News » MakerCards Work in Progress paper accepted to IDC 2021
Initial outcomes from “MakerCards: An Electronic Component Discovery Tool to Support Remote Physical Computing Education” will appear at the Interaction Design for Children 20201 conference. This work is part of our NSF on Smart Maker Spaces and describes preliminary outcomes from a study on the Makercards support for remote and hybrid teaching. The paper is co-authored by Miranda Luong, Daragh Byrne, and Marti Louw
Traditionally, the setting for maker education has been a physical space where students can engage in hands-on learning and often work collaboratively. However, as many schools adopt a remote learning model due to COVID pandemic conditions, a pressing need has arisen for instructional practices and tools that facilitate project-based distance learning. This work in progress presents the design process of a QR-code enabled learning tool for instructors and students working with electronics in introductory physical computing courses. Through iterative learning design research and deployment in two courses, we uncovered preliminary evidence for the versatility of tactile card decks in supporting disciplinary based learning behaviors, debugging practices, visual and remote communication, as well as the opportunities for enhancing knowledge transfer enabled through digital augmentation.