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Computing Sciences

Category: Teaching

Ope-TETissä Tampereen yliopiston Robostudiolla

Olen Tampereen teknillisen lukion filosofian, psykologian ja elämänkatsomustiedon lehtori. Olen opettanut Ihmisen ja koneen vuorovaikutuksen psykologiaa lukiomme projektiviikon opintojaksoilla. Näillä opintojaksoilla olemme vierailleet opiskelijoiden kanssa Tietotekniikan laitoksella äärimmäisen kiinnostavissa Aino Ahtisen tutkimustiimin ihmisen ja teknologian vuorovaikutuksen työpajoissa ja olleet koehenkilöinä sosiaalisiin robotteihin liittyvissä tutkimuksissa. Ajatus pitkäjänteisemmän yhteistyön kehittämisestä on kytenyt jo useampia vuosia.

Movie night in the morning - Digital Storytelling in Psychology course

Already for several years, we have had a Digital Storytelling task in Psychology in Human-Technology Interaction course at Tampere University, Computing Sciences. The teacher of the course also calls this thing as "movie night", because these digital stories made by the course students are enjoyed in small teams during the final event of the course. Please have your popcorn ready and enjoy some of the movies! It does not matter if it's morning (as it was for us), evening, or night.

”Every course should be like this” – summer school in Data-Enabled Design in collaboration with Särkänniemi offered unique learning opportunities (and fun rides)

Students in Human-Technology Interaction at Tampere University had a chance to dive deep into a new design methodology called Data-Enabled Design while enjoying the fun atmosphere at Särkänniemi amusement park. A thrilling start for the new semester was made possible in the summer school co-organized by Tampere University and Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Stakeholders at Särkänniemi, including their CEO Miikka Seppälä, provided exciting practical challenges and future visions for students to work on. On Friday 25th of August, the course had its grande finale when students presented their ideas to Särkänniemi staff at the planetarium.

Co-Learning about Psychology in Human-Robot Interaction – University Students, Highschool Students and Robots Learning Together

It was our pleasure to have around 30 high school students visiting us in Robostudio co-learning workshop on 5.4.2023. Co-learning, in our case, is a unique learning concept, where our university students learn together with some other learner group. The activity takes place in robotic learning stations, and every visitor have a chance to visit several stations. Robots are for sure always somehow involved in the activity.

A golden carriage for a golden boy - 3D printing of robotic accessories

Designing and 3D printing a basket for Spot was a side project we started as part of our User Experience in Robotics course work. As our main course project we planned to use Spot to interact with children in outdoor activities. In the beginning we had great difficulties ideating any socially engaging activities for the children because Spot can’t speak nor make any kind of sounds – other than the approximate mimicry of a hair dryer.

Asiantuntemuksen ja kokemusten vaihtoa roboteista ja robottiavusteisesta oppimisesta

Marraskuun lopulla nousimme junaan pohjoisesta ja suuntasimme kohti Tamperetta. Lähdimme matkaan Ammattiopisto Lappian Silta – siirtymät maahanmuuttajien urapoluilla -hankkeen tiimillä, johon kuuluu projektipäällikkö Susanna Kouri, S2-kouluttaja Ellinoora Köpman ja ohjelmoija Irja Palo. Olimme odottaneet matkaa innolla, koska luvassa oli kaksipäiväinen vierailu Tampereen yliopiston RoboStudioon.

A Real Head Turner: Exploring the Campus with The Boston Dynamics Spot Robot Dog

Technology never fails to amaze us with its advancements, making our lives a little more comfortable in the process. It might be an exceedingly difficult question to answer whether technology has adapted to human needs or humans have adapted to technological solutions as a part and parcel of their lives. The world of today might as well have been a killer science fiction story from 50 years ago. Something we have seen many times in science fiction movies suddenly jumps right in front of us. Such an event recently took place in Robostudio at Tampere University. And it's safe to say that this event felt as close as it gets to a scary robot uprising, but somehow in a positive manner!

