Master Program Students Experiences in Robot Operating System Course

Abstract

After a long period of stagnation in the last decades of 20th Century Russia started investing into development of IT and engineering education. In 2017 Kazan Federal University launched a novel master program in Intelligent Robotics, which was established based on the analysis of curriculums of world leading universities in robotics field and is being taught in English language. The paper presents result of surveys that were conducted among first year students of Robot Operating System (ROS) course, which serves as a basic backbone of the program. We analyzed dynamics of English language comprehension, self-efficiency, and active learning strategies among students within a semester while highlighting their attitude and motivation to study ROS as a part of robotics education. Special language environment was created during the class that allowed students to obtain positive results of material comprehension in English language. Additionally, a significant increase of motivation in studying robotics was observed among the students.