Integrating Open Challenges in the Curriculum: Lessons Learned from an Experience with NASA
Preparing students for the workforce is a balancing act that involves theory, practice, and assessment. As students navigate an educational experience that is, however, often distant from real-world needs, it is imperative that academia finds a novel way to bridge the gap. As many organizations util...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Vilnius University
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Informatics in Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://infedu.vu.lt/doi/10.15388/infedu.2022.29 |
| _version_ | 1811177721454133248 |
|---|---|
| author | Giovanni Vincenti |
| author_facet | Giovanni Vincenti |
| author_sort | Giovanni Vincenti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Preparing students for the workforce is a balancing act that involves theory, practice, and assessment. As students navigate an educational experience that is, however, often distant from real-world needs, it is imperative that academia finds a novel way to bridge the gap. As many organizations utilize open challenges to attract ideas and talent, academia can easily create such bridge, leading to greater engagement, greater student preparation, and a potential employment pipeline. This paper describes the experience of our students and faculty advisors who participated to the NASA SUITS (Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students) Design Challenge. In particular, we review the pedagogical value of the solution that they created and the changes that were implemented in the curriculum of an undergraduate degree program in Information Technology. This open-source, multi-year project is also a flexible platform that can be utilized for engagement in K-12 education as well as graduate research projects. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T06:07:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-117605c795fa4f6aaf0ed0bcb06dc41c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1648-5831 2335-8971 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T06:07:09Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Vilnius University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Informatics in Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-117605c795fa4f6aaf0ed0bcb06dc41c2022-12-22T04:41:28ZengVilnius UniversityInformatics in Education1648-58312335-89712022-12-0121469573110.15388/infedu.2022.29Integrating Open Challenges in the Curriculum: Lessons Learned from an Experience with NASAGiovanni Vincenti0The University of Baltimore, 1420 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21201, USAPreparing students for the workforce is a balancing act that involves theory, practice, and assessment. As students navigate an educational experience that is, however, often distant from real-world needs, it is imperative that academia finds a novel way to bridge the gap. As many organizations utilize open challenges to attract ideas and talent, academia can easily create such bridge, leading to greater engagement, greater student preparation, and a potential employment pipeline. This paper describes the experience of our students and faculty advisors who participated to the NASA SUITS (Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students) Design Challenge. In particular, we review the pedagogical value of the solution that they created and the changes that were implemented in the curriculum of an undergraduate degree program in Information Technology. This open-source, multi-year project is also a flexible platform that can be utilized for engagement in K-12 education as well as graduate research projects.https://infedu.vu.lt/doi/10.15388/infedu.2022.29project-based learningopen-sourcestudent engagement |
| spellingShingle | Giovanni Vincenti Integrating Open Challenges in the Curriculum: Lessons Learned from an Experience with NASA Informatics in Education project-based learning open-source student engagement |
| title | Integrating Open Challenges in the Curriculum: Lessons Learned from an Experience with NASA |
| title_full | Integrating Open Challenges in the Curriculum: Lessons Learned from an Experience with NASA |
| title_fullStr | Integrating Open Challenges in the Curriculum: Lessons Learned from an Experience with NASA |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrating Open Challenges in the Curriculum: Lessons Learned from an Experience with NASA |
| title_short | Integrating Open Challenges in the Curriculum: Lessons Learned from an Experience with NASA |
| title_sort | integrating open challenges in the curriculum lessons learned from an experience with nasa |
| topic | project-based learning open-source student engagement |
| url | https://infedu.vu.lt/doi/10.15388/infedu.2022.29 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT giovannivincenti integratingopenchallengesinthecurriculumlessonslearnedfromanexperiencewithnasa |