int/emergencies/ diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports, Accessed 2020 6. World Health Organization. Laboratory testing for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in suspected human cases. Interim guidance, pp. 1–7 (2020) 7. Jason, O., Carl. H.: Global COVID-19 Case Fatality Rates. Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences Oxford, UK, pp.1–8 (2020). Available online: https://www.cebm.net/ global-COVID-19-case-fatality-rates/ 8. Russell, T., et al.: Estimating the infection and case fatality ratio for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) using age-adjusted data from the outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. National Libr. Med., National Center for Biotechnol. 25(12), 2000256 (2020) 9. Lauer, S., et al.: The incubation period of coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) from publicly reported confirmed cases: estimation and application. National Libr. Med., National Center Biotechnol. Ann. Intern. Med. 172(9), 577–582 (2020) 10. Natale, G., et al.: The COVID-19 infection in Italy: a statistical study of an abnormally severe disease. J. Clin. Med. 9(1564), 1–18 (2020) 11. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Saudi_Arabia, Accessed 2020 12. Euronews. Coronavirus: COVID-19 infections and deaths - latest data (2021). https://www. euronews.com/2020/08/07/covid-19-coronavirus-breakdown-of-deaths-and-infections-wor ldwide 13. Aljoharah, M., Rasha, A., Nora, A., Amani, S., Nasser, F.: The Prevalence of cigarette smoking in Saudi Arabia in 2018. Food and Drug Regulatory Sci. J. FDRSJ 1(1), 1–14 (2018) 14. Jin, Y., et al.: A rapid advice guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infected pneumonia (standard version). Military Med. Res. 7(4),1–23 (2020) 15. Sanket, V., Jai, P., Sunil, G., Sujeet Raina, M.: Influenza A (H1N1) in India: changing epidemiology and its implications. National Med. J. India. 32(2) 107–108 (2019) 16. Siddhartha, S., et al.: Estimation of community-level influenza associated illness in a low resource rural setting in India. PLoS ONE 13(4), 1–12 (2018) 17. Barry, M., Al Amri, M., Memish, Z.: COVID-19 in the shadows of MERS-CoV in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. J Epidemiol Global Health 10, 1–3 (2020) 18. Saudi Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions (CBAHI). National Hospital Standards, V 2; (2020) 19. World Health Organization, Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. Available from: http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/who-saudi-arabia-join-forces-to-fight-covid-19-nat ionally-regionally-and-globally.html (2020)

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20. Mazin, B., et al.: (COVID-19) Pandemic in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: mitigation measures and hospitals preparedness. J. Nature Sci. Med. 3(3), 2020 (2019) 21. El-Sofany, H.F., El-Seoud, S.A.: Implementing effective learning with ubiquitous learning technology during coronavirus pandemic. Comput. Syst. Sci. Eng. 40(1), 389– 404 (2021). https://doi.org/10.32604/csse.2022.018619 (https://www.techscience.com/csse/ v40n1/44234), Open Access, indexed by ISI Web of Science, SCOPUS, and Thomson Routers (2021)

A Virtual Interactive Environment for Arts and Design Students Engy Samir El-Shaer(B) and Gerard T. McKee The British University in Egypt, Cairo, Egypt {Engy.Samir,Gerard.McKee}@bue.edu.eg Abstract. Art students frequently need to draw statues as part of their assignments. Perspective, lighting, and proportion are key issues in developing students’ skills, but they can be challenging to control in real life. The work reported in this paper aims to provide better support for arts and design students in the early stages of learning by demonstrating a 3D interactive virtual environment that allows students to control all angles of the statues to acquire the required perspective. It also allows them to manipulate the lighting position to apply shading techniques. Students can choose hard lighting, which means the light would be intense and originates from a specific point, or a more natural light, where the light and shadows are softer and do not contrast as much. Instructors can likewise place further objects in the environment surrounding the statue to teach the students the concept of proportion. The 3D environment has been developed using Unity Engine and deployed for Desktop and Android devices. It accommodates both pre-existing models and models imported from a database. The utility of the 3D virtual environment has been assessed by conducting a number of studies with students and lecturers of an Arts and Design Faculty. Keywords: Art Students · Dynamic · 3D Models · Educational · Drawing · Interactive environment · Technology-enhanced learning

1 Introduction Arts and Design students frequently need to draw statues as part of their assignments. Perspective, lighting, and proportion are key issues in developing students’ skills, but they can be challenging to control. Students have to draw the statues from a seated perspective, creating a realistic impression of depth. This might be an issue for students if their seated position does not offer them a good perspective of the statue. It might also be an issue for the instructor if they need all of the students to draw from the same perspective. Another aspect of drawing a statue is the lighting; The ateliers (workshops) where art students carry out their assignments do not always have a good light source, making the outcome look flat and uninteresting. Also, one of the critical concepts in art is proportion. Proportion is the size of the object in relation to other objects. Sometimes students draw statues the same size as other surrounding objects, so the final outcome is unrealistic. These issues all compromise the quality of the students’ compositions. Students have become more tech-shrewd and spend most of their daytime interacting with some form of technology [1]. Technology has been applied in the learning field © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 614–626, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_58

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to maximize the students’ learning experience Therefore, incorporating technology into education can positively affect the students’ performance. This paper proposes a 3D virtual environment for arts and design faculty students to support them in developing their drawing skills. The way art is displayed poses a challenge to art students as models such as statues are perceived from how they are presented. Since models and the surrounding environment are sometimes hard to control in real life, a virtual environment is proposed to allow art students to experiment with digital models in different settings to develop their drawing skills. The proposed solution will give instructors a dynamic environment to aid each student to develop concepts they lack by changing the environment and drawing accordingly. The authors believe this is the first application of this type for Arts and Design Students. A further idea is to incorporate a machine-learning-based feedback mechanism to offer students an automated assessment of their drawings. The application would allow them to upload a picture of the drawing for review. The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides a literature review, focusing on how educational applications have made their way into the classroom and their effect on students compared to traditional methods. It also highlights the virtual environments that have been designed for art purposes and the different ways to obtain 3D digitized models. Section 3 focuses on Arts and Design and the problems students face in the learning process. Section 4 explains the proposed solution and the development process. Section 5 presents the evaluation of the proposed environment. Section 6 is the conclusion and future work.

2 Literature Review With the increasing availability of faster hardware and software, 3D virtual environments are evolving as a common technology nowadays. Fields such as scientific visualization and virtual laboratories are good examples of 3D graphic applications used in the education field [1]. Education has encountered various transformations due to the tremendous advancement in technology over the past decade. Hence, traditional education methods have shifted towards modern techniques based on programs and tools to enhance the students’ learning experience and the teachers’ learning methods [2]. This transition is needed because of some difficulties that might arise with using traditional learning methods, such as the non-availability of textbooks in some courses [3], the need for visualizations to deliver content, and occasionally the lack of resources required in a real-life environment. 2.1 Educational Applications A comparative study between traditional methods and educational applications has been made in [4], showing that modern techniques such as educational applications lead to deeper knowledge than the traditional classroom methods. According to [5], researchers have found that modern techniques in learning can improve students’ academic performance and increase the effectiveness of the students’ work.

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Modern techniques have been helpful in higher education according to results obtained from [6], where a proposed mobile application for dental students has improved students’ awareness regarding the unit dental considerations for patients with systemic difficulties. For engineering students, a virtual mathematics learning environment has been developed to teach the Introduction to Mathematics course [7]. The virtual environment includes recommendations for finding appropriate support and complementary material. The environment has been tested with 119 students. The academic results and the feedback from students were generally positive [7]. 2.2 Virtual Environments for Artists Some research focuses on using virtual environments to display artworks. One of the research projects reported in [8] presents a solution that enables museums to display their art collections in a virtual exhibition using augmented reality. This system allows users to interact with cultural objects intuitively. The research reported in [9] proposed a prototype to help artists visualize their artwork in an environment that enables them to have dynamic lighting and a controllable viewport. However, the application was only made for artists who already have a digital version of their art pieces. In addition, users could not place any other objects in the scene. Some applications have been developed to help artists preview 3D models, such as Poseit and Magic Poser. Poseit is a mobile application designed to help artists draw the human figure in challenging poses. The application offers users some features such as having different angles of perspective of the human figure and manipulating the lighting to some extent. However, Poseit only demonstrates one model, namely the human figure, and therefore it does not give users the possibility to view diverse models. Also, Poseit does not allow the users to scale the model, which is vital to achieving the concept of proportion. Moreover, users cannot place additional objects in the scene, so they cannot make their own compositions. Furthermore, the users cannot change the lighting position; they can only control the intensity of the lighting. Magic Poser [10] is a similar application to Poseit. It provides a 3D environment for artists where they can manipulate the perspective of a human figure along with some additional features such as changing the scale and placing objects around the scene. The problem with Magic Poser is that it does not provide models other than the human figure. It also does not give the user the ability to manipulate lighting, which is an essential feature to learn shading techniques. 2.3 Digitized 3D Models Models used in virtual environments can be made by artists and then adopted to be compatible with a 3D engine, such as the digital 3D models used in [9]. However, modeling objects on a computer is a time-consuming task [11]. That is why 3D scanners have been used to create 3D models (Fig. 1). They are like cameras, but a 3D scanner captures the distance to a surface at each point in the picture to acquire the shape of a 3D object [12]. However, 3D scanners can be expensive to obtain.

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Fig. 1. Scanning Statues using 3D Scanners to construct Digitized 3D Models [13]

3 Arts and Design Arts and Design students frequently need to draw still-life objects as part of their assignments. Still-life is a work of art that primarily represents inanimate objects. These objects can be natural, such as food, plants, and shells, or manufactured, such as vases, jewelry, and statues; In the atelier where students carry out their assignments, they are predominantly asked to draw statues. Perspective, lighting, and proportion are crucial issues in developing students’ drawing skills, but they can be challenging to control. 3.1 Perspective Perspective plays a vital role in drawing, as the subjects are perceived from how they are presented. Arts and Design students have to draw the statues from their seated perspective. This might be an issue for students if their seated position in the atelier does not offer them a good perspective of the statue. It might also be an issue for the instructor if they need all students to draw from the same perspective. Moreover, a space issue in a real-life environment could affect the drawing process, as sometimes students sit in front of each other, blocking the view of the students sitting behind, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Arts and Design Atelier [14]

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3.2 Lighting Lighting is one of the vital aspects of drawing as it brings a tone and depth to the art piece (Fig. 3). It is one of the fundamentals of thriving art that artists should not overlook, as lighting emphasizes features through highlights and shadow. Without a light source, the artwork would look bland and unappealing to the eye, which is the exact opposite of the purpose of the art [15]. The ateliers where art students carry out their assignments do not always have a good source of light, which might sometimes result in producing a flat and uninteresting piece. 3.3 Proportion Proportion is the size of an object in relation to another object (Fig. 4). If the proportions are incorrect, the resulting piece will look unrealistic. Manipulating the proportion can also have different effects on the subjects; for example, it can make the subject seem funny, weak, strong, or mysterious [17]. The concept of proportion in a real-life environment is not always easy to achieve, as the models cannot be resized to have the wanted effect. However, objects can be placed around the models – which might be smaller or bigger – to achieve the concept of proportion. Nevertheless, the availability of surrounding objects in a real-life environment can still be limited.

Fig. 3. Lighting and Shadows [16]

Fig. 4. Proportion’s Effect [18]

4 Solution 4.1 Requirements Arts and Design Faculty members and students have talked about certain issues that arise when students draw statues as part of their assignments. For example, their seated position sometimes stands in the way of having a good perspective of the statue. The lack of space might also result in not having the optimal view of the statue because of other students sitting in front of each other. Lighting adjustment plays a vital role when drawing a statue; however, controlling the lighting in real life is not always possible. Another crucial aspect when drawing a statue is the proportion, which means the statue’s size in relation to other objects around it. In real life, students are limited to the number, type, and size of the objects that they can place around the statue. All of these issues compromise the quality of the students’ compositions.

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4.2 Proposed Virtual Interactive Environment The proposed virtual interactive environment tackles the issues that students face in a real-life environment during still life drawing. This environment will help students preview various statues, where they can have a controllable viewport of the statues, resize the statues and the surrounding objects to understand and apply the proportion concept. The environment also allows students to have dynamic lighting, allowing them to change the lighting position, range, and intensity in relation to the statue, to apply different shading techniques. The proposed environment can assist modules such as Drawing and Sculpture, Anatomy, Visual Arts, and Contemporary Fine Art. 4.3 Approaching the Project The Unity game engine has been employed to build a 3D interactive environment where students/instructors can preview and manipulate 3D statues. Figure 5 outlines the development process. The statues have been downloaded from the British Museum, which organizes the models into forty-four collections, such as Troy Beauty and Heroism, the Bronze Age, the Iraq Digitisation, the Ancient Lives Exhibition, and the Emperors [19]. The models used in the proposed virtual environment, for the time being, are from the Iraq Digitisation and Emperor collections. The models are uploaded to the Firebase database. The Firebase database is connected to the Unity engine to import the models into the environment. A set of tools has been developed to overcome the issues that students face in real life, specifically tools to control perspective, proportion, and lighting (taking benefit of Unity’s Lightweight Rendering pipeline). Finally, the environment has been deployed for Desktop and Android devices.

Fig. 5. The Development Process

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4.4 The Application Tools This section describes the tools provided in the application. The toolbar is shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6. The application tool bar

Texture and Background tools: Enable the user to change the texture of the sculpture and the background, respectively.

Fig. 7. Alter the statue’s texture

Fig. 8. Alter the background

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Proportion tool: Enables the user to scale the statue and the objects around the statue.

Fig. 9. Alter the scale of the statue/pedestal

Lighting tool: Enables the user to move the lighting around the scene and change its intensity and range.

Fig. 10. Position light and manipulate its intensity and range in relation to the statue

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Perspective tool: Enables the user to rotate the statue on the x-axis and y-axis.

Fig. 11. Manipulate the statue’s perspective

5 Evaluation The utility of the 3D virtual environment has been assessed by conducting a number of studies with students and lecturers. Three studies were conducted, the first with instructors in Arts & Design, the second with students in Arts & Design, and the third with Teaching Assistants (TA) and students in Computer Science. The first study was conducted with two instructors from Arts & Design. A senior lecturer in fine arts stated that the application would be valuable in modules in which working with lighting is a crucial component. The lecturer also mentioned that he would like if the application could allow users to curate and exhibit their work, a feature that will be considered for later versions. He added that enabling users to make their own compositions will also be helpful since making compositions in a real-life environment can take a lot of time. As a result of this lecturer’s feedback, a composition tool has been added to let users assemble their own compositions (Fig. 12).

Fig. 12. Composition – a new tool added to the application based on feedback

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A second senior lecturer in visual arts stated that she would like if the application would allow users to import models to the application. She also wants to see statues from different historical periods provided in the application. For testing purposes, the models, for the time being, are from the Iraq Digitisation collection and Emperor’s collection [19]. The second study was conducted with eleven students from an Arts and Design faculty using the revised toolbar (composition tool added). The students were given a demo of the application and then asked to answer a questionnaire based on the demo. The questions and responses are summarized below. Q1: Which tool in the application would you likely use most? According to the responses, summarized in Fig. 13, perspective, lighting, and composition tools are the most likely tools to be used in the application by students. Proportion and background were likely to be less used and texture the least used. Q2: Which tool in the application would you likely use least? The responses for Q2 confirmed and extended those from Q1, with students voting that texture, background, and proportion are the least likely tools to be used in the application (Fig. 14).

Fig. 13. Tools Students would likely use most Fig. 14. Tools Students would likely use least (Q1) (Q2)

Q3: Would this application help you with assignments/practice? If yes, how? In response to Q3, students reported that the application would help them control the lighting and thus the shading, not worry about their seating position in the atelier, imagine how objects are perceived from different views, and easily practice drawing at home. Q4: Which modules do you think the application can be used in? Students answered that the application would help them in modules such as Drawing and Sculpture, Visual Art, and Fine Art. Q5: What features would you like to see in the application? Students conveyed that they would like to be able to move around the statue instead of only changing its rotation. They would also like to have animated objects included so that they can draw objects in their moving state. Another observation was that altering the background should affect the statue’s shading. Q6: What features would you like removed from the application? All the responses were ‘none’. In short, even though some of the tools would be less likely to be used, the students also felt that they were nevertheless useful.

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Q7: How helpful would this application be to you? Students were able to select from three responses, namely ‘not helpful’, ‘helpful’, and ‘very helpful’. All the responses were positive, with all students selecting ‘very helpful’. The third study was conducted with twenty TAs and Students from the Computer Science faculty to evaluate the application’s interface on Android and Desktop devices. The participants tested the application and then answered two questions.

Fig. 15. Mobile application (Q1)

Fig. 16. Desktop Application (Q1)

Q1: How easy-to-use do you find the application? The respondents gave a score between 1, very hard, and 5, very easy. The responses show that users found the desktop application easier to use than the mobile application (Figs. 15 and 16). 72.7% rated the desktop application 5 with the rest rating it 4. In contrast, only 22.2% rated the mobile application 5, and the rest rated it between 1 and 4. The participants expressed the view that due to the small screen of the mobile application; they encountered some difficulties in using the buttons and navigating between the tools. On the other hand, they found the tools and navigation in the desktop application straightforward. Q2: Rate the interface of the application? Separate from the usability, the participants in the majority liked the interface, 50% rating it 5 and 35% rating it 4, on a scale of 1, unlikable to 5, likable, as shown in Fig. 17.

Fig. 17. Application Interface Evaluation (Q2)

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6 Conclusion and Future Work Developing good art skills can be critical for students who are new to art. Perspective, lighting, and proportion are essential aspects to consider when drawing statues. These aspects might be difficult to control in real life. A 3D environment that facilitates controlling these aspects is proposed to help students understand and develop fundamental concepts. Moreover, it allows instructors to have a dynamic environment where they can help each student develop the concepts they lack by changing the environment and drawing accordingly. The proposed virtual environment has been evaluated by a number of students and instructors in Arts and Design. The feedback has shown the effectiveness of the virtual environment in overcoming some problems that constantly arise in real-life scenarios, such as the different seating perspectives, the lack of space in the atelier, and the problem of controlling lighting. Participants were asked to provide suggestions of what they would like to see in the application; Some participants’ recommendations have been effectively incorporated into the application. Other requests, such as including animated objects to draw objects in their moving state, are still in progress. An idea proposed by the authors is the incorporation of a feature allowing students to capture and upload their drawings for automated and immediate assessment based on a machine learning approach. This will be explored in future research.

References 1. Cullen, E.: What is Technology Enhanced Learning?. 19 1 2022. [Online]. Available: https:// www.mentimeter.com/blog/interactive-classrooms/what-is-technology-enhanced-learningand-why-is-it-important 2. d. Santos, F.R.: Dynamic virtual environment for multiple physics experiments in higher education. In: Education Engineering (EDUCON), Madrid, May (2010) 3. Aljraiw, S.S.: The effect of classroom web applications on teaching, learning and academic performance among college of education female students. J. Educ. Learn. 6(2), 14 (2017) 4. Jayaprakash, S.: Use of Educational Apps in Todays Classroom 5. Furió Ferri, V.: Mobile learning vs. traditional classroom lessons: a comparative study. J. Comput. Assisted Learn. 31(3) 17 (2015) 6. Ababa, E.A.: The use of educational applications on the student’s academic performance. Int. J. Acad. Multidiscip. Res. 5(1), 9 (2021) 7. Gilavand, A.: Investigating the impact of the use of mobile educational software in increase of learning of dentistry students. Int. J. Med. Res. Health Sci. 5(12), 191–197 (2016) 8. Sancho-Vinuesa, T.: A virtual mathematics learning environment for engineering students. Interactive Educational Multimedia, p. 19 (2007) 9. Wojciechowski, R.: Building Virtual and Augmented Reality museum exhibitions. In: Proceeding of the Ninth International Conference on 3D Web Technology, Monterey (2004) 10. Piechota, T.: Displaying Art in Virtual Environments - Helping artists achieve their vision, In: Communications in Computer and Information Science (2020) 11. "Magic Poser,” Wombat Studio, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://magicposer.com/. 12. Yalçinkaya, S.: OPTICAL 3D SCANNER TECHNOLOGY. In: 3rd International Congress on 3D Printing (Additive Manufacturing) Technologies and Digital Industry, ANTALYA (2018) 13. Trebuˇna, P.: 3D Scaning – technology and reconstruction. International Scientific J. Simul. 4(3), 6 (2018)

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14. "SCAN THE WORLD,” THE SITE MAGAZINE, 2022. [Online]. Available: thesitemagazine.com/read/scan-the-world 15. "Faculty of Arts & Design,” BUE, January 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.bue.edu. eg/faculties-departments/arts-and-design/ 16. Mitchell, M.: Is Lighting Important In Fine Art?. 20 April 2016. [Online]. Available: https:// www.markmitchellpaintings.com/blog/is-lighting-important-in-fine-art/ 17. Hurst, A.: Proportion – A Principle of Art. [Online]. Available: https://thevirtualinstructor. com/blog/proportion-a-principle-of-art#:~:text=Proportion%20is%20largely%20about%20t he,can%20use%20proportion%20for%20effect. 18. Starkat, P.: Monday Matticchio. [Online]. Available: http://theanimalarium.blogspot.com/ 2011/06/monday-matticchio-philip-starkat.html 19. Gordon, E.: Seven types of Light and Shadow. pinterest, [Online]. Available: https://www. pinterest.com/emilygordonart/seven-types-of-light-and-shadow/ 20. "Collections,” Sketchfab, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://sketchfab.com/britishmuseum/ collections 21. Sandhya, T.: Significance of mobile applications in education system. Int. J. Linguist. Comput. Appl. (IJLCA) 4(2), 4 (2017)

Agent Based Adaptive Interfaces for Extraversion and Introversion Dina A. Zekry(B) and Gerard T. McKee The British University in Egypt, Cairo, Egypt {Dina.zekry,Gerard.mckee}@bue.edu.eg

Abstract. This paper explores the connection between personality traits and interface design in terms of user preference and usability. Two interfaces are developed. One to cater for extroverts and another to cater for introverts. Design aspects such as depth-first/breadth-first layout, text-base/image-based, hard/soft elements and detailed/grid layout have been the main design aspects for the study. 21 participants took the big five personality test and were categorized into extroverts and introverts. The participants then followed a user journey to accomplish a specific goal using the two different interfaces. After completion of the user journey, participants evaluated the interface using the SUS usability test. The results showed that 18 participants evaluated the interface that aligns with their personality to also be usable, according to the SUS test. 7 participants showed total alignment with their personality test, preference, and interface usability. Only 3 participants did not show alignment in both interface preference and usability. The results suggest that an agent could be trained on the chosen design aspects to build an adaptable user interface, where the interface layout and design elements change based on the user personality test score. Keywords: Big five personality test · Extraversion and introversion interfaces · Agent based adaptive interfaces · SUS usability test

1 Introduction There is a clear connection between personality trait analysis, customization, and user interfaces. Personality traits emerge based on the environment and culture that allows personality traits to be demographic and geographic by nature. Moreover, personality traits encapsulate behavioural and psychographic data. Interfaces created using personality traits data would enable a higher level of customization, usability, and increased user satisfaction. In 1992, McCrae and Costa worked on the big five traits. They successfully confirmed the validity of the five personality traits and provided the big five personality traits model/framework used today [1, 2]. Their approach provided a middle ground from previous research where each trait is a continuum. This paper focuses on the optimization of adaptive user interfaces. The paper suggests that interfaces can adapt based on personality traits. It is assumed that if the user is © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 627–638, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_59

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presented with an interface that aligns with their personality, then they would be satisfied with the interaction and find the interface to have high usability. Four design aspects are chosen to differentiate between extraversion and introversion. The four design aspects are breadth-first vs. depth-first, grid display vs. scrolling display, image-based vs. text based, and soft elements vs. hard elements. The agent is expected to adapt the design aspects based on observing the user behavior. If the interface design aspects align with the user personality, then the usability of the interface is assumed to be high. The remainder of the paper is organised as follows. Section 2 introduces the big five personality traits. Section 3 discusses machine learning powered interfaces. Section 4 introduces the introversion/extraversion interface experiment. Section 5 describes the experimental method. Section 6 presents the results and Sect. 7 concludes the paper.

2 Big Five Personality Traits 2.1 The Framework The framework consists of five core traits that are stated to be the basic building block of an individual’s personality [1, 3]. The five core traits are conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, extraversion, and neuroticism. Table 1 shows a summary of the big five personality trait definitions, continuums, and tendencies. Conscientiousness is the tendency to show self-discipline, planning and organisation, agreeableness is the tendency to be pro-social and cooperative towards others rather than antagonistic, openness to experience is the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and preference for novelty and variety, extraversion is the positive emotions, activity, sociability, and tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others, and neuroticism is the vulnerability to unpleasant emotions such as anxiety, anger, and depression [2, 3, 5]. The framework relies on being a continuum where an individual has each trait that occurs along the spectrum. Conscientiousness ranges from impulsive and disorganised traits to disciplined and careful traits, agreeableness ranges from suspicious and uncooperative traits to trusting and helpful traits, openness to experience ranges from a preference to routine and practical traits to imaginative and spontaneous traits, extraversion ranges from reserved and thoughtful traits to sociable and fun-loving traits, and neuroticism ranges from calm and confidence traits to anxiety and pessimism traits. Individuals who score high on conscientiousness tend to be goal-oriented, hard workers and dependable. Also, conscientiousness tends to increase from young adulthood into middle age as individuals become more capable of managing their personal relationships and careers [1]. Individuals who score high on agreeableness tend to be pleasant, cooperative, trustworthy, and good natured. Agreeableness tends to increase between the age of 50 to 70 years. Individuals who score high on openness tend to be imaginative, action-oriented, and creative. Accordingly, those individuals tend to be curious and have a wide range of interests. Individuals who score high on extraversion tend to be sociable, assertive, excitement-seeking, and emotional. Extraversion traits tend to decrease with age [1]. Individuals who score high on neuroticism tend to experience emotional instability and tend to be angry, impulsive, and hostile. Neuroticism tends to decline slightly with age [1]. An average individual would fit in the middle of the continuum rather than the polar ends of the big five traits [1].

