The Teaching-Learning-Lab

Digital Literacy and Computational Thinking for Everyone

Heike Demarle-Meusel, Barbara Sabitzer and Julia Sylle

Institute of Informatics Didactics, Alpen-Adria-University, Klagenfurt, Austria

Keywords: Teaching, Learning, Computational Thinking, Digital Literacy.

Abstract: As advancement of the already successful Informatics Lab in 2016 a Teaching-Learning-Lab (TLL) was im-

plemented with the main aim of supporting all teacher education departments of our university to teach and

practice digital literacy and computational thinking as “fundamental skill for everyone” (Wing, 2006) in dif-

ferent ways. Our support is based on three pillars: equipment, know-how and research. Scientists, (future)

teachers and students can use the rooms (creative, experimental and observation lab), the technical equip-

ment and instructional technology for planning, designing, holding and/or observing and analyzing teaching

units. We offer workshops for digital literacy and computational thinking in and for different subjects. Our

main research focuses on the connection of computational thinking to other disciplines and its impact on

problem solving and text comprehension. Furthermore, the Teaching-Learning-Lab offers research

possibilities for scientists and students in different areas concerning teaching and learning. We enhance

cooperation between schools and university and give support in finding research questions for master or

PhD-theses in didactics, conducting teaching experiments. The paper describes challenges and opportunities

of the Teaching-Learning-Lab in fostering the digital literacy competences and computational thinking of

the target groups.

1 INTRODUCTION

In 2006 Jeannette Wing postulated that compu-

tational thinking (CT) should be „a fundamental skill

for everyone, not just for computer scientists“

(Wing, 2006). She describes computational thinking

as a complex skill, which is fundamental to manage

future life’s challenges. It’s a way to think in

different levels of abstraction, for which theories and

tools from computer science can be used helpfully.

Computational thinking includes problem-solving

skills, which are needed in any domain and therefore

should be trained as well as possible in primary and

secondary education. Within these 11 years, many

positive developments can be determined. For

example, the importance of computational thinking

is fixed in the curriculum since 2014 for K-12

schools in England (Wing, 2016). Unfortunately,

public schools do not always cover this demand

adequately in Austria. The government responds to

this lack lately. In January 2017 the Austrian Federal

Ministry of Education presented the digitizing

strategy with the aim of fostering the digital literacy

starting at primary school level.

An extra-curricular initiative with the same aim

is the Informatics Lab, which is part of the Regional

Educational Competence Centre (RECC) of Infor-

matics at the Alpen-Adria-University Klagenfurt. It

aims at implementing computational thinking as a

general (learning and problem solving) skill by

addressing children and their parents as well as

teachers and teacher educators of all subjects. The

main concern is to show, that computer science

concepts and techniques (e.g. modeling with UML-

diagrams) understood as higher order thinking skills,

can be useful and motivating tools for teaching and

learning in different subjects. Wing (2016)

postulates that a main research question is to find out

what computer science theories should be taught, at

which age and how. In the Informatics-Lab we have

positive experiences with teaching the concept of

modeling and transferring it to different subjects

(Sabitzer and Pasterk, 2015). The main focus in the

Informatics-Lab is on creating teaching and learning

materials to foster computational thinking skills in

children. One special aspect is that we create

materials, which are independent of a computer,

166

Demarle-Meusel, H., Sabitzer, B. and Sylle, J.

The Teaching-Learning-Lab - Digital Literacy and Computational Thinking for Everyone.

DOI: 10.5220/0006367001660170

In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2017) - Volume 2, pages 166-170

ISBN: 978-989-758-240-0

following in part the ideas of CS Unplugged (Bell,

2011)

To get a more widespread effect and focus on

additional target groups, the Informatics-Lab was

extended to a Teaching-Learning-Lab (TLL) for

students and teacher educators as well as teachers.

Learning-Labs are characterized by presenting a

setting, in which persons are able to work on

practical problems. Ideally in groups of two or three

persons problems were discussed and possible

solutions were developed. After this process,

proposed solutions can be evaluated based on

assessment criteria (Flechsig, 1979). Repenning’s

(2015) understanding of computational thinking

based on the assumption of Wing (2016) focused on

the same trisections: 1. Formulating the problem 2.

Representation of a solution and 3. Implementation

and evaluation of the solution. In the setting

presented by the TLL, the learner takes an active

role, according to the principle of participation and

designs his/her own learning process (Pallasch and

Reimers, 1990). The learning opportunities in the

TLL are consistent with the concept of CT.

Our main research focuses on how to create a

setting, which is fruitful to disseminate the idea of

computational thinking as a fundamental skill. It is

intended that the setting of the TLL is able to foster

the ability of computational thinking in different

target groups. In the following sections, the

development of the TLL and its offers are described.

Furthermore, we discuss the challenges we are

facing with and the opportunities we see for the

future.

2 THE TEACHING-LEARNING-

LAB

The Teaching-Learning Lab is initiated and

managed by the School of Education, a division

within the Alpen-Adria-University Klagenfurt that is

devoted to the field of teacher education, located in

the Lakeside Science & Technology Park.

