Enhancing a robotics unit with social computing tools in the Queensland outback

Abstract

This paper draws on research from a larger national SiMERR (Centre for Science, ICT, Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia) project for 'collaboration between the SiMERR-ICT state/territory hubs and the SiMERR National Centre … to raise the awareness of the possibilities for, and impact of social computing on, student learning. This is to be achieved through providing a supported professional learning opportunity for teachers to implement action learning in their own school and participate in a community of practice' (Reading, 2007). A cluster of schools near Longreach in western Queensland combined a unit incorporating robotics with professional development via videoconferencing. Collaboration occurred across four schools using blogs, podcasts and discussion boards. This paper will present an overview of the geographical location along with information about the model for implementation of the curriculum unit. It will provide a literature review on robotics and social computing tools and then report on outcomes from the students' engagement with the classroom unit, along with ideas for future directions.