Evaluating the Development of Soft Skills Through the Integration of Digital Making Activities in Undergraduate Computing Courses

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory study was the integration of Digital Making activities in the curriculum of a computing course aiming to examine the guidelines for integrating Digital Making activities in the curriculum of a computing course as well as to explore the development of participants’ soft skills. This exploratory study was performed during the Spring 2021 semester in an Introductory Programming course at a higher education institution in the Mediterranean in which ten (10) undergraduate students from various nationalities were enrolled. Students were working in randomly generated groups in a self-directed learning environment in which web resources along with manuals of the provided equipment were accessible by each participant. Each group had to work in a self-regulated learning environment to innovate, design and implement two (2) ‘Smart Artefacts’ which can solve real-life problems, using Microbit programmable boards and reusable materials within an unstructured Digital Making Curriculum. Data was collected from students, peers and the instructor using a mixed methodology that included self and peer assessment questionnaires along with observation and diary recordings. Existing assessment tools from the ATS2020 project were adopted for the evaluation of soft skills development. The analysis of the collected data was performed in two phases: a) The quantitative data were analyzed using paired t-test analysis, b) The qualitative data were analyzed and discussed with a group of experts. The preliminary results of the particular exploratory study, demonstrate the development of students’ soft skills through Digital Making with emphasis on the skills of Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking and Communication. However, there were unclear outcomes for Cultural Respect and Connectivity skills. Implications for practitioners and researchers regarding the Instructional Design and Assessment Methodology framing the integration of Digital Making activities in the wider HCI (Human-Computer-Interaction) context in computing courses are also provided.