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Table 1. Summary of the big five personality traits. Personality trait

Properties

Conscientiousness • The tendency to show self-discipline, planning and organisation • Ranges from impulsive and disorganised traits to disciplined and careful traits • Tend to be goal-oriented, hard workers and dependable Agreeableness

• The tendency to be pro-social and cooperative towards others rather than antagonistic • Ranges from suspicious and uncooperative traits to trusting and helpful traits • Tend to be pleasant, cooperative, trustworthy, and good natured

Openness

• The degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and preference for novelty and variety • Ranges from a preference to routine and practical traits to imaginative and spontaneous traits • Tend to be imaginative, action-oriented, and creative

Extraversion

• The positive emotions, activity, sociability, and tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others • Ranges from reserved and thoughtful traits to sociable and fun-loving traits • Tend to be sociable, assertive, excitement-seeking, and emotional

Neuroticism

• The vulnerability to unpleasant emotions such as anxiety, anger, and depression • Ranges from calm and confidence traits to anxiety and pessimism traits • Tend to experience emotional instability and tend to be angry, impulsive, and hostile

2.2 The Big Five Personality Test in Education Research has been conducted to implement the big five personality traits in education. Multiple methods were created and six of these gained global acceptance [5], namely the 1991 big five inventories (BFI), the 1992 Goldberg’s unipolar markers, the 1992 NEO Five-Factor Inventory, the 1992 revised NEO Personality Inventory, the 1993 big five questionnaires (BFQ), and the 1999 international personality item pool (IPIP) [5]. The BFI aims to measure the dimensions of the big five traits, the BFQ aims to distinguish between the big five traits, the unipolar markers aim to enhance the questions of the big five traits by using less difficult items and lower inter-scale correlations, NEO aims to reflect the dimensions of the big five traits namely the six underlying facets, and IPIP is an extensive public domain collection of personality items [5]. Research has been conducted to identify and analyse links between learners’ personalities and academic performance [2, 5]. Learners’ personality is a non-cognitive factor that has been systematically related to academic performance [5]. Learners tend to process, encode, recall, organise and apply the knowledge they accumulate in different methods based on their personalities [2]. Most importantly, the big five personality

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traits have been associated with multiple successful research in predicting students’ performance and achievements [2, 5]. Conscientiousness and openness have been used to successfully predict course performance [2]. Agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness have successfully been found to predict overall academic performance [2]. Neuroticism is highly linked to poor academic performance as individuals who score high on neuroticism tend to be anxious and accordingly perform lower than their peers [2, 5]. In fact, conscientiousness is the most consistent and strongest predictor of academic success [1, 5]. Also, openness is correlated to be important for motivation, critical thinking, and high performance [5]. Agreeableness and extraversion are interpersonal traits that affect performance in relation to the task in question [5]. For instance, in a group project, learners who score high on agreeableness and extraversion are most likely to achieve high performance, but in individual projects agreeableness and extraversion are not the determining factors of performance [5]. Researchers in [2] reported that the big five personality traits were able to explain 17% of the variance in grade point average (GPA) of learners. Moreover, conscientiousness was reported to have the strongest link with GPA followed by agreeableness and openness. Furthermore, the researchers suggested that course assignments can be adjusted to foster both conscientiousness and agreeableness traits such that, assignments can be submitted in small parts rather than large submissions, cooperative behaviours should be rewarded, and concepts should be linked to real-life events to attract students’ imagination and curiosity. 2.3 The Big Five Personality Test in Interface Design The early focus of designing interfaces relied on presenting the functionalities and capabilities of the application and showed little concern for aesthetics [8, 9]. In later interface design, the user experience gained attention after research showed that the user is more influenced by design, aesthetic, and emotions [8, 9]. Catering to different personalities can be in the form of presenting different content or process features that best suit the user interaction [8]. Aesthetics is defined as the characteristics that create an interface appearance and have the capacity to affect observers [10]. This can include colors, item organization, proportions, size, shape, and reflectivity [10]. It is reported that aesthetics influences users in at least three ways [10], namely interface design/identity, which allows users to distinguish between interfaces of different systems, interface aesthetics which influences the users’ perception, comprehension and evaluation, and interface appearance, which is the central channel through which users might form relationships with products [10].

3 Machine Learning Powered Adaptive Interfaces Adaptive interfaces gather information from the user and tracks their actions to feed data to an agent that can generate different interface designs [11]. For instance, Siemens PLM program NX, which is CAD software, adapts the interface based on user gathered data. The interface presents commands that are predicted to be useful for the users’ usage

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pattern. The agent has machine learning algorithm that tracks the user interaction on the keyboard and screen. The user interaction pattern includes commands used, data entered and sequence of action which formulate the context of usage. The agent recognizes the user pattern and organizes the data [11]. There are multiple aspects in interface design that can be adapted [11]. For instance, generating new knowledge, entering, and filtering data, and optimization. First, generating new knowledge. The agent predicts that the user might need to use a specific feature based on the sequence of commands used. However, this feature might not be apparent to the user. Therefore, the agent recommends the feature to the user. Second, entering data, where the data gathered from keyboard tracking is essential. The keywords used by the user are utilized by the agent to predict the context of information that the user requires. Accordingly, filtering options, related search items and group search can be proposed to the user. Third, optimization, where the layout and adaptive design elements are reorganized based on users’ interests, intended actions and visual tracking.

4 Extraversion/Introversion Interface Experiment 4.1 Introduction As an extension to the previous paper titled “A Socio-Educational App for Digitally Transforming Online Learning” this paper aims to enhance online learning by customization using the big five personality traits. A ‘prepping for lectures’ feature will be designed into 2 interface designs. One caters for extraversion and the other for neuroticism. The interfaces will aim to convey the user journey to accomplish the target goal/behaviour of prepping for lectures. Each interface will have design elements that are thought to align with personality preferences. It is expected that users would prefer using the interface that caters to their personality traits. Users should find the interface easy to use to accomplish the target goal. Later, in further research, it is proposed to develop an agent that can learn the design preferences of users and be able to change the interface accordingly. 4.2 Prepping for Lecture Feature To prepare for a lecture the user/student will access the e-learning, navigate to the desired course, access the week’s content, and choose “Brief” item. “Brief” is a feature that provides the student with highlights and summary of key ideas that will be discussed in the lecture. Accordingly, the student will be prepared to understand the ideas presented in the lecture. The brief page will contain short paragraphs, videos, summary point and a quiz. The previous pages will provide an overview of the content in small chunks that can be processed by the students easily. 4.3 Implementation Approach Based on the literature survey data the following design aspects for personality traits interfaces are proposed. Design elements for neuroticism are inspired by introvert design

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elements and therefore an introversion interface will take place in the experiments of the neuroticism interface. Also, introversion is at the polar end of extraversion and introvert individuals score high on neuroticism. There are four main aspects that differentiate between the extraversion interface and the introversion interface. First, content type, where extroverts are reported to be more visual and therefore rely on images and visual elements. In contrast, introverts are reported to be more detailed individuals that rely on text. Second, information structure, where extroverts tend to prefer information that is structured in a global overview context. Accordingly, extroverts navigate information through breadth first to view the general view of the content. In contrast, introverts who explore information in depth first manner. Introverts explore content in more details and prefer a narrow/zoomed in view of the system. Third, element structure, where extroverts favour hard shapes and introverts favour soft shapes. Fourth, layout, where extroverts prefer compact layouts and introverts prefer spacious layouts. The four elements were taken into consideration during the design phase. On one hand, the extrovert interface focused on a breadth-first layout to provide a global view of the system where the user can see all the system content without scrolling, the interfaces were image based and few text was utilised, hard structures such as thick boarders, sharp edges, squares and rectangles were used, and the interfaces were compact with little white space. On the other hand, the introvert interface focused on a depth-first layout and used scrolling to reach the data, the interfaces were text based, soft structures such as thin boarders, lucid structure, circles, and round corners were used, and the interfaces contained more white space in comparison to the extrovert interface. Interface 1 (Extrovert Interface) Interface 1 is designed for individuals who score high on extraversion. Figure 1 shows the low fidelity interface designs. The interface is designed in a grid format to enable general/global view. The sequence of information and layout ensures that the user explored the content in a breadth-first manner. This is achieved by dividing the screens into all categories that are found in the system and displaying all paths at the same time. Moreover, the interface is image-based where minimum text was used, no description was provided, and buttons were mostly images to go from one screen to the other. Additionally, the interfaces used thick boarders and hard shapes such as rectangles and squares. Scrolling was avoided to always make sure that the user views all functionalities and paths in one screen. This is highly evident in the brief screen that utilised horizontal scrolling to avoid vertical scrolling. Accordingly, the interface was compact and used low white spaces. Interface 2 (Introvert Interface) Interface 2 is designed for individuals who score high on neuroticism/introversion. Figure 2 shows the low fidelity interface designs. The interface is designed to provide a detailed view to the system. This is achieved by providing a text-based interface where elements are explained to the user using text. Buttons are utilised and assisted with text. Large spaces are used as well. The interfaces allow the user to look at each item in detail then scroll to view other items and aspects of the system. Accordingly,

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Fig. 1. Extraversion interface.

Fig. 2. Introversion interface.

users explore the content in depth first manner. Moreover, soft elements are used such as thin borders, round edges, and circles.

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5 Experimental Method The experiment was conducted as follows for each of the 21 participants: 1. The participant takes the big five personality test and the results for the percentage of each trait is stored. The focus of the study is extraversion and neuroticism traits such that neuroticism attributes to introversion. 2. The participant reads the user journey scenario and views interface 1. The participant follows the instructions of the scenario to accomplish the goal. After completion, the user takes the SUS test. 3. The participant views the interface 2 and applies the same scenario to reach the target goal. After completion, the participant takes the SUS test for the second interface. 4. The interviewer asks the participant which interface they prefer, and the result is recorded. 5.1 The Big Five Personality Test The big five personality test was conducted using the Truity website (https://www.tru ity.com/test/big-five-personality-test). The website was founded in 2012 to provide a scientifically reliable personality test that can be used for business assessments. The website is an affordable user-friendly solution to conduct psychometric analysis. The Big Five personality model is followed to produce the test results in terms of questions, result calculation method and best practices. 5.2 User Journey Scenario The scenario provided the setting for carrying out the prepping activity and then provided guidance to accomplish the goal of accessing the lecture brief. The following is the user scenario that was given to the participants to read and follow. “You are accessing your e-learning app to prepare for week 2 lectures. You want to prepare for the software engineering course. You already finished week 1 and a few tasks of week 2. Now you want to access the lecture brief and go through the content to be prepared to attend the lecture. Kindly, do the following steps to complete your journey. 1. 2. 3. 4.

From the home page choose the software engineering course. Choose the content and tasks section to access weekly content and tasks. Choose the brief in week 2 to prepare for your lecture Review the page and evaluate how you would use it.”

5.3 The SUS Usability Test System usability scale (SUS) is an industry standard usability test. It contains 10 questions that have been used by over 12000 articles and publications to evaluate usability. Its success is attributed to its ability to differentiate between usable and unusable systems, scalability property, effectiveness even on small sample size and reliability.

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The 10 questions have responses ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree on a Likert scale of values 1 to 5 respectively. To calculate SUS score, the following should be done. To calculate the total test score 4 steps are required. First, sum the values of the odd questions and subtract 5 from the total of the sum. Second, sum the total of even questions and subtract the result form 25. Third, sum the values of step one and two. Fourth, multiply the value of step 3 by 2.5. The value of step four is the final SUS score. The total score of SUS is 100. Above 68 is considered above average and below 68 is considered below average. 80.3 or higher score denotes that the users are likely to recommend the product to their friends. 69 or thereabouts denotes that the product is usable. 51 or under denotes that the product is unusable and requires modification. The SUS questions are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4.

I think that I would like to use this system frequently. I found the system unnecessarily complex. I thought the system was easy to use. I think that I would need the support of a technical person to be able to use this system. 5. I found the various functions in this system were well integrated. 6. I thought there was too much inconsistency in this system. 7. I would imagine that most people would learn to use this system very quickly. 8. I found the system very cumbersome to use. 9. I felt very confident using the system. 10. I needed to learn a lot of things before I could get going with this system. 5.4 Verbal Feedback Verbal feedback is the follow up question asked by the interviewer at the end of the study. Verbal feedback enables participants to state their opinion about which interface they prefer.

6 Results Table 2 shows the study results. “I” stands for introvert, “E” is for extrovert, “N” stands for neutral (when the SUS scores are similar for the introvert and extrovert interfaces), and “B” stands for both interfaces (when both interfaces pass the usability threshold for an individual). The total number of participants was 21. 7 participants showed complete alignment with their personality test results (EEE or III). “EEE” indicates that they are extroverts that find the extrovert interface to be usable and prefer it over the introvert interface. Similarly, “III” indicates that the participants are introverts that find the introvert interface to be usable and prefer it over the extrovert interface. Those participants are numbers 3, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, and 21 in Table 2. 7 participants are “EII” or “IEE”, which indicate total disagreement with the personality test. “EII” indicates that an extrovert participant finds the introvert interface to be more usable and prefers it over the extrovert interface. “IEE” is similar but to and introvert interface. However, 4 participants out of these 7 participants evaluated the interface

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Participant

Personality Test

SUS Score

Score

Notation

Score

Notation

Verbal Feedback

Result

1

67%

I

62.5

E

E

IEE

2

69%

I

60

U

E

IEE

3

79%

I

70

I

I

III

4

58%

E

52.5

E

I

EEI

5

56%

E

67.5

E

I

EEI

6

44%

E

62.5

U

E

EIE

7

67%

I

67.5

N

E

INE

8

40%

E

65

E

E

EEE

9

71%

E

75

U

I

EII

10

81%

I

85

I

I

III

11

71%

I

85

I

I

III

12

46%

E

90

I

I

EII

13

75%

E

77.5

E

E

EEE

14

75%

I

87.5

U

E

IEE

15

81%

I

70

I

I

III

16

N

E

75

N

E

ENE

17

77%

I

82.5

N

I

INI

18

56%

E

95

I

I

EII

19

73%

E

87.5

U

E

EIE

20

58%

E

87.5

U

I

EII

21

69%

E

85

E

E

EEE

that aligns with their personality to have SUS score higher than average. These four participants are numbers 2, 9, 14, and 20, with “B” in their SUS score to indicate that they evaluated both interfaces to be usable but the SUS score of the interface that aligns with their personality was lower than the interface that does not align with their personality. 3 out of the 7 participants can be labelled as total disagreement. These participants are number 1, 12, 18 in Table 1. Total disagreement indicates that the participants gave the interface that aligns with their personality and the SUS score is below threshold. Accordingly, the interface that aligns with their personality failed the SUS test. 3 participant participants have “N” notation in their SUS score as the calculation of their SUS scores for both interfaces are the same. Accordingly, both interfaces for participants 7, 16, and 17 in Table 1 are equally usable, disregarding their personality traits.

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4 participants, namely 4, 5, 6, and 19 in Table 1 are all extroverts with varying combinations. Participants 6 and 19 are “EIE”, which means that they preferred the interface that aligns with their personality but gave the interface that does not match their personality a higher SUS score. However, the score was only higher by 2 points in comparison to the score given to the interface that aligns with their personality. As for participants 4 and 5, they evaluated the interface that matches their personality to have higher SUS score but preferred the other interface in their verbal feedback.

7 Conclusion and Future Work In conclusion, personality traits provide insight to design preferences and usability. It can be concluded that an interface designed to cater for the user personality will pass the SUS usability test as 18 out of 21 participants evaluated the interfaces that align with their personality to pass the threshold of the SUS test. Moreover, 7 out of 21 participants completely align with their personality test, which is more than double the number of participants that do not align with their personality test. Accordingly, there is more than 50% chance of success that an interface designed to cater for user personality will be favored by the user. However, more experiments should be conducted with a larger number of participants. Future work will include designing two interfaces and testing them in terms of usability before conducting the personality assessments. This will ensure that both interfaces are on the same level of usability. Accordingly, data gathered about favouring an interface would solely rely on design elements. Also, high fidelity prototypes should be used to provide a more realistic user experience. Moreover, the study can be narrowed down to investigate one aspect of comparison such as grid layout or scrolling or the study can be broadened where the aspects of comparison can expand. Finally, it should be investigated if an agent could be trained to implement changes to interfaces based on user personality traits. The agent should be trained to adapt the interface design aspects explored in this paper.

References 1. Introductory Psychology. ER Services, 2021, p. Chapter 11 2. Köseo˘glu, Y.: To what extent can the big five and learning styles predict aca-demic achievement. J. Educ. Pract. 7(30), (2021). Available: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1118920. pdf 3. McCrae, R.R., Costa, P.T.: A Five-Factor theory of personality. In: Pervin, L.A., John, O.P. (eds.) Handbook of personality: Theory and research, pp. 139–153. Guilford Press (1999) 4. Mammadov, S.: Big Five personality traits and academic performance: a meta- analysis, J. Person. 2021. Available: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/https://doi.org/10.1111/ jopy.12663 5. Brooke, J.: SUS: A quick and dirty usability scale. In: Jordan, P.W., Thomas, B., Weerdmeester, B.A., McClelland, I.L. (eds.) Usability Evaluation in Industry, pp. 189–194. Taylor & Francis, London (1996) 6. Affairs, A.:System Usability Scale (SUS) | Usability.gov, Usability.gov, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/system-usability-scale.html

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7. Fogg, B.: A Behavior Model for Persuasive Design. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery (2009) Retrieved from https://endregion.ir/uploads/weblog/persua sive_technology_ref/Fogg%20Behavior%20Model.pdfAppendix 8. Alves, T., Natálio, J., Henriques-Calado, J., Gama, S.: Incorporating personality in user interface design: a review, Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 155, p. 109709, 2019. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337500200_Incorporating_personality_in_u ser_interface_design_A_review 9. Karsvall, A.: Personality preferences in graphical interface design. In: The Second Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Aarhus, Denmark, pp. 217–218 (2002) 10. Brunel, F.F., Kumar, R.: Design and the Big Five: Linking Product Aesthetics to Product Personality. In: NA - Advances in Consumer Re-search Volume 34, eds. Gavan Fitzsimons and Vicki Morwitz, Duluth, MN : Asso-ciation for Consumer Research, pp. 238–239 (2007) 11. Miraz, M., Ali, M., Excell, P.: Adaptive user interfaces and universal usability through plasticity of user interface design. Comput. Sci. Rev. 40, 100363 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.cosrev.2021.100363

From Explaining to Engaging: A Seventy-Thirty Rule Toka Hassan(B) and Gerard T. McKee The British University in Egypt, Cairo, Egypt {Toka.Hassan,Gerard.McKee}@bue.edu.eg

Abstract. At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, universities worldwide quickly adapted to an online teaching setting as an emergency measure. During this rapid adaption, individual academics were given the challenge of teaching online [1]. Due to the vast discrepancies between the usual pedagogical approach to online teaching and to online teaching necessitated by the pandemic, the latter limited itself to instructor-centred knowledge transmission [2]. More recently, learning has moved back to the on-campus setting. This paper reports on one instructor’s change to on-campus sessions based on experience in transforming pre-pandemic on-campus sessions, which were explanation centred, to pandemic online sessions, which were activity-centred and therefore more engaging for the students. The post-pandemic on-campus sessions comprised three parts: (1) Whiteboard Centring, (2) Case Study Introduction, and (3) Solution Envisioning. The sessions were strongly student-centred and incorporated a 15 to 20-min break. The material covered in the sessions was examined in the module’s unseen 2h examination. When compared with previous results, the students performed better overall, and inspection of the examination scripts suggested that more of the students had a better understanding of the material. The paper discusses the extent to which the improvement reflects the student-centred approach. In addition, a 70– 30 rule is proposed as a way of both characterising the instructor’s student-centred approach and offering one guide to instructors as to whether they themselves are adopting a student-centred approach. Keywords: Student-centred learning · Instructor-centred learning · Student engagement · Online learning · On-campus learning · Scaffolding · Envisioning

1 Introduction At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, universities worldwide quickly adapted to an online teaching setting as an emergency measure. During this rapid adaption, individual academics were given the challenge of teaching online [1]. Due to the vast discrepancies between the usual pedagogical approach to online teaching and online teaching necessitated by the pandemic, online teaching during the pandemic limited itself to instructor-centred knowledge transmission – focusing on providing lectures with limited student-centred activities or student-student interactions [2]. More recently, learning has moved back to an on-campus setting. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 639–650, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_60

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Traditional on-campus lectures comprise a slide presentation with the opportunity for the instructor to ask questions of the students, the latter forming the instructor’s engagement with the students. The slide presentation typically takes up about 70 to 80 percent of the session, during which the instructor explains the content on the slides. It can be argued that this is the antithesis of student-centred learning, which is a key objective for educational establishments around the globe since student-centred learning encourages the students to be more active in their learning. This paper reports on one instructor’s change to on-campus sessions based on experience in transforming pre-pandemic on-campus sessions, motivated by students’ unhappiness with the instructor-centred knowledge transmission, to be more engaging in the online setting during the pandemic. The purpose of the work reported in this paper is to bring a model developed for online teaching during the pandemic, where it appeared successful, into an on-campus setting. The approach can be mapped effectively to the concept of scaffolding that was developed following the ideas of Lev Vygotsky’s concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) [3]. The paper discusses the extent to which the model reflects the student-centred approach and a 70–30 rule is proposed as a way of both characterising the approach and offering guidance to instructors as one means to assess the extent to which they themselves are adopting a student-centred approach. The remainder of the paper is organised as follows. Section two provides a literature survey on the topics of student-centred learning, online learning, and learning theory. Section three sets the background to the current study by outlining the student-centred online learning model adopted during the pandemic. Section four describes how this model was adopted and adapted to post-pandemic on-campus learning. Section five provides quantitative and qualitative results and discusses the extent to which performance improvements can be related to the student-centred approach adopted in lecture sessions.

2 Literature Survey 2.1 Student-Centred Learning Many researchers have attempted to explore the best ways in which students learn and retain knowledge to improve student engagement [4]. Some say that effective teaching is always characterised by student collaboration and their active involvement [5]. It is often said that learning approaches fall under either student-centred or instructor-centred. Instructor-centred learning by nature is more traditional, focusing on the teacher as the source of knowledge. In this approach to learning, the instructor controls what is to be taught and how the students should be presented with the information they are to learn [5]. The focus tends to be on ‘explaining’. Student-centred learning (SCL) describes the shift in power from the expert instructor to the student learner, driven by the need to change the traditional educational atmosphere, where students become passive and uninterested [6]. In school systems, the concept of SCL has been derived from the idea that teachers should not interfere with the maturation process but only act as a guide. This is linked to the process of development or readiness to learn, meaning that an individual will learn when they are ready to

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learn [7]. Additionally, SCL focuses on active learning and collaborative activities [8]. The focus tends to be on ‘engaging’. The author in [9] interpreted the ideas of SCL as students not only choosing what to study, but how and why they should study that topic. Therefore, students’ perception of the world is essential and relevant. This belief emphasises the concept of students having ‘choice’ in their learning. The authors in [10, 11] have defined five crucial aspects, or what they call key changes to practice, for the application of SCL: 1. There must be a power balance shared between the instructor and the students regarding activities and decision-making. 2. The function of content is to contribute to the process of learning and skill acquisition rather than mere memorisation of content. 3. The instructor’s role shifts from being the sole knowledge source to being a guide and facilitator of learning. 4. The responsibility for learning should rest on independent and self-motivated students. 5. The purpose of the evaluation is not only to produce grades but also to serve as a means for students to learn and practice skills. These will be used to evaluate the extent to which the approach described in this paper meets with the ideas of SCL. 2.2 Online Learning The onset of the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted and changed how people socialise, work, and learn [12]. The profound effect of the pandemic was especially felt in education [12]. Universities worldwide quickly adapted to an online teaching setting as an emergency measure. During this rapid adaption, individual academics were given the challenge of teaching online [1]. This led to significantly increased workloads for academics as they worked not only to adapt content and material into an online space but also to become sufficiently adept in navigating the required software [14]. Similarly, students faced difficulties in adapting to the unplanned shift to online learning [15]. Online learning has been termed the panacea for the COVID-19 crisis. Additionally, it has been argued that online learning is more accessible and flexible when compared to on-campus learning. However, online learning presents difficulties to both students and educators. For example, technology itself can pose a difficulty in terms of problems with audio and video, and an unstable internet connection. Moreover, students can find online learning to be boring and unengaging since a large portion of the success of online learning relies on the personal attention of students, which can be very difficult to maintain in an online setting, and therefore requires more work on the instructor’s side to ensure student attention and engagement. Despite the issues associated with online learning, its perks, and its role in mitigating the effects of the pandemic, it cannot be ignored [16].

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2.3 Learning Theory The idea of scaffolding within the realm of education is ubiquitous, yet it is often unclear what it means beyond the teacher structuring learning activities and offering support to students and what would comprise an effective teaching scaffold [17]. The idea of scaffolding emerged from the theory of the well-known psychologist Lev Vygotsky on learning and development and the notion of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) [3]. Vygotsky used the term “Zone of Proximal Development” (ZPD) to characterise an individual’s mental development. He defined ZPD as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” [3]. Therefore, ZPD defines the skills that have not yet matured but are in the process of maturation. ZPD often serves as the base for educators and their interactions with students. At the core of his theory lies the belief that: “through others, we become ourselves” [18]. When people are first born, they can naturally identify themselves with tangible attributes such as physical traits. However, an individual’s true identity is far beyond what meets the eye. Instead, it is with the experiences and interactions that people share that they are able to shape their view of the world and form their own identity. The wide appeal of the ZPD was not because it was an abstract, ready-made toolbox to be applied to teaching strategies; instead, a pedagogical intervention was itself part of the theory’s further development. This further development is integral to understanding the nature of human cognition and the process by which the mind develops. The term ‘scaffolding’ was first introduced by the authors in [19] as a metaphor to explain the implications of Vygotsky’s theory. As the term implies, scaffolding is precisely like scaffolding on a building. A scaffolding is installed at the very beginning of the building construction. The role of scaffolding is strictly temporary; when the construction is complete, the building will hold itself up; however, without the use of scaffolding, it could not have been built in the first place. It is a temporary structure that offers support and elevation [8]. In education, scaffolding is a tool to help elevate learners to the next step. It allows educators to offer support when necessary and then taper off as the learner becomes more competent. Therefore, scaffolding is a support mechanism that helps learners perform a task within their ZPD [21].

3 The Journey into Online Learning This paper brings a model developed for online teaching during the pandemic into an on-campus post-pandemic setting. In the online setting, a model was adopted for lecture sessions where elements of storytelling and sketching were incorporated to encourage student attention [22]. The traditional, heavily formal slide presentations were replaced with a more informal conversational style, visualising key concepts from the slide presentations, effectively suppressing the use of slides. The session was split into two halves. The first focused on a conversational style presentation of key concepts. A bridging activity was introduced at the end of the first half, motivated by the topic and continuing the theme of the first half’s story. The second half began with a ‘What did you find?’

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section where students were asked to report back on their findings from the bridging activity. In summary, the lectures were reorganised through: • Creating a conversational style visualisation of key concepts. • Expanding existing activities to encourage conversational style discussion. • Incorporating bridging activities between presentation sessions. The visualisation aspect relied on the use of diagrams. However, rather than designing a diagram and then explaining it in the lecture sessions, the task was to construct the diagrams on the fly, in line with the unfolding of a story. This means creating a story on the go rather than explaining the contents of a sequence of slides; the components of the diagram are the characters in the story, with the sequencing and motivation for their introduction defining the story’s structure [22].

