explorative study of teaching programming to ...

EXPLORATIVE STUDY OF TEACHING PROGRAMMING TO VOCATIONAL TEACHERS IN FINLAND Mika Saari1, Jari Turunen1, Petri Linna1, Heli Aramo-Immonen1, Mikko Huhtala2, Sian Joel-Edgar3 1 2

Tampere University of Technology – Pori (FINLAND) WinNova Länsirannikon Koulutus Oy Ltd (FINLAND) 3 Exeter University (UNITED KINGDOM)

Abstract In this study we explore the possibility of organizing and structuring an information technology training day for upper secondary vocational teacher training in automotive and transport engineering. The objective is to show the development process of the three training sessions in response to survey data completed by teachers. Information technology has widely penetrated into the car industry during the last few decades but some teachers have difficulty in adapting and teaching new technologies to their students. This paper presents one approach to break the ice between 'old school' teachers and information technology, through the use of an 8-hour training day consisting of programming, electronic technology and data bus technology. The aim of this study is to discover how to structure training of new technology for experienced vocational teachers. In this paper we describe how we developed, organized and assessed information technology training for vocational teachers within the case study. The training day was organized in three locations in Finland: Pori, Jyväskylä and Vantaa. After the first surveys were completed by the vocational teachers, the arrangement of the next training day was adjusted in response to the outcome of the initial surveys. After the first lecture session, the training feedback indicated that there should be more 'learning-by-doing' type of action. The next sessions included Arduino board [1], electronic components and a laptop software development environment. In this study we found that the attitudes of the training attendees were different in three locations around Finland. This is an interesting finding. When comparing the results obtained from Jyväskylä and Vantaa the outcomes were slightly more negative in Jyväskylä than in Vantaa. However the training was identical in both cases. The results also showed a difference in attitude between teachers of different age groups. One of the biggest problems in this type of training was the limitation of time. Most of the teachers were familiar with the automotive based digital testing equipment, but they were also aware that their students were far more advanced in information technology than they were. This may have generated tensions and resistance from the older generation of teacher when adopting any new technology. The overall outcome was positive. Teachers were pleased with this training in an automotive context, because it was first time they had received generic technological training. The attendees felt it was important because the training sessions were targeted directly to them. The collected survey results provided information about what vocational teachers are actually missing in practice. In the conceptual part of this paper we discuss motivation to learn [2,3] and adult education. In the empirical part of this paper we introduce the training method utilized and finally discuss the presented outcomes and conclusions of the survey data. Keywords: Arduino, motivation to learn, vocational teaching, survey, case study.

1

INTRODUCTION

Vocational further educational teaching in the automotive repair and transport sector is based mostly on teachers’ individual interests. According to [4,5], rapid development of automotive and transportation technology, international transportation and changes in EU transportation directives set challenges to automotive vocational teachers to maintain their knowledge. Teachers themselves recognize these challenges and there is a need for further education in electronics, information technology, data transmission technology, new automotive technologies (for example hybrid technology) and material technology [4]. These further educational problems associated with automotive and transport technology vocational teachers may originate from those vocational teaching

