Abstract:

The COVID-19-pandemic and all of its consequences have proven, how important a digital skill set is for the workplace as well as for everyday school life. The corner stones for this digital skill set have to be part of students’ school education. For this to be feasible, teachers need to be equipped with the necessary competencies first, so that they can relay them to their students in a didactically sensible way as part of their regular lessons.

RoboEdu is a workshop for the professional development of school teachers using humanoid robots of the type NAO (Softbank Robotics) as teaching tool to convey these competencies at a fundamental level. It is not enough to train teachers in the usage of digital devices, but they need to gain an elementary understanding of the underlying principles of digitalization to ensure a lasting effect in the ever changing age of technology. Part of the skill set needed is computational thinking as well as the development of problem solving strategies appropriate for the technological sphere. Fears of new technologies have to be dispelled so that teachers do not shy away from innovations and their productive use for the educational process.

The project team has based the development of this teacher training on a survey conducted locally in the district of Marburg-Biedenkopf in Germany. The workshop is part of a research project which offers workshop solutions to all stakeholders of the educational process, namely school students, teachers and teaching degree students to enhance and promote digital skills. This paper presents the results of the survey and the hence designed workshop concept. The workshops for students have already been implemented on school level since 2018 and on university level since winter semester 2019. The concept for professional development is a new addition and will be supplemented with supporting digital material. First trial runs should commence in summer 2021, so the pandemic permits.

Through introducing teachers to the basic elements of programing and reflecting on the media didactic topics, theories and concepts, teachers are prepared for future technological developments and the inclusion of progressive innovations into their everyday teaching. They are confronted with the technical as well as the theoretical aspects, familiarizing them with supporting elements alongside of possible obstacles and issues. This approach is designed to give them a balanced understanding of their own possibilities for action and to support their self-efficacy in their role as knowledge facilitators.

References:
[1] S. Zeaiter, P. Heinsch (2020) Robotikum - Learning Applied Computer Science at School in an Innovative and Practice-Oriented Way, INTED2020 Proceedings, pp. 3242-3247.

Keywords:

Professional development, teacher training, NAO, humanoid robots, STEM, 21st Century Skills.