Initial Design Thinking for a Robotic Poker Dealer

Social interaction through games is an integral part of the human experience, but in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, gameplay is more likely to be restricted. To support easier gameplay facilitation in a variety of settings, we propose a novel robot that deals cards for poker and encourages social interaction among players. We are working toward the design of such a robot using design thinking. Throughout the single cycle of our design thinking process so far, we worked with a poker-playing group of undergraduate STEM students and one expert in card-dealing and comedy. We found that the users enjoyed the design overall, but had reservations mostly related to competence of and trust in the system. This work contributes to the design of future robots for social play. © 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors.

Building an Interdisciplinary Community of Emerging Scholars Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

With increasing funding for synergistic research and educational solutions informed by multiple disciplines (e.g., learning sciences, computer science), there is a need to build the field's interdisciplinary capacity and nurture the next generation of researchers. In this poster, we share our approach to creating a community of emerging scholars inspired by the concept of landscapes of practice and based on a design thinking process. We discuss our approach's key design features, affordances, and challenges. © ISLS.

Post-Exam Videos for Assessment in Computing Courses: See and Hear Students' Thinking

The Covid-19 pandemic forced many institutions to offer online courses from March 2020 through June 2021. A challenge in the online setting is assessing student work while maintaining academic integrity. This paper reports on augmenting traditional written exam problems with short video explanations of student solutions. These exam videos share some of the learning goals of oral exams and technical interviews, getting a more complete understanding of students' thinking process on the way to a solution. While these exam videos were originally designed to combat non-authorized answer-seeking and answer-sharing practices (cheating), they were a positive learning tool for students. Over 85% of surveyed students want exam videos in future courses, even when returning to in-person instruction. The benefits expressed by students include getting a chance to reflect on the solution under less time pressure, correcting mistakes as they explain solutions, and demonstrating a more complete understanding. The main benefit for the instructor was to see and hear students' problem-solving processes. The time to record and watch videos was an additional task for both students and the instructor, so this solution may not scale to large classes. © 2022 ACM.

How COVID-19 Led to Improvements and Adaptations to Experiential Learning Opportunities for an Increasingly Remote Environment

In the words of Oscar Wilde, “To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.” When the COVID-19 pandemic spread throughout the US in March of 2020, companies in all sectors of the economy learned that it is imperative to quickly respond to the unexpected. Companies needed to leverage their organizations' core values to adapt and implement a crisis strategy that met the needs of the COVID-19 pandemic while evolving the value offered to stakeholders. This paper is a case study on how Argonne National Laboratory, the organizing committee of an advanced vehicle technology competition developed a “contingency thinking” strategy to pivot and address stakeholder's needs despite the uncertain impacts of COVID-19. Contingency thinking is an adaptive planning strategy based on the principles of design thinking and value assessment. This strategy is an iterative process which includes: assessing the value of activities, developing contingency plans with increasing fidelity, collecting feedback from stakeholders, and incorporating feedback into the next iteration of contingency plans. Competition organizers employed this process because it reinforced the core mission of the competition and delivered minimum viable value irrespective of the ever-changing COVID-19 implications. The contingency thinking process resulted in the collegiate competition's first ever virtual semester - “Career Connected Learning.” Career Connected Learning was a five-part virtual initiative providing students with resources to excel in the competition, collaborate with other universities, and meet stakeholders' expectations. This dynamic initiative tailored activities to universities' unique circumstances and was praised by all stakeholders. This case study reviews the competition organizer's successful implementation of the contingency thinking process. As this was the first time the organizers implemented a highly adaptive process, the organizers faced many challenges including a compressed timeline, ever changing constraints for planning events, and the impacts of COVID-19 on team morale. Throughout this process, the organizers learned the importance of communicating a clear problem statement, collecting structured stakeholder feedback early, keeping an open mind, utilizing low fidelity prototypes, and employing project management tools. Over the past year, organizers gained experience from their successes and failures, and these valuable lessons can be applied to any organization seeking to manage the unexpected. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021