Microelectronics is an essential component of virtually all aspects of our daily lives. The microelectronics sector in Europe is responsible directly 200,000 and indirectly 1,000,000 high-skilled jobs and the demand for new skills is increasing. In this scenario, ECoVEM project, European Centre of Vocational Excellence in Microelectronics, is a continuing work, based on an existing model for business-education collaboration of the Knowledge Alliance MECA and Sector Skills Alliance in Microelectronics, both targeting tertiary education. The ECoVEM project platform targets vocational excellence on all levels of European Qualification Framework. This project aims to establish a transnational cooperation platform of Vocational Excellence in Microelectronics to tackle the challenges of the: digitalization, artificial intelligence, green technologies, gender equality, and integration of migrants among others. One of these mechanisms is based on develop innovative VET curricula through Massive Open Online Courses. professional online courses serve as catalysts for individual and collective growth, driving innovation, sustainability, and inclusivity within our workforce. They empower individuals to adapt to new challenges, seize opportunities, and contribute meaningfully to their fields, ultimately fostering a more dynamic and resilient workforce for the future.

This paper describes the organization and results of several MOOCs delivered about technical topics (i.e., digital electronics, VHDL design on FPGAs, open education and OERs repositories and the use of STEAM technologies to encourage diversity and inclusion), where online laboratories have been used in some of them. An analysis of the enrollment, students participating on tasks or quizzes, drop-out rate and certifications requests have been done.

This Research to Practice Full Paper presents a pilot test framed in educational robotics where parents and child work together during the same session. In recent years, an educational movement has emerged that is related to the introduction of computational thinking, programming, and robotics in schools. Educational robotics is presented as one more resource that serves as a support in the different curricular subjects and facilitates the emergence of skills such as socialization, creative spirit and personal initiative, allowing participants to find answers to the problems that may arise in their reality. It is for this reason that a pilot test was carried out where we included the participants' parents in a session. To do this we used the Crumble controller, a platform that is programmed using block programming language. This platform also allows making electrical connections in an amazingly simple way. From the mechanical point of view, we use materials that can be easily machined, both by children and by inexperienced people. At the end of the experience, the assistants completed the assembly of their own robot. The article contains a study of the state of the art of using educational robotics. It also includes an analysis of the different tools mostly used in educational robotics. Also, throughout the article the learning methodology used, the different educational resources and the results obtained from the experience are described.

Computational Thinking is a competence that is developed more in the last few years. This is due to the multitude of benefits it has in the classroom. Throughout this article we show a series of activities that promote the development of Computational Thinking using tools that allow visual block programming. The particularity of these activities is that some of them were performed during the confinement due to the COVID-19 and other activities were performed later, in the period known as the new normality. Throughout the article, details are provided about the different sessions. The different visual programming tools by blocks and the educational scenarios used are also indicated. In addition, the results obtained are shown.

This paper presents findings on participants of a massive open online course named "Educational Robotics for all" developed under Open edX platform. The document describes the organization and structure of the MOOC and some of its preliminary results. As an example, Module 2 about Gender and STEAM is presented and discussed.

Industry 4.0 is changing not only the way we interact with the world but the way the world communicates with us. Consequently, the term Industry 4.0 implies changes in all the lays of society. Education is an area affected in two ways, how educational curriculum needs to be updated in order to satisfy demands from students, market and society and, as any other area, adapt workforce and infrastructures. In other words, educational institutions must adapt both processes, services and products. In this scenario, online laboratories, also known as web-based laboratories or non-traditional laboratories, emerge as an essential tool for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) areas. Online laboratories have become a very common tool in educational institutions through the last decade based on their anywhere and anytime availability premise. This fact has shown its relevance even more due to covid19 crisis: Online laboratories have been a crucial tool to provide practical activities. However, online laboratories are not only a suitable tool to provide a temporal and ubiquitous access, but they provide unique features and advantages which may fill the gap between education and industry in the 4.0 paradigm. In this paper, we aim to outline how the 4$^{th}$ industrial revolution is concerning education, and specifically focusing on how the Industry 4.0 paradigm is transforming educational web-based laboratories perspective.

