Abstract:

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced schools and universities to rethink the classic "Hic et Nunc" (here and now) model as the only valid teaching model.
Education in the third millennium no longer consists only of frontal activities in the classroom, with notes, texts, and notions, but integrates technological and interactive tools to involve and facilitate learning.

The pandemic has forced educators, at all levels of learning, to undertake a change that has already been underway for years, especially in business training: the use of the internet as the primary teaching tool. According to an ongoing study on virtual learning [1], a staggering 97% of students had switched to online education in June 2020. Of the current college students surveyed, 63% said the quality of education decreased when it moved online and 31% said it stayed online. Only 5% of students said the quality of their education improved. Despite this, according to the IPSOS survey of June 2020 [2], 65% of Italian students are in favor of planning mixed online / presence lessons because they are considered more usable. If in principle the change due to the first months of the lockdown was almost traumatic, passing from a model in presence to a completely synchronous online model (almost an e-learning), with the evolution of the pandemic situation and with the attenuation of the measure’s containment, a controlled return in face-to-face was possible, from which the possibility of exploiting the situation to implement the so-called blended teaching.

If on the one hand, the pandemic has made it possible to discover many valuable tools for distance and blended learning, on the other hand in some disciplines it has drastically changed the way in which these were taught; an example is the interaction design and in particular, courses where the development of a physical prototype is required.

One of the fundamental aspects of these courses is in fact the hands-on on the various prototyping technologies and the constructive dialogue during the reviews in the classroom. Moreover, often these prototypes are made in groups, and the forced distancing compromises this part of cultural involvement and exchange of ideas among the students. In these two years of distance, hybrid and blended learning forced by the pandemic situation, various different attempts have been made to involve students in physical computing hands-on dynamics, from completely remote frontal lessons, up to the use of connected laboratories with remotely controlled physical prototypes.

This paper shows the hybrid didactic experience created for the prototyping course of the Digital and Interaction design school at the Politecnico di Milano, reporting all the pros and cons, and exemplifying all the fundamental aspects necessary for establishing a physical hands-on course in the distance.

References:
[1] Bustamante, J. (2021). Distance Learning Statistics. Online Education Trends. Education Data, 6 Feb. 2021, educationdata.org/online-education-statistics - Ultimo accesso 03-03-2022
[2] https://www.federica.eu/media/indagine-ipsos-federica-didattica-universitaria-futuro-ibrido/ - Ultimo accesso 03-03-2022

Keywords:

Physical Computing, physical prototyping, hybrid learning, distance learning, teaching technologies.