Augmenting the field experience: a student-led comparison of techniques and technologies

In this study we report on our experiences of creating and running a student fieldtrip exercise which allowed students to compare a range of approaches to the design of technologies for augmenting landscape scenes. The main study site is around Keswick in the English Lake District, Cumbria, UK, an attractive upland environment popular with tourists and walkers. The aim of the exercise for the students was to assess the effectiveness of various forms of geographic information in augmenting real landscape scenes, as mediated through a range of techniques and technologies. These techniques were: computer-generated acetate overlays showing annotated wireframe views from certain key points; a custom-designed application running on a PDA; a mediascape running on the mScape software on a GPS-enabled mobile phone; Google Earth on a tablet PC; and a head-mounted in-field Virtual Reality system. Each group of students had all five techniques available to them, and were tasked with comparing them in the context of creating a visitor guide to the area centred on the field centre. Here we summarise their findings and reflect upon some of the broader research questions emerging from the project

Introduction to location-based mobile learning

[About the book] The report follows on from a 2-day workshop funded by the STELLAR Network of Excellence as part of their 2009 Alpine Rendez-Vous workshop series and is edited by Elizabeth Brown with a foreword from Mike Sharples. Contributors have provided examples of innovative and exciting research projects and practical applications for mobile learning in a location-sensitive setting, including the sharing of good practice and the key findings that have resulted from this work. There is also a debate about whether location-based and contextual learning results in shallower learning strategies and a section detailing the future challenges for location-based learning

Location-based and contextual mobile learning. A STELLAR Small-Scale Study

This study starts from several inputs that the partners have collected from previous and current running research projects and a workshop organised at the STELLAR Alpine Rendevous 2010. In the study, several steps have been taken, firstly a literature review and analysis of existing systems; secondly, mobile learning experts have been involved in a concept mapping study to identify the main challenges that can be solved via mobile learning; and thirdly, an identification of educational patterns based on these examples has been done. Out of this study the partners aim to develop an educational framework for contextual learning as a unifying approach in the field. Therefore one of our central research questions is: how can we investigate, theorise, model and support contextual learning

Embodiment and embodied design

Picture this. A preverbal infant straddles the center of a seesaw. She gently tilts her weight back and forth from one side to the other, sensing as each side tips downward and then back up again. This child cannot articulate her observations in simple words, let alone in scientific jargon. Can she learn anything from this experience? If so, what is she learning, and what role might such learning play in her future interactions in the world? Of course, this is a nonverbal bodily experience, and any learning that occurs must be bodily, physical learning. But does this nonverbal bodily experience have anything to do with the sort of learning that takes place in schools - learning verbal and abstract concepts? In this chapter, we argue that the body has everything to do with learning, even learning of abstract concepts. Take mathematics, for example. Mathematical practice is thought to be about producing and manipulating arbitrary symbolic inscriptions that bear abstract, universal truisms untainted by human corporeality. Mathematics is thought to epitomize our species’ collective historical achievement of transcending and, perhaps, escaping the mundane, material condition of having a body governed by haphazard terrestrial circumstance. Surely mathematics is disembodied

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

Research on ICT in K-12 schools e A review of experimental and survey-based studies in computers & education 2011 to 2015

International audienceWhat is the role of a journal? Is it to follow the research or lead it? For the former, it is to serve as an archival record of the scholarship in a field. It can serve to permit the research community to engage with each other via the written record. But, for the latter, it can serve the research community by pointing out gaps in the research based on the archival record. This review is intended to do just that

Augmented reality in mathematics: Enhancing pupils’ everyday school lives

This article presents findings from a study focused on using technology as a learning tool in education. Educational research on game-based learning argues that technology-based learning tools effectively enhance learning and memory. Augmented reality (AR) technology is attracting significant attention; its importance will continue to increase as new learning environments are exploited and new possibilities for promoting flexible and playful learning are revealed. This study investigated pupils’ experiences with an AR application by comparing experiences and reflections from pupils who learned mathematics using the Wittario game-based learning application with pupils exposed to more traditional instructional methods. 72 pupils in 5th and 6th grade, divided into three different test groups, and 5 teachers were interviewed. The study revealed that the application provided more subjectoriented interactions, and pupils expressed a high level of motivation and peer affiliation when using the application. Our findings, therefore, reveal that using the application, especially when facilitating tasks that involve peer collaboration and interaction with a specter of features available, contributes to a positive learning environment. Also uncovered was that the teacher’s presence and positioning of the activity in a pedagogical context are essential to this process.publishedVersio

Advancing Educational Practices: Implementation and Impact of Virtual Reality in Islamic Religious Education

This research explores the creation of Virtual Reality (VR)-based learning tools for Islamic religious education in Integrated Islamic elementary schools. Following a Research and Development (R&D) methodology, the study employs a six-stage approach: investigation, strategizing, enhancement, assessment, realization, and evaluation (ISI-ARE). The resulting product, a VR-based educational module for teaching the Hajj, undergoes rigorous validation by two VR and animation experts, along with an Islamic religious education teacher. Subsequently, the VR-based learning material is tested on 140 students across four Integrated Islamic Elementary Schools (SDIT) in Padang. Student responses are meticulously collected through questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS version 26.0 software.The outcomes affirm unanimous validation from the three evaluators, establishing the suitability of this media for instructional purposes. Additionally, the analysis identifies eight key aspects of student feedback related to VR-based learning, including comprehensibility of materials, clarity of instructional content, visually stimulating presentation, enjoyable and engaging experiences, a sense of realism, eagerness for repeated VR media utilization, and user-friendly accessibility. This pioneering use of VR-based learning significantly enhances the concreteness, authenticity, and enjoyment of the learning process, introducing novel dimensions and experiences to students. It emphasizes the need to continue designing and developing various VR-based resources to strengthen the teaching of Islamic principles

Can GeoGebra’s augmented reality tool provide a looking glass into a mathematical wonderland?

GeoGebra has been well researched within the mathematics education community; however, the majority of this literature does not examine the recent edition to the GeoGebra family, GeoGebra 3D Calculator with Augmented Reality (GeoGebra 3D/AR). This master’s study sought to examine how primary school students (age 7 to 12 years old) used ‘AR manipulatives’ to model familiar household objects. Due to the pandemic, the study was conducted over two ‘virtual workshops’ which propelled a second technological tool/environment to the fore; teaching, learning and researching within the ‘Zoom classroom’. Participants’ interactions were analysed qualitatively through Bruner’s enactive-iconic-symbolic framework. All young participants identified real-life objects (enactive mode), constructed virtual objects in GeoGebra 3D/AR (iconic and symbolic modes) then ‘augmented’ these AR manipulatives alongside real-life artefacts (all modes). Furthermore, the virtual workshops revealed how student-centred orchestrations such as ‘spot-and-show’ and ‘sherpa-at-work’ were extremely challenging to replicate in a remote setting