In Brazil, teaching STEM-related subjects is quite delicate. As math intensifies, the corresponding attention span decreases. Transmedia Educational Environments (TECs) can help engage students in such subjects, and it is evident that the learner’s attention span is longer and more focused when students employ mobile devices and other technologies than when they were not. Transmedia (TM) storytelling can render quotidian life as a vigorous constructivist didactic tool. Up to now, most of the efforts within classrooms are related to elementary school. The digital farm project introduces several class activities connected to the protagonist’s universe and a real-life rural community. The instructor can handle a multitude of optimization problems learners can relate to and solve them. The class and the instructor can interact with other subjects like programming and application development. In Brazil, this is paramount due to the high levels of anxiety felt by engineering students. The optimization problems from the digital farm can also relate to matters such as the establishment of sustainable practices and social responsibility. TM also applies to other educational scenarios.

Visual block programming environments can be defined as those programming environments that rely on objects rather than words to code the program. These types of environments are characterized by facilitating the task of the people who carry out the programs. This is mainly since they are more visually friendly. In addition, with this type of environment the person who makes the programs will not get the famous syntactic errors that characterize the programming tasks with textual programming languages. Along this paper, a set of tools commonly used in educational robotics are showed. Furthermore, a deep analysis in two of these tools are detailed. Additionally, some educational scenarios are detailed, as long as their relationship to students’ competencies and how to drive the scenarios in order to accomplish with the competencies. Finally, a study of the results from experience is included.

This paper introduces the Spanish Chapter of the IEEE Education Society, the CESEI, and its main activities. Along the years since its appearance, the CESEI has developed several initiatives devoted to promote the development of engineering education using new information and communication technologies. Publications and participation in relevant conferences have attracted the main efforts, but also the awards provided to the best student academic works is a remarkable action. It deserves special attention the activities performed in cooperation with the student branches, because they have been very fruitful. The paper describes all these initiatives and discusses about future actions.

This Research Full Paper presents a survey about science and technology education scaling. At the end of 2013, the Spanish government released an Organic Law for Educational Quality Improvement (LOMCE). Which this law provides is a guide with the aim of getting information about the changes which this law implies and what is impacted. All of this is based on gender equality opportunities. Education curriculum simplification is also included. This article describes the goals, assumptions, and underlying logic about Spanish legislation change has impacted on science and technology education. The aim of this study is to provide learning technologies to drive science and technology education to students. This study includes an analysis of local scope in the modifications of the Spanish educational legislation and data on the actions of different educational agents in Spain. Several educational centers emerged, and other, which already was present, have been growing. In the last years, educational institutions had the need to prepare their teachers for science and technology knowledge. Several educational centers and robotic educational tools commonly used nowadays are summarized. Additionally, the analysis of different use cases has been included as part of this study. Firstly, cases related to the formal education of Spanish educational centers and how the educators of such centers have perceived the change. On the other hand, a specific analysis of a Non-Official Education Centre is included. Thus, as part of the conclusions included in this article, this paper provides the impact of educational scaling improvement in Spain and a set of robotic educational tools to be addressed for classroom.

Educational robotics applied to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) activities combined with a project-based learning (PBL) methodology provides quite good results. Throughout this work it is described how to make use of Scratch, a visual programming environment, as a cost-effective tool with great potential for students to work on concepts related to robotics. When students work with Scratch, they can develop animations or video games in which real life applications are simulated. In this paper you can find the description of the intermediate Scratch module. This module is part of an introductory robotics course consisting of the use of three tools (Scratch, Crumble and Arduino) and three difficulty levels (basic, intermediate and advanced). In addition, the results obtained for the Intermediate Scratch module and a discussion of the most important aspects related to the findings obtained are also provided.

