Augmented, Assessed, Addressed: Reframing the Curricula for First Year STEM Students.

Abstract

There is a particular challenge with engaging technically motivated STEM students with ‘softer skill’ development, despite clear evidence from employers that these skills are highly desirable. In the UK, Higher Education Institutes response has been to require undergraduate courses to contain an element of Personal Development Planning (PDP)[1]. Our paper directly addresses the issue of trying to engage students from Computer and Gaming courses with their PDP. Previous experiences of teaching these cohorts traditionally report low attendance and poor completion rates, impacting on first year/second year progression. This study reports on work reframing the curricula for this essential aspect of the student learning experience, by offering the students realistic and authentic tasks by ‘flipping’ the classroom. This requires them to work in small groups, selecting, designing and then creating an augmented reality artefact using ‘Aurasma’[2], a free software tool for developing augmented reality objects. We note that the co-design process of curriculum development has enhanced student engagement; student completion rates have significantly increased, and class attendance improved.