Authors:
Rolando Barradas
1
;
José Alberto Lencastre
2
;
Salviano Soares
3
and
António Valente
1
Affiliations:
1
School of Sciences and Technology, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, Vila Real, Portugal, INESC TEC, Porto and Portugal
;
2
CIEd - Research Centre on Education, Institute of Education, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Braga and Portugal
;
3
School of Sciences and Technology, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, Vila Real, Portugal, IEETA, UA Campus, Aveiro and Portugal
Keyword(s):
Robotics, Usability, STEM, Technology-enhanced_learning, Scratch, mBlock.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Authoring Tools and Content Development
;
Computer-Supported Education
;
e-Learning
;
Information Technologies Supporting Learning
Abstract:
This article describes the development cycle of an educational robot designed to act as an interdisciplinary teaching tool integrated into the curriculum of STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). We focused on the creation of the alpha version of the prototype and its heuristic evaluation by three experts, with the objective of appraising both usability and potential design problems. After all the issues and suggestions from the experts have been resolved and implemented, a beta version was developed and evaluated in its usability by five representatives of end-users with different age ranges and robotics knowledge. The System Usability Scale score of 92.5 points - Best Imaginable - show a very stable and satisfactory robot, with almost no usability problems detected.