This paper investigates the effectiveness of including questions within instructional multimedia content to improve student performance on a related programming assignment. An experiment was conducted where one set of students was provided with an instructional video without any embedded questions and another set of students was provided the same video with embedded questions. The findings of this paper demonstrate that the technique of embedding questions showed promise in improving student performance on a programming assignment.

Taking inspiration from nature, we have developed a colony of small, low-cost robots. We have created a robotic base which is inexpensive and utilizes simple sensors, yet has the capabilities required to form a colony. To overcome computational limitations, we have developed custom sensors and algorithms that enable the robots to communicate, localize relative to one another, and sense the environment around them. Using these noisy sensors and simple local rules, the Colony as a whole is able to exhibit more complex global behaviors. We present our work developing an autonomous robot colony and algorithms for efficient communication, localization, and robot behaviors. We also highlight recent developments that enable our Colony to recharge autonomously.