Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD’s only middle school STEM Academy, located at Central Junior High School, offers a seventh-grade introductory robotics class. The one-semester class is available to aspiring young engineers in both the fall and spring semesters. Under normal circumstances, the compressed single-semester time frame doesn’t pose a hardship. But when our would-be spring break devolved into a rest-of-the-semester shutdown in 2020, I was faced with some interesting constraints on my ability to teach robotics.
突然偏僻
When school shutdowns became a thing, my 75 robotics students had already spent eight weeks learning to program their LEGO EV3 robots. But without a robot in each student’s hands, there was no way to continue building on that progress. While my classroom permits a 1:1 student-to-robot ratio in the classroom, we don’t have the 75+ robots I’d have needed for my kids to continue their learning from home.
正如您可能猜到的，我开始在线搜索机器人教育解决方案。There I found a mix of overly simplistic programs (which would have represented a step backward for my students), hardware-dependent options (which won’t work in a school district where students use a mix of Windows, Mac, and Chromebook devices at home), and some that were prohibitively expensive. But when I discovered theCoderZvirtual robotics platform, I found a viable way to extend hands-on robotics and coding education to my suddenly remote students.
To schools in a similar predicament, or those looking to add coding and robotics to their curriculums in the months to come, here are seven important qualities to look for in an online coding platform:
- Technology compatibility.基于计算机的机器人培训的常见问题是硬件兼容性。在采用解决方案之前，请确保它适用于学生使用的所有类型的硬件。（如果您喜欢我们 - 学生使用大量不同平台的地区 - 您的选项可能会受到限制。）基于Web的平台与任何网络连接的计算机兼容，包括Chromebook。
- Relevance of content.There are lots of well-known, highly respected platforms that teach coding to kids of all ages which is terrific. But robotics is much more than coding. It involves aspects of mechanical engineering, physics, and logical problem solving in 3D space. If you’re trying to teach students to use robots, your online platform needs to teach robotics, not just coding.
- 质量视觉。There are actually quite a few providers of online robotics curricula. But in my research, many options showed extremely low-quality, low-detail images. (One popular platform shows a top-down view of a white hexagon traveling around an all-white surface. Not exactly exciting to look at.) When I came across the online platform, the first thing that caught my eye was a great-looking, accurately rendered 3D model of a LEGO EV3 on the screen. That stopped me in my tracks. The platform incorporates a full-motion 3D simulation — in real time — of the LEGO EV3 robot running each student’s code as soon as they click “Run.”
- Student engagement.在线指导使个人学生对自己的精神上“签出”来说太容易了。仅仅因为我看到一名学生在课堂上看着屏幕，它并不意味着他们的思想不是一百万英里之外。对于任何在线指示，engagement is key。Our new platform has a fun, almost game-like environment. It’s visually engaging, cleverly designed, and realistic; it really grabs – and holds – my students’ attention. It’s the next-best thing to handing them an actual robot.
- 自定节奏课程。Depending on the district, many teachers need online instruction platforms that support both synchronous and asynchronous learning. Self-paced curricula are ideal for that. What’s more, self-paced progression is extremely useful for adapting instruction to those who learn differently. Moreover, platforms that require an entire classroom to work at a single, common pace can quickly feel restrictive (read:boring) for more advanced students. The option to move quickly from one robotics mission to the next keeps even the most advanced students busy and engaged.
- 行业和教育伙伴关系。制定和维护实体课程意味着与组织和机构合作，以确保计划符合教育标准和随着技术的进展，仍然是相关的。Coderz与亚马逊未来的工程师合作，是促进教育中的词干，编码和机器人的慈善倡议。我觉得知道课程不断发展以跟上工业机器人技术的步伐让人感到令人放心。
- 价格休息和免费优惠。通过其外展计划，我们的平台使其虚拟机器人平台可用 - 在“19-20学年”年结束时，无需支付学校。所以，虽然我知道，我发现我需要维持学习连续性的平台，但成本确实是我们的决定性因素。当我们的学校关闭时，地区购买也是如此。然而，我能够立即采用我可以立即开始使用的工具，无需支付我的所有学生（无论他们在家里的计算硬件）。
Back in Session with Robotics
Our district is now back in session and offering hybrid instruction for the 2020-21 school year. This underscores the importance of easy, equitable access to a learning environment made for robotics. As one of millions of teachers looking for the best way to serve students during these challenging times, I’m working daily to maintain engagement and drive learning. Our choice of an online robotics platform means that my students and I can move forward with confidence.
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