How to start a Robots4Autism 3.3 lesson

Owned by Daniel Crosby (Deactivated)
Last updated: Jun 18, 2022
8 min read

This guide is intended to help customers run lessons with the latest version of our software.

Table of Contents

 

The newest version of our application is the 4.0 version, if you have updated your companion app software after Dec 29, 2021 then see page instead.

Pre-Requisites

Note that to conduct lessons remotely, it is expected that there would be a video conference of some fashion in progress (Zoom, Chime, WebEx, etc.) to monitor the students progress.

Starting a Lesson

 

Selecting Student Device:

In the Select a Student Device panel on the left, select the student device that you have paired.

The list of available student devices will auto re-fresh every few seconds, or you can manually hit the wheel to refresh more quickly.

Selecting Robot:

In the Select a Robot column on the right, you may select a robot or Use Virtual Avatar. If you select the virtual avatar option, both the facilitator and the student will see a friendly virtual version of Milo teaching each lesson.

Select Classroom and Student:

Individual Lesson: On the Select Students page, select the classroom and student who will be taking the lesson.

Group Lesson: On the Select Students page, select the classroom and students who will be taking the lesson.

 

You will be presented with “last session info” and be allowed to select whether to redo the last lesson, do the next suggested lesson, or choose a new lesson.

If choosing the New Lesson button, you will be presented with a list of the available modules, and the students mastery status for each lesson. A student with 3 golden stars, has already achieved a degree of mastery for that lesson, however it may still be valuable to occasionally repeat lessons in areas where a student may need to reinforce their skills.

Most students will begin with the lessons in the Introductory Lessons and Games module.

Lesson Information Screen:

The Lesson Info page appears after a lesson is selected, showing a brief history and allowing several options.

  • Use the orange arrow button in the top left hand corner of the page if you decide to choose a different lesson.

  • Many lessons have different modes in which a lesson can be executed:

    • Full Lesson - includes the full curriculum for the lesson, including teaching and then assessing the student.

    • Teach - The concepts are presented, but the student is not assessed on their understanding of the content.

    • Practice - For use when a student is simply reviewing a concept, it is possible to skip straight to Practice mode in which a student is tested/assessed on the content without the up front learning portion of the lesson.

Beginning a lesson:

Lessons will start when the lesson mode (Full, Practice, or Teach) is selected on the Lesson Info screen.

If you have selected “Virtual Avatar” the facilitator and student will see a virtual representation of Milo.

RoboKind Lesson Progress:

RoboKind lessons include a variety of activities including where the robot will speak, displaying images or icons, performing expressions or animations, and presenting videos. At various points during the lessons, students will be asked to answer questions from their device, and teachers will also be prompted for information in many cases, for example in confirming if the student demonstrated the appropriate action or emotion.

Sidebar Menu:

On the facilitator device, use the arrow on the right side of the screen to access the Facilitator Controls.

During a Lesson, the following side bar options are available:

 

  • Calm Down Tools:

    • Various Tools that can be used if a student becomes distracted.

  • Lesson Controls:

    • End Lesson - for ending a lesson early.

    • Pause Lesson - for immediately pausing the lesson. When resuming, the lesson will continue at the beginning of the section that was in progress at the time of being paused.

    • Previous Lesson Section - for moving to a previous lesson section. Button may be pressed more than once.

    • Restart Lesson - restarts lesson from the beginning.

Robot Controls:

  • The robot has volume control buttons on the back, or volume controls are also available under the Utilities - Sound menu on the chest screen.

  • Note that if using headphones, the sound volume is intentionally defaulted to a very low sound level.

Main Menu Options

The main menu can be accessed when logged in as a facilitator/teacher, but while not actually running a lesson. To access this, choose the round circle with your initials in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

The Main menu contains several actions that can be useful:

  • RoboKind Central: Opens the central.robokind.com website in the iPad web browser. This is useful if you need to add or manage teachers, classrooms, and students.

  • Help Desk: A link to our support site with documentation and a “Contact Us” button at the bottom of the page.

  • Change Pin: For use in more easily signing into the app in the future.

  • Switch User: Provides several options, including switching a device to student mode, switching users (to select a different account to sign in with), Continue (which cancels the switch user screen), and Log Out.

  • Change Devices: Returns user to the session setup screen where a new student device, different robot, or the avatar option can be selected.

  • Log Out: Logs out the current user. This is highly recommended for use when a device or robot will be subsequently be used by a different teacher.

Sharing a robot between multiple teachers:

If a robot is being shared between multiple teachers using different devices, the first teacher must log out after they finish; otherwise the next teacher may be required to reboot the robot before it will appear as available for the next lesson.

Troubleshooting information

Session setup screen not showing student device

Robot is not listed on the session setup screen

Additional Information

RoboKind Companion App Installation and Update Guide (iPads)