The integration of BrickMMO into Humber Polytechnic’s programming fundamentals program in fall 2023 provided students with the opportunity to learn through a workplace integrated classroom (WIC) teaching methodology which resulted in increased learning, opportunities for solutions-based problem solving, and cross-program collaboration projects. BrickMMO is a smart city education platform made of a 1:45 scale smart city designed to provide students with a hands-on sandbox, or safe testing environment, to apply their newly acquired skills. This project was originally envisioned to develop a functional multiplayer video game where players could log in to the platform from their home computer, take control of a physical robot made of LEGO® bricks, and play a video game in a physical space. BrickMMO is named after “brick,” a synonym for LEGO, while MMO stands for massively multiplayer online video games.

The vision evolved into the development of a functional smart city built primarily using LEGO bricks, with some exceptions. This city is approximately 12’ x 15’ and made up of roads, train tracks, buildings, and fields. Through this project, students integrate real-world systems, such as mapping, wayfinding, autonomous driving, radio, and blockchain, into the smart city.

The project was conducted by three professors in the Faculty of Media, Creative Arts, and Design at Humber Polytechnic in Toronto, Canada. Students referenced in this paper are part of a one-year post-graduate certificate in web development.

Workplace Integrated Classroom

WIC provides students with a close-to-industry workplace experience supported by faculty and peers inside the comfort of their classrooms. Noting that students today learn differently (Doyle, 2023), WIC prioritizes individual growth over evaluation, learning-by-doing over lectures, and achieving learning outcomes through individual student learning journeys (Thomas, 2022). While over 55 percent of classroom time in community colleges is still spent in conventional lecture-style teaching (Jaschik, 2018), using a WIC teaching methodology immerses students into a role similar to that of interns working in a professional working environment. Classroom time is, therefore, dedicated to learning collaboratively while contributing to projects that become more challenging over time. Beginning students start with simpler projects while learning from other previous and/or more experienced students who can contribute to advanced-level projects. Moreover, students can personalize their learning journey to ensure their growth, regardless of their previous experience.

Programmers

Since students often struggle with learning code (Becker et al., 2023), this project was initially designed to introduce them to coding fundamentals using a nonthreatening teaching technique (Lopez-Fernandez et al., 2021). With the smart city, students can use the sandbox to code applications such as autonomous driving cars, a GPS, and an AI-generated radio station. In addition, executing these projects in the smart city is more cost-efficient and significantly mitigates any potential security vulnerabilities, errors, and/or ethical concerns in running untested codes.

It is also noteworthy that this project has provided programming students the opportunity to contribute to partially completed projects. Since most recent programming student graduates still find it challenging to optimize preexisting code, this project can significantly add value to their career progression and success.

Overall, the project has required over 100,000 lines of code and 10,000 student hours. It has also provided over 20 paid part-time positions and over 10 internships. Furthermore, over 70 percent of the project’s existing code has been written by students.

Solutions-Based Problem Solving

In the early phase of the project, we decided that the physical city should be composed only of LEGO product materials. However, exceptions had to be given on some non-LEGO brand components due to specific technical requirements. This particularly included custom-made EV3 cables and a Pixy2, a smart camera that plugs directly into the LEGO EV3 hub.

According to Treffinger et al. (2023), problem-based learning is considered an effective teaching methodology. The sole use of LEGO components as specific parameters for the project compels students to unleash their potential to creatively innovate new solutions in solving existing problems. Using an open-source electronics platform such as Arduino and other existing GPS modules to build functional GPS for one is not a challenging task. However, when students are given limited resources, i.e., using only LEGO components, they have the opportunity to revisit the problem and think outside the box to find new solutions.

Cross-Program Collaboration

Plummer et al. (2022) asserted that providing students with the opportunity to collaborate with peers from other disciplines helps them to find meaning in their skill sets and increase engagement. Although the smart city was initially designed for programmers, we realized throughout the development of the project that we needed contributions outside of our skill set. With this in mind, programming students collaborated with peers from other programs and disciplines to enhance the smart city project’s development.

According to LEGO Group’s State of Classroom Engagement Report (2023), "the opportunities for playful, hands-on, and collaborative experiences decline as students age" (p. 9); on the other hand, post-secondary students desire these types of activities (Bendix et al., 2017). Hands-on activities encourage collaboration and leverage “students’ natural inclination to connect with one another, driving engagement by making the material more fun, tangible, and relevant" (LEGO Group, 2023, p. 4). Similarly, the BrickMMO smart city education platform provides the perfect environment to foster cross-program collaboration in a purposeful, hands-on format.

From left to right: LEGO Mindstorms™ EV3, LEGO Education SPIKE™
Prime, LEGO Education SPIKE Essentials

We reached out to students outside of Humber’s Web Development program to collaborate on certain phases of the project, including:

• Electrical Engineering students who designed wireless charging pads compatible with the LEGO EV3 and Spike hubs.
• Industrial Design students who developed an ergonomic control panel to allow observers to interact with the smart city.
• Architecture and Interior Design students who designed buildings which were later built with LEGO bricks and integrated into the city.
• Bachelor of Engineering students who designed a functional lifting bridge which was later built with LEGO bricks and integrated into the city.

Students from other programs that have contributed to the project include Project Management, Research Analyst, Multimedia Design and Development, Creative Technologies, and Radio Communications.

