One of the major challenges related to teaching programming and algorithmics to amateur students is the time spent to explain a language’s syntax. Also, students who undertake computer programming may find problems that hinder their understanding of concepts and the development of their problem-solving and programming skills. This paper presents the results of an experimental approach that evaluated the interaction of a group of Colombian students with a Web solution within the context of Mobile Robotics to learn programming and algorithmics. The designed Web App is oriented towards autodidactic learning by using Visual Blocks Programming through five interactive modules that include concepts to be learned by students such as the following: variables, sensors, conditionals, cycles, and functions. The solution is designed to present virtual scenarios for Mobile Robotics. This proposal was evaluated with middle school students from the Colombian education system and was compared to the results obtained using Scratch as a reference tool.

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Millions of students worldwide have adopted online learning due to the isolation restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, video conferencing platforms have garnered immense popularity as tools for teaching. However, these tools have several limitations compared to real-world encounters, especially in activities involving collaboration and teamwork. A growing number of researchers and educators have turned to avatar-based communication platforms, such as Mozilla Hubs, as alternatives that can complement video conferencing in social and teaching activities. Several previous research efforts have focused on developing tools that implement avatar-based communication systems or have explored creating activities in these 3D virtual spaces, such as poster sessions in scientific conferences or the classroom environment. In this work, we describe our semester-long efforts to develop Mozilla Hubs rooms toward promoting interaction and communication to help students self-form teams in the context of an introductory virtual reality course at the University of Florida. We describe hands-on activities to prepare students to use Mozilla Hubs effectively, including teaching them skills to customize and create avatars. We describe the implementation of three virtual rooms developed based on researchers' observations and students' survey responses. By observing students' behavior and communication patterns in those rooms, we propose a set of guidelines for building virtual rooms that can promote communication, interaction, and teamwork. We discuss the rooms' design, students' attendance, and avatar choices. Our findings suggest that highly detailed, small, closed spaces are preferred over large, open spaces with few details when promoting interaction and collaboration among students.

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Data Structures courses commonly introduce topics involving high levels of abstraction and complexity, requiring significant effort from instructors and apprentices to achieve positive outcomes from the teaching-learning process. Despite the multiple studies that have occurred within the Computer Science Education (CSE) community to understand the experiences novice programmers may have when learning how to program, there is still a lack of exploration and research on understanding these experiences in scenarios different from first-year Computer Science (CS) courses. Looking further from CS introductory courses, this paper presents the results of a pilot study that evaluated the interaction of a group of CS Colombian students with DStBlocks, which is a scaffolded block-based instructional technology, designed and developed to ease linear data structures understanding. The findings and results of this pilot study are favorable, corresponding to tests centered on user experience and learning impact.