Do you recognise this?

It is a BB-8 from the last but one Star Wars film.

CEL has purchased three Sphero BB-8 droids for testing purposes.  The marketing material says ‘Based on your interactions, BB-8 will show a range of expressions and perk up when you give voice commands. Watch your Droid explore autonomously, guide BB-8 yourself, or create and view holographic recordings.”

There are lots of recordings of BB-8s on YouTube if you would like to see one in action.

At today’s SUBU PAL RepFest, Jamie, the SUVP for Education, asked the attendees to explore the BB8 and suggest ways in which it could be use in teaching and learning.  The Reps quickly get to grips with the technology.

At the end of the session, we asked for suggestions for using the BB-8s.

The immersive nature of the interaction led some to suggest the BB-8s would be good for relaxation, stress relief and student well-being.  Another suggestion centred around the inclusiveness of the activity and how this could be used for team building and ice-breaking, perhaps during induction.

It may also be possible to write an programme to control the BB-8?  Since we have three BB-8s, there may also be competitive angles to explore.

What teaching and learning applications can you see?