4 The Journey Back to On-Campus Learning This paper reports on the adaption of the model described in the previous section to an on-campus post-pandemic setting. The approach was adapted for a year 3 module titled Formal Specification, taken by students during the first semester of the academic year 2021/22. The module builds on the students’ year 0 (prep year) module on discrete mathematics. In the process of adapting the previously described approach to on-campus sessions, the session was modified to comprise three phases: 1. Whiteboard Centring 2. Case Study Introduction 3. Solution Envisioning The session included a break either before the case study was introduced or immediately following it. Unlike the online approach, the bridging activity was not employed as it felt more appropriate to let the students get out of the classroom for a short period of time (15 to 20 min), allowing them time to rest and reset their focus. The Whiteboard Centring, Case Study Introduction, and Envisioning structure was adopted for every session over 11 weeks of the 12-week semester. Figure 1 shows how the approach maps to the ZPD model and scaffolding. In short, the Whiteboard Centring can be mapped to what the learner can do unaided. The instructor aimed to get the students centred on concepts from discrete mathematics that they were already familiar with. The Solution Envisioning maps to the ZPD and, therefore scaffolding, whereby the instructor asks the students to envision which concepts might be applicable in providing solutions for the case study, before showing the students the actual solutions. Finally, the challenges of the coursework and the exams, of course, map to what the learners cannot do unaided. The module incorporated a group-based coursework assignment and together with the exams required the students to apply the concepts they learned in the sessions to case studies they had not encountered before. Figure 2 shows examples of the slide material of the three phases: Whiteboard Centring (Fig. 2A), Case Study Introduction (Fig. 2B, C), and Solution Envisioning (Fig. 2D).

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Fig. 1. Typical ZPD model (left) and mapped ZPD model (right)

Fig. 2. Slide examples

5 Results and Discussion Two sets of results are provided, the first quantitative and the second qualitative. The first is based on actual data collected during the semester and from the exam. The second is based on a questionnaire given to students, from which 24 responses were obtained, and feedback from the instructor.

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5.1 Quantitative Results The material covered in the lecture sessions was examined in the module’s unseen 2-h examination comprising four questions of 25 marks each for a total of 100 marks. When compared with the previous academic year’s (AY’s) results, the students performed better, with the marks skewed towards the higher end of the range in contrast towards the lower end (Figs. 3 and 4). Inspection of the examination scripts also suggested that more of the students had a better understanding of the lecture material.

Fig. 3. Exam results (AY 2020/2021)

Fig. 4. Exam results (AY 2021/2022)

The instructor observed, during the marking of exam scripts, that more students were getting similar marks on all the questions they answered when compared with previous AYs. The standard deviation of the marks for every student was calculated and ordered from smallest. Figure 5 shows the results for AY 2020 and the current academic year, AY 2021, and confirms the instructor’s observations, implying that the students had a better understanding of the module content as a whole compared with students from the previous year.

Fig. 5. Question spread (AY 2021 & 2022)

Fig. 6. Student attendance

Since the sessions were separated into two parts, with a 15-min break, there was a concern that many students may not return for the second session, a concern which often encourages instructors not to allow breaks. Therefore, student attendance was recorded separately for each part of the session. Figure 6 shows the percentage of returning students. Overall, the results were encouraging, in that many more students returned than was expected. Attendance was not recorded for week 1, which included a single

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introductory session. Weeks 2 and 9 also incorporated a single session. The significant reduction in week 6 can be explained in the break being extended to 1 h so that the instructor could attend an academic meeting. 5.2 Qualitative Results A questionnaire was carried out comprising twelve questions. The module was taught in the first semester (Sept-Jan) of the academic year 2021/22. The questionnaire was carried out at the end of the second semester (May 2022). The questions were of mixed nature, including both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The questionnaire yielded a total of 24 responses from students. The responses are summarised below. Summary of Responses Q1: Describe in one word what you remember most about the lectures? Students reported that they remember the case studies and the lecture material most. They also described the lectures as collaborative, enjoyable, interactive, and informative. Q2: What did you like most about the lectures? Students reported that what they liked most about the lectures was the overall atmosphere of the lecture, the interactions they shared with the instructor, collaborating with their colleagues during the lecture and having a break to refresh their minds. Q3: What did you like least about the lectures? The majority of the students reported that what they liked least about the lectures was that sometimes it would take more than two hours, and they felt that made it too long. Q4: Do you think having a break during the lecture is important? When students were asked if they thought having a break was important, all respondents answered yes. Q5: Do you think a 15-min break was enough? When asked if 15 min were enough for the break, the majority of the respondents reported that a 15-min break was just enough. Q6: Did you feel comfortable enough to ask questions during the lecture? When the students were asked whether they felt comfortable asking questions during the lecture, only 8% answered no, while the rest answered yes or maybe (Fig. 7). Creating an atmosphere in the classroom where students would feel comfortable interacting and asking questions is essential in engaging the students in the student-centred approach. Q7: Do you prefer an instructor-centred or a student-centred approach to your learning experience? When the students were asked which learning approach they preferred, student-centred or instructor-centred, 58% reported they preferred student-centred, while the rest reported they preferred instructor-centred (Fig. 8). Q8: (Based on your answer to the previous question) Why do you think the approach works best for you? Students who answered Instructor-Centred to Q7 said they preferred this approach over a student-centred because in a student-centred approach they feel pressured to interact with others while understanding new concepts, which leads them to lose concentration. They also reported that an instructor-centred approach provides fewer distractions and more examples, and they get less side-tracked. Students who answered Student-Centred to Q7 said they preferred this approach over an instructor-centred approach because a student-centred approach helps them clarify any questions they have, helps them gain a better grasp on the content, allows them to get out of their comfort zone and ask questions, helps keep their focus up, and is more

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Fig. 7. Q6 responses

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Fig. 8. Q7 responses

useful as new ideas are explored when students participate in the sessions. They also reported that the lectures were more interactive, engaging, and enjoyable. Q9: How much do you think the approach adopted in the lectures has affected your learning experience positively (i.e., you enjoyed the lectures more, learned more, etc.)? The students’ responses leaned towards the positive side, suggesting that the approach positively impacted their learning experience (Fig. 9). Q10: How did you find the final unseen exam? Most students reported that the exam was of average difficulty, neither too easy nor too difficult (Fig. 10). Q11: How much do you think the approach used had an effect on your performance in the final unseen exam? Overall, the students felt it had a positive impact (Fig. 11).

Fig. 9. Q9 responses

Fig. 10. Q10 responses

Fig. 11. Q11 responses

Q12: Do you have any suggestions to help enhance the learning experience of students for the next year? Most responses objected to the instructor assigning students to their coursework groups, preferring to select their own groups. In summary, students found the student-centred approach positive. They engaged with the student-centred approach adopted by the instructor. They found the atmosphere positive. They generally felt free to ask questions. They were happy with the break and generally returned for the session after the break. However, their desire for studentcentred learning was mixed (Q7). The students disliked the sessions being extended, but this seemed to be an exaggeration of what happened in practice since the sessions were only extended once. The students did not like being assigned to groups; however, the program learning outcome requires this, so it is not something that will change. Separately, the instructor also offered qualitative feedback, which is summarised as follows: “The approach was much more rewarding since students’ understanding was

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immediately visible. It was good to see students looking to each other to check and discuss questions I posed to them during the whiteboard centring activity, where I was trying to get them to recall concepts in discrete maths that they were already familiar with. We spent more time discussing and talking between us than would have been the case if I was just explaining the content of slides.” 5.3 Discussion To what extent has student-centred learning been employed? Part of the answer to this can be obtained by referencing the five key practice changes referred to in Sect. 2.1. Of these, the approach adopted incorporates the first three key changes: 1. Power balance: The instructor knows the overall path, from initial to goal state, but the students have the power to direct the conversation off the path. 2. Function of content: Discussion is centred on understanding concepts through visualisation of case studies rather than reading solutions off slides. 3. Knowledge sources: The instructor’s efforts are centred on encouraging students to recall the relevant knowledge and offering guidance on how to apply it to the case studies. When characterising the transformation from the pre-pandemic to the post-pandemic on-campus sessions and explaining it to colleagues, it appeared easier for the instructor to refer to a seventy-thirty rule. Prior to the pandemic, the (on-campus) formal specification lectures comprised about 70% explaining material on slides and 30% engaging students in solution thinking, whereas in the post-pandemic sessions, over 70% of the sessions involved students engaged in recall and thinking activities. Did adopting a student-centred approach presented in this paper have an impact on student performance? The examination results, both in respect of student marks and the spread of question marks for each student, suggests it had an impact, improving student performance compared with the previous academic year. The feedback from the students in terms of their evaluation of the examination paper and their feeling that the approach contributed to their understanding of the topic, also suggests an impact. Other modules for the same group of students also showed improved performance compared with the previous year. A qualitative comparison of the mark distribution with other modules suggests that they helped the weaker and moderate students to improved performance. This may have been because the material was paced at a more acceptable level for these students. Support for this conclusion comes not only from the results but also from the students’ feeling that they could ask questions (Q6) and that they liked the atmosphere within the classroom (Q2). This is also supported by the fact that most students returned for the second session (Fig. 6). Could the improvement be due to the examination paper being? The instructor assesses that it is comparable to the previous year, and the student feedback seems to confirm that it was neither too difficult nor too easy (Q10 and Fig. 10). Could the improvement be due to how the coursework groups were selected? This academic year the groups were selected without first being split into lab groups which generally meant that all of the groups were stronger compared with previous year’s

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groups. This was reflected in the quality of some of the in-class coursework discussions. This may have also been a factor in improving the stronger students’ performance. Finally, from the instructor’s viewpoint, the approach created a much better educational environment for teaching and learning.

6 Conclusion This paper describes the experience of one instructor in adapting a student-centred learning approach adopted during the pandemic online learning to post-pandemic oncampus learning. The results have been positive both for the students and the instructor. Future work will explore methods to enhance the positive outcomes of the on-campus model and address the students’ concerns revealed through a questionnaire. Finally, the instructor offered a seventy-thirty rule to help characterise the transformation from pre-pandemic on-campus sessions to post-pandemic on-campus sessions. The rule, it is proposed, offers a useful means of describing and executing the move from instructorcentred learning to student-centred learning.

References 1. Lee, K., Fanguy, M., Bligh, B., Lu, X.S.: Adoption of online teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic: a systematic analysis of changes in university teaching activity. Educ. Rev. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2021.1978401 2. Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., Bond, A.: The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause (2020) 3. Vygotsky, L.S.: Mind and Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes (1978) 4. Slavich, G.M., Zimbardo, P.G.: Transformational teaching: theoretical underpinnings, basic principles, and core methods. Educ. Psychol. Rev. 24(4) (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10 648-012-9199-6 5. Garrett, T.: Student-centered and teacher-centered classroom management: a case study of three elementary teachers student-centered and teacher-centered of three classroom teachers management: study elementary. J. Classroom Interact. 43(1) (2015) 6. Rogers, C.R.: Freedom to Learn for the 80’s. Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, Ohio (1983) 7. Simon, B.: Why no pedagogy in England? In: Teaching and Learning in the Secondary School (1994) 8. Trinidad, J.E.: Understanding student-centred learning in higher education: students’ and teachers’ perceptions, challenges, and cognitive gaps. J. Further High. Educ. 44(8) (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2019.1636214 9. Burnard, P.: Carl Rogers and postmodernism: challenges in nursing and health sciences. Nurs. Health Sci. 1(4) (1999). https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1442-2018.1999.00031.x 10. Wright, G.B.: Student-centered learning in higher education. Int. J. Teach. Learn. High. Educ. 23(3) (2011) 11. Sharkey, S., Weimer, M.: Learner-centered teaching: five key changes to practice. Teach. Sociol. 31(2) (2003). https://doi.org/10.2307/3211318 12. Gonzalez, T., et al.: Influence of COVID-19 confinement on students’ performance in higher education, PLoS ONE 15(10) (2020). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239490

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13. Marinoni, G., Van’t Land, H., Jensen, T.: The impact of Covid-19 on higher education around the world. IAU global survey report, vol. 23 (2020) 14. Allen, J., Mahamed, F., Williams, K.: Disparities in education: E-learning and COVID-19, who matters? Child Youth Serv. 41(3) (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/0145935X.2020.183 4125 15. Lemay, D.J., Bazelais, P., Doleck, T.: Transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comput. Hum. Behav. Rep. 4 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100130 16. Dhawan, S.: Online learning: a panacea in the time of COVID-19 crisis. J. Educ. Tech. Syst. 49(1) (2020). https://doi.org/10.1177/0047239520934018 17. Taber, K.S.: Scaffolding learning: principles for effective teaching and the design of classroom resources. In: Effective Teaching and Learning: Perspectives, Strategies and Implementation (2018) 18. Rieber, R.W.: Genesis of higher mental functions. In: The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5939-9_5 19. Wood, D., Bruner, J.S., Ross, G.: The role of tutoring in problem solving. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 17(2) (1976). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1976.tb00381.x 20. Stone, C.A.: The metaphor of scaffolding: its utility for the field of learning disabilities. J. Learn. Disabil. 31(4), 344–364 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1177/002221949803100404 21. van der Stuyf, R.R.: Scaffolding as a teaching strategy. Strategy (2002) 22. Hassan, T., McKee, G.T.: Encouraging student engagement through storytelling. In: Mobility for Smart Cities and Regional Development - Challenges for Higher Education, pp. 1009–1020 (2022) 23. O’Neill, G., McMahon, T.: Student-centred learning: what does it mean for students and lecturers? Emerging Issues Pract. Univ. Learn. Teach. 1 (2005)

A Comprehensive Review on Deep Learning-Based Generative Linguistic Steganography Israa Lotfy Badawy(B) , Khaled Nagaty, and Abeer Hamdy The British University in Egypt, Cairo, Egypt {israa.lotfy,khaled.nagaty,abeer.hamdy}@bue.edu.eg

Abstract. The recent development of deep learning has made a significant breakthrough in linguistic generative steganography. The text has become one of the most intensely used communication carriers on the Internet, making steganography an efficient carrier for concealing secret messages. Text steganography has long been used to protect the privacy and confidentiality of data via public transmission. Steganography utilizes a carrier to embed the data to generate a secret unnoticed and less attractive message. Different techniques have been used to improve the security of the generated text and quality of the steganographic text, such as the Markov model, Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), Long short-term memory (LSTM), Transformers, Knowledge Graph, and Variational autoencoder (VAE). Those techniques enhance the steganographic text’s language model and conditional probability distribution. This paper provides a comparative analysis to review the key contributions of generative linguistic steganographic deep learningbased methods through different perspectives such as text generation, encoding algorithm, and evaluation criteria. Keywords: Text steganography · Information hiding · Deep learning

1 Introduction With the increasingly deep innovation of technology and the Internet, securing information is becoming a complex issue against the domination of hackers and espionage. Various techniques have been proposed to protect the transmission of sensitive information via public and private communication channels; nevertheless, none of those techniques managed to prevent 100% of security threats. There are three essential methods of information security systems to address those challenges: cryptography, watermarking, and steganography [11]. Cryptography is an encryption technique that converts secret information into an enciphered form with the help of an encryption key. The third party can easily observe the existence of encrypted data that contains a transformation of the original information. The second method is Watermarking, which secures the originality of information by incorporating a signature in the original information. The signature cannot be directly detected without the proper techniques. In order to overcome the shortcomings of watermarking and cryptography, steganography approaches have been © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 651–660, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_61

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proposed. Steganography is the art and science of concealing critical information in different covers, such as text, image, video, and audio, without any suspicion about the existence of the information [22]. Text is the most popular communication carrier in people’s daily lives. 98.1% of users on social media utilize text messaging to communicate [13]. The text may include confidential information, so it needs information hiding techniques to hide it and make it available in a more secure way. Text Steganography is relatively the most complicated cover medium compared to other types because of the lack of redundant information in the text. To clarify, a slight modification in the text file causes the text file to be no longer meaningful or grammatically valid. Text Steganography is a type of Hiding Information to conceal confidential data without being conscious of its existence. The output from the text steganography system can be called stego text or steganographic text [22]. It can be defined into three categories [11]: A) Text-modification-based Steganography. B) Text-selection-based Steganography. C) Text-generation-based Steganography. The text-selection-based steganography mainly embeds the secret message by constructing a text corpus used to hide the secret message. This corpus selects suitable steganographic text based on keywords and labels. The hiding process in the text-modification approach concentrates on manipulating text characteristics or content through synonym substitution, changing the line spacing, format redundancy, and syntactic change. The text-generation-based steganography secures the hidden message by generating a new cover text using NLP techniques. So it does not require cover in advance. To review, the steganography technique aims at hiding the information without any suspicion of the transmission of a secret message. It is apparent that if any suspicion is raised, so the goal of this approach is defeated. As a result, steganography utilizes a cover or carrier to embed the data to make the secret message unnoticed and less attractive. With the significant development of deep learning and natural language processing (NLP) techniques, researchers have successively proposed different approaches to achieve a larger hiding capacity for generative text steganography. However, the quality of the generated long text is still poor. Nevertheless, text steganography enhances the hiding capacity by manipulating language characteristics, grammatical or orthographic. This study reviews the evolution of text steganography by investigating and exploring research papers related to automatic generative text steganography. The contributions of this research are defined as follows: – It provides a comparative analysis of the existing linguistic text steganography deep learning-based approaches based on different perspectives such as text generation, encoding algorithm, and evaluation criteria. – It discusses the future directions in this research field. The rest of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 discusses the deep learning methodology used to generate a steganography system, focusing on the encoding process and evaluation metrics. Section 3 provides future work recommendations and the findings from the existing methods, and Sect. 4 briefs the evaluation criteria for generative linguistic steganography. Section 5 concludes this paper.

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2 Deep Learning-Based Linguistic Steganography Different techniques have been proposed to secure confidential information without suspicion about the message’s existence. Markov model is one of the earliest techniques developed in this area. Yang et al. [14] designed a linguistic steganographic system based on Markov Model and Huffman Coding to generate text steganography automatically. The generated system is divided into two stages: the automatic generation of the text and the embedding process for the secret message. The generated text should follow the statistical language distribution of the training sample, so the Markov chain model is used to ensure the correlation between the generated text and the statistical distribution. At the same time, the construction of the Huffman tree is implanted for each iteration according to the different conditional probability distributions of each word to complete the embedding process. This approach helps to ensure the information hiding, but the results of the embedding rates are insufficient as while the embedding rate increases, the statistical distribution difference between the training data and generated text gradually increases. The proposed model was evaluated on three Twitter, movie reviews, and news datasets. The model’s accuracy while tested on the Twitter dataset is 56% for embedding rate (4bit/word). However, the deep learning and NLP techniques achieve a definite improvement, illustrated in the paragraphs below. Yang et al. [10] hypothesized that using the recurrent neural networks in linguistic steganography conduct high-quality text covers. At the same time, the generated text is more natural and of higher quality. By learning the statistical language distribution model, this paper automatically generates the stego text based on RNN. This distribution learns from a massive volume of standard text to produce messages that follow the statistical patterns. Embedding the information depends on the conditional probability distribution of each word coded using the binary tree technique and Huffman tree during the synthesis sentence. This approach increased the embedding rate and decreased the system security since it analyses the statistical features of a single phrase, abandoning the broader distribution of batch-generated texts. The proposed system’s performance is measured through three datasets: Twitter, news, and movie reviews. The model shows promising results while the embedding rate increases 7bits/word, equaling 17.13%. The system’s accuracy against the steganalysis technique proposed in [7] is 52% for 4 bit/word. Yang et al. [9] proposed different strategies to improve the generation of semantically controllable steganographic text and the encoder-decoder framework. This work has evaluated three different encoding techniques Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) model, the Transformer model, and the Topic-Aware model. The candidate pool (CP) used for text generation has been generated by categorical sampling to achieve the goal of generation semantic text. The authors used METEOR and ROUGH-L matric to evaluate the semantics of the generated text (the higher, the better). The experiment analysis for this system used ROC stories datasets. Xiang et al. [4] demonstrated that embedding the secret message based on the character level will improve the hiding capacity and message security. So the authors propose a linguistic steganography system based on the LSTM-based character-level language model; this model will provide the prediction of the following character instead of the next word. The information hiding process will go through two dependent directions.

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The first process is to generate the cover text based on the secret message to generate multiple cover texts. The second direction is selecting stego text from all candidates with high quality. The selection process is defined regarding the perplexity calculation for all candidates. The experimental results of this work proved that the proposed system achieves a faster running speed as it takes 0.642 s to generate the stego text compared to RNN- Stega [10], which takes 3.25 s. A more significant embedding rate has been achieved with 12.56% capacity. Based on the ideas of Kang et al. [5], combining the LSTM network and attention mechanism with keywords improved the stego text quality. The proposed combination uses a large-scale text database to generate a language model. In-text generating process, the prediction of the next word is defined according to the conditional probability distribution; this calculation is performed by the LSTM network and the secret value to be embedded. Keywords are considered with the attention mechanism technique to improve the quality of the generated text. Moreover, they point out that the steganographic text’s quality mainly depends on the training dataset. Furthermore, the semantic quality will be poor if the dataset is on a small scale. This paper showed that the difference between LSTM and LSTM with attention mechanism is slightly different as the time needed to generate the steganographic text is averagely the same. The time needed for the VLC method (Huffman Tree) is more than that of the FLC method (Perfect Binary Tree). The reason is that the method of VLC spends more time generating the Huffman tree. Nevertheless, FLC takes around 3.7 s to generate the text (100-word) to build the binary tree, which presents a good performance in data embedding efficiency. Probability-based adaptive embedding algorithm is responsible for defining the candidate word space and the embedding capacity based on the similarity of word probability. This approach focuses on the most considerable transition probability to embed words. Zhou et al. [2] assert that using the adaptive probability distribution with the generative adversarial network (GAN) achieves high-security performance and high quality. In addition, the adaptive embedding algorithm with a similarity function can keep the embedded distribution consistent with the accurate distribution. Moreover, embedding information is considered in the training process instead of the isolation between the generation stages. Furthermore, the generated information hiding model reduces the embedding deviation and improves performance. The system was evaluated against the steganalysis technique proposed in [19] with an accuracy of 66% for hiding 3 bit/wors. The author used three datasets for the training side: Twitter, Microsoft Coco, and Movie Reviews. Yang et al. [1] follow the encode-decoder architecture to perform the new linguistic steganography system using a variational auto encoder (VAE-Stega). The proposed system’s encoder learns the normal text’s overall statistical distribution, and the decoder generates steganographic text. A large-scale database (Twitter and movie reviews) has been used to confirm the proposed system’s performance. This work compares two different encoders, LSTM and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT). All results of this system compared to RNN-Stega [10] and RNN [9] show which one is more secure. The paper showed the results of the steganalysis technique in [17] over the proposed method using arithmetic coding (AC) and Huffman tree (HT)

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and showed that AC could persist with an accuracy of 62% compared to HT accuracy of 62%. The finding from this paper is that the arithmetic coding can perform slightly better than the Huffman tree. Ziegler et al. [8] combined the pre-trained language model, which is called generative pre-trained transformer (GPT), with the arithmetic coding (AC) to develop the steganographic system. The improvement of AC controls the difference in the conditional probability distribution between normal text and steganographic texts. Shen et al. [12] proposed a new steganography system that encodes the secret message based on arithmetic coding with the help of a pre-trained language model. The proposed method improves the imperceptibility of the secret message compared to previous methods. This paper does not use the normal arithmetic coding as it may generate a rarely-used cover text token; it proposes a new self-adjusting arithmetic coding (SAAC) to overcome this issue. This work was evaluated using Drugs, News, COVID19, and Random datasets. This work achieved better results than RNN-Stega [10], but the generated text contains some factual errors. Li et al. [6] point out the problem of semantics in text steganography. Hence, they propose a linguistic system based on the knowledge graph to generate a steganographic text on a specific topic by encoding the entitles and relationships data. The proposed solution goes along with the transformer architecture (encoder and decoder). The graph encoding built the graph vectors based on the topic and content at the encoder process. Then those vectors are used to generate steganographic text at the decoder process. The system was evaluated using the steganalysis approach proposed in [17] with an accuracy of 67%. The system was evaluated using METEOR matric, which achieves significant results.

3 Discussion and Research Direction The steganographic systems aim to hide the secret information in a carrier without any suspicion about the existence of the information and then securely extract the information from the carrier. Various models have been proposed to improve the area of generative linguistic text steganography. Some models improve the system’s performance by taking less time while generating the carrier message. Others achieved good results in embedding capacity and the quality of the generated sentences. However, improving the quality of generated sentences does not mean that the steganographic text is secure. With the developments of steganalysis, the proposed steganographic models cannot survive. Furthermore, the semantic expression of the steganographic text needs to be controlled to generate controllable semantics text in a specific context. The proposed frameworks of linguistic steganography face fundamental challenges. The first challenge, while the embedding rates increase, the quality of the generated text decreases. Besides, meaningless sentences with grammatical errors appear. For that reason, building a language generation model and generating well-quality text carriers with smoother sentences is a problem that needs to be addressed. The second challenge is that the generated text from the above frameworks is only generated based on the statistical distribution of probability. The semantics, emotions, and topics of the generated text are uncontrollable.

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Consequently, the semantics, emotions, and topics of the generated text should be considered to improve the quality of new text generation and enhance sentence fluency. We point out that encoder-decoder architecture can positively influence the hiding process of text steganography. The encoder concentrates on learning the statistical distribution of the normal texts, and the decoder generates the sentences based on the outcomes from the encoder. The most effective encoding techniques in steganography are Huffman Tree, Binary Tree, and Arithmetic coding. The binary tree takes less time to produce stego text than the Huffman tree while only constructing a Perfect binary tree but the steganographic text generated by the Huffman tree is better than the binary tree. Future directions to explore the language models and encoder-decoder architecture may improve the current gaps in the steganography area. Nevertheless, Arithmetic encoding achieved significant results in the concealment of the information. The authors used different datasets to evaluate and construct the steganographic model. Twitter, News, and Movie Reviews datasets are the most used for training. Table 1 illustrates each paper’s encoding and deep learning techniques. The future work in this area can be defined as follows: – Improve the quality of steganographic text by controlling the text semantics to generate a controllable text generation. – Reimburse attention to the encoder-decoder architecture to enhance the security of the text. – Optimize the encoding techniques to minimize the difference in the probability distribution.

4 Evaluation Criteria The purpose of text steganography is to hide the existence of information in the carrier to ensure the concealment of important information. The previous works analyzed the performance of their systems in three different aspects: information hiding efficiency, hidden capacity, and information imperceptibility. For Semantic expressions, two methods can be applied bilingual evaluation understudy (BLEU), recall-oriented understanding for gisting evaluation-longest common subsequence (ROUGH-L), and metrics for evaluation of translation with explicit ordering (METEOR) [6]. 4.1 Information Hiding Capacity Information Hiding Capacity measures how long the model takes to hide the secret information. Different aspects affect the information hiding capacity, such as the dictionary size, candidate pool, and the encoding process algorithm. Paper [13] mentioned a comparison between the different encoding techniques with different candidate pools and found that the Perfect binary tree takes less time when generating 50 words with candidate pool 332 with an average of 4.854 s. The perfect binary tree shows a better result than the Huffman tree regarding information hiding capacity.

