A rubric for describing competences in the areas of circuitry, computation, and crafting after a course using e-textiles

Author(s):

Victor R. Lee, (Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA)

Deborah A. Fields, (Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA)

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Single Sentence Summary:

This paper illustrates a competence change in undergraduate students who participated in a semester-length course using e-textiles revealing that the students may not reach normative or expert-like competence, but there are demonstrable indications of growth for each of the dimensions.

Abstract:

Purpose

In light of growing interest in the maker movement and electronic textiles (e-textiles) as an educational technology, the purpose of this paper is to characterize competence change in undergraduate students who participated in a semester-length course that used e-textiles.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative and exploratory research study used semi-structured pre- and post-interviews with undergraduate students (N=7) thinking aloud through novel tasks in order to understand their learning from a semester-long course involving e-textiles. This design was intended to elicit student thinking with commercial toys that differed from the types of projects they had completed in their course. A coding scheme was developed and organized into an analytical rubric to map depth of understanding in the three spheres of circuitry, computation, and crafting. Select cases of pre-post change were identified to illustrate growth in specific content spheres.

Findings

Students’ ability to reason through novel tasks showed growth in each sphere, provided that the student did not begin with a full level of sophistication in a particular area during the pre-interview. Although students may not reach normative or expert-like competence, there are demonstrable indications of growth for each of the dimensions.

Originality/value

As e-textiles are increasingly turned to educationally, the creation and presentation of a rubric for describing competence in three spheres, especially the previously understudied area of crafting knowledge in e-textiles, is itself a useful contribution to the field. This is also an extension of e-textiles learning research into undergraduate instruction, an as-yet understudied setting for maker education.

Keywords:

Assessment, Arduino, E-textiles, Electronic textiles, Lilypad, Maker movement

Type:

Research paper

Publisher:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Received:

01 June 2017

Revised:

29 August 2017

Accepted:

29 August 2017

Copyright:

© Emerald Publishing Limited 2017
Published by Emerald Publishing Limited
Licensed re-use rights only

Citation:

Victor R. Lee, Deborah A. Fields, (2017) "A rubric for describing competences in the areas of circuitry, computation, and crafting after a course using e-textiles", The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, Vol. 34 Issue: 5, pp.372-384, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-06-2017-0048

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