Proceedings of EDULEARN15 Conference 6th-8th July 2015, Barcelona, Spain

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ISBN: 978-84-606-8243-1

units usually being isolated from the other educational branches in vocational schools, with no real mutual interaction or co-operation between the different vocational branches [4]. In general, automotive and transportation professionals, engineers and teachers agreed that in the near future, the automotive and transmission branch will face structural changes that also challenge the knowledge basis of whole the automotive industry [4,5]. For example high-voltage systems in electric cars require certain electrical and electrical safety knowledge from car mechanics and especially from automotive vocational teachers. These new trends that will gradually affect the automotive industry can be seen from the technology development news. The first 3D-printed metal jet engine has been printed and assembled in Monash University [6]. Metal printing technology has matured to the level that Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved a 3D-printed metal part for a commercial jet engine [7]. In aviation, the regulations are usually tighter than in ground transportation. On the other hand, if something is approved in the aviation industry, it will eventually penetrate to other industry areas, including the automotive industry. There have already been experiments with car part printing. In [8] it is demonstrated how the main parts of car chassis are printed in 44 hours and the estimated price for the whole car is estimated to be $7000. The manufacturing and spare part processing is one part of the automotive industry whereas the evolution and development and design of the cars are the other part. In [9], it is estimated that autonomous vehicles will be available for the public in less than a decade. This means a huge increase of information technology, sensors and data transmission in car chassis, and eventually these cars also need maintenance. The main question is who is going to do the maintenance, car, software or electrical engineer or all of them? This aspect is supported in [21] where it was stated already in 2009 that “the garages and maintenance people are really at a point where repairing a car is too complex and demanding for them”. Keeping all this in mind, there is already a need for further education of electrical and software skills among the automotive branch, especially automotive vocational teachers [4]. 3D printing is done with computers, state-of-the-art cars are equipped with computers and infotainment systems and several sensors and data bus systems are already in cars. These were the main motivation for organizing the further education courses for vocational teachers. The development of a further education course started in early 2013, after receiving a grant from the Finnish National Board of Education. The course was planned to contain pedagogical aspects in the context of using social media [10], introduction to basic electronics and data bus technology, sensors, infotainment systems and future concepts of car technology. The project was intended to be held in three locations: Pori, Jyväskylä and Vantaa. The timetable was organized to have three course days per location, and Pori was selected to be the first training location, due to the fact that the course was held in our university campus. The Pori course was an initial experiment that was intended to map the educational needs of the participants. After the courses, participants were offered a visit to the Toyota Auto Finland Ltd. vocational school to conduct analysis and experiments with electrical safety issues concerning hybrid vehicles. After each course day, and finally after the whole training, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about the course for each individual day and later about the whole course. In the next chapters we will focus on the evaluation of the combined programming, electronics and data bus day based on the questionnaire feedback and discussion. We present the final structure of the day, questionnaire results from all three locations and later discuss the future of further education.

2

MOTIVATION TO LEARN

For an individual to learn, he or she must move to a learning mentality. In other words, the individual has to be motivated. The motivation can be intrinsic, i.e. from within the individual, or extrinsic, i.e. imposed from outside. Buckler [11] proposes that an individual moves through a number of stages in the process of becoming learning oriented: Ignorance - If an individual accepts that no one knows what they do not know, the no blame can be attached to any individual who finds himself or herself in a state of ignorance. Awareness - After awareness, motivation is needed from the individual to put in the effort for understanding of the subject or problem. Barriers to this are attitudes such as, ‘It is not my job’, and, ‘I am not paid to know that’, which are typical responses.

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Understanding - Understanding develops as the depth of knowledge increases. Superficial understanding generally leads to single-loop learning, whereas double-loop learning requires much deeper understanding. Usually, commitment starts to develop as understanding rises. Commitment - Commitment cannot be achieved without intrinsic interest and curiosity. Without it, the move to action is not likely to take place. Such desire cannot be directed, but must come from within the individual. Enactment - It is only when individuals working within teams move to enactment that real improvements through learning start to emerge. Effective discovery-learning systems can enable individuals to move to this stage. Reflection - This is a key step in the learning process, and is the stage most often missing in ‘taught’ organizations. In this stage, actions, outcomes, and theories are evaluated, and deep learning takes place. This learning model has been tested in [2,3] where industrial project personnel learning were measured by project managers and reflected by the learning model. In this further educational study of vocational teachers the situation is almost similar and the results can be reflected through the model presented by [11].

3

TRAINING DAYS

In this section we focus on the content of the training days. There was a pedagogical motivation day which included the adaptation of new media forums, such as social media, for the vocational teaching. Next the electronics and programming as well as data bus technology and telematics in cars were introduced in the next training days. In addition the two day electric/hybrid car safety licence course was offered to the participants. Approximately one month after the training, a conclusion day was held for each group. In this paper we will focus on data bus technology, electronics and programming training and the feedback obtained from those courses. The first training days consisted of programming and electronic technology lectures, and also data bus technology lectures. These were held on the 1415.10.2014 in Pori. The training was held in four 45 minute sections, totaling 180 minutes, per topic, for example programming and electronics. The programming and electronics topic presentation was done using powerpoint slides, introduction of embedded system boards and discussion between the teacher and the participants. The data bus technology was presented to the listeners by powerpoint slides containing history of the bus technology in the car industry and data transmission technology in vehicles. All 25 participants answered the questionnaire from the Pori sections. All participants answered the question “Did the courses in electronics and data buses fulfil your expectations?” and the answers are presented in table 1 Table 1. Answers from the Pori lectures to the question “Did the courses in electronics and data buses fulfil your expectations?” Strongly disagree

