Denis GILLETSwiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)
School of Engineering and Center for Learning Sciences (LEARN)Swiss EdTech Collider
Graasp Association for Digital EducationTechnical coordinator of the European H2020 Go-Lab Initiative for STEM Education
University of Kurdistan, June 9, 2020
Online Science and Engineering Education in the Time of COVID-19
Online Science and Engineering Education in the Time of COVID-19
AgendaInteraction SystemsCore EPFL MissionsFrom blended to Online Education• Blended learning as initial conditions for online education• Blended design thinking for teamwork• Massive open online laboratories• Computational Thinking
COVID-19• Adaptation• Evaluation
Concluding remarks
Interaction SystemsInteraction @ Scale
CyberPhysical Systems
Social Media
Platforms
Devices &Vehicles
Data &Knowledge
Agile Exploitation ofLive Data by Connected
People and Thingsin Contexts
Astrobots
graasp.eucloud platform
SpeakUpEdTech App
Peugeot-Citroën,Safran and Valeo
Remotelaboratories
Core EPFL missions
Tech transfer
Active, collaborative,
and blended Learning
EducationalTechnologies
Human Computer Interaction, Translational Research inLearning Sciences, andLearning Analytics
Technology Transfer in EdTechSwiss EdTech Collider, an accelerator for startups in Educational Technology
Translational Research
EPFL LEARN Center for Learning Sciences• Support digital transformation in Switzerland through education• Translational research – from research idea to classroom practice• Collaboration with schools – Inspiring and training teachers• Contact point for joint research, innovation and validation
Digital education enabled through blended Learningcombining digital and physical modalities, activities, roles, tools, and skills as enablers of change in education using
free and open access digital education platforms for agile personal, collaborative, and inquiry-based active learning enabling teachers and students to create, share, and use easily open educational resources for the acquisition and the consolidation of both core and transversal skills
Digital Education
EdX Enabling Platform
Flipped classrooms • 100 MOOCs • 2.5 million users
free open access digital education platform for the personalization or the (co-)creation and the sharing of open educational resources (OERs), as well as learning and (self-)reflection
Graasp stands for “grasp resources, analytics, activity spaces and people” in shared private or open online spacesCo-funded by the Go-Lab EU Initiative offering OERs for STEM education
Graasp Enabling Platform
Graasp.eu
2006 Platforms for Online Communities of Practice • Palette (FP6)Connecting people across organization boundaries
2009 Platforms for Personal, Social and Self-directed Learning • ROLE (FP7)Connecting legacy and cloud resources and services • Learner centric
2012 Platforms for Inquiry Learning at School with Online Labs • Go-Lab (FP7)Integrating online labs, support apps, and analytic bots in spaces • Teacher centric
2017 Ecosystem for STEM Education and 21st Century Skills • Next-Lab (H2020)Co-creation, sharing and exploitation of open educational resources at school
2018 Go-Lab Goes Africa • Go-Ga (H2020) • Kenya - Nigeria - BeninHandling under-connected areas and STEM teachers training in Africa
2019 SUDAC MOOL-CLOC (swissuniversities) • MENA RegionDigital engineering education, peacebuilding, gender & diversity, for the SDGs
Graasp Enabling Platform
Implementation at theBachelor and Master Levels
Enabling students to develop simultaneously core and transversal skills in flipped classroom integrating expositoryand design thinking activities
Bachelor course on global issues in Communication. Combining lectures, MOOC sessions, and teamwork integrating societal and technical dimensions across study programmesMaster course on the design of social media solutions with students from computer science, business, and art. Topics in EdTech, Knowledge Sharing, ICT4D, HumTech, or eHealth
Design Thinking Process
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Prototype
Test
“Teachers” and “TAs” acting as coaches not having solutions
Design Thinking Space
Design Thinking Space
Design Thinking Outcome
Best posterSpring 2019
Global issueProblem statement
Coordinated actionsInterdisciplinary
dimensionsMain references
Context and solutionsPoster design
Oral presentation
Design Thinking Outcome
Best socialmedia appsSpring 2019
Peer evaluation
IndividualproposalsAll reportsBest pitch
2/3 students1/3 instructors
Holzer A., Gillet D. ; Laperrouza M. (2018). Active InterdisciplinaryLearning in a Design Thinking Course: Going to Class for a Reason.
