"Did You Double-Check That?" Challenges and Successes With the Implementation of an Online Synchronous Workshop

• In Event: Research in Informal Learning Environments During COVID-19

Abstract

Objectives and perspectives: Implementation of Productive Failure learning designs have largely occurred in formal STEM contexts where students engaged in learning through solving well-defined canonical mathematics and science problems (Kapur, 2008; Kapur & Bielaczyc, 2012; Kapur & Rummel, 2012). However, these highly structured activities limited the opportunity to understand the potential affordances of open-ended problems. This work contributes to an emerging body of research (Fields, Jayathirtha & Kafai, 2019; Litts et al. 2016; Searle, Litts & Kafai, 2018) on Productive Failure learning designs in informal learning environments. We report on opportunities and challenges observed during a 3-week high school workshop, which was re-designed in an online format due to Covid-19.
Methods: This study is the first iteration of a design-based research project aimed at effectively implementing productive failure learning designs with diverse open-ended problems. Ten Upward Bound high school students (7 girls, 3 boys; 10th-12th grade; 15-18 years old) with no prior coding experience consented to participating in a 3-week virtual coding and debugging workshop in Scratch with a structured exploration and consolidation phases. Students worked through a debugging curriculum with individual lessons based on Debug’ems (Griffin, Kaplan, & Burke, 2012) where they attempted to code and debug open-ended coding problems with the aim of understanding how such a design with structured exploration and consolidation phases can support the learning of computational concepts. In the exploration phase, they worked on generating multiple solutions to the problems which was followed by a consolidation phase where students shared their solutions. The facilitator (Author A) compared and contrasted student generated solutions with an optimal solution (in absence of a canonical one). This was followed by instruction on targeted computational concepts for each debugging problem and scaffolded practice sessions.
Data Sources: Zoom recordings documented salient moments of students’ troubleshooting processes, challenges and successes. Think Aloud protocols developed by Author B were used to encourage students to engage in metacognitive thinking about their conceptual and procedural understanding of computational concepts and solutions. Semi-structured interviews were administered online to understand students' debugging process, evolving understanding of computational concepts and perceptions of failures during debugging. Pre-Post surveys were also collected which included measures of students' perceptions of problem-solving ability and attitudes towards programming.
Findings and Significance: Our findings underscore opportunities provided by an online format, which include (1) students’ successful engagement and sense of community within a virtual asynchronous workshop, (2) the effectiveness of virtual data collection methods, and (3) the potential for stimulating creative, informal learning in the absence of afterschool programming. However, challenges were also apparent, which included (1) inequitable access to technology, which affected the participation of low resourced students (who make up the majority of students attending Upward Bound), and (2)
constraints imposed by evolving academic institutions’ Covid-19 policies around in-person and online research and liability. Additional learner-centered challenges included issues of privacy related to workshop participation, time management and motivation for students who worked to support their family, adapting to unfamiliar technology and understanding the workshop activities.

Authors

• Sagun Giri, Pennsylvania State University

• Gabriela T. Richard, Pennsylvania State University