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Table 1. Previous work in generative linguistic text steganography Technique

Year

RNN

Author

Encoding process

Dataset

Steganalysis

2019 Yang et al. [10]

Huffman Tree & Perfect Binary Tree

Twitter, Movie Reviews, News

[7]

2021 Yang et al. [9]

(GRU) & Transformer model & Topic-Aware model

ROC Stories

[7, 15, 16]

RNN + Knowledge Graph

2021 Li et al. [6]

Graph Encoding

AGENDA

[17]

LSTM

2020 Xiang et al. [4]

LSTM Character-level Language Model

Gutenberg corpus

-

LSTM + Attention Mechanism

2020 Kang et al. [5]

Huffman Tree & Perfect Binary Tree

Zhihu, ESSAY

[7]

LSTM + GAN

2021 Zhou et al. [2]

Huffman Tree & Perfect Binary Tree

Twitter, [19–21] Microsoft Coco, and Movie Reviews

LSTM + 2019 Ziegler et al. [8] Language Models (GPT & 2020 Shen et al. [12] BERT)

Arithmetic Coding

CNN/Dailymail (CNNDM)

-

Self Adjusting Arithmetic Coding

Drug, News, COVID-19, Random

-

Variational autoencoder (VAE)

Huffman Tree Arithmetic Coding

Twitter Movie review

[17–19]

2021 Yang et al. [1]

4.2 Hidden Capacity Analysis Hidden capacity analysis refers to the embedding rate (ER), which calculates how much information can be embedded in texts. The embedding rate measurement divides the number of embedded bits by the number of bits occupied by the generated text. In other words, it calculates the average number of bits concealed in each word (Bwp – Bits/word) [14]. The result of ER constructs an opposite relationship with the hiding process. The formalization of the embedding rate is as follows (1): 1 N Ki (1) ER = i=1 Li N

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where N is the number of the generated sentences, Ki is the number of the bits embedded in i-th sentences, and Li is the length of the i-th sentences. 4.3 Information Imperceptibility Information imperceptibility is an essential aspect of the evaluation process to ensure the concealing of confidential information [23]. This evaluation will evaluate the quality of the generated text, text statistical distribution characteristics, and anti-steganalysis ability. Perplexity Metric (ppl) Measures the generated sentences’ quality and the language model of the generated sentences. The smaller its value is, the better the generated text’s quality is with the training data’s statistical distribution. Perplexity is the primary measure of steganographic text in NLP. 1

perplexity = 2− n log p(si )

(2)

1

= 2− n log p(w1, w2, w3,..., wn

2

− 1n

n 

log p(wi |w1, w2,...., wj−1

j=1

where si = {w1,w2,w3,…,wn}is the generated sentence, p(si) indicates the probability distribution, and n is the length of the generated sentences. As mentioned by Yang et al. [200], the difference in the statistical distribution between the generated steganographic text and the training texts can be evaluated using Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD), Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD), and Wasserstein Distance known as Earth Mover’s Distance (EMD). KLD and JSD calculate the overall distribution of the generated and normal sentences in terms of statistical distribution to measure the security of the generated steganographic model. Steganalysis Ability This process aims to evaluate the performance of the generated steganographic sentences to resist steganalysis. Different factors, such as Accuracy (Acc), Precision (P), and Recall (R), can be used to calculate the resistance. Accuracy. Calculates the proportion of both true positives and true negatives: Accuracy =

TP + TN TP + FN + FP + TN

(3)

Precision. Measures the proportion of positive cases in the classified samples: Precision =

TP TP + FP

(4)

Recall. Measures the proportion of positives that are correctly identified as such: Recall =

TP TP + FN

(5)

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TP (True Positive) refers to the number of positive samples predicted as positive samples, and FP (False Positive) defines the number of negative samples predicted as negative samples. FN (False Negative) indicates the number of positive samples predicted to be negative, and TN (True Negative) represents the number of negative samples predicted to be negative.

5 Conclusion Automatic generative linguistic steganography is a challenging and promising research topic in information security. Generative linguistic steganography aims to generate a cover text based on a secret message close to the humans’ normal text. Text Steganography is relatively more complicated than other steganography types; because of the lack of redundant information in a text file compared with other types. Despite the immense improvements in this field in recent years, there remains a massive space for developing and enhancing this domain. As a comprehensive review of the deep learning-based approach in text steganography, this paper focus on the existing approaches, the encoding process, the evaluation techniques, and the improvements.

References 1. Yang, Z.-L., Zhang, S.-Y., Hu, Y.-T., Hu, Z.-W., Huang, Y.-F.: VAE-Stega: linguistic steganography based on variational auto-encoder. IEEE Trans. Inf. Forensics Secur. 16, 880–895 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/TIFS.2020.3023279 2. Zhou, X., Peng, W., Yang, B., Wen, J., Xue, Y., Zhong, P.: Linguistic steganography based on adaptive probability distribution. IEEE Trans. Dependable Secure Comput. 19, 2982–2997 (2021) 3. Alanazi, N., Khan, E., Gutub, A.: Efficient security and capacity techniques for Arabic text steganography via engaging Unicode standard encoding. Multimedia Tools Appl. 80(1), 1403–1431 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-020-09667-y 4. Xiang, L., Yang, S., Liu, Y., Li, Q., Zhu, C.: Novel Linguistic steganography based on character-level text generation. Mathematics 8(9), 1558 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/mat h8091558 5. Kang, H., Wu, H., Zhang, X.: Generative text steganography based on LSTM network and attention mechanism with keywords. Electron. Imaging 2020(4), 291-1–291-8 (2020) 6. Li, Y., Zhang, J., Yang, Z., Zhang, R.: Topic-aware neural linguistic steganography based on knowledge graphs. ACM/IMS Trans. Data Sci. 2(2), 1–13 (2021) 7. Samanta, S., Dutta, S., Sanyal, G.: A real time text steganalysis by using statistical method. In: Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Engineering and Emerging Technologies (ICETECH), pp. 264–268 (2016) 8. Ziegler, Z.M., Deng, Y., Rush, A.M.: Neural linguistic steganography. arXiv:1909.01496 (2019). http://arxiv.org/abs/1909.01496 9. Yang, Z., Xiang, L., Zhang, S., Sun, X., Huang, Y.: Linguistic generative steganography with enhanced cognitive-imperceptibility. IEEE Signal Process. Lett. 28, 409–413 (2021). https:// doi.org/10.1109/LSP.2021.3058889 10. Yang, Z., Guo, X., Chen, Z., Huang, Y., Zhang, Y.: RNN-Stega: linguistic steganography based on recurrent neural networks. IEEE Trans. Inf. Forensics Secur. 14(5), 1280–1295 (2019)

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11. Li, F., Tang, H., Zou, Y., Huang, Y., Feng, Y., Peng, L.: Research on information security in text emotional steganography based on machine learning. Enterp. Inf. Syst. 15(7), 984–1001 (2020) 12. Shen, J., Ji, H., Han, J.: Near-imperceptible neural linguistic steganography via self-adjusting arithmetic coding. In: EMNLP (2020) 13. Gurunath, R., Alahmadi, A., Samanta, D., Khan, M., Alahmadi, A.: A novel approach for linguistic steganography evaluation based on artificial neural networks. IEEE Access 9, 120869–120879 (2021) 14. Yang, Z., Jin, S., Huang, Y., Zhang, Y., Li, H.: Automatically generate steganographic text based on Markov model and Huffman coding, November 2018. arXiv:1811.04720. http:// arxiv.org/abs/1811.04720 15. Meng, P., Hang, L., Yang, W., Chen, Z., Zheng, H.: Linguistic steganography detection algorithm using statistical language model. Proc. Int. Conf. Inf. Technol. Comput. Sci., 540–543 (2009) 16. Chen, Z., et al.: Linguistic steganography detection using statistical characteristics of correlations between words. In: Proceedings International Workshop on Information Hiding, pp. 224–235 (2008) 17. Yang, Z., Huang, Y., Zhang, Y.-J.: A fast and efficient text steganalysis method. IEEE Signal Process. Lett. 26(4), 627–631 (2019) 18. Din, R., et al.: Performance analysis on text steganalysis method using a computational intelligence approach. In: Proceedings International Conference of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Informatics (EECSI), pp. 19–20 (2015) 19. Wen, J., Zhou, X., Zhong, P., Xue, Y.: Convolutional neural network based text steganalysis. IEEE Signal Process. Lett. 26(3), 460–464 (2019) 20. Niu, Y., Wen, J., Zhong, P., Xue, Y.: A hybrid R-BILSTM-C neural network based text steganalysis. IEEE Signal Proc. Lett. 26(12), 1907–1911 (2019) 21. Yang, Z., Wang, K., Li, J., Huang, Y.: TS-RNN: text steganalysis based on recurrent neural networks. IEEE Signal Proc. Lett. 26(12), 1743–1747 (2019) 22. Thabit, R., Udzir, N., Yasin, S., Asmawi, A., Roslan, N., Din, R.: A comparative analysis of Arabic text steganography. Appl. Sci. 11(15), 6851 (2021) 23. Xiang, L., Wang, R., Yang, Z., Liu, Y.: Generative linguistic steganography: a comprehensive review. KSII Trans. Internet Inf. Syst. 16(3), 986–1005 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3837/tiis. 2022.03.013

Mind Waves Time Series Analysis of Students’ Focusing and Relaxing Sessions Mostafa A. Salama(B) and M. Samir Abou El-Seoud Informatics and Computer Sciences, British University in Egypt, Cairo, Egypt [email protected]

Abstract. Research uses electroencephalography (EEG) to study the reflection of emotional and physical activity on the mind’s behaviour. It allows the understanding of the mental status of students during educational sessions or patients during meditation sessions. Attention and Meditation are two EEG meters that reflect the mind focus and the mind calmness, respectively. The values of these meters across session time are considered as a time series data of a constant time unit. Current research considers that can discriminate the mind status according to the mind wave values at a specific time, whether an emotion like feeling happy is currently experienced or an activity like blinking is performed. This work proposes a new time series representation method to classify the gender of the student. This method considers the trend of time series values of mind wave meters during a specific activity. A composite feature vector of this representation is supplied to a machine learning model. The classification accuracy is boosted from 50% using traditional models to 70% using the proposed model. In addition, the results show that the accuracy of used classifier (decision tree) increases as the degree of polynomial fitting curve of the timer series vector increases, until a global beak then starts to decrease. The fitting degree is an important parameter in the proposed time series representation model . Keywords: Electroencephalography · Mind waves · Mediation and attention · Time series analysis

1 Introduction Research studies the behaviour of mind waves to analyze the mind’s reaction to different activities. The activities include experiencing emotions like feeling happy or sad, doing physical activities like moving an arm or blinking, and general situations like being fatigued, meditating, or focusing. Monitoring the students’ understanding during lectures is an important application of mind wave analysis [1]. Students who attend lectures usually lose focus on the lecture content after 10 to 15 min. Students’ attention during the lecture varies according to the student’s mood, motivation, and other varied factors. Several tactics are applied to keep the student’s attention like motivation, engagement, and providing jokes and stories. The target of these tactics is to retain the mind calmness to enable students to refocus and gain more of the provided content [2]. The aim of mind © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 661–668, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_62

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wave analysis is to apply the appropriate tactic based on the mind status of the student. This would promote the mental and cognitive functionality of student during the on-line or the on-campus learning process [1]. The fundamental unit of human’s brain is neuron, which communicates to other neurons through transmitting and receiving electrical signals, The electrical waves emitted during these electrical communications are recorded and analyzed through a process named as electroencephalography (EEG). EEG devices includes uni- (like Neurosky) or multi- (like Emotiv) channel sensors (electrodes) that are placed on the human’s sculp. The EEG signal as a set of oscillating electrical voltages include varies frequency bands which are the Gamma(γ), Alpha (α), Beta (β), Theta (θ), and Delta (δ). Every band of the EEG signal indicates a specific state of the human’s mind, Gamma indicates a focusing states, Beta indicates an anxious and active states, while Alpha, Theta and Delta indicate mind relaxation, deep relaxation, and sleeping respectively [3]. Each band has a range that can classify the physiological characteristics of a person, for example, the person is considered sleeping if the intensity of the Delta frequency of the EEG signal is less than 4 Hz. The person is considered relaxed if Alpha is in the range (8–15 Hz) and considered thinking actively if Beta is in the range (16, 31 Hz). The work in [4] studies the relation between the level of students’ mindfulness and the negative impact of stress in university life. The mindfulness level of the students is measured based on the value of the frequency bands Alpha, Beta and Theta. Neurosky [5] perceives the mind waves extracted by a single electrode over the frontal lobe and transforms these waves to meditation and attention values. Attention measures the mind concentration, and Meditation measures the mind calmness. It is concluded that Alpha waves are associated with meditation and Beta waves are associated with attention. The work in [2] studies the correlation between these two values and the level of student understanding and successful learning. Most of these approaches consider analyzing the mind wave data to detect the mind status at a single unit of time. The distinctive features of the EEG signal are recorded once, including the values of the frequency bands and/or the meditation and attention values, are considered as a feature vector to machine learning. Machine learning uses the values in this feature vector to classify the instant status of the human’s mind. Other approaches are proposed to consider the features of EEG signals as a time series vectors. The target of this work is to use the time series analysis to study the trend of variation of mediation and attention values of students’ mind wave during sessions. This study allows the understanding of the difference between the mind behavior of the two gender types. A machine learning model is proposed to classify the gender of the student based on his/her mind waves during a learning session. The trend component of the time series vector of each mind wave meter (meditation and attention) is extracted and summarized. Then this summarized trend component is used as a part of the input feature vector to machine learning. Such that, each feature vector represents the mind waves of a student during a complete scientific session. The target class of each feature vector is the gender of the student. A benchmark dataset is used in this study [6], it includes the mind waves measures for 20 students (males and females) during watching a set of confusing lectures. The classification accuracy reached is only 70% due the shortage of samples in the dataset, however the fact that the mind waves of males and females can be discriminated is proofed.

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The rest of this paper is organized as follows: the literature survey shows the different approaches of using mind wave analysis in enhancing the learning process. The next sections present the proposed model and the result analysis. Finally, the conclusion and future work highlights the strength and importance of this mode in solving various real-life problems.

2 Literature Survey Current research of applying machine learning to the mind wave dataset considers each record as single instance of the mind status. This means that each record represents a single shot of the mind wave, which includes Alpha, Beta, Gama, theta, meditation, and attention meters. Machine learning is applied to classify the status of the mind that produces this wave record, whether the wave is due to an emotional feeling or physical activity. The standard model of applying machine learning considers the mind wave at specific point of time as a single record. The feature vector includes a set of mind meters at a specific instance of time, and the class of this record is the mind status. The work in [7] studies the cognitive performance of the student mind based on behaviour (drinking/smoking), body mass index (BMI), gender, the cognitive behaviour is calculated as the average value of attention and meditation (relaxation). The result in this work finds a partial correlation between the attention/meditation meters to the gender feature, but it does not figure out the shape of this correlation. [8] observed the difference in the variation of the alpha and delta bands during meditation and rest. [9] uses the features extracted from the EEG signals of a person’s brain in identity authentication, considering that each person has a unique discriminating pattern. The work in [3] studies the variation of alpha band (meditation) and beta band (attention) during the listening of several types of music, like rock, metal and pop. Mean and standard deviation of the values of alpha and beta during each music session is measured and compared. The discrimination between mind waves of males and females is not clear, while a slight difference appears between the average of meditation level and the average of attention level. Recently, several approaches have been proposed to use the time series data mining in the analysis of EEG mind waves. Time series representation is an important method to transform the original time series vector into a reduced version that holds the structural information of this vector. This method supports the fast and accurate detection of the similarity in the time series vector, similarity detection is considered as the core in most of the time series data mining models [10]. The work in [11] analysis the time series changes EEG mind waves of a programmer during comprehension of a source code. It considers the difference between the start and the end of the comprehension process to classify the mind state as success or failure. The start and end values are calculated as the average EEG feature values at the first and last five seconds of the process, respectively. A case-based analysis is applied on these time vectors to analyze the variation of theta and alpha during the exercise of breath meditation [12]. Time series representation methods are categorized into two main types. The first type is a non-data adaptive method that considers the parameter of transformation are the same for all-time series, examples of this type are wavelet and Fourier transformation methods.

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The second type is data adaptive method that considers the parameters vary according to the available data, an example of this type is the symbolic time series analysis (STSA). This method transforms the time series sequence values into a sequence of symbols. A symbol sequence of quantization level ψ has a set of fixed values from 0 to ψ − 1, for example if ψ = 2, then symbol set is {0, 1}. Threshold-based STSA method considers a threshold 8, such that if the time series value is above 8, then the symbol is 1, and symbol is 0 otherwise. The STSA method transformed the symbol sequence in a word sequence of a reduced size, by composing each sequence of L symbols into a word of length L. The work in [13] uses the threshold-dependent symbolic entropy method to distinguish between EEG healthy and epileptic subjects, this method transforms the time series vector to a series of discrete symbols that formulate the information of the mind state. The resulted value (entropy) represents a quantitative measure of the frequency of the symbol sequences.

3 Proposed Model The aim of the proposed model is to classify the gender of the subject whose mind waves are recorded during a specific activity. The mind wave is represented as a time series data set to detect its trend of variation. This model processes the time series data of the mind wave in two stages. Figure 1 shows the two main stages in this model starting from extracting the mind wave and ending by presenting the label of the gender (male or female). The used dataset [14] includes the mind waves data of 10 students, males and females. The data is collected during the 20 sessions of watching lectures of complex topics. The input of the proposed model is the raw data set from the mind wave EEG device. The activity is attending an online lecture of a complex field in science. The timeperiod of each session is 2 minutes, where the time space between each two records is the same (time unit). The time unit separating each value is constant and dependent of the used EEG device. The first stage proposes the data representation method, applied to reduce the input time data series size. The extracted time series data set includes the meditation and attention values of the 10 during the 20 sessions. This data is preprocessed to form a balanced dataset of the mind wave of a set of male and female students. Then a proposed data representation method to generate a reduced time series vector for meditation and attention meters. These reduced versions of meditation and attention vectors are concatenated to form a final record of the gender class. The second stage includes the training and testing of the machine learning model based on the final dataset. 3.1 Time Series Representation for Trend Extraction A time series is a sequence of data points separated by an equal interval of time. The time series vector has four diverse ways of behaviour (components): Secular trend, seasonal, cyclic, and irregular variation. The aim here is to extract the trend of the data variation and eliminate the cyclic and irregular variation. The seasonal component in the time series vector of mind wave meters has no significant effect, as it is recorded for specific activities in a short period of time. Secular trend represents consistent variation of mind

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Fig. 1. The proposed model of applying machine learning on the time series for of mind waves.

wave values during the session’s time period. Meditation and attention levels in mind wave are considered here as two time-series vectors. The aim of this stage is to extract the trend component of the meditation and attention time series data vectors per each student-session attendance. Each record includes the structure of time series trend during a long-time activity and the class gender performing the activity. The main input here is the data extracted from the brain wave which includes the meditation and attention vectors. Each vector represents a series of values recorded along the time of an activity. Each row in the input dataset represents a timeseries vector of a meditation/attention values for male/female genders. The length of the mediation and attention values across the session time is 177 values as shown in Fig. 2. The length of the reduced version of each record is 7. The two 7-valued vectors (14 features) of meditation and attention records are concatenated as a collected mind wave data vector.

Fig. 2. The application of machine learning to classify males and females in a balanced dataset.

The preprocessing step of the input row data set includes two sub-steps, the first substep is smoothing, followed by a fitting sub-step. The moving average method is applied as a smoothing method using a specific constant window size. The fitting sub-step is the trend estimation of the most fitting line/curve for the meditation/attention of variation. Both the size of the window of the moving average method and the polynomial degree d of the fitting curve are two parameters that correspond to the highest classification accuracy. This part removes the cyclic and irregularities in the time series vector. The following step in this stage is the time series representation process. The small version of the attention/mediation record is created by averaging each n consecutive values as

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a single value in the recent version. This process creates a summary of each part to represent the trend of the record, whether it is an attention or meditation record. The data considered in the experimental work includes 177 records that were processed as 7 records only for both types as shown in Fig. 3. The records from both types are concatenated to for a single record for a student whose classification is male or female. Figure 3 represents the two steps of the extraction of the trend representation from the time series dataset.

Fig. 3. Time series to trend representation process

3.2 Male/Female Classification The second stage here is to study the correlation between mind waves of males and that of females. The input record from each session is composed of a part that represents the mutation variation through the session and a part that represents the attention variation through the session. Each record is labeled as a male or a female. The experiment applied here has three main parameters, the first parameter is the degree of the polynomial fitting curve. The second parameter is the size of the moving average window, the third parameter is the size of the averaging window n. The used machine learning classification method is the decision tree classifier. The number of extracted records is only 80 records, 40 for males and 40 for females. The input data is divided into two parts, testing part of size equals to 30% of the input data and training part of size 70%, using 10-fold cross validation methodology. Although the input dataset is noticeably short as it is only 80 records, the required is to show the variation of the classification accuracy with respect to the data representation. The results in Table 1 show that the classification accuracy of the input data set that is based on the polynomial degree. The degree varies from 1 which represents the original record, to 8 which represents the fitting curve of polynomial degree 8. Each row represents the classification accuracy according to the size of the moving average window s = {10, 30}, and according to the size of the average window n = {10, 20}. As shown in the table, the classification accuracy has a maximum value where the polynomial degree of the fitting curve is 3, and s = 10, n = 10.

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Table 1. Polynomial degree variation with respect to s and n values. Polynomial degree of Fitting Curve

Accuracy s = 10 and n = 20

Accuracy s = 10 and n = 10

Accuracy s = 30 and n = 20

Accuracy s = 30 and n = 10

1

46.67

66.33

51.67

57.00

2

48.67

47.00

66.33

43.00

3

71.00

48.33

69.67

49.67

4

59.67

46.33

62.00

47.33

5

57.200

42.00

67.67

51.67

6

44.67

39.33

47.67

51.67

7

45.00

50.67

44.67

57.00

8

35.33

48.00

52.00

66.97

The first conclusion on these results is that the trend of the mind wave is considered as a key factor in recognizing the mind’s gender. The classification accuracy of the standard model does not exceed 50%, however the classification accuracy of this model that considers the trend in the learning process is 71. The machine learning method used is the decision tree algorithm. The second conclusion is that the classification accuracy is enhanced as the polynomial degree of the fitting curve increases. Such as selecting the best trend representation of the input time series vector enhances the learning behaviour of the classifier. As shown from the results in Table 1, the classification accuracy reaches its beak at degree = 3 twice, and one at degree 8.

4 Conclusions/Recommendations/Summary The proposed model includes the formation of a record that captures the time series trend, Timeseries vectors are preprocessed by applying moving average method and polynomial fitting method to extract the trend component of the data. The fifth degree is selected to catch general direction of change in the mind-wave measures. Then the model proposes the averaging of each set of successive time series values. An averaged time series vector of a lower number of values is used as input to machine learning model. This model uses the trend of the time series data as a feature in the input dataset, The data was explicitly captured during attendance of a complex lecture. The main types of the extracted of the mind wave data are attention and meditation which are Neurosky eSense meters. The values of these two types are recorded across the time of the lecture. This work proofs the difference between the mindwave of male and females performing the same activity. The proposed model classifies the gender of the student based on these meters. However, the cyclic components are detected clearly when averaging the values of all input samples. The results show a periodic variation of the mind waves of a similar frequency between different people.

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References 1. Ni, D., Wang, S., Liu, G.: The EEG-based attention analysis in multimedia m-learning. Comput. Math. Methods Med. 2020, 1–14 (2020) 2. Ülker, B., Tabakcıo˘glu, M.B., Çizmeci, H., Ayberkin, D.: Relations of attention and meditation level with learning in engineering education. In: 2017 9th International Conference on Electronics, Computers and Artificial Intelligence (ECAI), pp. 1–4. IEEE, June 2017. https:// www.kaggle.com/datasets/wanghaohan/confused-eeg 3. Ramdinmawii, E., Mittal, V.K.: Effect of different music genre: attention vs. meditation. In: 2017 Seventh International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction Workshops and Demos (ACIIW), pp. 135–140. IEEE, October 2017 4. Jung, M., Lee, M.: The effect of a mindfulness-based education program on brain waves and the autonomic nervous system in university students. Healthcare 9(11), 1606 (2021) 5. Neurosky EEG biosensor website. http://neurosky.com/biosensors/eeg-sensor/algorithms/ 6. Srimaharaj, W., Chaising, S., Sittiprapaporn, P., Temdee, P., Chaisricharoen, R.: Effective method for identifying student learning ability during classroom focused on cognitive performance. Wireless Pers. Commun. 115(4), 2933–2950 (2020) 7. Anwar, D., Garg, P., Naik, V., Gupta, A., Kumar, A.: Use of portable EEG sensors to detect meditation. In: 2018 10th International Conference on Communication Systems & Networks (COMSNETS), pp. 705–710. IEEE, January 2018 8. Zeynali, M., Seyedarabi, H.: EEG-based single-channel authentication systems with optimum electrode placement for different mental activities. Biomed. J. 42(4), 261–267 (2019) 9. Gullo, F., Ponti, G., Tagarelli, A., Greco, S.: A time series representation model for accurate and fast similarity detection. Pattern Recogn. 42(11), 2998–3014 (2009) 10. Ishida, T., Uwano, H.: Time series analysis of programmer’s EEG for debug state classification. In: Proceedings of the Conference Companion of the 3rd International Conference on Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming, pp. 1–7, April 2019 11. Tsai, J.-F., Jou, S.-H., Cho, W., Lin, C.-M.: Electroencephalography when meditation advances: a case-based time-series analysis. Cogn. Process. 14(4), 371–376 (2013). https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10339-013-0563-3 12. Lee, K.H.: Evaluation of attention and relaxation levels of archers in shooting process using brain wave signal analysis algorithms. Sci. Emot. Sensibility 12(3), 341–350 (2009) 13. Hussain, L., et al.: Symbolic time series analysis of electroencephalographic (EEG) epileptic seizure and brain dynamics with eye-open and eye-closed subjects during resting states. J. Physiol. Anthropol. 36(1), 1–12 (2017)

Educational Virtual Environments

Work-In-Progress: Development of a Virtual and Interactive Microgrids Learning Environment for Microgrids Sustainability – The Case of East Africa Paul Bogere1,2(B)

, Henrik Bode1 , and Katrin Temmen1

1 Paderborn University, Warburger Str. 100, 33098 Paderborn, Germany

{paul.bogere,henrik.bode,katrin.temmen}@upb.de 2 Makerere University, University Road, 7062 Kampala, Uganda [email protected]

Abstract. Partial coverage of the traditional grid is one of the factors that contribute to the low electrical energy access levels in developing countries. This often results in long distances between the grid and unconnected communities. Microgrids, due to their distributed energy resources, have the potential to increase energy access levels. However, there is limited access to microgrids-related knowledge. The knowledge is essential for the effective and efficient use of energy, operation, and hence sustainability of microgrids. To contribute to the sustainability of microgrids, a Virtual and Interactive Microgrids Learning Environment (VIMLE) for microgrids knowledge transfer is developed. VIMLE development is guided by design-based research. With knowledge transfer and skills acquisition through the use of VIMLE, local capacity for designing, installing, operating and maintenance of microgrids is built. Skilled local capacity will contribute to microgrids sustainability. Hence, improve electrical energy access levels and contribute to the achievement of SDG 7. Keywords: Knowledge transfer · Microgrids · Sustainability

1 Introduction The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 7 aims at ensuring global “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy services” by 2030 [1]. Globally, however, 20% of the urban population in developing countries have no access to electricity with a percentage of about (84%) in rural areas [2]. Low levels of electrical energy access hinder modernization in developing countries. According to [3], 548 million people representing 70% of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) had no access to electricity in 2018. Out of those; 25, 36 and 13 million people respectively lived in the East African countries of Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya [4]. According to [5], only 24% of households in Uganda have access to electricity through both the national and off-grids. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 671–679, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_63

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Partial coverage of the traditional grid is one of the factors that contribute to the low levels of electrical energy access. This often results in long distances between the grid and unconnected communities. Hence; high investment and operational costs are required to minimize the long distances [5–7]. Microgrids, due to their distributed energy resources as opposed to the centrally controlled grids, can increase energy access levels. According to [8], microgrids are a cost-effective solution to SSA electrification challenges given their scalability and reliability advantages among others. Many scholars such as [9] have defined microgrids, however, the working definition in this paper is that a microgrid is a locally distributed set of electrical energy generators and preferably storage facilities supplying loads in a definite electrical boundary with the capability to work in island mode and the option to connect to a national grid. Many microgrid projects in Africa suffer sustainability challenges [7]. According to [10], sustainability in the context of electrical energy is defined as “The systematic preparedness for a project to maintain an electricity service provision over its life span [and beyond the funding period]”. Scholars such as [7, 10, 11] proposed factors that impact the sustainability of microgrid projects. These include technological, financial, social, environmental, regulatory, health and safety, and political factors among others. Knowledge transfer is a cross-cutting topic but is it not sufficiently considered by researchers. Authors of this paper assert that knowledge transfer is equally a vital factor in microgrid projects sustainability. This research work, therefore, is set to contribute to knowledge transfer efforts through development of a Virtual and Interactive Microgrid Learning Environment (VIMLE), which will be instrumental in building local capacity for microgrids sustainability in the East African region.