Scratch Day is made up of a global network of events. Its main goal is to bring people together to celebrate Scratch. Scratch is a free encryption platform that can be used online and offline for children. Scratch Day events bring together young people from the Scratch community. During these meetings, attendees share projects, learn from each other and welcome newcomers. Robotics and computational thinking are ideal tools for developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pedagogy. Currently, innovation and motivation of students during the learning process are promoted by educational robotics tools. Robots are increasingly integrated into our society. To such an extent that robots are becoming more and more common in our everyday environment. This paper presents a workshop which is focused on two main objectives. The first one is to celebrate Scratch Day promoting Scratch locally. On the other hand, this event is aimed to present a robotic educational tool for people as the first step to get into robotics world. This workshop is aimed on those adults who want to discover what possibilities Scratch brings in the introduction to robotics. Throughout this workshop an initiation to Scratch is developed in the context of educational robotics. As the most significant results throughout the workshop, it is clearly demonstrated that Scratch is an ideal tool for children and adults with no previous programming or robotic experience to begin learning both through hands-on experiences. Throughout this work the importance of combining theory and practice is shown in order to include fun tasks intertwined with the challenges of applying theory to problem solving.

Robotics and computational thinking are ideal tools for developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pedagogy. A multitude of educational robotics tools have emerged in recent years. Some with a high price and great features, and others with a lower price and lower performance. There are also cost-effective options that allow you to tailor your services to tighter budgets. The presence of robots in our daily lives is becoming more and more common. Therefore, it is interesting that we are oriented to integrate robots in the different levels of our society. This workshop is focused on driving the same content across three different low-cost robotic educational tools. The first one is Scratch, interactive stories, games and animations can be programed. The second tool is Crumble, it is an easy-to-use programmable controller. Its programming interface uses a block programming language which eases its use by children aged below 14. The last but not the least is Arduino, Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. It is a platform that incorporates a simple microcontroller and an interface development environment to create the applications to be downloaded into the board. This workshop is aimed to present the mentioned platforms as robotic educational tools for people as the first step to get into robotics world. Throughout this workshop an initiation to robotics is developed in the context of educational robotics.

Robotics and computational thinking are valuable tools for developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pedagogy, and to promote inclusion and integration of students. We currently have a multitude of robotic education tools at our disposal. These tools arise with the aim of promoting innovation and student motivation during the learning process. Robots are becoming more and more common in our society today. Therefore, it is important to integrate robots into all levels of our everyday life. This work is focused on presenting Raspberry Pi as enhancer of educational robotics. The first step is presenting robotics as a tool for promoting the inclusion and integration of students. For this work a background and overview is also provided. The third part proposed different setups to prepare a Raspberry Pi for remote activities and robotics using Arduino as hardware interface. The last but not the least is an open discussion with the aim of exchanging impressions and getting feedback from the attendees.

The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) field in general, and Engineering, suffer from a lack of diversity. Yet there is growing evidence that more diverse organizations are more successful and effective. There is also a global shortage of STEM and engineering skills that can be tackled by addressing the lack of diversity in the field. One obvious way to view this problem is by looking at gender. Women make up 50% of the population, but in Engineering the number of female students and professionals is clearly less than this, often around 10–25% in many parts of the world. This underrepresentation of women leads us to think about other groups that are underrepresented in Engineering; these include Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and those from socially deprived backgrounds. This paper examines a number of approaches to support diversity and inclusion to encourage a greater uptake of engineering by underrepresented groups and to retain people in the sector.