The TLL is dedicated to supporting and streng-

thening the teaching community of our University

providing academic researchers, teachers, students

and pupils with unique opportunities to create

learning environments using the power of know-

ledge and the promise of education. It offers a varie-

ty of resources and services on teaching and learning

ranging from group events (e.g. workshops, learning

communities, teaching demonstrations) to perso-

nalized approaches to teaching and learning en-

hancement (e.g. classroom observations, books and

other resources on teaching).

2.1 The Contents

2.1.1 Teaching and Learning

The TLL provides support for continuous innovation

in and enhancement of teaching and learning. This

includes workshops, meetings and conversations on

a variety of teaching and learning topics. Each

appointment offers the opportunity to discuss and

share experiences on current issues in teaching and

learning with focused support around topics such as

teaching and learning techniques and common

pedagogical challenges. The TLL also provides

opportunity and support to engage deeply in

collaborative discussions about enhancing teaching

and learning. Participants are invited to meet

regularly throughout the academic year to explore a

specific area of interest with the opportunity to

develop professional knowledge and skills through

activities such as workshops, discussions and

readings. Furthermore, all participants can benefit

from our pool of ideas, expertise and materials for

their own teaching or learning as well as for research

in all related fields.

2.1.2 Learning Technologies

The TLL provides computing and multimedia

resources to meet a wide variety of technology

needs. The setting allows testing the usability of

multiple products including 3D printing, image

processing (e.g., Photoshop), web design and other

software designed to meet the needs for technology-

enhanced space for individual and group learning

and teaching.

Laptops and tablets enable visitors to connect,

collaborate, and interact individually or collectively.

The TLL is also equipped with a digital SMART

Board, which can be used for a variety of applica-

tions.

There are also workarounds that enable visitors

to record audio and video for peer and self-

assessments. Educators can use the audio and video

equipment to hone their instructional delivery by re-

cording themselves and analyzing their own perfor-

mances as they view the reactions of participants.

Not only can content be captured and reviewed,

there is also the possibility of live-streaming inter-

acttive audio and video presentations, lectures and

meetings to individuals or groups with the option to

view content live in a room, adjacent to the main

The Teaching-Learning-Lab - Digital Literacy and Computational Thinking for Everyone

167

room, to provide helpful feedback in the develop-

ment and evaluation process.

2.1.3 Developing and Disseminating

The TLL works with participants to develop

“reusable educational material” and the broader field

of education, including teaching cases, simulations,

assessments, activities and other assets.

As a unit within the Alpen-Adria-University

Klagenfurt, the TLL establishes and maintains

collaborative relationships with other departments of

the University, including the departments of teacher

education, as well as with schools and other

educational institutions. The TLL also provides a

forum for testing and can be used for many different

research purposes assisting with focus groups,

comprised of pupils and their teachers from primary

and secondary schools.

2.2 Resources Available

The TLL is an active learning and research space

that is designed to support, develop and evaluate

innovative and effective approaches to teaching and

learning providing academic researchers, teachers,

students and pupils with unique opportunities to

explore active learning pedagogies. The Teaching-

Learning-Lab includes several independent labs:

The InformaticsLab is an open lab for children

between four and fifteen years enabling them to get

in touch with technology and to explore the basic

principles and concepts of computer science and

digital literacy in a playful and exciting way.

The CreativeLab is a facility for teaching, re-

search and creative collaboration, which offers hard-

ware (set up for use), a specialist library (the collec-

tion currently includes popular didactics books,

books on computer science, textbooks, teaching re-

sources, journals, current periodical titles) and an

interactive SMART Board.

The TeachingLab is a large multipurpose class-

room equipped with video and audio technology

(with potential for audio-video-based teaching

observations) supporting seminars, lectures,

meetings and presentations

The LivingLab is fully equipped small apartment,

a platform that encourages application of knowledge

to the real-world context implementing different

smart technologies and models. It further offers the

possibility to do research on informal learning or

behavioral studies.

The ControlRoom is an area equipped with com-

puters and designated for the monitoring and

operation of the entire technical infrastructure to

ensure that the most appropriate technology is

specified for each individual project. It allows parti-

cipants to observe, record and analyze e.g. lessons

with school classes in order to improve their own

teaching.

2.3 Target Groups

Current teachers and new graduates

The TLL is deeply involved in supporting current

teachers and new graduates entering the teaching

profession. Lab classrooms provide the context to

experience in-depth, sustained professional growth

within a collaborative learning community with a

variety of instructional materials (videos, simula-

tions, worksheets etc.) and technology to support the

teaching process.

Academic professionals

The Labs provide an authentic opportunity for

academics and researchers to see ideas in practice

with the possibility to share knowledge with other

participants and benefit from opportunities to self-

assess, self-monitoring and peer review to make

judgments about their teaching receiving feedback

from others.

Students

The TLL allows students to hone in on their

areas of study while being presented with the

opportunity to use all available resources. The Lab

also offers interesting and challenging semester and

master projects for students providing help in

finding and adjusting research questions.