2 Research Motivation and Purpose In didactics of technology; demonstration of laws, theories, and technologies simplifies the rather abstract concepts and improves learners’ competency. Several researchers give various reasons for the learning management systems (LMSs), virtual, and remote labs that they develop. Reasons range from safety, flexible access, to cost-effectiveness [12–14]. However, two aspects are missing in the available published works on LMSs, virtual, and remote labs and these are a focus on microgrids knowledge transfer and real-time interaction between instructors and learners. Previous works on virtual microgrid laboratories, such as [15], were majorly concerned with building infrastructure testbeds but not knowledge transfer in particular. Research works that considered knowledge transfer, for example [16], ignored the aspect of real-time interaction between instructors and learners. Activity theory being a powerful constructivist framework, according to [17], is vital in the development of this research’s VIMLE for didactical constructivism of microgrids knowledge.

3 Virtual and Interactive Microgrid Learning Environment VIMLE is an online didactically thought-through platform, undergoing development, that will manage content and software-based laboratories for purposes of transferring

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microgrids knowledge, skills and relevant competencies to different categories of stakeholders. The stakeholders in question include secondary school learners aged 14–18, engineering university students, and consumers of electrical energy services. 3.1 VIMLE Core System Features and User Requirements Authors of this paper desire that the VIMLE platform combines the functionalities of synchronous, asynchronous, and cooperative systems to offer end users an excellent teaching and learning experience. Hence, the VIMLE platform should enable real-time interaction between instructors and learners – synchronous. In addition; VIMLE should enable self-experiential learning, that is, learners interact with the platform and learn at their convenience – asynchronous. Furthermore, VIMLE should enable learners to interact and discuss with their peers – cooperative [18]. The VIMLE platform should, in addition, allow instructors to upload and save instructional materials for a specified period of the course training session. Should have a chat window which can be linked to the instructor and participants’ email addresses and instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Messenger/Facebook, and linked-in, among others for communication purposes. The VIMLE platform should enable feedback concerning electronic activities (e-tivities) to be offered and received by the appropriate agent (instructor, learner, or Peers) to enable learning progress assessment. The VIMLE platform should be used by instructors, learners, guests, and administrators. Instructors to offer training and guidance to learners. The learners will use the platform to attend training in real-time, execute practicals virtually, and submit e-tivity assignments. Guests may include instructors and learners. Administrators to offer technical support to instructors, learners, and guests. Administrators to as well be in charge of the network architecture and the backend infrastructure, monitor and enhance system performance of the platform. 3.2 VIMLE System Design – Architecture and Associated Software Tools Literature reveals several E-Learning Management Systems (LMS) including both closed and open source. Examples of closed-source LMSs from some vendors include Learnster, Docebo, iSpring Learn, Cornerstone LMS, Looop, Rise Up, eloomi, Absorb LMS, LearnWorlds, and Eurekos, among others. According to [19]; ATutor, Ilias, and Moodle are some of the web-based open source LMSs whose architectural designs have been studied by various scholars. ATutor’s uniqueness includes the usability features for the visually impaired. However, it has an architectural drawback of lack of modularity. Ilias on the other hand has a complicated architecture which is difficult to debug and work with. Moodle supports social constructivism in learning and the architecture is good, relatively simple, and enables modularity. In addition, Moodle architecture is widely adapted globally and East Africa is no exception. Some of the desirable features of an effective LMS include gamification, mobile learning, social learning, and video conferencing. Obviously; the VIMLE platform should support the system core features and user requirements as indicated in Subsect. 3.1. In addition, the VIMLE platform should allow

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as much flexibility as possible. As such, users should access and use the platform on any device, that is to say; laptops, desktops, and all other smart devices such as phones and tablets. To enable the platform to run on a variety of devices, the VIMLE architectural design was based on a Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) technology. WebRTC is a web based technology that allows web clients which support HTML5 to communicate, interact, or video conference in real-time. WebRTC can as well be defined as a collection of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow direct connection between browsers. Clients only need to have a browser which supports WebRTC technology such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, among others. A WebRTC architecture, with two VIMLE clients and a centralized server, is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Illustration of VIMLE based on WebRTC Architecture (Adapted from [20, p. 76]).

4 Approach to VIMLE Design and Implementation 4.1 Methodological Approach Design-based research is the overall approach to the development of VIMLE. Designbased research essentially consists of the analysis, design, and evaluation stages collectively referred to as the ADE model. The analysis stage involved literature review, on one hand, which guided the system architectural design and associated software tools. The analysis stage on the other hand included an empirical approach, through document analysis, to secondary schools’ physics syllabi and BSc. Electrical engineering degree curricular assessment from selected Universities in East Africa. The assessment guided microgrids training content development as summarized in Subsect. 4.2. The constructive alignment concept is then applied to the training content in aligning workplacerequired competencies with e-tivities and instructor assessment methods as elaborated in Subsect. 4.3. Both qualitative and quantitative data are already collected from selected Universities in East Africa through interviews, focus group discussions, and observations. More

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data will be collected from microgrid operators and consumers of electrical energy. Refinement and iterations shall be done after evaluation until the desired goal, a VIMLE platform that can enable microgrids knowledge constructivism, is achieved. 4.2 Microgrid Content for Knowledge Transfer The purpose of the developed content is to enable knowledge transfer for microgrids sustainability. It is believed that sustainability would be achieved as per the following justification: For secondary school learners aged 14–18; the learners will be motivated to choose a career in engineering. The motivation is through training that will enable an early introduction to basic microgrids knowledge and acquisition of appropriate skills. With the skills introduced to this category of stakeholders, secondary school learners will benefit their respective communities since they will be able to: recommend appropriate domestic appliances for efficient and cost-effective electrical energy utilization, and perform simple domestic electrical installations. All these will in return feed into microgrids sustainability in communities. For engineering university students; the goal is to produce engineering graduates with employable and entrepreneurial skills, equipped with appropriate knowledge for microgrids sustainability. The goal in the long run is to have a pool of future energy engineers with specialized knowledge and skills in microgrids. In essence, building local capacity is way more sustainable than depending on experts from outside countries. For consumers, generally; the general public should be educated to create consumer awareness, productive use of energy sensitization, and to mobilize the community so as to ‘own’ the microgrids [21]. Topics under the said content, for different stakeholder categories, are summarized in this paragraph. Content topics for consumers of electrical energy include microgrids; generation, distribution and storage; electrical energy utilization and productive. For electrical engineering university students, a summary of the topics from the content include microgrids; sizing of solar systems; smart grid technology; and energy storage and distribution among others. For secondary school learners on the other hand, summarized topics from the content include microgrids; electric circuits; electrical energy uses; and sizing of solar systems among others. 4.3 Development of VIMLE Laboratories Arrangements are underway to develop VIMLE laboratories (V-Labs). These are vital in triggering a deeper understanding of underlying microgrid concepts. Virtual 3D models will be used for this purpose. The beginning point in the development of V-Labs is a didactical lens through the concept of constructive alignment. A constructive alignment concept, as illustrated in Fig. 2, is the inter-relation between Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs), learning activities, assessment and feedback. Competencies desired to be developed by learners at the end of any learning activity performed within VIMLE, are written in form of ILOs. This is followed by preparing learning e-tivities. Methods and tools for assessing whether ILOs are achieved at the end of a learning activity and feedback links are then determined. Using the concept in

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Fig. 2. Illustration of the constructive alignment concept

Fig. 2 and the developed content, a snippet of the designed constructive alignment frame to support microgrids knowledge transfer efforts is presented in Table 1. Table 1. Constructive alignment frame indicating the ILOs, E-tivities and Assessment.

4.4 VIMLE System Layout The VIMLE system layout, as indicated in Fig. 3, has both the back and front ends. The back end indicates the three required functionalities of synchronous, asynchronous, and

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co-operative learning. These are the responsibility of system developers. The front end indicates the interface tabs that the platform end users will interact with from time to time. It is vital to note that the course materials tab will enable access to the developed content and the VIMLE labs tab will enable access to the V-Labs.

Fig. 3. VIMLE system layout

5 Conclusion To address the limited access to and avail more microgrids-related knowledge, VIMLE is developed and will be deployed. The concept of constructive alignment guides the development of V-Labs, which are instrumental in microgrid-related knowledge transfer. The aim is to transfer microgrid-related knowledge to secondary school children, electrical engineering and technical teacher University students, and consumers of electrical energy in East African Communities. With knowledge constructed and skills acquired; local capacity for designing, installation, operation and maintenance of microgrids is built. It is believed that if local capacity, a sustainability variable, is built; the research will contribute to microgrids sustainability. Sustainable microgrids will in turn improve levels of electrical energy access and contribute to the achievement of SDG 7. Acknowledgement. Sincere appreciation to the Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for funding this research under reference number 03SF0607B. The research is conducted under the Africa: Research and Teaching Platform for Development of sustainable modular grids for grid stability (A:RT-D Grids) project.

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References 1. United Nations: Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015 (A/RES/70/1), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015) 2. Emili, S., Ceschin, F., Harrison, D.: Product-service system applied to distributed renewable energy: a classification system, 15 archetypal models and a strategic design tool. Energy Sustain. Dev. 32, 71–98 (2016) 3. UNDP and WHO: The Energy Access Situation in Developing Countries: A Review Focusing on the Least Developed Countries and Sub-Saharan Africa (2009). https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/environment-energy/sustai nable_energy/energy-access-in-developing-countries.html. Accessed 29 Mar 2021 4. IEA, IRENA, UNSD, World Bank, and WHO: Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report (2020). https://trackingsdg7.esmap.org/. Accessed 16 Mar 2022 5. Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS): 2018 Energy for Rural Transformation (ERT III) Survey - Uganda Report. Kampala, Uganda (2020) 6. Demidov, I., Dibaba, H., Pinomaa, A., Honkapuro, S., Nieminen, M.: System platform enabling peer-to-peer electricity market model for off-grid microgrids in Rural Africa. In: 2020 17th International Conference on the European Energy Market (EEM), pp. 1–6. IEEE Xplore (2020) 7. Namaganda-Kiyimba, J., Mutale, J.: Sustainability metrics for rural electrification in developing countries. In: IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica Conference, pp. 426–431. IEEE Xplore (2018) 8. Murenzi, J.P., Ustun, T.S.: The case for microgrids in electrifying Sub-Saharan Africa (2015) 9. Ton, D.T., Smith, M.A.: The U.S. department of energy’s microgrid initiative. Electr. J. 25(8), 84–94 (2012) 10. Dauenhauer, P.M., Frame, D.F.: Sustainability analysis off-grid community solar PV projects in Malawi. In: GHTC 2016 - IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference, pp. 113– 120. IEEE (2017) 11. Bayram, I.S.:Teaching smart power grids: a sustainability perspective (2018) 12. Hasan, B., Al-Quorashy, Y., Al-Mousa, S., Al-Sahhaf, Y., El-Abd, M.: V-LAB - the virtual electric machines laboratory. In: IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), vol. 2020, pp. 72–77. IEEE Xplore (2020) 13. Alptekin, M., Temmen, K.: Teaching an oscilloscope through progressive onboarding in an augmented reality based virtual laboratory. In: IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), vol. 2019, pp. 1047–1054. IEEE Xplore (2019) 14. Costa, R., Perola, F., Felgueiras, C.: µLAB a remote laboratory to teach and learn the ATmega328p µC. In: IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), vol. 2020, pp. 12–13. IEEE Xplore (2020) 15. Weimer, J., et al.: A Virtual Laboratory For Micro-Grid Information And Communication Infrastructures. In: 3rd IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference Europe (ISGT Europe), pp. 1–6. IEEE Xplore (2012) 16. Ioakimidis, C.S., Genikomsakis, K.N., Aragonés, A., Escuredo, A., Sánchez, F.: Design of a virtual power plant in the presence of microrenewables and electric vehicles in a microgrid concept for real-time simulation as part of a remote lab. Renew. Energy Power Qual. J. 1(11), 650–654 (2013) 17. Ihlström, J., Westerlund, F.: Interactive learning environments: the effects of interactivity in online learning environments (2013) 18. Huang, F.M., Chao, M.: An architecture of virtual environment for e-learning (AVEE). In: 5th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, ICALT 2005, pp. 148– 149. IEEE (2005)

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19. Pandit, S., et al.: An architecture solution for e-learning system – ESSA. In: International Conference on Technology for Education, T4E 2010, pp. 56–62. IEEE (2010) 20. Edan, N.M., Al-Sherbaz, A., Turner, S.: Design and evaluation of browser-to-browser video conferencing in WebRTC. In: Global Information Infrastructure and Networking Symposium, GIIS 2017, pp. 75–78. IEEE (2017) 21. Ajewole, T., Mutale, J., Dauenhauer, P.: Micro-grids empowering communities and enabling transformation in Africa - a report by the high-level African panel on emerging technologies [APET] (2018)

Experience with an Interdisciplinary Approach to Removing Barriers Related to IT Personalized Support for Teachers in the Creation and Transmission of Educational Content Stefan Svetsky1(B) , Oliver Moravcik1 , Dariusz Mikulowski2 , Peter Galambos3 , and Martin Kotyrba4 1 Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia {stefan.svetsky,oliver.moravcik}@stuba.sk 2 Faculty of Sciences, Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, Siedlce, Poland [email protected] 3 Antal Bejczy Center for Intelligent Robotics, Obuda University, Budapest, Hungary [email protected] 4 University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic [email protected]

Abstract. Research on IT integration into teaching is an interdisciplinary field that has both educational (didactics) and informatics components. In particular, the situation with the Covid 19 pandemic has forced a push to address personal IT support for teachers in distance education. However, this runs into the problem of the lack of personal educational software, so that in practice the teacher has to adapt to existing technology and test how it can be used for teaching. In this context, the work of a university teacher requires the mass creation of educational content, its transfer between offline computers (laptop, classroom computers) and online environments (web, virtual learning environments, academic information systems, clouds, networks). Given the nature of university teaching, IT support solutions for self-study also face a challenge. However, no single technology covers such a broad scope, so there is a lack of universal solutions. The authors minimize this gap by programming universal software tailored to the needs of the teacher and by building a combined offline/online IT infrastructure on which to conduct the research. Collaborative research by an international team using the infrastructure is a solution to automate the creation of educational packages, including the multi-lingual support. The article clarifies the categories of barriers that the team had to overcome, either from a didactic or an informatics perspective. Here, a new paradigm using a specific data structure (called virtual knowledge) for the rapid reduction and concentration of educational content was proven to simulate virtually any teacher activity. Therefore, the goal of further research is to use the results and experiences to date to build a multilingual learning portal. Keywords: IT integration · Distance learning educational software · Collaboratively research · Multilingual educational portal

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 680–691, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_64

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1 Introduction A common feature of the integration IT (Information Technology) in teaching is that teachers have to constantly face obstacles and IT challenges related to the incompatibility of computer formats, software and hardware, including their short life cycle, which is shorter than a teacher’s career. A key issue is that content creation requires the mass processing of information, knowledge and computer files, but current IT technologies are not suited to supporting teachers in person. In recent years, many sources of literature have been published focusing on IT support for education, e.g. [1–5], but these (with the exception of [1]) prefer either an educational or an informatics perspective, even though this is an interdisciplinary education-informatics field. Also unanswered is the question of the appropriate definition of knowledge that should respect this interdisiplinarity. This is one of the reasons why it is possible to encounter an emphasis on the so-called Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) [5–7]. While content creation is relatively well mastered, teachers must use dozens of software and interfaces to create curriculum; universal educational software is absent [8], as well as appropriate theoretical approaches [9]. Similarly, the problem of transmitting educational content is less described in the literature between off-line environments (classroom, personal computers) and virtual environments (web, clouds). This paper describes a simple, inexpensive solution that is based on an interdisciplinary approach which is possible to solve by using the universal in-house educational WPad software, which simulates educational knowledge by so called virtual knowledge. The following sections describe the conceptual framework, the research approach examples and existing informatics, didactics and interdisciplinary barriers, including an explanation of how they are overcome.

2 Conceptual Framework In practice, the university teacher is constantly flooded with a huge amount of information and has to use dozens of software, Internet services, several browsers, hundreds of computer formats, or thousands of resources with educational content, whether offline or on networks and clouds. If we compare the content of a teacher’s computer before the year 2000 with today, a typical teacher figuratively speaking has a small internet on his computer. The presented research approach assumes that generic computer software cannot cover all the activities that a teacher performs, therefore he needs a personal all-in-one tool. As for it the in-house developed WPad educational software can address these things whether for teaching, research or any teacher’s activities. The software controls the so-called virtual knowledge, which allows for the creation of simple WPad tables with selective educational content and, if necessary, a personal knowledge base from these tables. This approach enables building an all-in-one educational technology tailored for teachers and students that allows for rapid learning content processing. Figure 1 illustrates the WPad table (virtual knowledge) named “may2022” (the table contains useful information to ICL 2022 in the columns and text area with the text related to submission of this paper). Although the solution is very simple, since WPad tables can be produced even by individuals with low IT skills, a similar solution is not described in the literature. This is

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Fig. 1. Part of WPad month’s table “may2022” (virtual knowledge) with notes for ICL 2022

associated with the fact that although it is a database application WPad is developed on a non-relational paradigm; the novelty of the solution is confirmed by the registration of the utility model 8787 at the patent office [10]. As a result, simulating knowledge using WPad tables allows educational-informatics solutions to be applied to teaching and research, which are being continually published (details can be found, e.g., in [11–14]).

3 The Research Approach Examples WPad was designed as a personal IT support tool for research areas such as Learning Analytics, Digital Libraries, Cracking language barriers, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). Although some CSCL issues could be addressed in collaboration with students offline (e.g., students created collaborative e-learning material to address knowledge gaps in chemistry), it was also necessary in the research to address the collaboration of an international team of teachers. Coincidentally, this team was formed within the ICL 2018 conference. For the purpose of the CSCL, the WPad was tested on a Virtual Machine running Windows 2010, i.e., teachers used it as an online shared computer. In terms of purpose and goals, it should be emphasized that WPad is a special software that uses simple tables into which the teacher, researcher and/or students manually, by copying or automatically insert educational content. The key point here is that, unlike text-based computer files (doc, pdf), they work only with selected content needed for lectures, exercises and self-study. The content is also stored in files (dbf) that can be transferred between each other, sent, stored on clouds and produce html-files for e-learning. In the framework of the international project V4+ACARDC, a research team from the V4 countries and Ukraine modelled the automatic creation of educational packages and multilingual language support on the virtual machine. Figure 2-left illustrates how in the WPad table titled “V4” information is being inserted. A hypertext principle is used both for online links and offline paths as seen from the text-field bottom window. Figure 2–right illustrates how educational packages are being created from WPad tables. Files from online and offline resources were copied to a MIX-Folder from which WPad

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tables (EDU-PACKS – Educational Packages) were created using menu items of WPad software, as well, converted to-HTML format.

Fig. 2. Left: Screenshot of WPad table “V4”. Right: Scheme of creating edu-packages

Figure 3 illustrates such educational package which was created from PNG-files (screenshots of learning texts), i.e., inserted into WPad table and then converted to the browsable HTML table; after clicking with mouse to record 11 students can see learning text. This example explains interdisciplinarity of research so from the educationalinformatic approach. That means, firstly a learning activity must be performed and then learning outputs and adaptation to software/hardware/networks to be solved.

Fig. 3. Scheme of creating a browsable educational package

In the context of interdisciplinarity, a multi-lingual support was solved within the V4+ACARDC project. The learning text related to machine learning was created by the

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Czech partner in English (En) and Czech language (Cz) as DOC-file. This was translated using Google translator and checked by partners to evaluate quality of the translation in Polish (Pl), Hungarian (Hu), Slovak (Sk) and Ukrainian (Ua) language and delivered as DOC files. But there was a time-wasting problem with diacritics of these six languages when testing outputs as TXT, DOC, and HTML format. It was evaluated that this problem can be eliminated by using PDF format. Because the learning text for Machine learning had around two pages there was a question how to place it to the computer screen. Thus, simply the browsable HTML educational package was created using WPad software as illustrated Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Part of WPad month’s table “may2022” (virtual knowledge) with notes for ICL 2022

This example presents not only interdisciplinarity of the IT integration but emphasizes that technology was adapted on teacher activities and not in contrary as is common in state-of-the-art.

4 Barriers in Research To address issues related to technology-enhanced learning in a university setting, according to [1], it is characteristic that the teacher conducts what is called participatory action research for which he chooses the appropriate technology. In this context, the first author of this paper, after joining the university as a teacher, researcher and programmer in one person, developed his own technology for the purpose of teaching undergraduates. In addition to the operative programming of tutorials and tests, he started to develop a WPad database application that students had installed and used it to produce e-learning teaching materials. Parallel to teaching, he improved WPad in his research and project activities and developed a universal WPad to function as an all-in-one educational software. For the sake of describing the barrier, it should be emphasized that the above system of IT integration in teaching has been practiced for about 15 years. Unlike humanities research where teachers use some existing external technology (software) the technology (WPad) is designed directly according to the requirements of classroom teaching or collaborative research activities. This makes it possible to describe different categories of barriers

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whether from an informatics, didactic or interdisciplinary perspective. To add to this, classroom teaching with computing was done at a regional faculty relocation site where there was no IT department. Thus, all situations, whether in the classroom or in the virtual learning space, were handled by the teacher. 4.1 Informatics Barriers In terms of IT barriers, it is important to realize that while a university teacher is teaching for at least 10–20 years, the lifetime of technology is only a few years. In that time, both hardware and software will change radically. Practically, this means that a lot of teaching materials, application deliverables and programs will become unusable. Therefore, it is very important to address teacher computer support in a way that is as independent of these changes as possible. Some obstacles have already been discussed in [11]. In our case, for example, the following situations occurred (computers were used by hundreds of students from several courses): • The twelve computers in the classroom had Windows XP installed; this was upgraded to Windows 7, so working with web browsers was radically slowed down; it was not possible to upgrade to Windows 10. • Opera version 9.27 was used with excellent didactic features (Sessions), but the company changed the higher versions to Google compatible and this made some applications for classroom teaching unusable; in addition, the start-up time and internet search slowed down. • Changing the university server from Windows to Unix, which is case sensitive, forced the rewriting of hundreds of links to the faculty learning environment. • The faculty portal used the PHP version 3.0 web application language. When PHP was upgraded to higher versions, the application stopped working and hundreds of source codes had to be rewritten. • A serious problem was the technical end of life of the faculty server after ten years, making the virtual learning environment unusable (part of it was migrated to another server). • While a common Windows notebook and Internet connection is sufficient for classroom use and e-learning creation, the use of clouds, virtual machines and repositories requires equipping the teacher and students with IT infrastructure and interaction with administrators from IT departments (unless the teacher does it all himself, as is the case with the first author of this article). The above cases are only part of the problems, because the most difficult part is programming the adaptation of educational software to the operating system, software, networks and the web. It can be said that in view of the successfulness of the IT integration solution, this represents up to about 60–70% of the activities. A specific case is the programming modification for the blind and visually impaired (BVI). The essential point is that all their activities on the computer must be triggered by keystrokes or a combination of keystrokes. Also, a problem is that the screen reader that BVIs must use sometimes does not read text fields.

