Actura developed FlipRobot to be a comprehensive robotic STEAM learning solution to make robotic and coding learning accessible to all students. Part of this comprehensive solution was the ability to empower teachers to be confident in teaching the FlipRobot curriculum through our 2-day Professional Development program.  

The first day of the course was designed to impart technical knowledge of the FlipRobot solution. This involved learning about the coding environments available through FlipRobot and gaining coding knowledge through activities designed to be as engaging as the ones the teachers would themselves utilise in the classroom. Even teachers with no prior coding experience could still be involved by learning not only from the trainer but from the other teachers to promote a flipped learning environment.  

Building on that theme of collaboration the second day of the course looked at how to implement the solution inside the classroom. This is done by each participant building their own lesson plan and then sharing with the other participants for feedback and improvements. This means teachers who attend our professional development course not only know the physical robot but also have ideas on how to start teaching it.  

This course has been rolled out to a wide number of schools across Australia and New Zealand and the feedback has been very positive as shown by some of the testimonials below; 

“I was impressed by the professionalism and enthusiasm of all the presenters. They all showed a good degree of empathy to us as learners and were very knowledgeable. There was a good balance of talk and practical and they successfully took us out of our comfort zones to gain knowledge. They had a real “can do” attitude” – Amanda Paterson, Head of Learning – Science from Pymble Ladies College 

“The course was very informative and provided a great insight and hands on experience” – Antonina Arcidiacono, Curriculum Administrator from Marist Sisters College 

The next step for Actura was to use this course to reach as many teachers as possible, particularly those who wanted to bring robotics and coding to their schools but may not have time for a two-day course or could not get to one of our sessions.  

To that end Actura has recently published a series of e-Learning modules which can be accessed anywhere with an internet connection. These e-Learning modules allow teachers, in their own time, to participate in the same activities as the first day of the face-to-face PD to build their technical knowledge and coding competencies.  Actura then runs a 1-day face-to-face course to bring teachers together to share ideas on the implementation of the course in their own schools. 

By implementing this new PD structure, we can provide support for any schools looking to implement a robotics program and continue our goal of bringing robotic STEAM learning to all students.