Robots for Real: Developing a Participatory Design Framework for Implementing Educational Robots in Real-World Learning Environments

Abstract

Abstract. As educational service robots become increasingly accessible, the demand for methodologies that generate knowledge on r-learning applicable to real world learning environments equally increases. This paper proposes a participatory design framework for involving users in the development of robot-supported didactic designs and discusses its applicability to existing educational contexts on the basis of a case study on the implementation and use of the therapeutic robot seal Paro at a school for children with an autism diagnosis.

Robots in the classroom: Differences in students’ perceptions of credibility and learning between “teacher as robot” and “robot as teacher”

“…The final limitation is based on the WOZ design. Bertel, Rasmussen, and Christiansen (2013) state, "due to high technological complexity and cost combined with low system stability and usability, the majority of research on educational service robots is still based on highly controlled experiments in lab settings which cause certain limitations to the transferability and applicability of the results to real-world learning environments" (p. 438). Because much of the classroom environment was controlled, it is possible that different results might occur in a more naturalistic setting, which would include a lengthier exposure to the instructional agent.…”

Participatory Design and Participatory Research

“…As discussed in Section 2.2, the creation of a "safe space" (i.e., communication setting in which partners can express their opinions freely without fear of stigmatization) is a core principle in PR research. Creating a "safe space" seems to be essential in PD endeavors as well, and it has occasionally been mentioned in articles discussion the implementation of PD (e.g., [11,47]). However, there is a surprising lack of direct discussions in PD research about the notion of safe space for PD itself and the strategies used to create it effectively.…”

Initial phases of design-based research into the educational potentials of NAO-robots

“…Students have for example developed interactive football player behaviours into the NAO-robot and enrolled them in special Robocop tournaments [11]. Research also shows the motivational and persuasive potential of the robot, in an educational context [12]. This research contributes by exploring how learning processes, can be enriched for ordinary children in primary and secondary schools.…”