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4.2 Human Factors: Students and Teachers In real teaching, one has to take into account that most students do not have sufficient IT skills to work offline or online, and even if they do, they do not routinely master these activities, which will take up some lecture or tutorial time (students can browse but cannot create something). It should also be taken into account that some students will always be messing around with their mobiles or surfing the internet during the class. The following cases can also be mentioned, which can take 5–10 min out of a class with computers: • Instead of using the browser set by the teacher, students started installing Google, Firefox, etc. on the classroom computer. • Many students are unable to type a web link without errors due to lack of concentration. • They have problems when searching for learning topics on the Internet if the search is in English. • If the teacher does not set up the computers in advance of the lesson and has not prepared the lesson methodically in time, chaos ensues, which in turn takes time away from the lesson. • If students are given short assignments during class - e.g., jump on the university’s Academic Information System; send an email; send me an email; switch to a communication channel and read the instructions, etc. - if there are 20 students in the class, the students’ work is slow and slows down the others. Similar problems identified during the COVID 19 pandemic are published in [15]. In the case of WPad use, these obstacles can only be eliminated if the teacher has prepared the time-management perfectly and sets up the computers in the classroom before the lesson so that the students cannot speculate and set up their browsers or programs. In terms of research, when teaching undergraduates, so logically it is not possible to design advanced research activities. However, it is possible to do simple collaborative research. For example, a case was solved where students were instructed to do an internet search in WPad tables for specified definitions from basic chemistry (due to their poor knowledge of chemistry). After combining their tables, the result was a self-study material that they had on the faculty virtual learning space. Programming the WPad for research purposes requires collaboration and beta testing of the software by teachers. There, however, one runs into the difficult problem of how to motivate colleague teachers to help test the software. In practice, it is the case that even 80% of those approached will automatically reply that they don’t have the time, or that they use Google, Moodle or have their own system to do it. And they usually start convincing the designer that designing educational software is not a point because it can’t work in teaching. Surprisingly, even journal reviewers will express this opinion. The authors have even encountered the fact that although they described and illustrated with screenshots how it has been used for years in teaching, the journal reviewers labelled it “a model that cannot work in practice”. Fortunately, sophisticated activities (e.g., automating the creation of educational packages) were tested by the international V4+ACARDC team, which consisted of researchers from the V4 countries and Ukraine.

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4.3 Interdisciplinary Barriers When dealing with the integration of IT into education, it is forgotten that it is an interdisciplinary issue. Ordinary people think that computers can do everything and do not realise that a computer can only work according to certain rules - algorithms that describe an educational activity. It is only according to these rules that computer algorithms can be formulated, source code written and applications tested. From an interdisciplinary point of view, it is therefore a basic requirement that the teacher first identifies and formulates the didactic algorithm (sub-steps) and the goal he wants to achieve (the creation of educational content and what to do with it). Teachers solve these things using some generic software and investigate whether it is suitable for this. A special case is IT support for collaborative activities, which is dealt with in the separate area of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). In the case of CSCL, support without existing didactic algorithms is unthinkable. And an additional problem is that there are many potential variants of didactic steps for collaborative activities. This fact is key to understanding the requirement of synchronizing didactic and informatics activities. In other words, it is necessary to write informatics algorithms according to what the immediate didactic situation requires. This is also the programming principle of the WPad educational software. The secondary requirement of synchronizing didactic and informatics algorithms to address IT integration results from the fact that educational content must be transferred between teacher and students through multiple computers. The requirements are different for blended learning, and different for distance learning or also for self-study. Here, more computer-intensive activities are involved, as this requires the transfer of knowledge tables or computer files between offline and online environments. It is already required to build an IT infrastructure over which the educational content “moves”. If we look at the problem of automating knowledge-based processes involving educational activities from this point of view, it is clear that educational and informatics activities have to happen simultaneously. This synchronisation is the basis of the vision to make the WPad table function as an intelligent structure. The basic barriers derive from the fact that the teacher must have both the objectives and the educational content didactically prepared and planned in detail how the learning will be used and transferred between the teacher and the students through the existing software, hardware and IT infrastructure. Since the design of the learning algorithm is a purely individual matter for each teacher and there are an infinite number of variations, there can logically exist no suitable technology. Therefore, even CSCL research in principle cannot be effective as long as teacher-researchers mechanically apply generic technology to didactic problems. Here, it is important to note that designing a didactic algorithm for collaborative learning activities is itself extremely challenging. This is also because the goal will need to be modified in the course of the solution. Without synchronization of didactic (pedagogical) and informatics activities, it is simply not possible. It should also be mentioned that in the case of synchronization, but also the other barriers mentioned, the issue of time management is less discussed in the literature. In real teaching, however, a lesson lasts around 50 min, and the teacher has to cover all the teaching within that time. For an IT integration solution, this means that all IT activities

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must be fast, efficient, and done in the necessary time. Teaching undergraduates often requires going over several topics during a class period. Depending on what subject is being taught, more texts, images, or audio-visual situations are required to be processed. However, there is no general-purpose software to cover them completely. And from the side of the students, if they use IT tools, their routine use is demanded. In other words, a large number of high-quality didactic videos and e-learning materials are available today, but they usually last tens of minutes and are unusable in classroom and distance teaching. This is also why IT integration is a major challenge for computer science and information technology. 4.4 Overcoming and Eliminating Barriers As the previous analysis of the various categories of barriers to successful integration of IT into teaching and academics shows, these are a wide range of issues. However, the difficulty of the solution lies in the fact that the lifespan of the technology is only a few years, but the solution has to be functional for the entire period while the teacher is teaching and conducting research. Thanks to a specific strategy and a multifunctional approach, WPad educational software, which has been programmed in the academic environment for about 15 years, evolutionarily meets this requirement. The following text at least partially describes from a practical point of view a research approach for eliminating and overcoming barriers and obstacles (the description does not include a theoretical approach based on the virtual knowledge construct): • WPad educational software runs on Windows, primarily uses the default browser, Explorer and other features (this ensures it will work as long as Windows exists), and works as an all-in-one tool replacing a dozen software. • Microsoft’s Visual FoxPro platform, formerly, FoxPro for Windows 2.6a compatible with Microsoft programs, is the underlying offline working environment and is installed on both teacher and student computers. • WPad tables are used, which are portable as regular computer files; pressing a key combination creates HTML tables that are automatically opened offline by the browser (Internet Explorer or Edge). • Only learning content created by the teacher (e-learning) or students (notes and workspace) is used in the classroom and is publicly available after transfer to the faculty server where a shared virtual learning space is created. • WPad is complemented by in-house web application using the same tables (PIKS channels) so that students can communicate with each other from class or home and upload and download WPad tables or files to their computer (suitable for distance learning - already introduced ten years ago). • WPad allows both students and teacher to hypertext access to the university’s Academic Information System (including exam registration) and internal university email, as well as to files and folders on personal computers. • WPad can run shared for research purposes from a virtual machine in the cloud (Microsoft Azure Windows 2016 server has been tested and the latest Windows 2022 -WebSupport).

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• When programming applications, it often takes several years for usable technology to be available in the world (this is the case of Speech Recognition, formerly Text To Speech, which was tested a decade ago for language learning and is only now usable). • WPad acts as a compatible switch between the user and the browser or any software, and the program also uses simple programming language instructions (HTML, command line, C++, PHP, MySQL); for the layman, it also acts as a simple editor for creating HTML tables. • WPad also provides file manager functions in the user menu, so it allows offline searches, transfers of thousands of files as well as bulk processing of educational content into WPad tables - these can be linked to each other (however, this is a different type of session than used in relational databases); a WPad table can have up to a million rows and the speed of browsing in it is time-efficient. • Only the fastest solution is programmed and implemented - if something is done faster by Windows or regular software, their functions are used from the WPad user menu. • Thanks to the hypertext access, the user basically does not notice the difference between online and offline environments, saving hundreds to tens of thousands of mouse clicks per year. • No errors are handled programmatically (when an error occurs, the program is run repeatedly - otherwise such an all-in-one program would not be solved even in many years). • The program can also be used by users who are deaf or blind and visually impaired, for whom an adapted version is being developed. • The teacher using the educational software and IT infrastructure is independent of the global software and can manage everything even in distance learning. Over the years of use, the concept of two versions has been adopted: (1) basic level (“for dummies”) for teaching bachelors, diploma works, production of e-learning and (2) advanced level (used in FP7, Horizon 2020 and the international project V4+ACARDC). The basic version addresses the IT barriers and from an educational point of view it is up to the willingness of teachers and students to use it. It provides a user-friendly solution for example, it has been used by hundreds of students for around ten years without any problems. Conversely, it fails to motivate teachers to at least try WPad (two language teachers were the exception, and one teacher even tested it years ago in a high school classroom). The advanced version requires basic IT skills and collaboration with the first author of the article.

5 Conclusions The paper presented the interdisciplinary educational-informatics approach for solving the IT integration in teaching. The approach is based on using WPad tables in which only reduced, selected educational content is inserted, whilst state-of-the-is characterized by using standard computer file with unselected content. So, a higher pedagogical quality is added value. Using the educational software, individuals can create, transfer and use the content faster. Moreover, it is a cheap and user-friendly solution because for the basic version of WPad only Window and internet connection is needed. The presented

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system should be seen not as a competition to existing software but as the missing additional tool for personal IT support of teachers. In the context of overcoming the aforementioned barriers, further research will concentrate on WPad development with a focus on human-centered computing and multilingual applications. Acknowledgements. This research work is co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.

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14. Svetsky, S., Moravcik, O., Tanuska, P., Cervenanska, Z.: The didactic-technology challenges for design of the computer supported collaborative teaching. In: Auer, M. E., Tsiatsos, T. (eds.) ICL 2018. AISC, vol. 916, pp. 46–57. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978-3-030-11932-4_5 15. Herwiana, S., Laili, E.N.: Exploring benefits and obstacles of online learning during the covid pandemic in EFL students’ experiences. Qalamuna - Jurnal Pendidikan, Sosial, dan Agama, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 61–72 (2022)

Recent Developments on Apps Targeting Reading Difficulties Ana Sucena1,2(B)

, Cátia Marques2 , João Falcão-Carneiro3 and Maria Teresa Restivo4

, Paulo Abreu3

,

1 School of Health, Polytechnique Institute of Porto, Porto, Portugal

[email protected]

2 Centro de Investigação E Intervenção Na Leitura, Polytechnique Institute

of Porto, Porto, Portugal 3 Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal 4 LAETA-INEGI, Universidade Do Porto, 3ES Lisboa, Portugal

Abstract. Several studies have proved the efficacy of computer-assisted interventions in Education, but few studies have so far evaluated its impact on reading acquisition. In this study, we aim to provide a recent overview regarding effective serious games to promote reading acquisition. GraphoGame was the pioneer tool with positive effects in reading acquisition in different orthographies. This game is organized according to a hierarchy of levels and items with increasing difficulty. Children’s progress along the game depend upon their learning. This game has several advantages such as the ludic component of teaching and the immediate feedback. The I Read game is a more recent app developed to promote reading acquisition. The I Read includes timed games to be played with positive reinforcement strategies. This app includes precise feedback – 1 to 3 stars – depending on the child’s performance. The Piggy Bank app is an application focused on spelling acquisition. This App adds a new dimension of interactivity regarding the previous. It was developed with a response selection associated with an accelerometer that allows the child to choose the accurate items by moving the screen. This study intends to contribute to support educators so they may access reliable tools to promote reading and spelling acquisition, as well as to inspire colleagues in developing new technology-based tools to promote reading acquisition. Keywords: Serious games · Computer-assisted interventions · Reading; Spelling · Reading difficulties

1 Introduction Serious games have become increasingly popular in supporting computer-assisted rehabilitation [1–3]. A meta-analysis conducted from 2009 to 2018 concluded that computerassisted interventions in education do have positive effects [3]. In education, computerassisted interventions are mostly applied in the form of serious games [4]. A recent meta-analysis, dedicated to reading skills rehabilitation, revealed that serious games can be an effective instructional strategy to foster early reading skills [5]. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 692–700, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_65

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Despite the growing popularity of serious games in the educational context, few studies so far have evaluated the impact of these technologies on children’s reading skills [2, 6]. Interventions for the prevention of reading difficulties and their consequences are of utmost importance [7]. Research indicates that computer-assisted interventions can be effective to improve reading skills in children at risk of reading and spelling failure [4, 8, 9]. Computer-assisted interventions can be an attractive alternative to promote early literacy skills [10–13]. In this sense, serious games have been developed to provide children with solid reading foundational abilities and to support at-risk children [14] in reading acquisition interventions [15, 16]. In general, serious games aim to develop two fundamental basic skills: phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge [16]. These are domain-specific cognitive predictors for individual differences in children’s later reading development. Phonological awareness refers to the ability to analyse sounds that constitute words, which helps the understanding of correspondences between phonemes and the corresponding letters. Letter knowledge refers to the correspondence between letter names and letter sounds. Research has also shown that training phonemic awareness results in significant gains in later reading and spelling performance [17]. A meta-analysis assessment of the long-term effects of phonemic awareness training shows that the impact of phonemic awareness interventions was maintained along the time and transferred to non-targeted skills such as letter-sound knowledge with a positive impact on reading comprehension [17]. In the same way, the performance in spelling and decoding are strongly correlated to phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge [18]. When children enter first grade with low levels of phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge there is an increased risk for reading and writing difficulties. It is thus of major importance to begin a systematic intervention in those components. The use of serious games to promote reading acquisition seems to be an asset as it increases students’ learning motivation and engagement. Between the common benefits, it is important to highlight progressive learning through experience, the rewarding feeling of progression and achievement, and the immediate feedback, driven on student-centered learning [4]. Furthermore, the use of technology through serious games is promising from a cost-benefit perspective as it offers an alternative to the resource-intensive traditional tutor methods (a tutor for a small group of children, or even one-to-one teaching) [19]. With the increasing computer-assisted interventions in education, there is an urgent need to develop serious games specially dedicated to reading acquisition purposes and to investigate the effect of these serious games in assisting learning [3]. In this paper, we present recent science-based computer games that have been developed to promote reading acquisition, assessed with Portuguese-speaking children, and discuss the advantages of these tools.

2 Graphogame Among the reading promotion software, GraphoGame was the pioneer software with positive effects in reading acquisition in different orthographies [15]. This is a reading promotion program that was initially developed for children revealing early signs of reading difficulties [20]. This software was created to enrich regular remedial intervention

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with individualized repetition of carefully selected items [20]. Children are exposed to phoneme-grapheme correspondences along with specific knowledge about letters, which together improve reading accuracy and fluency [20]. This game is organized according to a hierarchy of levels with increasing difficulty. Children’s progress along the game depends upon their learning [21] which is an asset of this software, along with the ludic component of teaching and the immediate feedback. The GraphoGame tasks involve two steps [22]. First, players listen to a spoken item, presented as many times as needed. Second, players must select the written item (letters, syllables, onset-rimes, words, or pseudowords) that matches the spoken item, presented among several distractors. Visual (colour) and auditory (sound) feedback is provided, indicating a correct or incorrect answer. A correct answer allows children to move forwards in the game. After an incorrect answer, the target item appears again (with or without distractors), giving children the opportunity to try again. GraphoGame is now a worldwide computer game adapted to several different languages and many different versions (e.g., GraphoGame Rime – [23]), and its effectiveness is well proved [15, 20] (see Fig. 1 and 2).

Fig. 1. Portuguese Foundation GraphoGame screenshot.

Fig. 2. Portuguese Foundation GraphoGame screenshot.

GraphoGame has the advantage of promoting the identification of letters, words, and pseudowords allowing the child to maintain high levels of attention and motivation in learning tasks. There seems, however, to exist the need for other tools for the specific and systematic training of letter-sound relations and decoding. Results of a hybrid (virtual and real intervention) study indicate an increase in the foundation skills after training, concluding that early qualified, continuous, and systematic training in a playful environment does impact positively on reducing reading difficulties [28].

3 I Read The “I read” is a recent child-friendly PC based computer software [16]. The I Read software was developed for children at the initial phase of reading acquisition as well as for those experiencing reading difficulties [16]. It aims to develop and train foundation reading and spelling skills through systematic training within different games. The child is challenged to go through planets and moons that refer to the different levels of the

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Fig. 3. Screenshot of an I Read planet and moons.

game, where simple and varied reading and spelling games are presented (respectively, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4). The I Read is composed of activities that focus on phonemic awareness and lettersound knowledge training, as well as, in more advanced levels, on alphabetic and orthographic decoding. Activities are presented with increasing difficulty: simple items first and complex items later (regarding both syllabic structure and orthographic complexity) (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Spelling game screenshot

The software includes two types of games: a) reading identification – the child hears a sound corresponding to a letter, word, or pseudoword and identifies the correct graphic representation on the screen; b) spelling – the child hears a word, or pseudoword and at the same time empty boxes and letters appear on the screen in a random order; the child is required to order letters aiming to write what he/she heard. The contents are structured by simple graphemes and simple syllabic structure – 1. Vowels, 2. Diphthongs, 3. Oral diphthongs, 4. Nasal diphthongs; 5. Simple consonants; 6. Complex graphemes. Table 1 synthesizes the main levels and specific goals of the I Read activities [16]. One of the features to promote fluency are timed games, along with precise feedback regarding performance – 1 to 3 stars – after each game. Feedback is immediately provided regarding the correct or incorrect answer (through an auditory and visual stimulus). If the child selects the incorrect answer, the stimulus vibrates, emitting a sound, and disappears from the screen, leaving the remaining stimuli on the screen. When the correct answer is

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General levels

Specific goals

Number of levels (planets)

Number of games (satellites)

Simple vocalic grapheme

Phonemic awareness Letter-sound knowledge Alphabetical decoding

1

3

Oral diphthongs

Phonemic awareness Alphabetical decoding

2

8

Nasal diphthongs

Phonemic awareness Alphabetical decoding

1

4

Simple consonant grapheme

Phonemic awareness Letter-sound knowledge Alphabetical spelling and decoding

2

63

Complex consonant grapheme

Phonemic awareness Letter-sound knowledge Orthographic spelling and decoding

4

37

selected, a green tick appears on the screen along with a sound. As the child progresses through the game, more planets and moons are unlocked. Positive reinforcement is adopted in order to motivate the child to continue playing. All information about the game, which can be accessed by any child, is recorded online, so the user may resume playing on any computer device. This game can be played in two modes, free or continuous mode. The free mode is reserved to teachers/ therapists, allowing the selection of levels; the continuous mode is the general mode, adopted for all children, following the pre-planned outline of the game, unlocking increasingly difficult levels as the child’s performance improves. This latter option has the advantage of adapting to the learning rhythm of each child [24, 25]. This software should be used under the supervision of an adult. Children at risk of experiencing difficulties reading acquisition, at the beginning of their school path, or children with special educational needs can specifically benefit from this computer software. Results of a study assessing the impact of an intervention adopting I Read reveal that 96% of the participants classify the games as fun games, nonetheless, only 58% of the participants completed the activities dedicated to alphabetical decoding, which is indicated by the authors as a limitation that should be addressed in future developments of this serious game [16, 24].

4 Child-Friendly App - the Piggy Bank The Piggy Bank Child-friendly software is a highly interactive application that may either be adopted for reading or for spelling training [26]. The Piggy Bank was developed for Android, to be played by children using tablets or smartphones, making use of the hardware sensors embedded in those devices. The version developed so far focus on

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spelling, more specifically on the promotion of sensibility to orthographic rules. In this version words are presented orally in parallel with the constituent letters that appear on the screen, shown in a non-sequential order. The game development took into consideration four design aspects: aesthetics, story, technology, and mechanics [27]. Regarding aesthetics, the game uses a scenario of a farm with animals, typically from children´s entertainment. The story relates to a pig that should be displaced by the user in order to collect dropping coins with letters (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. Game screenshot.

The game design was kept simple, with the movement of the pig in only one direction (left or right, on the bottom of the user interface) by tilting the device, accordingly, using the device embedded accelerometer. The mechanics of the game generates a stimulus from a database within the app that is presented orally. Simultaneously, coins with random letters that compose the stimuli appear in pseudorandomized order. The child moves the pig to collect them, in the correct order, in order to spell the listened stimuli. The user starts with 100 points and, for each correct pick of a coin with the correct stimuli, one point is added, and the sound of a dropping coin is played (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Game score.

An incorrect pick reduces one point the score. The game proceeds (next stimuli is presented) if the answer is correct; the user is required to respell if the answer is incorrect.

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This app adds a new dimension of interactivity, as it includes an accelerometer that allows the child to move the screen in each direction he/she wants, as well as the behavioural strategy of response cost in parallel with the positive reinforcement. Results of a pilot study indicate an increase of 57% in spelling skills after training with the app [26].

5 Discussion and Conclusion Serious games have become increasingly popular in supporting computer-assisted educational interventions [1–3]. Research indicates positive effects of computer-assisted interventions specifically in improving reading skills for at risk children [4, 8, 9]. However, it is still necessary to further improve these educational tools, specifically on what regards interactivity. In this study, we aimed to present recent serious games that have been developed to promote reading acquisition and to discuss the advantages of each of these tools in an educational and technological perspective. There are several advantages on adopting serious games as educational tools. GraphoGame was the pioneer serious game, having obtained positive effects in reading acquisition in different orthographies [15]. This game has several advantages, for example, the ludic component of teaching, and the immediate feedback. The I Read game is a more recent app, also developed for reading acquisition training [16]. This tool was designed for children at the initial phase of reading acquisition, thus focusing on phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge, and decoding. The child receives precise feedback – 1 to 3 stars depending on the child’s performance – is an upgrade regarding GraphoGame. The Piggy Bank app adds a new dimension of interactivity and escapes the computeronly mode, as it was developed to be played on more friendly (and accessible) tools such as a tablet or a smartphone [26]. This app uses the smartphone/tablet accelerometer that allows the child to move the screen in the direction he/she wants, whereas the other apps rely solely on the keyboard [26]. Also, regarding behavioural strategies embedded on the app, not only the positive reinforcement was adopted but also the response cost, which contributes to keep and improve the child’s motivation regarding the app [26]. An important feature of the three serious games presented is the reinforcement system, which aims to keep children motivated to play. This system is crucial to catch children’s attention and motivate them to complete the tasks. These serious games allow the child to maintain high levels of attention and motivation in learning tasks [28], which is often already affected by the growing awareness of their difficulties [29]. To store letter-sound correspondences and to achieve rapid automatic retrieval requires intensive training. Intensive training using serious games provides children with solid reading/ spelling foundational abilities. Furthermore, the use of computer games is promising from a cost-benefit perspective [23] as it offers an alternative to the resource-intensive traditional tutor methods [2]. It is the author’s expectation that this study will contribute to supporting the Portuguese-speaking educators’ work regarding the available array of reliable tools to promote reading and spelling acquisition. Specifically, it is the authors’ expectation that teachers who work with reading acquisition may now rely on a detailed, recent and critical description of the existing software validated for Portuguese. For colleagues

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focusing on educational technology development, this paper might serve as an inspiration to develop new/ improves serious games. It is our aim to contribute to more informed, scientific-based reading acquisition interventions and thus to contribute to prevent early reading acquisition failure by promoting confident learners, willing to be fluent readers in the future.

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Analyzing the Impact of a Gamification Approach on Primary Students’ Motivation and Learning in Science Education Stamatios Papadakis(B) , Alkinoos-Ioannis Zourmpakis , and Michail Kalogiannakis Department of Preschool Education, University of Crete, Rethymnon, Crete, Greece {stpapadakis,alkiszzz,mkalogian}@uoc.gr

Abstract. Various scientific fields, including education, have heavily focused on the independent educational level; students find it hard to understand scientific concepts leading to negative emotions and demoralization from continuous learning. Various scientific fields, including education, have heavily focused on gamification to promote motivation and engagement. We developed and tested, on a small sample of 5th-grade students, a gamification environment based upon self-determination and problem-based learning that incorporated a complete learning process about the concept of coagulation in order to gain insight into students’ views about this specific gamification environment, its gaming mechanics and its potential in learning, following a mixed-method approach. Our findings show promising results in learning outcomes, motivation and student engagement. Additionally, valuable results were showed cased regarding students’ perceptions regarding game elements’ motivational aspects and willingness to continue learning in similar gamification environments. This study, despite its shortcomings, gives valuable insight into the limited gamification research in science education. Keywords: Gamification · Science education · Game elements · Problem-based learning

1 Introduction The constant advancements in technology bring forward new possibilities and ways to encourage and motivate students while meeting the growing needs of education [1]. Moreover, independent of educational level, students find it hard to understand scientific concepts leading to negative emotions and demoralization from continuing learning [2, 3]. Students’ engagement in class has always been a primary concern of educators [4]. Motivating students and achieving high levels of engagement can be a significant concern as it has been shown to contribute to their academic performance [5, 6]. Gamification, i.e. “the use of aesthetic functions and game mechanisms in non-game related applications” [7], has been heavily focused on by various scientific fields, including education, as a contemporary way of promoting motivation and engagement with significant and positive results [8, 9]. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 701–711, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_66

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However, according to the literature [10], applying gaming elements in an educational setting does not ensure an increase in learning results [11]. As it has been pointed out, categorizing and identifying gaming elements’ pros, cons and effects in learning are paramount to selecting the most useful based on a formal procedure, such as a motivational theory, and specific goals [12, 13]. Additionally, ICT and mobile learning advancements have enabled the integration of active learning methodologies, such as inquiry-based, problem-based, or flipped-based learning [14, 15]. These learning methodologies correlate with motivational aspects [11, 15]. Furthermore, simulation game elements have often been used in learning environments associated with science education and have been shown to support retention in the learning process and increase students’ positive emotions and enjoyment [16, 17]. Nevertheless, although these elements seem to show promising results [14], their exact role in a gamification environment has not been established. Consequently, we developed a gamification environment based upon selfdetermination theory, a motivational theory that links gaming elements with intrinsic and extrinsic motivational aspects. Also, the environment incorporated a complete learning process with all the distinct steps of a relevant learning strategy. In addition, it was designed as a simulation and included gaming elements relative to that, i.e. avatars, natural sounds and animations. Our main objective is to understand the impact this learning process has on primary education students and the motivation from one of these active learning approaches associated with science education, problem-based learning. More specifically, our research questions are: • What was the impact of this learning approach on the students? • What are the elements that motivated the students within the gamification environment? • How did the students perceive this learning approach and simulative gaming elements?

2 Literature Review Gamification aims to incite specific behaviours using game design elements within a nongame context [18]. Nevertheless, technological advancements have recently enabled the expansion of gamification in digital environments, utilizing applications or platforms using digital devices, such as computers, tablets, or smartphones [19]. Unlike other educational games, education’s primary goal is not learning, though this is indirect. The primary goal is to “alter contextual learner behaviour or attitude [12, p. 759] through the use of game design elements within the learning environment [20]. An increase in motivation will promote learning-related behaviour, i.e. engagement with the learning material, and increase learning results [21]. Nonetheless, the presentation of the learning content within the environment is also significant in learning outcomes and motivation as it can create confusion, frustration, and decreased competence [22]. Furthermore, gamification has mixed results regarding academic learning outcomes [23]. Despite gamifications’ primary focus, meaning motivation, learning outcomes are the most critical reason for some researchers when utilizing an education game [24]. However, many factors affect academic outcomes, such as motivation conditions [25].

