Collaborative Research: A Student-Centered Personalized Learning Framework to Advance Undergraduate Robotics Education

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This project aims to serve the national interest by developing a student-centered learning system to support students pursuing degrees in robotics. This work plans to address two significant issues in robotics education. Central focus areas of the project include addressing the difficulty of finding qualified robotics instructors and reducing learning and instructional barriers related to the expense of robotics training equipment. College students studying robotics have a variety of backgrounds, learning styles, and goals. Some students have significant industry experience and return to school to learn a specific skill, while others have never taken any college courses. The resulting framework is intended to allow students to tailor their educational experience to meet their needs and background. The framework will also allow students to learn robotics using low-cost hardware and will not require instructors with extensive robotics expertise to deliver course content. The deployment of this system has the potential to increase the number of degree programs in robotics at both community colleges and four-year undergraduate institutions. Additionally, leveraging low-cost devices and simulation has potential to increase access to high-quality robotics instruction. The project will implement a learning system in two one-semester courses covering robotics topics that make extensive use of low-cost hardware and high-realism simulators. The student-centered personalized learning framework will prioritize student autonomy and be used to teach students advanced robotics skills. Course topics will be selected based on advice from a course content advisory committee. After the learning system is developed, the course content will be integrated into the platform. User studies will be conducted to determine the depth at which students master the desired learning outcomes and their experiences using the system. The system will be deployed and evaluated at Lenoir Community College and the University of Nevada Reno. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.