Vilnius University is delighted to welcome Professor Ting-Chia Hsu from the National Taiwan Normal University to the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics. Professor Hsu's ground-breaking research in Informatics Education and Gamification Methods brings innovative approaches to transforming the way computational thinking is taught and learned.
prof. Ting-Chia Hsu and prof. Valentina Dagienė
Visit from Professor Hsu and collaboration
At the invitation of Professor Valentina Dagienė, a leading figure in the field of computational thinking education and creator of the internationally renowned “Bebras Challenge”, Professor Hsu's visit aims to improve collaboration in the field of computer science education and to develop new assessment tools for the “Bebras Challenge”. These tools will help primary and secondary school students assess and improve their computational thinking skills worldwide.
Professor Hsu has published numerous articles in prestigious journals, making an important contribution to computer science education and gamification. Her research focuses on innovative approaches to teaching computational thinking and integrating gamification into curricula.
Professor Ting-Chia Hsu's visit aims to integrate the computational thinking game-based learning material named "Robot City" with the "Bebras Challenge" by developing new computational thinking test items. “Robot City”, a board game designed for young students to learn computational thinking through unplugged learning methods, is already included in the first volume of the MoE-reviewed official textbook of compulsory education for junior high schools in Taiwan, published by Kang Hsuan", – explained Professor Ting-Chia Hsu, – “However, to enhance its effectiveness, more gamified assessment items are necessary”.
This necessity led Professor Hsu to collaborate with the creator of the “Bebras Challenge” on Informatics and Computational Thinking. The goal is to merge "Robot City" with the "Bebras Challenge" to aid young students in learning and understanding computational thinking concepts. By combining these educational tools, it is expected that primary and secondary school students worldwide will benefit from these innovative resources, ultimately improving their computational thinking skills.
Valentina and Ting-Chia participated ITiCSE2024 together in July. It is the largest computer education conference in Europe. They discussed with many Ph.D students about their research topics.
Research Activities and International Collaboration
„I have been collaborating with the National Taiwan Normal University for many years, especially with Professor Greg Lee, who is the leader of the IOI-international Olympiad in Informatics, and the head of the Bebras Challenge in Taiwan, and we meet at least a couple of times every year”, – says Professor V. Dagienė, - “It is very nice that we have found common research interests: assessing computational thinking, introducing elements of gamification into informatics lessons. We have already agreed that the game developed by Professor Ting-Chia Hsu will be distributed in Lithuanian schools, and in the autumn, we will train our teachers on how to incorporate the game into informatics lessons or extracurricular activities.”
During her stay at the Mathematics and Informatics Faculty at Vilnius University, Professor Hsu and Professor Dagienė visited the University of Turku's Research Institute for Learning Analytics (TRILA) in Finland from June 10 to 17. They presented the “Robot City” board game, a project funded by the National Science and Technology Council of Taiwan, designed to teach computational thinking to students without requiring programming knowledge. The “Robot City” game is part of Taiwan’s compulsory education curriculum for information technology.
ITiCSE, the largest computer science education conference in Europe, took place in Milan, Italy, from July 6-10. Valentina Dagienė chaired the doctoral consortium, and Ting-Chia Hsu participated in the discussions. Over 400 researchers from 39 countries attended the event.
Future Prospects
The collaboration between Vilnius University and the University of Turku, along with the expertise of Professor Hsu, promises to yield significant advancements in computational thinking education. Projects such as “Computational Thinking and Mathematical Problem Solving, an Analytics-Based Learning Environment” and “DigiMaths4All: Strengthening Mathematical Problem-Solving Using Technology Enhanced Learning and Computational Thinking” will benefit immensely from these joint efforts.
Valentina and Ting-Chia went to Finland to discuss with the researchers in University of Turku in June so that the three parties will collaborate to create gamified computational thinking assessment items which can be used in different countries.