Context Help

One of the approaches I take in the classroom when introducing students to EV3 is to ask the students to find out for themselves.

It has mixed success, some students relish this opportunity to really dive into the program and work things out for themselves while others stare blankly at the screen and before asking for help.  I believe the approach is beneficial for students as it asks them to think about what they know, and search for resources to help them be it other students, built in guides, youtube or other websites. These students also have a better longterm understanding and are able to problem solve while the screen staring group struggle to solve problems.  

Of course I usually give the students some guidance on where to find help (see future post about helpful websites) but recently I discovered a feature of Lego Mindstorms EV3 called 'context help'.

The idea behind context help is that a little help box pops up with a description of whatever the mouse is hovering over.  While some students can work out what the little icons mean (eg, hourglass means wait) other learners prefer the text to help them.  

Sometimes the help can be slow to load depending on where the mouse is hovering but I find by clicking on the unknown button it usually brings it up a little quicker.

It's a great simple tip that can help students to solve a problem without showing them the answer.