2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE)
Massive Open Online Labs
The Swiss partners of the project • EPFL : Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne• HES-SO : University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland
The south partners • Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran - Tehran• University of Kurdistan, Iran - Sanandaj• Lebanese American University, Lebanon - Byblos• Université de Abdou Moumouni, Niger - Niamey• Université de Djibouti, Djibouti
Massive Open Online LabsThe MOOL (Massive Open Online Laboratories) project is a collaborative initiative aiming at sharing the expertise and infrastructures of the twoSwiss partners with several institutions from the global south
The main challenge of the project is to develop and implement innovative education activities through a collaborative widespread network deploying remote laboratories in electrical, mechanical, and control engineeringat a large scale within MOOC infrastructures
The project tackles several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by proposing online sharing of Swiss laboratories and infrastructures with a massive number of engineering students in southern countries, in order tooffer online features to support hands-on digital education
Massive Open Online Labs
Hosting MOOC platformSmart Devices + Lab Servers
Web Server
Massive Open Online Labs
Distributed solar panels as remote labs
Massive Open Online Labs
Distributed solar panel remote lab clientRelying on the new P1876 IEEE standard
Each partner is proposing its own integration scenario for a control course
Massive Open Online Labs
https remote labs can be integrated as iframe of native graasp app
Computational Thinking
Physics MathComputational
Thinking
Modelling Abstraction Processing
Computational Thinking
Physics MathComputational
Thinking
Dedicated courses and integration in other disciplines
Computational Thinking
Platforms for computational thinking • EPFL instance of
Jupyter Notebook integrated with Github
• Code App integratedin Graasp
• Learning Analyticsfor both teachersand students inGraasp
Pre-COVID Summary
Culture, resources and platforms for blended learningCulture of strengthening transversal skills (autonomy, collaboration, peer and self assessment, communication, …Access to laboratory facilities at distance (remote labs)Federated online platforms for courses (Moodle, MOOCs, documents, data, …) and national authentication solutionVirtual machine and cloud infrastructures for computational thinking and computer aided design (EE, ME, architecture, …)Video-conferencing systems for research (Zoom, Skype, …)
Education in time of COVID
March 6: 80 large lectures online (>150)Friday March 13Campus closed: 700 lectures onlineMonday March 16Online educationstarted using ZoomPhD exams fully online(agile governance)
Education in time of COVID
Adjust Zoom licenceTrain teachers through webinars
Students projects requiring hardware access on campus turned into a social studyhttps://www.epfl.ch/education/educational-initiatives/online-lecturing/
Online Lecturing with Zoom
Education in time of COVID
Education in time of COVID
Survey aftertwo weeks(P. Jermann& R. Tormey)
I have access to a proper place to work
I have access to all texts I need(books, documents, …)
I manage to stay concentrated on my computer as long as required for the classes
Strongly agree Agree No answer Disagree Strongly disagree
Education in time of COVID
Survey aftertwo weeks(P. Jermann& R. Tormey)
I managed to teach the same way online than on campus
I managed exercise sessions the same way online than on campus
I managed to interact enough with my students
Strongly agree Agree No answer Disagree Strongly disagree
I managed to interact enough with my teaching-assistants
The online teaching and learning tools were easy to use
Education in time of COVID
My course on Global Issues in Communication• Before confinement: Flipped classroom• After confinement: Short live lectures and online discussions• Mid term MCQ exam canceled• Online teamwork with online office hours (TAs visiting the
personal rooms of students in Discord, Zoom or Whatsapp)and team visiting my public zoom room
• Submission of a poster maintained• Live teamwork (poster) presentation replaced by a pitch
recording and a personal essay (changes announced late)
Education in time of COVID
General exam policy at EPFL and beyond• Continuous assessment maintained• Semester and master projects temporary stopped and the ones
not requiring presence on campus resumed after two weeks• Written exams postponed from June to August • Failed attempts
will not count • Main objective: Keep students working & learning• In other Swiss regions and European countries, final exams are
canceled and achievements assessed based on continuous assessment • There is no national competition in Switzerland
• Focus on formative rather than summative evaluation during confinement
EPFL as a Digitalization Model
Supporting primary education with Graasp in Geneva• Chosen by the State of
Geneva for 3’000 primaryschool teachers to shareresources with parents
• Contacts on March 16,tutorial ready March 18,used starting March 19
• Data hosted in Switzerland,RGPD compatible, no needto create an account forparents
EPFL as a Digitalization Model
Supporting primary education with Graasp in Geneva• Two weeks of agile adaptation of the platform for end users with
completely different profiles (primary school teachers, parents, …)
• New Web apps for alternative digital activities • Hotline support
ConfinementTutorial
preparation
Onlineclasses
start
Easterbreak
Pick everyMonday
21’000 users
Semideconfinement
on May 11Full
deconfinementon May 25
20% of mobile users16% of students disappeared(social divide)
Concluding Remarks
Blended learning practices and infrastructures, as well as digital competences (students and teachers) as enablersFrom synchronous on campus activities to asynchronous online knowledge transmissionCampus for interaction and acquisition of competencesTeachers and students will continue to enjoy more online activities • A new balance has yet to be foundA new balance has also to be found between formative and summative assessment, as well as between continuous evaluation and final examination