AIMION – Making joint progress in developing a tool to support reflective self-direction in open projects (CBL)

A key element in CBL is that students become increasingly self-directed in designing and implementing their CBL projects and learning. To support this, the AIMION tool engages student teams in collaborative reflection in a playful way. The tool makes reflection and planning processes more visible, systematic, efficient and accessible for coaching by teachers. The AIMION tool was developed iteratively in three rounds of design research using feedback from teachers, students and experts and tested within the context of five different engineering disciplines. From this, a versatile tool emerged. Students typically use the AIMION tool (at least) twice during a CBL-project based course. When used at the beginning of the project, it was found to help students to get to know each other professionally in sufficient depth, conceptualise and organise their group project and make their personal learning goals explicit. When used during a project (e.g. 'halfway through'), the toolboard as completed by the group at the beginning of the project forms a shared 'visual archive' of previous decisions and arguments. This greatly helps pupils to look back on their initial ideas and reflect on 'how things are going'. A more systematic and in-depth process when using the tool. Students not only address the question 'what should we change in our project?', but also discuss 'why?' in terms of advantages, disadvantages and their personal professional views. In this workshop, you can experience AIMION in the role of a teacher. For teachers, if you want to use AIMION, you need to make some decisions so that the tool best suits your teaching and supports the learning objectives you have set for it. This includes tailoring the tool's features and instructions for students and student group coaches. We briefly take you through this process, which is the first step for a teacher to use AIMION for his/her CBL teaching, using an abridged version of the 'intake and preparation protocol' we designed. In addition, you can step into the shoes of a student, giving you a 'student experience' that immediately highlights what AIMION can do for your students in CBL and comparative open projects. From this experience, we will address the question 'how do you best guide students to use AIMION in a way that deepens their discussions and decision-making.' Information you can use yourself or pass on to co-teachers or student assistants acting as coaches for student groups. In both variants, the session is interactive, and you will be asked to share information about your views and practices regarding CBL education (teacher role part) and/or your '(simulated) project' (student role part). There will be plenty of room for sharing opinions and comments. Mainly as a way of 'professional learning' among teachers about CBL. But we as designers/researchers also look forward to your suggestions and comments on AIMION, as they can help us further enrich, refine and develop the tool.