BrickMMO and Humber’s Academic Plan

In 2023, Humber Polytechnic released a three-year academic plan (2023) outlining its academic priorities:

• Priority 1: Programs and Pathways for Lifelong Learning
• Priority 2: Personalizing the Learning Journey
• Priority 3: Empowering Teaching and Learning at Humber

The BrickMMO smart city project aligns closely with the institution’s priorities. It provides a smooth transition to employment for post-secondary students through personalized learning experiences while faculty are empowered to innovatively create new ways of teaching and learning.

Results

Measuring the effectiveness of the BrickMMO project involved participants completing weekly surveys and participating in a focus group at the end of the semester. Attendance statistics were also assessed to determine potential project impact.

Self-Efficacy Surveys

Students completed weekly surveys to rate their self-efficacy on eight code-related topics. Half of the topics were taught in other courses using a more traditional teaching methodology (C#, CSS, HTML, JavaScript), while the other half were taught indirectly by contributing to the BrickMMO smart city project (GitHub, Markdown, PHP).

The student self-efficacy for GitHub, Markdown, and PHP, taught using the BrickMMO Smart City, increased as fast as C#, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript (as shown in Figure 1) despite not having courses dedicated to these topics. Although the self-efficacy in PHP declined over the course, this is likely due to this student choosing not to participate in a task related to PHP.

     
Figure 1: A Single Student Ranking Multiple Topics

The student self-efficacy for GitHub, Markdown, PHP, and JavaScript had the largest gains (as shown in Figure 2), where three out of the four topics were taught using the BrickMMO Smart City.

     
Figure 2: A Single Student Ranking Multiple Topics

Focus Groups

Each student who contributed to the development of the BrickMMO smart city participated in a short focus group discussion. Common themes that arose during the discussions included:

• Group Collaboration. Working in groups and collaborating with others was considered valuable and provided a real work environment experience.
• Hands-On Learning. Participants valued applying their coding skills to real-world projects such as GPS, radio, and QR code applications. Participants also mentioned that seeing their creations come to life was rewarding.
• Use of LEGO Components. Participants mentioned that integrating physical building alongside online learning was both “fun” and “enjoyable.” They also expressed excitement and enthusiasm about using LEGO as a tool for learning programming, coding, and technical skills.
• Problem-Solving. Participants valued facing challenges, obstacles, and errors during their projects. They also believed this experience elevated their problem-solving skills.

Attendance

     
Figure 3: Attendance of Same Course Before and After the BrickMMO Project

Figure 3 shows the trend of student attendance during the winter 2023 semester, before the BrickMMO smart city project rolled out, and during the fall 2023 semester, when the BrickMMO smart city project was launched. Based on the chart, there was a dramatic increase in attendance in fall 2023, which reflects student engagement (Büchele, 2021).

Conclusion

This research aims to identify the benefits of integrating the BrickMMO smart city project into various courses at Humber Polytechnic. Based on an analysis of focus group feedback, self-efficacy surveys, and attendance, participating students, indeed, experienced multiple benefits from participating in the project, including close-to-industry workplace experiences, cross-program collaboration, personalized learning journeys, and increased learning. Expanding the collaboration with a larger variety of programs could, therefore, be useful in gaining more skills and experience to support and enhance lifelong learning.

References

Becker, B. A., Denny, P., Finnie-Ansley, J., Luxton-Reilly, A., Prather, J., & Santos, E. A. (2023, March). Programming is hard-or at least it used to be: Educational opportunities and challenges of AI code generation. In Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1 (pp. 500-506).

Bendix, R., Bizer, K., & Noyes, D. (2017). Sustaining interdisciplinary collaboration: A guide for the academy. University of Illinois Press.

Büchele, S. (2021). Evaluating the link between attendance and performance in higher education: The role of classroom engagement dimensions. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(1), 132-150.

Doyle, T. (2023). Helping students learn in a learner-centered environment: A guide to facilitating learning in higher education. Taylor & Francis.

Jaschik, S. (2018, April 1). Lecture instruction: Alive and not so well. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/04/02/study-finds-lecture-remains-dominant-form-teaching-stem

Humber Polytechnic. (2023). Academic plan 2023-2026: Looking forward. https://humber.ca/academic-division/sites/default/files/documents/Academic%20Plan%20-%2023.02.16.pdf

LEGO Group (2023, March 30). State of classroom engagement report. https://assets.education.lego.com/v3/assets/blt293eea581807678a/blt05af28e38a01c2ab/66be56a277
be3940adea6e1c/LEGO_Education_State_of_Classroom_Engagement_Report.pdf?locale=en-us

Lopez-Fernandez, D., Gordillo, A., Ortega, F., Yagüe, A., & Tovar, E. (2021). LEGO®  serious play in software engineering education. IEEE Access, 9, 103120-103131.

Plummer, C., Buchanan, T. K., Kennedy, C. B., Rouse, L., & Pine, J. C. (2022). Broadening perspectives: A multidisciplinary collaborative teaching and learning experience. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 4(1).

Thomas, A. (2022, February 23). Workplace integrated classroom. CodeAdam. https://wic.codeadam.ca

Treffinger, D. J., Isaksen, S. G., & Stead-Dorval, K. B. (2023). Creative problem solving: An introduction. Routledge.

Lead Image: 12’x15’ BrickMMO Smart City at Humber Polytechnic

Adam Thomas is Professor, Multimedia Design, at Humber Polytechnic in Toronto, Canada.

Opinions expressed in Learning Abstracts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the League for Innovation in the Community College.