Learning how to co-learn: Student-children interaction with robots

In May 2022 we piloted something novel in Robostudio. A voluntary group of Human-Technology Interaction students got a chance to try out co-learning and facilitation of younger pupils (4th and 6th grade) on different kinds of learning tasks related to social robots. The tasks took place on the learning stations with Pepper, Nao and Clicbot, and in addition we had a longer task about storytelling with Alphamini. The tasks varied a lot when it comes to their content and the interaction needed between the students and pupils. No one can state that the task was too easy, so we raise a hat for these brave students who took this challenge, and we warmly thank the participating pupils who came to Robostudio and gave this chance and challenge for us 😊 From the teacher’s perspective the workshops were smooth and everybody seemed to handle their tasks successfully, and also the pupils seemed to enjoy the workshop, interaction and the robotic tasks. Everybody was able to learn a lot, but not necessarily the same things. Please read the story to find out how it went from the students’ perspective and what they learned!

Kierrätyssovellus ja puhuvia roska-astioita

Ihmisen ja teknologian vuorovaikutus 2: Suunnittelu  -kurssilla kevään suomenkielisessä toteutuksessa opiskelijoiden tehtäväksi annettiin suunnitella palvelukonsepti, jolle ainoa tavoite oli se, että suunniteltava palvelu jollakin tavalla motivoisi opiskelijoita jollakin elämän alueella. Siitä eteenpäin opiskelijatiimit saivat vapaasti pohtia ja ideoida, kerätä haastattelujen avulla käyttäjätarpeita ja suunnitella sovellusta prototyyppiasteelle asti. Kurssin lopussa tiimit esittelivät palveluideoitaan ”virtuaalimessuilla”, joiden jälkeen opiskelijat äänestivät yhtä mielestään mielenkiintoisinta palveluideaa. Tässä blogissa puheenvuoron saa Team Kameleontit, jonka palveluidea ”Kierrätyskamu” voitti äänestyksen. Kameleontit, olkaa hyvät!

What on the earth is happening? It's a cultural show!

Something extraordinary was happening in Hervanta campus, Tietotalo on 23.3. and 24.3. Some students had painted their faces according to Día de Muertos, we could see some paper theater, and experience colorful stories from different cultures. This is Cross-Cultural Design course, and it's the mid checkpoint for the students' projects. We decided to do it in a creative and innovative way this time, to celebrate to be back at the campus again!

Welcome to Robostudio!

We have opened a brand new Robostudio in TAU Hervanta campus. Robostudio is a multidisciplinary co-learning space to work with lovely social robots. It is dedicated for educational purposes and the activity is strongly connected to research as well. User Experience in Robotics course runs in this space, as well as social robotics-related thesis projects. We are also running other kinds of co-learning events and workshops where we invite for example school pupils to learn with us.

Tietojenkäsittelyn ja tietotekniikan uusi kandiseminaari

Syyskuussa 2021 käynnistyi ensimmäinen tietojenkäsittelytieteiden ja tietotekniikan yhteinen kandiseminaari. Seminaarin yhdistämisen tavoitteena on löytää opiskelijoiden kandidaatintyöaiheiden asiantuntija kunkin pienryhmän ohjaajaksi ja tarjota vertaisryhmä, jossa töiden aiheet tukevat toisiaan. Ohjauksen laatu ja ohjaajien määrä saadaan paremmaksi yhdistämällä voimia keskustakampukselta ja tietotekniikasta.   

Digital Storytelling in Psychology in Human-Technology Interaction course

Already for the second time, we had an assignment about Digital Storytelling in the course called Psychology in Human-Technology Interaction. Last year, this assignment was very successful, producing 64 digital stories made by the students. This year, we got 79 stories, and I was very amazed of the quality of them. The students of this course are indeed amazing storytellers, and they have done it in a very creative and personal ways. Enjoy the stories!