6

Disagree

5

Neutral

8

Agree

3

Strongly agree

3

Total

25

5 out of 25 proposed more ‘learning-by-doing’ activities such as programming, practical applications and workshop type of learning. 11 out of 25 demanded concentrating more tightly to automotive and transportation than in general information. Also ‘future challenges in automotive section’ were mentioned in the feedback. In addition, the web and social media based exercises provided no success at all.

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The idea of combining the programming, electronic and data bus courses comes mostly from the feedback provided. After experimenting with different ideas we concluded to select an embedded system platform that would be easy to program and the programming results are seen instantly. This builds on related works [12, 13] where authors were using open hardware platforms for teaching programming. Also the selected board must be relatively cheap so that if the participants are interested they may consider buying the items for their students. In the next chapter we describe the structure and materials of the training day.

3.1

Electrical safety licence day

Participants were offered obtaining an electrical safety licence in two parts. The first part (day) contained lectures and examed by an authorized person and the second part consisted of a training day organized by Toyota Auto Finland in their vocational school which involved several high voltage hybrid car based exercises. These tasks included circuit breaking of the high voltage systems, data bus based analysis, fault diagnostics of a hybrid car and car electrical component based fault diagnostics. In Figure 1 the Toyota Lexus data bus diagnostics exercise from the Toyota vocational school is shown. At the end, participants were asked to complete the surveys with their opinions.

Figure 1. Data bus diagnostics exercise and oscilloscope display is shown. Prius system diagnostics exercise is behind Lexus exercise.

3.2

Programming, electronic technology and data bus technology -training day

The Structure of the training day in Jyväskylä (21.1.2015) and Vantaa (12.3.2015) is presented in table 2. In the next chapters we will focus on the content of training day.

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Table 2. Structure of “Programming, electronics and bus technology” training day in Jyväskylä and Vantaa.

3.2.1

8.30-10.00

Introduction to Programming and electronics

10.00-10.15

Break

10.15-11.45

Programming and Experiments with Arduino, On-Board Diagnostic (OBD), Automotive diagnostic tools

11.45-12.30

Lunch break

12.30-14.00

Bus technology and Experiments with Arduino

14.00-14.15

Break

14.15-15.45

Bus technology, Error detection, A/D-conversion

Introduction to programming

The aim of the introduction part to the day was to motivate attendees. In this part we generally go through why it is important to know something about programming. In this motivational part we also show a few examples about how somebody became rich with a little knowledge of programming. TM

The programming part also includes a quick introduction to programming languages such as Java [14] and C++ [15]. Java was mentioned because it is the main teaching language in our department of the Tampere University of Technology. The younger students from the course also recognize it as an Android phone development language. The C++ introduction part included algorithm development. We used average function development as an example of algorithmic thinking. In this part we also quickly mentioned programming tools like compiler and Integrated Development Environments (IDE). TM

The last part of the introduction was focused on programmable devices. Lego Mindstorms [16] is one example of a programmable environment. It uses command box programming where the programmer puts different kinds of blocks of code in a row and gets a corresponding computer TM program. We also mentioned the development board Raspberry Pi [17] which also is capable to run an operation system. The last introduced development board was the Arduino board [1, 18]..

3.2.2

Guidelines for Figures and Tables

After the first break we started to teach programming with a “Learn-by-doing” method. The Arduino [18] IDE programming environment was chosen with the Arduino variant of the C++ language for programming. For the test environment we used an Arduino Single-board Microcontroller. We used slightly modified Arduino basic examples [19] for all exercises. We collected beforehand electronic components for an “Action box” which we delivered to attendees before the days schedule. The content of the box is shown in the figure 2. It contains an Arduino UNO development board, bread board, temperature sensor, a few Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs), a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a push button, a few resistors, test wires, a USB cable for programming and a power source.

Figure 2. The collection of components used during the training day.

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The first exercise was to light the LED with the Arduino program. This exercise required Arduino and one LED. If the connections and program were completed accurately the LED would start blinking. This typical “Hello world” application shows the basic idea how the development environment works. The aim of the exercise was to familiarize attendees to Arduino and show how easy it is to work.

