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Modification of robotics curriculum for project-based first year engineering design course

Abstract:

Texas Instruments (TI) currently offers a comprehensive curriculum to supplement their Robotics System Learning Kit MAX (TI-RSLK MAX). While designed for all college students, TI would like to provide a modification of the curriculum specifically for first-year engineering design courses. The goal of this project was to modify the current TI-RSLX MAX curriculum, making it easier to digest for first-year engineering students and more applicable to shorter duration projects (~8 weeks), while still being information dense. To better understand the user experience of the current TI-RSLK MAX curriculum and determine what users would want from a modified curriculum, user interviews were conducted and analyzed using inductive qualitative analysis techniques. Results showed that while the current TI robotics project has many positives, first-year students primarily struggled with the coding aspect of the project. These results directed and informed the prototype development of a modified curriculum module focused on teaching students code. Low- and mediumfidelity prototypes were developed and tested with users. Data from the usability study were analyzed using descriptive analysis techniques and results indicate that the mediumfidelity prototype helped students learn robotics coding. This research has implications for a high-fidelity modified TI-RSLX MAX curriculum and robotics education for first-year engineering design students.