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Measuring learning results and motivational aspects are equally essential [26]. Additionally, games incentivize learners to engage in the learning process, with many intrinsic and extrinsic motivational aspects [27]. However, motivation varies between people. The level of impact of specific game elements, such as a leaderboard, can vary, often creating confusion about their effectiveness [28]. Identifying, designating, and employing game elements is of utmost importance when considering how it affects students’ behavioural attitudes and willingness to engage in learning [7, 29]. Creating a gamification application based on a theory of human motivation and directly linking motivational aspects with gaming elements is paramount. However, according to Kalogiannakis et al. [30], few gamification environments in science education follow this process. One motivational theory that has been associated with gamification design is self-determination theory (SDT) [10, 20]. SDT is not the only theory associated with gamification. However, it follows a more holistic and inclusive approach than most other theories since it considers intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and how they affect each other [31]. Proactive and learner-centred learning strategies are crucial in effectively dealing with issues that correlate with traditional teacher learning methodologies. Selecting and applying them is paramount [32]. Gamification environments related to science education with pedagogical learning strategies, such as problem-based learning, can reinforce students learning achievements [33]. However, their integration in gamification applications in science education is minimal. Additionally, the use of simulation game elements, such as real-like visuals effects, videos, and sounds, or generally of an environment that is shaped realistically, like following physics’ laws, has been shown to bolster retention in the learning process and improve students’ positive emotions and satisfaction [16, 17]. Thus, using an environment that simulates reality could contribute significantly to the learning process while increasing immersion and the sense of reality. The use of simulation characteristics and game elements, i.e. avatars, has also been very limited in gamification environments [30, 34].

3 Methodology 3.1 Research Design This small-scale quantitative and qualitative study occurred in a primary school in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. This study investigates the effect of a gamification environment that follows a problem-based approach applied to 5th-grade students in primary education on learning achievements and attitudes towards a physics lesson, precisely the concept of coagulation and the motivational impact of the embedded game elements on students. We utilized a semi-experimental design with a convenience sample and pre-test and post-test measures as a quantitative research method following a robust ethical protocol [35]. This design aimed to determine the background knowledge and define the success of this gamification learning strategy concerning academic achievements, an essential factor for the usefulness of an educational game [24]. Additionally, there is a tendency in research to make use of quantitative tools in measuring academic results in gamification [36, 37]. However, quantitative methods cannot provide clear information on other essential factors in gamification, such as motivation and engagement [37]. The qualitative

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data were gathered after the instructional intervention using semi-structured interviews. The application of such data collection techniques is frequent among researchers who attempt to know participants’ reactions, thought processes and feedback to an intervention [38] and can provide flexibility in the order of questions or additional questions if needed [39]. We adopted a deductive approach to implement our analysis and investigate the data collected in this research. Even though the deductive research approach is more often used in quantitative research, it can also apply in qualitative research [39]. The deductive approach is applied when a theoretical model relevant to this research is formed and tested [39], which is also. Also, a thematic content analysis was conducted as it allows the systematic analysis of the views of several users and concisely presents them [40]. All interviews were voice recorded and transcribed for analysis. Repeating views and ideas were gathered together during the analysis to create core themes. Based on the suggestions of Cohen et al. [40], to maximize the reliability of our findings, some discussions took place among the researchers while analyzing, grouping the data, and creating consensus about the findings and sets of themes.

4 Results After all the procedures were completed, i.e., pre-tests, teaching, post-tests, and interviews, the tests were graded based on the correct answers, and the interviews were analyzed. The data collected were coded and analyzed according to their methodology. The findings are presented concerning our research questions. As we mentioned earlier, we used both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. We used quantitative data to answer the first research question (RQ1), whereas we utilized only qualitative means in the other two (RQ2 and RQ3). Regarding the second and third research questions, the main thematic areas will be pointed out in each of them, along with supporting indications and statements from the interviews. 4.1 RQ1 To answer the first research question (RQ1), we utilized pre-test and post-test achievement scores and analyzed the data using the paired-samples t-test to compare the means of two measurements taken from the same individual. The pre-test was designed to test 5th graders’ knowledge about a specific topic they had already been taught in class. On the other hand, the post-test was designed similarly to test the new scientific concept students were taught in the gamification environment. There was a statistically significant difference between the students’ scores, (t = −7.55, df = 7, p = .00). Students had a substantially higher score in the post-test (M = 9.21, SD = .59) compared to their pre-test score (M = 7.14, SD = .69), indicating that this learning approach can assist students in learning outcomes. 4.2 RQ2 The second research question determines the motivational aspects of the game elements employed in the gamification environment. Respondents identified three core themes concerning this topic (Fig. 1).

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Fig. 1. The thematic network for RQ2.

The students were mainly intrigued by the game storytelling and its role in the gamification environment. As one student mentioned, “Initially the graphics. But then I liked more that I became a detective and was trying to find evidence concerning physics”. Although other game elements also intrigued them to a certain level, all mentioned the storytelling or their role within the gamification environment. Even though it is not often included in gamification, this game element showed that it could substantially impact students’ motivation [7, 29]. The second core theme was game elements strongly related to “classic” gamification elements, such as points, badges, and ladders (PBL). Though such elements were included in the gamification application, i.e. points and levels of players, students surprisingly showed little to no interest. Notably, one student stated, “I liked them, but I did not pay much attention to them”, whereas another student mentioned, “I liked the points”. They showed you how well you are doing”. Consequently, the PBL elements used in this gamification application, i.e. points and level, do not significantly affect students’ motivation. Students seem to discard their intended use as an extrinsic motivational aspect [41] or utilize them to indicate progress and intrinsic motivation [42, 43]. Lastly, another theme that emerged was the game element that most supported retention and motivated the students to engage throughout the learning course. The respondents mainly emphasized two elements, the visuals and the real-like feeling of the environment and the storytelling. One of the students explained the visuals and real-like feeling, “It looked like other games I like. You were like a normal person in reality”. Reaffirming this element while also emphasizing storytelling, another student reported, “I had understood from the beginning that it had to do with a mystery, a police investigation, etc. I also liked how it looked when I saw it”. Certain elements can intrigue the player during the first contact with the environment, but that does not also mean that these elements can motivate the player continuously. However, in the present intervention, the storytelling elements intrigued the students at the beginning of the learning process and continuously motivated them until the end. Furthermore, although the environment did not initially intrigue them, their answer revealed that it significantly impacted them. This can be explained since today’s students are more accustomed to digital environments and their real-like-simulative nature.

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4.3 RQ3 The respondents pointed out three core themes within the third research question. The third one was associated with the student’s perception of the learning approach, i.e., the problem-based approach and the simulation game elements within the gamification environment (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. The thematic network for RQ2

The first core theme was the students’ likeness to the learning approach and their willingness to engage in similar learning processes, i.e., gamification environments that utilize problem-based learning. The respondents unanimously expressed their positive views regarding this learning approach and willingness to participate in similar learning courses. A student reported, “Yes, I liked it. I would try it again because you can do something that pleases you, but at the same time, you also learn something else”. The students’ perception was so positive that, as a student noted, they would also be referred to this intervention to their friends, “I would try this way again so that a friend of mine could learn as I learned”. The students, without exception, expressed their preference for this learning approach compared to the learning approach used in the class. However, some also identified common similarities, whereas others did not. One respondent outlined, “It was better I think because it had a game in it and it was nice. Furthermore, it also looked like it was a little like how we do in the classroom. For example, the experiments”. In contrast, another reported, “I liked it more. It did not look like how the classroom was taught”. As pointed out, some students found similarities between this learning approach and the methodology they followed in class. This implies that some students might be familiar with similar learning strategies, such as problem-based learning or inquiry learning. Despite that, they showed to prefer the problem-based approach combined with the gamification environment and setting to the one used in class. Lastly, another core subject was associated with the student’s perception of the simulation game elements. The respondents expressed a favourable opinion towards the simulation elements, highlighting their assistance in learning. Specifically, one student noted, “I liked them. They reminded me of things I had seen before and helped me learn”. In contrast, another pointed out, “I liked it because they made it look more real, and it helped because if the game looked like something fake, such as robots, it would be harder

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to understand”. Consequently, these simulation game elements seemed instrumental to understanding the scientific concept, but they also appealed to students.

5 Discussion This study gave valuable insight into essential aspects of gamification research that are still vague and have baffled several researchers in the last years. More specifically, the implementation of gamification in science education is scarce, and many vital issues remain unexplored [30]. We organized and carried out a teaching intervention to acquire information on the impact of a learning approach that includes gamification and a relative learning strategy, i.e. problem-based learning, to learning acquisition and motivation in science education. In terms of learning achievements and outcomes, our study revealed positive results. Students were shown high scores in the post-test indicating success in comprehending and understanding the scientific concept. This result is consistent with other studies [44, 45]. However, these results should be carefully interpreted and not be used for generalization due to the present study’s relatively small sample. Furthermore, we extracted information about the game elements’ impact on students’ motivation. Firstly, based on our findings, we established a relationship between students’ initial interest in engaging with the gamification environment and some specific game elements, including the storytelling and role game elements. Interest is an intrinsic motivational factor. Although its role as a substantial motivational factor is not clear, according to SDT [31], it is an essential motivational aspect, especially in science education [2]. Additionally, valuable data were derived for the more “traditional” game elements included in the learning environment, such as points and levels. In our application, points were mainly used as a reward mechanism, whereas the levels were initialized as completive. However, our results suggest that these elements had little to no impact on students’ extrinsic motivation, similar to other studies [41]. Also, students used the points differently than was intended, as a progression instead of a reward mechanism, indicating that the students would prefer and even benefit from a progression game element within the learning environment. Moreover, based on our results, it is suggested that the game elements that had the most motivational impact on the students’ engagement were storytelling, visuals, and the real-like environment, which is also suggested by other studies [46]. These findings are significant because science education suffers from high student dropout rates [47], and few studies have utilized these elements in science education [30]. In addition, our results gave us insights into students’ perceptions regarding the relationship between the problem-based approach and the simulation game elements within the gamification environment. It was observed that the students had a highly optimistic view of the suggested learning approach and were willing to engage again in similar learning settings. Moreover, students showed a clear preference for this learning approach over the approach they followed in class, even though some noticed some similarities between both learning approaches. According to the students, both learning strategies, the gamification and problem-based approach and the one they used in class, used experiments. This indicates that some students might have been familiar with

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learning strategies associated with science education, such as inquiry or problem-based learning. Nonetheless, it is suggested that the students show a significant preference for combined gamification-based teaching practices. This is also supported by various other studies [48, 49]. Furthermore, simulation environments and game elements have been suggested to support retention in the learning process and boost students’ positive emotions and enjoyment [17]. Our findings correlate to these suggestions highlighting the importance of the simulation game elements in science education.

6 Limitations The present study contains certain limitations. The main issues correlate with the typical problems of qualitative research studies, such as the small sample size [50] and the unintended bias of the research analysts [51] and unsubstantiated generalization [52]. Even though our study follows a mixed-method approach, our sample size is more relevant to a qualitative study. Consequently, the generalization of the findings should be made with extreme caution. The findings are limited to the game elements included in our gamification environment. Not all game elements mentioned in gamification literature were included in the environment, like badges, teams, etc. Integration of different game elements could yield different outcomes. Additionally, though we established the students’ opinions and preferences toward the gamification problem-based and the traditional learning approach, we did not acquire further details about the class learning process. More information is necessary to establish what aspects of the gamification problem-based approach lead to higher student approval rates.

7 Conclusions This paper sought to give valuable insight into essential aspects of gamification and understanding related science education practices. Although academic learning outcomes are significant and should always be a matter of focus for researchers [24], they are also affected by other factors, like motivational aspects [53]. This holds even more true in gamification, where the learning outcomes are achieved indirectly, and our main focus is to engage students in the learning process [27]. Data collection-analysis and iteration study yielded positive results regarding the gamification environment’s effectiveness. Despite our small sample, this is essential to the limited gamification research in science education. Moreover, our findings provided valuable insights into the students’ perception of game elements integrated into our gamification application and the learning strategy utilized. Further studies that address the limitations of our research and test the effectiveness of similar gamification applications could assist and generalize these results while assisting in future design modifications that will ensure a positive learning experience. Moreover, considering the teachers’ views and attitudes is the key to introducing new teaching methodologies in the learning process [54, 55]. It is essential to properly develop apps for science teaching concepts to motivate students to have an active role and engage with it [56–58].

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Ensuring the Quality of Academic Computer Science Education Despite the Corona Situation Harald Wahl(B)

and Alexander Mense

University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien, Vienna, Austria {wahl,mense}@technikum-wien.at

Abstract. Because of Corona and the associated lockdown, it was no longer possible to hold classes in the bachelor’s degree program Computer Science at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien. We had to switch to online lessons quickly. In addition to the first approaches, feedback from students and teachers was then evaluated to define rules for online teaching. Since the teachers had limited experience in online teaching, some quick boundary conditions were issued to all teachers at the beginning. These included some specifications, such as how the documents should be made available or how communication with the students should take place. Due to the changeover, which had to be carried out very quickly, and the low empirical values, an evaluation for improvement and quality assurance had to be carried out. Keywords: Corona situation · Academic education · Computer science education

1 Introduction When face-to-face teaching in the traditional sense was no longer possible in 2020 due to the sudden onset of the Corona Pandemic, the teaching methods had to be adapted immediately. Both the students and the teachers had to stay at home. For this reason, some ad hoc rules have been defined. Since it was uncertain right from the start how long the situation would last, the lessons could not be postponed. Classes had to be conducted online. Alle Documents must be provided to the student in digital format. Group work must be carried out virtually and assessments or examinations must be designed in such a way that they can be carried out via the Internet. These very imprecise specifications on the one hand and the fact that the implementation had to happen immediately meant that many teachers simply acted to the best of their knowledge and belief. We had a small advantage because we were responsible for the bachelor’s degree in computer science and naturally IT-savvy teachers work in this area. The computer science teachers had experience with various tools, be it communication tools or different e-learning tools. But no one had ever faced a situation like this before, and therefore no one could tell how best to use these tools when everything was about to go online. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 712–717, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_67

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2 Approach To be able to evaluate and improve the ad hoc changes, a survey was created. Online surveys were carried out for the student groups after each semester in order to specifically evaluate the changes that were necessary due to the Corona situation. At the same time, qualitative interviews were held with the teachers on an ongoing basis in order to identify the special challenges from their point of view. The survey was designed following some ideas of [1, 2], and [3]. In addition to questions about the current semester and the degree program, there were questions about the evaluation of statements such as the handling of the online courses, the response time of students’ questions, or the organizational handling of the online courses, for the complete list see Table 1. But one of the most important points was the question of possible improvements. Here the students were required to provide specific ideas and suggestions for corrections to the current teaching situation. The survey was conducted in December 2020 and June 2021. Specific things in teaching were adapted after the first survey. The evaluation of the second survey should confirm these changes. Table 1. The questions of the survey. Question

Possible answers

Please select your course of study

The individual course of study

Please select your semester

The individual semester

How satisfied are you with your current situation at the UAS Technikum Wien?

Very satisfied/satisfied/neutral/dissatisfied/very dissatisfied

Overall, the UAS Technikum Wien handles online studies well

Applies/rather applies/partially applies/less applicable/does not apply

My questions are answered quickly and reliably

Applies/rather applies/partially applies/less applicable/does not apply

The organizational handling of the online course works well

Applies/rather applies/partially applies/less applicable/does not apply

Due to the online study operation, a considerable additional effort has been incurred to be able to complete the courses

Applies/rather applies/partially applies/less applicable/does not apply

How much do you think you learned this semester?

More than in an average semester/about the same as in an average semester/less than in an average semester

What could the UAS Technikum Wien improve when it comes to online study?

Text

In addition, the situation was taken as an opportunity to gradually revise the courses in general to achieve future added value both in terms of face-to-face teaching and to be able to guarantee a possible switch to online teaching again. Here, the courses of the first and second semester were changed.

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3 Results If we look at the general satisfaction of the student groups how well the UAS conducts the online lessons, we see that the group of Computer Science students has a clearly better impression than all students of all bachelor’s degrees (see Fig. 1). On the one hand, this is since the topic can be carried out more easily virtually, and on the other hand, due to the great experience of the computer science teachers in dealing with online tools.

Fig. 1. The general impression of students about the online teaching. On the left side the results of all bachelor’s degrees and on the right side the bachelor’s degree Computer Science.

3.1 Responses in December 2020 and June 2021 In December 2020, 180 computer science students took part in the survey, which corresponds to a response rate of 32.79%. In June 2021, 168 computer science students took part, which corresponds to a response rate of 32.56% (see Fig. 2). The high response rates clearly show that the problem is very important for the students.

Responses Computer Science December 2020

Responses Computer Science June 2021

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Fig. 2. Responses of Computer Science students in December 2020 and June 2021

From December 2020 to June 2021 the general impression of good online implementation has improved. There was an increase in absolute agreement of 23.91%. In June, the lowest level of agreement was only given by 2 students, which is almost negligible. However, some votes also went from average agreement to below average (see Fig. 3). From this one can interpret that the adaptations of the FH have been fruitful. The

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changes concerned the more precise specifications of the boundary conditions, such as the uniform use of a teaching or meeting tool. At the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien, it was determined that Zoom1 should be used. The structure of the e-learning platform (Moodle2 ) to be used has now been specified for all courses to get a faster and familiar overview of courses.

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Fig. 3. The general impression of Computer Science students in December 2020 and June 2021

If we look at the feedback regarding additional effort in teaching, a reduction from December 2020 to June 2021 can also be seen here. 10% fewer say that significant added value is necessary, and even 95.24% more say that there is absolutely no extra effort. On the one hand, this is due to the accumulated experience of the teachers, but also to the way the students handle online learning (see Fig. 4).

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does not apply

no answer

June

Fig. 4. The effort of Computer Science students in December 2020 and June 2021

When asked whether more was learned in online operations than in traditional ones, a clear trend can also be seen from December 2020 to June 2021. It is an increase of 1 Zoom Video Communications, Inc.: https://zoom.us/ 2 Moodle: https://moodle.org/

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29.17% from students who think they learned more with the adaptations and a 20.41% drop from those who feel they have learned less than traditional average semesters (see Fig. 5).

How much do you think you learned this semester? 100

86

80

80 49

60 40

24

39

31

21

18

20 0 more than in an average semester

about the same as in an average semester December

less than in an average semester

no answer

June

Fig. 5. The learning outcome of Computer Science students in December 2020 and June 2021

The feedback from the affected groups from Computer Science (teachers, students) led to adjustments both to boundary conditions in teaching and to certain parts of the infrastructure. The results of the two surveys showed a clear improvement in the quality of teaching and learning, which led to a general adjustment of teaching at UAS Technikum Wien. 3.2 Adjustments in Teaching Clear Specifications. The constant contact with teaching colleagues but also with students showed us some inconsistencies in the ad hoc conversion of online teaching. On the one hand, the variety of tools was limited and restricted to one communication platform. This eliminates the ongoing uncertainty as to which platform is used in which course by which lecturer. Clear specifications as to how the used learning platform Moodle must be structured in the individual courses help you to quickly find your way around different courses. Unfortunately, due to the General Data Protection Regulation, it had to be forbidden to record and distribute online sessions. Many students, but also teachers, do not support this. We have responded to this commitment by preparing and making more screencasts available. This is not the same as an online session, which can be viewed again, and various questions and discussions can be reproduced. Additionally, the teaching methods were reconsidered and redefined for each course. Teaching Methods. Traditional lectures have been eliminated altogether. Only four types of courses are now allowed, these are integrated courses, exercises, projects, and laboratory courses. In order to enable a quick switch to pure distance learning, the courses should follow the Flipped Classroom method [4]. The number of attendance units per ECTS is clearly defined for each individual method (see Table 2). In addition, it is regulated how much is to be prepared by the students in self-study and which content is

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taught in the face-to-face units. These specifications are directly related to the structure of the course in Moodle.

Table 2. The attendance units per ECTS. Teaching method

Attendance units per ECTS

Integrated course

6

Exercise

8

Project

6

Laboratory course

10

4 Conclusion It turned out that Computer Science teachers were able to deal with the situation very well in order to be able to guarantee the continuation at least initially. Students also quickly adapted to this. As the purely online operation continued, however, some problems could be identified. These relate to the structuring of the course as well as precise and efficient way of communication. In addition, care must be taken to keep the students away from the easily occurring distraction possibilities and to keep the motivation in the lesson. Nonetheless, the types of tests are relevant in order to realistically assess the results. The need to rethink all of our education has led to the fact that we are now successively adapting all courses according to certain rules. This makes it possible to switch partially or completely to online operation at any time. We have also learned to note a few points in purely online operation, which are also discussed with all teachers.

References 1. Winstone, N.E., et al.: Measuring what matters: the positioning of students in feedback processes within national student satisfaction surveys. Stud. High. Educ. 47, 1–13 (2021) 2. Son, H.T., Ngo, T.H., Khuyen, P.T.M.: Measuring students’ satisfaction with higher education service-an experimental study at Thainguyen University. Int. J. Bus. Mark. Manag. (IJBMM) 3(4), 21–34 (2018) 3. Pazim, K.H.: Special education teachers job satisfaction in Malaysia: a review. Turk. J. Comput. Math. Educ. (TURCOMAT) 12(11), 5329–5332 (2021) 4. Ozdamli, F., Asiksoy, G.: Flipped classroom approach. World J. Educ. Technol.: Curr. Issues 8(2), 98–105 (2016)

Teaching the Simple Network Management Protocol Using the Packet Tracer Anywhere Network Simulator Ioannis Sarlis, Dimitrios Magetos, Dimitrios Kotsifakos(B) , and Christos Douligeris Department of Informatics, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece {sarlisj,dmagetos,kotsifakos}@unipi.gr

Abstract. The new reality of the coronavirus lockdown has prohibited the students’ physical presence in laboratories. Administrators, teachers, and students had to think of new alternatives to hold meetings by adopting a virtual format through the development of rapidly available and broadly accessible online resources. Online Open Educational Resources (OERs) can be used in the form of cloud applications to virtualize computers or other physical sciences laboratories, which are necessary for the realization of the objectives of the courses. OERs can efficiently and effectively prepare students to be able to practice their skills. In parallel, OERs offer a degree of flexibility to the teachers, as they allow them to manage information in multiple ways and at the same time accommodate the presentation of knowledge from multiple perspectives. In this article, we propose the use of computer network simulation software as a teaching method in the form of OERs. In this context, we support the teaching of the administrative perspective of a computer network management course utilizing OERs. We explore the effectiveness of the network simulation software Packet Tracer anywhere in online learning of both synchronous and asynchronous education environments. In particular, we examine its suitability and usability in light of group activities at the level of higher education. We investigate its functionality and the teaching benefits that arise through collaborative learning scenarios in a computer lab suitable for the course of network management. Keywords: Network simulator software · Cloud applications · Open educational resources · Packet tracer anywhere · Collaborative learning · Computer networks design · Network management

1 Introduction Higher education is undergoing significant changes, which are largely driven by the availability of high-quality online material, also known as Open Educational Resources (OERs). OERs can be described as “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 718–729, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_68

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and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge” [1]. The emergence of OERs has greatly facilitated e-learning through the use and sharing of open and reusable learning resources on the Web [12]. Learners and educators can now access, download, mix and republish a wide variety of quality educational materials through open-source cloud services that are accessible most of the time free of charge to any trainee or educator worldwide. OERs in the form of cloud applications also provide both trainers and learners with numerous online applications that can be used to enhance a wide range of collaborative educational scenarios. Open Educational Resources (OERs) allow anyone to freely access educational resources as well as the right to review, reuse, mix, and redistribute (revise, reuse, remix, redistribute) their content [10]. OERs have the potential to drastically reduce the cost of degree programs, making higher education more accessible to millions of students [4]. Most OERs are technologically neutral in the sense that they can theoretically be reconfigured or converted for use on any platform or any Learning Management System (LMS) [7]. They can therefore be used online or in physical classrooms. This work aims to highlight the educational value of (OERs), such as Packet Tracer anywhere (PTa) [9]. We are exploring the pedagogical and didactic benefits that PTa can offer in the teaching of computer network classes, in Higher Education [5], and in particular in the undergraduate University schools of Informatics. We check its potential benefits in the development of collaborative learning scenarios in computer network management and network security courses. In the context of collaborative learning, we have used the cloud-based PTa simulator in the teaching of computer networks [11]. The research team examined its suitability and usability, in the light of collaborative activities, at the level of higher education and explored its functionality and the pedagogical benefits that emerge through collaborative learning scenarios. The development of computer networking skills is usually based on hands-on experience in laboratories using real networking equipment. However, providing and maintaining adequate computer networking equipment is costly for educational institutions. Online experimentation and remote/virtual labs offer rich learning opportunities by allowing learners to control real or virtual equipment remotely to conduct scientific experiments. Remote/virtual labs rely on numerous emerging technologies to support online experimentation and promote learners’ active participation in virtual environments, recreating real-world experiences. Learners engage in real-world problemsolving situations, which motivate them to work with other learners, who can extend their learning both within and outside the school and beyond. In teaching scenarios, the PTa simulator was used as a tool for blended learning. In addition, we weighed and tested the degree of functionality of the development of collaborative learning scenarios for designing computer networks. The new teaching scenarios, with the use of OERs (especially PTa) helped the expansion and enrichment of the curricula of the Computer Networks class of the departments of Informatics and were carried out within the respective physical and virtual University undergraduate classes.

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2 Study Purpose and Goals 3 Purpose of the Study Packet Tracer anywhere (PTa) is a network simulation environment that includes the options of designing a network topology with routers, switches, and PCs [3]. PTa provides the ability to someone to add devices via the “Add devices” option, create connections through the corresponding devices with the “Connect devices” option, edit network components through the “Edit devices” option, and delete devices via the “delete device” option. Finally, through the “console option”, one can configure the corresponding devices on the network using a command-line interpreter typing appropriate commands (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Network simulation in PT anywhere, implementing a WAN topology

Using the PTa cloud interface, learners can work on each device separately and also see the entire network infrastructure working and check all connections and interfaces as well as complete a range of complex networking skills. Additionally, teachers can design a complete network topology and share it with their students through a shared URL and collaborate with them to complete the assignment. During the evaluation of PTa several scientific questions were posed: on the one hand, about the possibilities for improvement of providers of synchronous and asynchronous e-learning and, on the other hand, about adopting extensions to the existing system based on the answers [13]. The learning benefits from its implementation were captured through the assignments of the students who participated in computer networking courses online. In our research, we used Microsoft Teams, which can combine synchronous and asynchronous teaching methods as:

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• different methods of Internet technology (live virtual classroom, automated learning, collaborative learning, interactive video, audio, and text) to achieve an educational purpose, • different pedagogical approaches (constructive, behavioral, cognitive) to achieve the best possible learning outcome with or without educational technology, • any kind of educational medium (video, CD-ROM, web stream, film) with face-to-face teaching and, • educational technology with real work goals to achieve learning and work results. The use of the PTa would help students, through a virtual network design environment, to become familiar with network technologies as well as to highlight critical design options as required in a real communication environment. The application of the simulation for the teaching of computer network courses through the PTa in distance education was done in the context of mixed learning, with the use of both asynchronous and synchronous distance learning [16]. Online OERs, such as PTa, are easy to use, thus enabling a considerable interaction between students and the computer lab, within the context of deep lifelong computer network learning. This research was made initially to verify whether the use of online OERs improves student learning outcomes.

