Analyzing Learning Outcomes for a Massive Online Competition through a Project-Based Learning Engagement

Abstract

The e-Yantra project at premier technical institute in India – Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, conducts a massive Online Robotics Competition known as e-Yantra Robotics Competition annually, with the objective to develop ground-breaking digital pedagogy to indulge students in the domain of Robotics and Embedded Systems through hands-on practical medium of Project Based Learning (PBL). The students work in collaboration as a team of four from varying years and disciplines of engineering and implement a 'Theme' - a gamified robotics problem statement over the course of six months. Previous studies of e-Yantra competition have shown that the competition has been successful in teaching students new and high-level concepts of embedded systems and robotics in effective manner through a learning by competing approach. Over the course of various editions of the competitions, e-Yantra has collected a huge corpus of participants and their respective performances in the competition. This paper analyzes and discusses the outcomes of the data collected over a three-year period (2016-2018) and draws inferences from it. It successfully demonstrates that students in an online Project Based Learning environment receive a functional upgrade in the knowledge of robotics. While most project based learning studies have generally been restricted to a rather small sample size, this is one of the few quantitative study that deals with a large number of students who are not in a classroom environment. This approach also facilitates cooperative and collaborative learning in addition, it further encourages and develops intra-personal and inter-personal skills. A key recommendation of the study is to make Project Based Learning competitions like e-Yantra to be more ingrained in the college curriculum. Such competitions can be introduced in universities with incentives such as extra credits and certifications and hence will enable active participation of students in the engineering studies.