Crumble is an easy-to-use programmable controller. Its programming interface uses a block programming language that makes it easy for children above 10 to use. In addition, the hardware elements associated with Crumble are very intuitive and easy to connect. For this reason, educational robotics can be easily implemented thanks to the card connectors. The motors and servos can be managed by Crumble. Different sensors such as the ultrasonic distance sensor, infrared distance sensor and line sensor can also be connected. In addition, Crumble can handle up to 32 RGB (Red, Green and Blue) LEDs (Light Emitter Diodes) independently and with 24-bit color resolution. Robotics and computational thinking are ideal tools for developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pedagogy. Today, robotics training tools are raised with the aim of promoting innovation and motivation of students during the learning process. Robots are becoming more and more common in our daily lives; therefore, it is important to integrate robots into all levels of our society. This document presents a workshop that focuses on two main objectives. The first is to make an event to promote Crumble locally. On the other hand, the aim of this event is to present a robotic teaching tool so that people can take their first steps in the world of robotics. This workshop is aimed at those children and adults who want to discover the possibilities that Crumble brings in the introduction to robotics. An introduction to Crumble in the context of educational robotics is developed throughout this workshop.

Robotics and computational thought are ideal tools for developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pedagogy. Throughout this paper a modular and adaptive course is presented, the main objective of which is to make known simple and economic tools of educational robotics. This course is aimed at those who want to discover the possibilities of educational robotics in the context of the introduction to robotics. Today, robotics training tools are raised with the aim of promoting innovation and motivation of students during the learning process. Robots are becoming more and more common in our daily lives; therefore, it is important to integrate robots into all levels of our society. The course is designed to work with the Scratch, Crumble and Arduino tools as STEM enhancers. Using Scratch, interactive stories, games and animations can be programmed. Scratch helps young people to acquire and improve skills such as think creatively, think systematically, and work collaboratively. Scratch is a project of MIT Media Lab's Lifelong Kindergarten Group. It is offered free of charge. On the other hand, Crumble is an easy-to-use programmable controller. Its programming interface uses a block programming language based on Scratch that makes it easy for children from 10 years old to use it. In addition, the hardware elements associated with Crumble are very intuitive and easy to connect. Last, but not least, Arduino is an open source electronic platform based on hardware and software that is easy to use. It is a platform that incorporates a simple microcontroller and an interface development environment to create the applications to be downloaded on the board. The course offers a three-tiered journey through three levels with each of the three tools. It consists of a total of 9 modules. This course has a very practical approach. A project-based pedagogical methodology is used. Experiments are promoted, where trial and error are part of learning and self-discovery. The student learns to have more autonomy and responsibility. Knowledge is acquired in different disciplines. It develops: motor skills (scale mobility in the hands), group skills, allowing people to socialize, creative abilities, and learning in a fun way. The operational details, materials used and examples of activities for some modules are also presented with the expectation that all teachers will be able to adapt these activities in their class. In addition, results are included from several groups of students who have already completed some modules. Despite not having a large number of students, the experience provided results that may be useful for other teachers to promote a course with similar or equal content for more results. The results of this work show that it is important to combine theory and practice to include fun tasks intertwined with the challenges of applying theory to problem solving.

Robotic Education is becoming very popular these days. Simple robots are being used within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education as a powerful tool which eases the way to teach STEM knowledge. Additionally, Robotics also provide an attractive manner to transform boring concepts into an amusing learning process. Along this paper, a new way to use robotic is presented. Instead of using robots in classrooms or remote laboratories, the proposal is to use robots at home. Currently, there are some alternatives on order to introduce educational robots at home. Along this article, Crumble is presented as a tool which can be used with the aim of deploying STEM knowledges at home joining adults and children.

The aim of this paper is to summarize the Work in Progress related to the design of a Collaborative Robotic Educational Tool. This tool arises to improve STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) educational programs for school students. The design is intended to cover different specifications such as: scalability, modular capabilities, reconfiguration possibilities and compatibility with the aim of promoting the innovation and the motivation of the students during the learning process. Furthermore, the main objective of the mentioned platform is focused on getting a cost effective tool which can be included easily within educational institutions with a low budget restriction. This platform is intended for students which are able to use textual programming languages. Furthermore, the platform is expected to cost below 100 euros.

International audience