3.2.3

Exercise 2 and 3 - Programming and extra components

The second programming exercise was to use temperature a sensor with Arduino. We used Arduino, a breadboard, a temperature sensor and connecting wires to do this exercise. This exercise required a little bit more programming than the first one. The attendees were excited to work on this exercise and most found it easy to work with.

Figure 3. Example circuit of exercise 3. The third exercise combined LCD and Arduino. The aim was to get the text “Hello world” onto the LCD (figure 3 shows an example circuit switch). The LCD generated some difficulties in the need for the right input and control voltage. The wiring of this exercise was demanding because of the amount of needed wires (12 wires between LCD and Arduino). There was an extra exercise for the fastest students who could get the LCD to work. They were instructed to use the temperature sensor and LCD together so that the LCD showed the temperature (for example showing “Temperature 22 Celsius”). This part of the education started before lunch and continued after lunch

3.2.4

Exercise 4 - Data bus experiment

The fourth exercise was focused on the introduction to bus technology by using two Arduino boards and building a bus between them. The first one, the master board, contained a LCD display and one LED and the second board, the slave, contained a temperature sensor and push button. Temperature information was sent from slave via a pair cable to the master periodically and the master displayed the information. Pressing of push button generated a burst into the bus and master turned the LED on. After releasing the push button the LEDturned off. This exercise was not completed due to a lack of time.

3.2.5

Afternoon data bus lecture session

Afternoon lectures consisted of data bus technology history and its penetration into the car industry. The car data buses are commercial buses, so the information of individual car data content and structure is virtually impossible to obtain, so in the lectures the CanOPEN [20] was used as an example bus. Next, some generic aspects of error detection in the data buses and fundamentals of analog to digital conversion were introduced to the participants. The schedule was very tight and some slides considering hybrid technology and car data bus aspects had to be left out.

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4

RESULTS OF SURVEY

Questionnaire results from Jyväskylä and Vantaa are presented in Table 3. Feedback from the Jyväskylä training was good when compared to the Pori results in Table 1, so we did not make any modifications to the Vantaa training. Feedback from Vantaa was also good so the structure of the training for vocational school teachers might be correct. Some attendees in the training did not give feedback (1-2 papers per training). These blank papers were categorized as ‘Neutrals’. Table 3. Survey results of Jyväskylä and Vantaa Jyväskylä

Vantaa

Strongly disagree

1

0

Disagree

0

0

Neutral

4

4

Agree

6

2

Strongly agree

2

8

Total

12

14

In Table 4. The survey results of combined electrical safety lectures and Toyota training are presented. Table 4. Survey results of electrical safety training days Pori

Jyväskylä

Vantaa

Strongly disagree

0

0

0

Disagree

0

0

0

Neutral

2

0

0

Agree

6

1

0

Strongly agree

15

11

17

Total

23

12

17

Attendees added in the surveys that the training should include more testing and tester training in the context of new car systems (hybrid/electric cars). Attendees also required a similar type of training, such as that offered with the Toyota facility, but with different car brands. In general, more time was also required to complete all exercises

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Table 5: The final results of training. The opinion a=strongly disagree, b=disagree, c=neutral, d = agree and e=strongly agree. Pori Opinion

b

c

d

e

Content of the training was important for my job

1

5

7

Training gave tools for developing the working group

2

6

5

1

8

4

6

5

7

Content of the training fulfilled the goals

a

Jyväskylä

1

Training was done in mutual co-operation Training encourages refreshing the way of my working

1

The educators were professionals Multipath training encourages my involvement Total