Students are welcome to brainstorm with other

participants and get academic support and additional

input on teaching and learning with variety of

technologies to support teaching, learning, and

assessment. Especially teacher students are welcome

to give lessons to or get involved in projects with

our partner schools in order to get more practice

before entering their school life.

Pupils

Pupils can take advantage of the wealth

of academic support and resources provided. They

can also take the opportunity of internships with the

Science and Technology Park being a perfect

location to host collaborative research and diploma

projects. Furthermore, they can discover computer

science concepts, train their digital competences and

learn to apply technology and some useful computer

science techniques (e.g. modeling) in order to sup-

CSEDU 2017 - 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education

168

port their own learning (see also section 3.2 CT for

everyone).

3 CHALLENGES AND

OPPORTUNITIES

The lately implemented Teaching-Learning-Lab has

great potential in fostering computational thinking

and digital literacy within teachers, students and pu-

pils. Achieving this objective involves handling so-

me challenges we are facing. On the other hand,

these challenges are great opportunities in order to

advance the research in computational thinking

(CT).

3.1 Assessment of CT

Assessment of CT often goes hand in hand with

analyzing programming capabilities (Werner et al.,

2012; Fields et al., 2012; Han Koh et al., 2010). A

significant challenge in research is to design an

assessment tool for CT, because we are teaching this

way to think and handle problems often without

using technology equipment like programming

software. A main research question will focus on

developing an assessment tool to map CT processes

regardless of programming software. Our main

research will focus on the transferring process of

patterns underlying computational thinking. Our

opinion is that if people are able to use e.g. the

concept of modeling adapted for their specific

problem or the whole subject, they implemented this

way of thinking in their everyday life.

In our research we will support this transfer

process in different ways. The first step is that they

will get used to the concepts and way of use of

computational thinking. Materials and tasks will be

presented and are ready to use. In a second step, they

will be strengthened in using and transferring their

knowledge, in finding solutions for problems they

are facing, e.g. “how can I implement this didactical

method within my lesson?” One possible way we

see is in the process of transfer knowledge into

different subjects. If teachers, students or pupils are

able to use a certain tool or method to get to a

solution in their own created question/problem – we

get to know, if the way to solve a problem focuses

on computational thinking. For this we have to

operationalize the main components of CT. Different

authors focus on different core components

constituting computational thinking. Wing (2008)

highlighted abstraction as prominent component.

The abstraction process is about to differentiate

important from unimportant content, or simplifying

from the concrete to the general (Barr and Stephen-

son, 2011). Whereas Barr and Stephenson (2011)

name nine main components of CT. Yadav et al.

(2017) define Computational Thinking as problem-

solving skill set – problem decomposition, algorith-

mic thinking, abstraction and automation. The

assessment of CT will be based on different theories

to create a set of indicators measuring the level of

CT.

3.2 CT for Everyone

The TLL focuses on different disciplines. An

important issue is to get persons from outside the

field in touch with CT. But how can we support

people to really understand the concept rather than

just using a tool? An ineffective way is to teach

them to the test. A big challenge is to impart this

way of thinking, the way to solve problems.

Teachers, especially from primary schools, have

lacking confidence teaching computer science. To

take this doubt, aspects of CT are connected with

their subjects. Teachers and students find out, which

benefit they have from using CT. Because of this

experience the inhibition threshold can be lowered.

The following figure shows an example of

introducing modeling in primary education. In this

case we use an entity-relationship diagram, which

usually visualizes the structure of a database. Figure

1 demonstrates that entity-relationship diagrams can

also be used in language lessons as a tool for plan-

ning and constructing new stories or for summa-

rizing a given text.

Figure 1: Entity-Relationship diagram “Fairy tale”.

3.3 Implement CT into University

Didactics

To get a widespread and long-term effect

implementing CT in teacher education as well as in

the Austrian school system, the setting of the TLL

holds great potential. As described above, the TLL

focuses on different target groups: teachers,

university professors, students and pupils. CT should

be a permanent part of the teacher education and

training. A big challenge is to implement this setting

The Teaching-Learning-Lab - Digital Literacy and Computational Thinking for Everyone

169

into the common university didactics. Different

offers will force this process, e.g. offering training in

digital literacy and CT for students. In the next years

we will face the challenge to foster CT in the context

of university didactics beginning with the concept of

modeling where we have already some positive

results.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Within this setting, the Teaching-Learning-Lab of

the School of Education has the possibility to

enhance the digital literacy efforts of the Austrian

government. The strategy will be implemented in the

next years in the Austrian school system. There will

be a need to educate teachers and students in the

field of digital literacy. The TLL will focus on im-

parting knowledge concerning digital competences;

our demands go far beyond that. As RECC (Re-

gional Educational Competence Centre) we focus on

computational thinking not only for persons who are

connected to informatics, but for every subject. Our

aim is to promote the postulate of Wing (2006) that

computational thinking is a fundamental skill for

everyone and our opinion is that the TTL is a

promising setting.

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