TY  - THES
AB  - The use of robots in the area of education is rapidly gaining momentum. Education faces
restructuring and modernization in the forthcoming age of robots, thus necessitating research
meeting the requirements of this development. In this, focusing on robots’ acceptance and
applicability in educational contexts, right from the very beginning, is crucial. Therefore, this
dissertation thesis has addressed this issue. It has striven to evaluate factors which contribute
to a successful introduction of robots into education in a systematic manner. The strengths of
the current work lie in its interdisciplinary nature, theoretical fundament, and the application of
empirical and experimental methods. <br /><br />
In practical terms, a set of studies have offered insights on how the implementation and
application of robots in education could be facilitated. To do so, they operated on three different
levels: First, the focus was on end users’ attitudes toward educational robots. It was shown that
their attitudes and willingness to use educational robots were moderate. However, the results
also indicated that the acceptance of educational robots could be fostered by the promotion of
people’s general technical interest and a targeted use of robots in individual or small-group
learning activities, in domains related to science and technology. In addition, it was found that
user involvement in an educational robot’s design process can increase people’s general
acceptance of educational robots. Second, the work focused on how to effectively design a
human-robot interaction (HRI) for learning purposes by building upon the cooperative learning
paradigm found in educational literature. Actual HRI experiments confirmed that a robot’s
physical presence was beneficial for the learning experience, and implied that positive
interdependence with a robot, social support from it, and mutual feedback about the learning
process were positively related to the learning experience and the learners’ perception of the
robot. Third, when tackling the issue of the ideal educational robot design, it has become clear
that people’s perception of robots is influenced by context- and person-specific factors.
To trigger a higher acceptance of educational robots, robotics research should match potential end
users’ educational robot design concepts, for example, machinelike appearance and
functionality as well as privacy and safety requirements. <br /><br />
Taken together, this dissertation presents a sound basis for identifying issues related to the
implementation and application of educational robots. However, research is still far from
having completed the development of strategies for implementing and using social robots in
education meaningfully. Consequently, potential future research directions will be discussed in
light of the obtained results.
DA  - 2019
DO  - 10.4119/unibi/2936642
LA  - eng
PY  - 2019
TI  - Acceptance and Applicability of Educational Robots. Evaluating Factors Contributing to a Successful Introduction of Social Robots into Education
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0070-pub-29366422
Y2  - 2024-12-04T08:35:43
ER  -