5

2 14

a

b

Vantaa

c

d

e

1

4

5

1

2

c

d

2

4

4

8

1

3

5

2

8

1

3

5

3

1

6

4

2

3

4

2

4

4

3

7

6

1

1

7

3

5

7

3

4

2

2 11

a

b

1

1

e

3

7 2

4

2

3

2

2

8

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

It can be seen from the results that vocational teachers prefer a ‘learning-by-doing’ type of further education. This is quite obvious because they must transfer the information to their students in the very same way. The questionnaires were filled anonymously, so the age related opinions cannot be derived from the results. However in the discussions during the breaks, mostly elderly teachers expressed themselves in a style like “our students would not program any embedded system boxes, they will change only brake pads and timing belts of gasoline engines in the cars”. This is partially true, but sometimes it may be wise to understand the basic operations of the whole system than operating only with individual changeable parts. The younger teachers recognized the evolution of the electric and hybrid cars and complexity of the future systems and there were comments like “do we and our students change timing belts in the next 5 - 10 years anymore?” When comparing the Pori results to the Jyväskylä and Vantaa results, the difference is significant. All participants in the Jyväskylä and Vantaa groups were introduced to embedded systems and the ‘learning-by-doing’ approach was a success. During the programming breaks, the slides showed to teachers gained more positive opinions than when only the slideshow was shown (as in Pori). It must be noted, that the lecturers in programming, electronics and data bus training were university teachers with little or none of automotive background. In electrical safety and Toyota training days, the supervisors were car professionals. This might be one reason why attendees in the Pori lessons gave more negative opinions than in the other locations. There is also a difference between the Jyväskylä and Vantaa groups. The Vantaa group gave more opinions that were categorized as “strongly agree” than the Jyväskylä group, although both were very positive in general. Vantaa is located next to Finland’s capital city, Helsinki and most of the car industry headquarters and services reside in the capital city region. The visits to the different headquarters of car brand importers might be easier to arrange from the Vantaa location than from the Jyväskylä location. Also the student pool in Vantaa vocational school contained more immigrants than in Jyväskylä. One might wonder whether the teachers in Vantaa tend to accept new ideas and find connections between new elements more easily than in Jyväskylä. It was estimated in [21] that the average premium car contained 100 million lines of code in 2009. Automobile systems will have more and more electronics, sensors and embedded systems in the future. Different techniques, such as autonomous systems [9], Active wind screen displays [22] and different driver assistant systems all include a great deal of software engineering. Nowadays the 100 million lines of code seems to be an underestimation. In the future the understanding of software and software engineering will be a fundamental part of the car repairing and maintenance business. Therefore, automotive vocational schools should be at the forefront of accepting and adapting to the new branches of technology, such as software and embedded systems engineering technologies.

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During the two exercises we also kept up a conversation about what were the possibilities of working with Arduino and automotive technologies. In this part we also considered On Board Diagnostic (OBD) [23] technology, because the modern car (newer than 2002) has well documented OBD-II connection. There were also a lot of discussion about how to use Arduino cars OBD-II connection and what kind of possibilities there are to use Arduino, for example in motorcycle ignition systems. Arduino and similar embedded systems are powerful enough to read, manipulate and write information in automotive systems but the main question in this project is that the task must be useful and easy to teach to vocational school students. It was interesting to notice that all levels of the model, presented by [11], were presented in different courses during the study. Vocational teachers already know a tremendous amount of information but when considering electronics, programming and data bus technology, they were at different levels of knowledge. They all wanted to know more about these technologies, but from very different backgrounds, some rejected the information at once while others knew that of its importance and wanted to know more. It was written in many questionnaires that the vocational teachers hoped to learn more information on electronics, programming and data bus technology from the automotive side than from a generic side. In addition, the material should include more data bus technology, containing car data bus diagnostics and analysis. In general, it was hoped that there would be more time for completing the exercises Further education of automotive teachers is a challenging task. From a university point of view, the topic and its understanding in general may be interesting. However, from a vocational school point of view, the need for further education is basically a solution oriented topic processing approach. The attitude amongst vocational school teachers may sometimes pose problems, if the instructor is a university level general instructor, with wide knowledge of the topic and its implementations. For a university instructor the automotive industry is only one application of the whole programming and electronics topic area, but it seems that the vocational school teachers need an automotive specialist to instruct the topic to them. Also the ‘we do not need this’ attitude is common with more experienced teachers. In order to acquire new knowledge the individual has to have a motivation to learn. The knowledge of mastering the art of programming and electronics requires higher education, for example to learn the topic. In that sense, it is challenging to introduce programming to first timers in a one day course whilst at the same time break the resistance to adapt to new technological ideas in their profession.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was funded by Finnish National Board of Education, project OPH 40/506/2013. We also thank project manager Minna Haapakoski for her endless support and patience.

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