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A Flipped Classroom Approach for Teaching a Master’s Course on Artificial Intelligence

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Computers Supported Education (CSEDU 2017)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 865))

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Abstract

In this paper, I present a flipped classroom approach for teaching a master’s course on artificial intelligence. Traditional lectures from the classroom are outsourced to an open online course that contains high quality video lectures, step-by-step tutorials and demonstrations of intelligent algorithms, and self-tests, quizzes, and multiple-choice questions. Moreover, selected problems, or coding challenges, are cherry-picked from a suitable game-like coding development platform that rids both students and the teacher of having to implement much of the fundamental boilerplate code required to generate a suitable simulation environment in which students can implement and test their algorithms. Using the resources of the online course and the coding platform thus free up much valuable time for active learning in the classroom. These learning activities are carefully chosen to align with the intended learning outcomes, curriculum, and assessment to allow for learning to be constructed by the students themselves under guidance by the teacher. Thus, I perceive the teacher’s role as a facilitator for learning, much similar to that of a personal trainer or a coach. Emphasising problem-solving as key to achieving intended learning outcomes, the aim is to select problems that strike a balance between detailed step-by-step tutorials and highly open-ended problems. This paper consists of an overview of relevant literature, the course content and teaching methods, recent evaluation reports and a student evaluation survey, results from the final oral exams, and a discussion regarding some limiting frame factors, challenges with my approach, and future directions.

This paper is an extended and revised version of a paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU ’17) in Porto, Portugal, April 2017 [13].

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Notes

  1. 1.

    European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc48_en.htm.

  2. 2.

    http://www.itslearning.eu/fronter.

  3. 3.

    http://www.blackboard.com.

  4. 4.

    https://www.hackerrank.com.

  5. 5.

    https://www.codingame.com.

  6. 6.

    http://www.udacity.com.

  7. 7.

    http://www.edx.org.

  8. 8.

    https://www.hackerrank.com/challenges/botcleanlarge.

  9. 9.

    For this reason, and other minor reasons, we have chosen to use the CodinGame platform exclusively starting from 2017.

  10. 10.

    http://robinbye.com/files/reports/TAIevaluation16.pdf.

  11. 11.

    http://robinbye.com/files/reports/TAIevaluation17.pdf.

  12. 12.

    http://ai.berkeley.edu.

  13. 13.

    C-4 is also a common plastic explosive.

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Acknowledgements

The Software and Intelligent Control (SoftICE) Laboratory (http://softicelab.wordpress.com) is grateful for the financial support given by the Study Committee at NTNU in Ålesund through the educational research project Research-Based and Innovation-Driven Learning (FILA), grant no. 70440500.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Software and Intelligent Control Engineering Laboratory, Department of ICT and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, NTNU—Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Postboks 1517, 6025, Ålesund, Norway

    Robin T. Bye

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  1. Robin T. Bye
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Correspondence to Robin T. Bye .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Paula Escudeiro

  2. University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy

    Gennaro Costagliola

  3. University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA

    Susan Zvacek

  4. School of Engineering, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, United Kingdom

    James Uhomoibhi

  5. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Bruce M. McLaren

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Bye, R.T. (2018). A Flipped Classroom Approach for Teaching a Master’s Course on Artificial Intelligence. In: Escudeiro, P., Costagliola, G., Zvacek, S., Uhomoibhi, J., McLaren, B. (eds) Computers Supported Education. CSEDU 2017. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 865. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94640-5_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94640-5_13

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