4 Approach The basic infrastructure for remote communication with students and the organization of the educational process (educational material, assignments, exercises, etc.) is the e-Class Asynchronous eLearning platform of the Department of Informatics. From the point of view of pedagogical methodology, we organized the didactic scenario based on the exploratory learning approach, according to exploratory learning, which divides the learning process into smaller, logically connected phases, which are intended to draw their attention to trainees in important characteristics of the scientific way of thinking. Through the application of the scenario, we involved the students in an “authentic” scientific process of discovery [17]. Although in some phases of the scenario the “cycle” of the investigation appears as a sequence of phases, and the final part summarizes the most important features of the subject. We split the laboratory course into two sessions. In the first session, we taught the PTa Environment and in the second session, we let students experiment with PTa and complete their lab assignments. 124 students participated in this sample class; they were from the laboratory of networks of the lesson PLPLI44 – Computer Networks (4th semester) of the Department of Informatics School of Computer Science of the University of Piraeus. The sample class took place on May 12th , 2022.

5 Suggested Teaching Scenario 1) Objectives: The educational scenario is addressed to 2nd -year students of the course Computer Networks of the computer science faculty of the University of Piraeus. The educator prepared a laboratory exercise to be used as a student lab assignment.

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The students explore PTa Online Environment to create and test the Computer Network Topology that is asked through the assignment. The objective Students have to design, configure and run network topology commands and make the network work between three sites (Chicago, Atlanta, and Boston). 2) Pedagogical approach and strategies: The script adopts the principles of collaborative exploration to study LAN and WAN networks and design the WAN Network of three sites. 3) Target audience (target group or to whom it is addressed): a) b) c) d)

Education level: University, Faculty of Informatics, pre-graduate level Class: 2nd-year, pre-graduate students Age group: From 18 and above Target audience language: Greek

4) Estimated scenario implementation duration: four (4) teaching hours 5) Place of implementation: The training scenario can be implemented online 6) Expected to be used: a) Microsoft Teams for Synchronous Communication. b) Packet Tracer anywhere (PTa) Simulator for Network Management. 7) Class orchestration a) Classroom/teaching organization: Students are introduced to the ISO and TCP/IP Protocols. Can build a simple network consisting of two PCs and one Switch. They work in different sessions of PTa. b) Roles of students and teachers: The Lecturer makes a presentation on Packet Tracer Anywhere and how it works. Students are trying to build a simple network topology. 8) Evaluation of the students’ activity and achievements: After the online class session, students must complete an assignment in PTa, and instructions are given by the lab teacher. The assignment is to design a WAN network that consists of three sites (Atlanta, Chicago, and Boston). 9) Scenario extension: The teacher asks students to add more sites to the WAN. The schedule of the lesson is shown in Table 1.

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6 Results The students were asked to fill out a questionnaire to record their experience of using PTa. The outcomes of the processing of these questionnaires are presented in this paper. The questions were determined based on how we organized the lesson and our pedagogical goals. We weighed the indicators of the degree of user satisfaction and the degree of self-evaluation concerning the acquired skills, after using PTa. The choices of questions related to the degree of familiarity with the concepts of the course but also the design skills. Table 1. The schedule of the lesson Time

Subjects

INTRODUCTION

1 Teaching Hour – Introduction-Orientation 45 min – Reflection and discussion in the online session

SETUP

1 Teaching Hour – General Instructions 45 min – Lab Teacher gives students the link to PTa – Students connect to the PTa platform

(Break 15 min) IMPLEMENTATION 1 Teaching Hour – Lab Teacher designs the WAN in PTa following 45 min the instructions of the assignment – Explains the basic IOS commands to the students EVALUATION

1 Teaching Hour - Students execute the laboratory assignment step by 45 min step -Lab Teacher helps students to finish the assignment

7 PTa User Learning Benefits After using PTa in the online class, students answered some questions about the Learning Benefits of PTa. The questions about User Learning Benefits are numbered from A1 through A8. The answers were recorded and processed in Excel (See Table 2) and presented as a Graph (see Fig. 2). A1. PTa network simulator helped me understand the basic concepts related to the design of Computer Networks. A2. After completing the basic training of the PTA simulator, I can correct wrong design options easily and quickly. A3. PTa simulator helped me to accurately create complex computer network design scenarios. A4. Without the help of the teacher, I could not handle the basic commands of the PTA simulator. A5. PTa simulator helped me create multiple representations of PC Network topologies.

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A6. PTa simulator motivated me to work on an individual level with the design of Computer Networks. A7. Working with the PTa simulator help me further experiment with Computer Networks. A8. After working with the PTa simulator I consider the simulations to be valid representational mechanisms.

Fig. 2. The answers of the students regarding their PTa User Experience

8 PTa User Experience Questionnaire After using PTa in the online class, students answered some questions about their experience with their use of PTa. The questions about User Experience are numbered from B1 through B7. The answers were recorded and processed in Excel (See Tables 3 & 4) and presented as a Graph (see Figs. 3 & 4). B1. I encountered many problems using the PTa simulator B2. The PTa simulator is easy to use in designing complex networking scenarios. B3. Learning the basic commands of the PTa simulator required a lot of hard work.

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Table 2. Level of agreement with the PTa learning benefits: responses to questions A1–A8 PTa user learning benefits A1

A2

A3

A4

A5

A6

A7

A8

1 = not at all

0%

3%

3%

3%

3%

8%

3%

3%

2 = very little

3%

10%

8%

5%

15%

20%

5%

5%

3 = not quite

3%

5%

3%

15%

8%

5%

10%

5%

4 = neutral

8%

15%

18%

25%

28%

28%

15%

10%

20%

15%

25%

33%

28%

23%

30%

35%

5 = agree 6 = very much

33%

25%

13%

10%

20%

5%

18%

30%

7 = totally agree

35%

28%

33%

10%

0%

13%

20%

13%

B4. I learned to use the PTa simulator quite fast. B5. I am completely satisfied with the use of the PTa simulator, after completing this lesson. B6. I am satisfied with the fact that the PTa simulator is available at all times and supports me to work collaboratively. B7. To be able to solve the laboratory exercise assigned to me with comfort and ease, I spent some hours learning the PTa simulator.

9 Discussion of the Results - Conclusions From the students’ answers, we saw that PTa is a useful tool to complete their assignments online from their homes, instead of visiting the University Network Lab physically which wasn’t possible during the coronavirus lockdown. From PTa learning benefits. We discovered that PTa has helped to familiarize themselves with network management technologies as well as configuration settings where they are required in a real-world communication environment with the same ease in a real interface just as in the virtual environment offered by the PTa. We checked its potential benefits in the development of collaborative learning scenarios in computer network management and network security courses and based on the answers to the students’ questionnaire we concluded that PTa as a teaching tool serves the needs of learning and skills development. In conclusion, PTa offers a very good simulation of a computer lab suitable for the computer networks course. The main results of this study are that the PTa simulator provided as an online service offers: a) its online use in the form of Software as a Service (SaaS) service in the educational process. The benefits are its immediate use via the internet without the need to install it locally. b) its free access without burdening the user with the purchase cost and maintenance costs. c) zero cost of purchasing and maintaining IT labs because the PTa simulator is provided free of charge as a service through a browser (SaaS).\

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Fig. 3. The answers of the students in Question B7

Table 3. Hours spent for PTa interface familiarity: responses to question B7 Hours spent for PTa interface familiarity 0–1 h

15%

1–2 h

13%

2–3 h

25%

3–4 h

23%

4–6 h

18%

6–8 h

8%

d) the possibility of simultaneous use by a large number of students, anytime and anywhere, with any device connected to the Internet, without time, space, or financial constraints. We also found that the PTa provides not only technical but also pedagogical benefits such as: a) the implementation of collaborative teaching scenarios which can be implemented in physical and virtual classrooms. b) teaching and learning in and out of the classroom, both in physical education classes and in virtual classes with distance learning.

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Table 4. Level of agreement with the PTa user experience: responses to questions B1–B6 PTa user experience questionnaire B1

B2

B3

B4

B5

B6

1 = not at all

28%

5%

23%

5%

5%

3%

2 = very little

10%

8%

20%

8%

5%

10%

3 = not quite

30%

0%

28%

8%

3%

8%

8%

15%

8%

23%

18%

13%

13%

18%

15%

18%

33%

25%

4 = neutral 5 = agree 6 = very much

5%

28%

0%

20%

18%

20%

7 = totally agree

8%

28%

8%

20%

20%

23%

Fig. 4. The answers of the students about PTa User Experience

10 Future Work According to what we have experienced in recent years, the pandemic had a catalytic effect and imposed blackmail on distance education structures. Despite everything we experienced today, we are not at the end of the pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve and unfortunately, still, this is something we cannot predict and control. New variants appear that escape the immune defenses, resulting in reinfections, which after the prevalence of the Omicron variant register an increasing trend. This prediction will

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oblige us to rethink and organize the use of tools such as PTa on a larger scale and to a greater extent regarding the analytic curriculum of teaching networks. The next phase of the research concerns the in-depth review of the data so far but also the redesign of the teaching material on a larger scale. Also, it is in our plans to expand the use of PTa in other areas, such as Network Security, Network Management, etc., and use its collaborative power in virtual labs. Finally, our short-term plans include the programming agreement for the design of teaching together with other Universities at the national level (Greece) and also with other educational organizations at the international level, if the terms and conditions of cooperation arise. Acknowledgments. This work has been partially supported by the University of Piraeus Research Center (UPRC).

References 1. Atkins, D., Brown, J., Hammond, A.: A review of the open educational resources (OER) movement: achievements, challenges, and new opportunities (2007) 2. Clark, J.T.: Distance education. In: Clinical Engineering Handbook, pp. 410–415. Academic Press (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813467-2.00128-0 3. Cherniltsev, A., Berezina, E.: Review of network modeling and simulation software. In: International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference: SGEM, vol. 20, no. 2.1, pp. 275– 282 (2020). https://doi.org/10.5593/sgem2020/2.1/s07.036 4. de Gusmão, C.M.G.: Digital competencies and transformation in higher education: upskilling with extension actions. In: Training Engineering Students for Modern Technological Advancement, pp. 313–328. IGI Global (2022) 5. El-Sofany, H., El-Haggar, N.: The effectiveness of using mobile learning techniques to improve learning outcomes in higher education. In: International Association of Online Engineering. Accessed 10 Mar 2021, https://www.learntechlib.org/p/216981 6. Barari, N., RezaeiZadeh, M., Khorasani, A., Alami, F.: Designing and validating educational standards for E-teaching in virtual learning environments (VLEs), based on revised Bloom’s taxonomy. Interact. Learn. Environ. 30, 1–13 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020. 1739078 7. Kotsifakos, D., Vichou, M., Douligeris, C.: Organization of a teaching network routing algorithms scenario in a learning management system (LMS). In: ECEL 2018 17th European Conference on e-Learning, p. 263. Academic Conferences and publishing limited (2018 8. Magetos, Dimitrios, Sarlis, Ioannis, Kotsifakos, Dimitrios, Douligeris, Christos: Network simulator software utilization as a teaching method for distance learning. In: Auer, Michael E., Hortsch, Hanno, Michler, Oliver, Köhler, Thomas (eds.) Mobility for Smart Cities and Regional Development - Challenges for Higher Education: Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL2021), Volume 1, pp. 274–285. Springer International Publishing, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-939045_28 9. Mikroyannidis, A., Gómez-Goiri, A., Smith, A., Domingue, J.: PT Anywhere: a mobile environment for practical learning of network engineering. Interact. Learn. Environ. 28(4), 482–496 (2020) 10. Mishra, L., Gupta, T., Shree, A.: Faculty induction program for newly recruited teachers of higher education: a case study. Teach. Dev. 26, 1–15 (2022)

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11. Oleksiuk, V.P., Oleksiuk, O.R., Vakaliuk, T.A.: An experiment on the implementation of the methodology of teaching cloud technologies to future Computer Science teachers. AET 2020, 590 (2022) 12. Rosewell, J., et al.: Open Networking Lab: online practical learning of computer networking. The Online, Open, and Flexible Higher Education Conference: Blended and Online Learning: Changing the Educational Landscape. Aarhus University, Denmark (2018) 13. Samoylenko, N., Zharko, L., Glotova, A.: Designing online learning environment: ICT tools and teaching strategies. Athens J. Educ. 8, 1–15 (2021). https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.X-Y-Z 14. Seralidou, E., Douligeris, C., Gralista, C.: EduApp: a collaborative application for mobile devices to support the educational process in Greek secondary education. In: 2019 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), pp. 189–198. IEEE (2019) 15. Liu, Y., Yu, M.: Verification and analysis of mobile communication network simulation method based on reverse coverage test. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 1437(1), 012003 (2020) 16. Viberg, O., Khalil, M., Baars, M.: Self-regulated learning and learning analytics in online learning environments: a review of empirical research. In: Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge, pp. 524–533 (2020) 17. Zimmerman, B.J., Moylan, A.R.: Self-regulation: where metacognition and motivation intersect. In: Hacker, D.J.D. (eds.) Handbook of Metacognition in Education, pp. 299–316. Routledge, New York (2009)

Electromagnetic Waves and Their Quantum Nature. Starting from “Scratch” … Nikolaos Mitrakas1(B) , Charilaos Tsihouridis1 , Marianthi Batsila2 , and Dennis Vavougios2 1 University of Patras, Patras, Greece

{nmitrakas,hatsihour}@upatras.gr 2 University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece {marbatsila,dvavou}@uth.gr

Abstract. The concept of light and especially its nature is one of the most difficult topics to teach in science. Students’ misinterpretations and alternative ideas, regarding light, are numerous and this is because students have some perceptions that usually come into conflict with scientific concepts. The phenomena of interaction of light with matter could be interpreted by introducing the quantum nature of light into the teaching process. The creation of a modeling application is considered necessary in order to visualize the entity of light, based on quantum mechanics, and also to understand its properties and the relationships or rules that govern or influence it. Based on the above, the purpose of this paper is to use the widespread Scratch visual programming language in order to introduce the teaching of the quantum nature of light and to investigate the optimization of learning outcomes in understanding the phenomena of the interaction of light with matter. Our research sample consists of 50 high school students, aged thirteen and fourteen, coming from two different classes. The research approach included students’ ideas detection, a teaching intervention and checking of the results. A mixed method approach (quantitative and qualitative) was followed for triangulation purposes, validity and reliability of the research. Results revealed that the use of the Scratch programming language was efficiently exploited for the creation of modeling applications and helped the students to clarify, interpret and describe the daily phenomena of interaction of light with matter. Keywords: Science · Quantum nature of light · Scratch Programming Language

1 Introduction The electromagnetic (EM) nature of light is one of the most significant concepts of science but also one of the most difficult ones to understand. Students, form their mental mechanisms of explaining the underlying physical facts, concerning the electromagnetic radiation of light and its interaction with matter, through their daily life experiences, based almost exclusively on their senses. Thus, teachers often have to address, in class, a series of students’ pre-conceptions and misconceptions that are in conflict with scientific facts and could become an obstacle in the learning process. A large number of papers © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. E. Auer et al. (Eds.): ICL 2022, LNNS 633, pp. 730–741, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_69

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and/or surveys depict difficulties in the understanding of the perception of light as an entity [1–3], the reflection and refraction of light [4, 5], the formation of shadows [6], the electromagnetic spectrum of light [7] and the wave -particle duality [8]. Furthermore, based on research [9], quantum physics is a subject of the secondary school curricula of many countries worldwide. Students in secondary education and even in undergraduate level, display great difficulty in understanding the quantum physics concepts and especially the quantum nature of light and the photon concept [10]. Such a difficulty is reported in a survey conducted with 133 students of an upper secondary school in Norway [11]. Also, another research involving 110 pre-service physics teachers’ mental models of light in different contexts depicts the difficulty of the understanding of these concepts [12]. Research on the subject [13] emphasizes the necessity of new didactic approaches for the teaching of these abstract concepts. Hence, an alternative approach of introducing the quantum nature of light, using a modeling application, could help in the interpretation of the phenomena of Electro Magnetic Radiation (EMR) of light interaction with matter.

2 The Scratch Programming Language As the years go by, technology enhances the effort for innovation in education and leads to different and more efficient perspectives of approaching learners by methods that support success in gaining knowledge [14, 15]. Research [16] shows that, digital game – based learning leads to increased engagement in the learning process [17], and improves understanding of course content [18] and problem-solving [19]. The use of games and simulations can increase students’ active involvement in the educational process and enhance their motivation of science learning and conceptual understanding of science topics [20]. Gamification is considered as “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts” [21]. A simple tool that can be used for developing simple games, as well as for promoting computational thinking, is Scratch. The Scratch programming language can be also considered as an important computational and modelling tool for teaching physics [22]. It is a dynamically interpreted visual programming language that allows code changes even when carrying out a program. It aims to teach programming concepts to children and teens and enable them to create games, videos and music. Scratch can be downloaded for free and is used in a wide variety of in-school and out-of-school activities around the world [23]. The popularity of Scratch in education has grown rapidly due to the easiness with which programs can be created; commands and data structures are simple and at least partially written in colloquial language and the program structure can be designed like a jigsaw puzzle with detachable pieces of code that can be moved and adjusted together. (Fig. 1). Scratch is used worldwide in various schools and educational organizations (Fig. 2). The Scratch website has developed a community of novice programmers, students, teachers and amateurs, motivating each other to develop their creativity and programming skills. One of the forums on Scratch website is dedicated to discussions between teachers.

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Fig. 1. Screenshots of the Scratch Based Simulation environment created for this research

Fig. 2. A Scratch program-based simulation in a Lab during students’ work with Scratch for this research

3 Rationale for the Present Study Teaching Science is an important part of education and is undoubtedly a demanding process. Concepts of quantum mechanics are particularly difficult to teach because they are based on principles that do not fit into students’ ideas, which are typically based on Newtonian physics’ deterministic and realistic worldview [24]. For the purpose of optimizing the learning outcomes, it is necessary to support the learning procedure by using appropriate software or other digital material. After all, the importance of using educational software and new technology applications to promote conceptual change, has been pointed out by many researchers [25]. The use of simulations is important because they are concerned with concepts which use representations, effectively bridging students’ pre-existing perceptions with new ones [26]. According to the above, the authors of this paper decided to conduct this study in order to look into the use of Scratch as a computational and modelling tool for addressing concepts of Physics. The concepts which were studied were related to the electromagnetic radiation of light and more specifically to its entity, the wave nature of the EMR of light, the particle quantum nature and the energy that it carries.

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4 The Research 4.1 Purpose The purpose of the present study is to use a properly designed and programmed simulation, based on the widespread Scratch programming language in order to teach the concepts of Physics and investigate the learning effects of its usage. More specifically the research question was whether the use of a Scratch based modeling simulation that introduces the quantum nature of light can improve the learning outcomes of understanding the phenomena of the interaction of EMR of light with matter. 4.2 Research Sample Our research sample consists of 50 Junior high school students, aged thirteen and fourteen, coming from two different classes. The students performed activities that were described in suitably structured worksheets designed for this purpose. The intervention lasted 12 h. Two of these hours were assigned to the participants to complete the questionnaire. Specifically, one hour was assigned for the filling in of the questionnaire during the pre-intervention phase and one hour for the completion of the questionnaire after the didactical intervention. The remaining nine hours were divided into 3 consecutive three-hourly sessions for the implementation of the actual intervention for both groups. Finally, another hour was assigned for the completion of the initial questionnaire to detect any permanent change in the students’ perceptions regarding the phenomena of light. 4.3 Research Tools For the purposes of the research, a mixed method approach (quantitative and qualitative) was used. Two teaching tools and an assessment tool were used to achieve the objectives. The first and most basic research tool was an appropriately designed questionnaire consisting of 31 questions that aimed at detecting and evaluating students’ ideas about: Electromagnetic Radiation/Light entity (definition and identification), Wave nature (Rectilinear propagation, Reflection, Refraction, Electromagnetic spectrum), Particle quantum Nature, (Quantum nature, Interaction with matter), Energy (Transport, Conversions). For triangulation and clarification purposes, a discussion was held with a focus group. Both the questionnaire and the set of questions regarding the focus group were tested for reasons of validity (structural and content) as well as reliability on a small number of students. Based on data obtained from this pilot phase, there was a modification and reconstruction process that led to the final version of the research tool. The second teaching tool, used for the experimental group, was a set of teaching scenarios and worksheets that were appropriately designed for the purposes of this study. The third tool, which also served as a teaching tool, concerned the programming environment of Scratch software which was used for the teaching interventions. Students worked in groups and were asked to build an application and use the available programming environment.

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The internal reliability of the questionnaire was tested with the internal consistency factor Cronbach’s a. The analysis showed that its value was 0.75 for the entire questionnaire. The teaching objectives of the specific questionnaire used are presented, grouped in various categories, in Table 1 below. Table 1. Categories of teaching objectives for the subject taught Categories of teaching objectives for subject taught

Sub Categories of teaching objectives

Question number

Teaching objectives

O1. EM Radiaton/Light Entity

S1: Definition and identification

1, 2

To first explore students’ ideas about the nature of light/EMR

O2. Wave Nature

S2A. Rectilinear propagation,

5, 9, 14, 20, 24, 29, 31

To understand the rectilinear propagations of EMR/light

S2B. Reflection

10, 27

To understand the reflection of light

S2C. Refraction

7, 22

To understand the refraction of light

S2D. Electromagnetic spectrum

8, 13, 18, 21, 23

To understand that light is an electromagnetic radiation (EMR) that consists of different frequencies

S3A. Quantum Nature

4, 12, 19

To understand the quantum nature of light/EMR

S3B. Interaction with matter

6, 15, 28

To understand the interaction of light/EMR with matter

S4A. Transport

11, 17, 26, 30

To understand the transport of energy

S4B. Conversions

3, 16, 25

To understand light energy conversions

O3. Particle Quantum Nature

O4. Energy

4.4 Research Stage The intervention lasted 12 h. Two of these hours were assigned to the participants to complete the questionnaire. Specifically, one hour was assigned for the filling in of

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the questionnaire during the pre-intervention phase and one hour for the completion of the questionnaire after the didactical intervention. The remaining nine hours were divided into three consecutive three-hourly sessions for the implementation of the actual intervention. Analytically. 1st phase of intervention (1- hour): During the first phase a questionnaire was administered (as a pre-test) for the purpose of recording any preliminary ideas regarding the subject taught. Interviews and discussions followed in order to further investigate students’ ideas on the subject. 2nd phase of intervention (9-h): At the beginning of this phase, the students of the experimental group were familiarized with the Scratch visual programming language to be used for the creation of the simulation environment that was used in the intervention. During this phase students worked in groups in order to build an application in Scratch. This modeling application was based on the scenario and worksheets that guided the learners through this process. At the same time, during this phase, some preliminary information was gradually introduced regarding EM Radiation/light phenomena and the actual intervention process. 3rd phase of intervention (1-h): In order to examine even further students’ ideas semi-conducted interviews, and open discussions were carried out. 4th phase of intervention (1-h): The same initial questionnaire was administered to the same learners one week after finishing the intervention for the purpose of detecting any change of students’ ideas on light phenomena.

5 Results 5.1 Statistical Analysis - Data Analysis In order to analyze our current data, the IBM -SPSS statistical packet was used and Wilcoxon tests for dependent samples were performed. In the present work the nonparametric test was used because the distribution of data is not normal. For the purposes of the present study, the level of significance was set at 5%. The research hypotheses are: H0: Null hypothesis: The distributions of performance in the populations of students will be the same before and after the teaching intervention. H1: Alternative hypothesis: The distributions of performance in the populations of students will differ in their averages before and after the teaching intervention. It should be noted that, in H1, there is no attempt to predict which group displays the best or worst performance. Therefore, a two-sided checking of hypotheses is formulated. The results are presented below. 5.2 Discussion of the Results The SPSS – Statistical package was used in order to analyze all data collected from the administration of the questionnaires. The focus group discussion and interviews were

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analyzed by applying the content analysis method. The analysis of the questionnaire data of the pre-test phase reveals that the students’ knowledge regarding the teaching goals of sub-categories S1, S2A, S2C, S2D, S3A, S3B, S4A ranged from 12,50% to 47,67% with average overall value of 30,2% while for the S2B (57,0%) and S4B (56,5%) subcategories there was a relatively high success rate mainly due to these students being taught the theoretical issues during a previous educational level. After the end of the intervention the analysis of the post-phase data revealed that there was a clear improvement of students’ performance regarding S1, S2A, S2C, S3A, S3B, S4A, S4B, subcategories ranging from 19,00% to 76,80% with an average overall value of 58,0% per teaching goal. The highest improvement was presented in the instructive target concerning Refraction (improvement by 42.5%) while the lowest one related to the concept of Definition and identification (improvement by 6.50%). Regarding sub-categories S2B, S2D after the intervention there was also a slight improvement in students’ performance but not a statistically significant one (Table 2). Table 2. Results per teaching subject category/subcategory (pre – post testing) Objectives

Pre-test

Post-test

Objectives

Categories

Mean SD

Mean SD

Subcategories Mean SD

Mean SD

O1: EMR/Light Entity

12,50 7,68

19,00 9,90

S1. Definition 12,50 7,68 and identification

19,00 9,90

S2A. Propagation

38,33 9,99

61,00 11,26

S2B. Reflection

57,00 11,66 64,00 12,01

S2C. Refraction

12,50 6,17

55,00 15,71

S2D. EM spectrum

35,14 8,75

36,29 8,30

O3: Particle 32,60 15,75 68,60 11,95 S3A. Quantum Nature Quantum Nature

21,60 6,08

60,00 12,99

S3B. Interaction with matter

43,60 6,40

76,80 14,61

S4A. Transport

47,67 11,82 68,33 9,12

S4B. Conversions

56,50 7,58

O2:Wave Nature 34,80 14,39 53,36 8,03

O4: Energy

51,20 7,57

67,60 9,12

Pre-test

Post-test

66,00 8,63

Based on the non-parametric Wilcoxon criterion and the results of the above Table 2 we can conclude from all the possible comparisons of the pre and post-tests that for

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all categories O1, O2, O3, O4 and for some sub-categories the result is statistically significant (p < 0,05) and leads to the acceptance of the alternative hypothesis. That is, the performance of the students of the group regarding the sub-category goals S1, S2A, S2C, S3A, S3B, S4A, S4B was improved after the intervention (µ0 = µ1). As mentioned above, students’ improvement regarding the teaching goals of the sub-categories S2B, S2D was not a statistically significant one (Table 3), (Fig. 3 and Fig. 4). Table 3. Results per teaching subject category/subcategory (pre-post testing) Categories

Z

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)

Subcategories

Z

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)

O1: EMR/Light Entity

−2,97

0,003

S1: EMR/Light Entity

−2,968

0,003

O2:Wave Nature-Pre

−5,46