Updating the art history curriculum: incorporating virtual and augmented reality technologies to improve interactivity and engagement

Master's Project (M.Ed.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This project investigates how the art history curricula in higher education can borrow from and incorporate emerging technologies currently being used in art museums. Many art museums are using augmented reality and virtual reality technologies to transform their visitors' experiences into experiences that are interactive and engaging. Art museums have historically offered static visitor experiences, which have been mirrored in the study of art. This project explores the current state of the art history classroom in higher education, which is historically a teacher-centered learning environment and the learning effects of that environment. The project then looks at how art museums are creating visitor-centered learning environments; specifically looking at how they are using reality technologies (virtual and augmented) to transition into digitally interactive learning environments that support various learning theories. Lastly, the project examines the learning benefits of such tools to see what could (and should) be implemented into the art history curricula at the higher education level and provides a sample section of a curriculum demonstrating what that implementation could look like. Art and art history are a crucial part of our culture and being able to successfully engage with it and learn from it enables the spread of our culture through digital means and of digital culture

Assisting individuals with autism and cognitive disorders: An augmented reality based framework

Individuals with autism require systematic assistance while dealing with the surrounding environment and its objects. The project aim is to develop a framework that could be of substantial help to people with autism and cognitive disorders. The framework is based on common mobile devices and freely available Augmented Reality (AR) applications. The Augmented Reality used in our approach is marker-based AR that employs a camera and a visual marker to trigger and present media content on the mobile device's screen. The developed framework allows parents and teachers to easily create educational augmented environments for children with autism and cognitive disorders by populating a real-world space with visual markers of favorite cartoonish helpers that can evoke helpful AR content and embed it in the real-world environment. The paper analyzes and discusses the use of the proposed framework from conceptual and technological points of view. - 2019 Kassel University Press GmbH.Scopu

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.

10 simple rules to create a serious game, illustrated with examples from structural biology

Serious scientific games are games whose purpose is not only fun. In the field of science, the serious goals include crucial activities for scientists: outreach, teaching and research. The number of serious games is increasing rapidly, in particular citizen science games, games that allow people to produce and/or analyze scientific data. Interestingly, it is possible to build a set of rules providing a guideline to create or improve serious games. We present arguments gathered from our own experience ( Phylo , DocMolecules , HiRE-RNA contest and Pangu) as well as examples from the growing literature on scientific serious games

Augmented Reality Model for Pre-School Learning

Science subject is very important to create scientific knowledge among students. In Malaysia, the implementation of the Science Curriculum is normally done via conventional approach. However, this approach is not able to attract students’ interests in exploring more knowledge. In addition, the students only acquire the basic knowledge without being able to visualize the subject matters. Thus, this study is aimed to apply Augmented Reality (AR) technology in teaching and learning of the Basic Science subject to overcome the issues. AR is the augmentation of the real world through the addition of three-dimensional (3D) virtual objects. AR has been proven as an effective method in delivering lessons to the students compared to conventional method. This study applied AR in preschool Basic Science subject that focused on the internal organ of human body known as the Muscular System. This study adapted AR with Experiential Learning Model (ELM) theory to construct the requirement model of the Augmented Reality for Learning in Muscular System (ARMS). The proposed model consisted of three (3) main components; i) Requirement to Implement AR in a Classroom (R-IARC), ii) High-Level Prototyping (HLP), and iii) Experiential Learning Model (ELM). The methodology in this study involved five (5) main phases; i) theoretical study, ii) preliminary study, iii) requirement model construction, iv) ARMS development, v) model evaluation by users and experts respectively. The requirement of the proposed model was collected using multiple facts finding techniques, namely interview, observation, and document reviews. The proposed model was validated using prototyping approach. The evaluation of the prototype was done by expert reviews and end-user acceptance study. The results of the evaluation showed that the ARMS was highly effective to be implemented in the teaching and learning of Basic Science subject. This is because it assists in explaining difficult topics. In addition, it has also been proven that the integration of the AR technology in teaching and learning is able to create an enjoyable environment because it is supported by the visualization of 3D virtual objects. As a result, the students were able to understand and recognize the functions, health, and diseases of the muscular system through ARMS. The study also found that the implementation of ARMS was able to increase the students’ cognitive development and enhance the students’ learning ability

THE EFFECTS OF A MOBILE APP-BASED SKY MAP IN TEACHING COLLEGE STUDENTS ABOUT CONSTELLATIONS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using a mobile app-based sky map to teach college students about constellations, stars, nebulae, and star clusters. The name of the app was Star Chart. The setting for the study was a community college in West Tennessee. Twenty out of 60 participants were males, with 83% of all being less than 25 years old. The first effect studied was concerning students level of attitude toward astronomy after they used the mobile app to learn about sky constellations, stars, nebulae, and star clusters. The second effect investigated in the study was regarding the ability of participating college students to identify the above astronomical objects after using the mobile app. For comparison purposes, the same measurements were taken for a control group that used a conventional print-based sky map, commonly known as a planisphere. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to compare the experimental or app-users group (n = 30) and control group (n = 30).The results of the study showed that Star Chart app users developed significantly more positive attitude toward astronomy than the planisphere users (Hotellings Trace = 0.132, F (2, 57) = 3.751, p \u3c .05, multivariate effect size 2 = 0.12). The multivariate effect size obtained showed that the difference was substantial. On the other hand, both Star Chart and planisphere groups learned comparable skills of identifying constellations, stars, nebulae, and star clusters.Since app-based sky maps are available freely for various platforms of mobile devices, they can be added to the technology repertoire of teachers and other community members involved in astronomy education. Due to time constraints, the researcher used planetarium software to simulate the sky. Hence, future researchers are recommended to replicate this study in the context of real night sky observations

RealitySketch: Embedding Responsive Graphics and Visualizations in AR through Dynamic Sketching

We present RealitySketch, an augmented reality interface for sketching interactive graphics and visualizations. In recent years, an increasing number of AR sketching tools enable users to draw and embed sketches in the real world. However, with the current tools, sketched contents are inherently static, floating in mid air without responding to the real world. This paper introduces a new way to embed dynamic and responsive graphics in the real world. In RealitySketch, the user draws graphical elements on a mobile AR screen and binds them with physical objects in real-time and improvisational ways, so that the sketched elements dynamically move with the corresponding physical motion. The user can also quickly visualize and analyze real-world phenomena through responsive graph plots or interactive visualizations. This paper contributes to a set of interaction techniques that enable capturing, parameterizing, and visualizing real-world motion without pre-defined programs and configurations. Finally, we demonstrate our tool with several application scenarios, including physics education, sports training, and in-situ tangible interfaces.Comment: UIST 202

ASEAN 4 KIDS: AN INTERACTIVE APPLICATION FOR LEARNING ASEAN CULTURE

With three years to the implementation of ASEAN Community in 2015, knowledge about ASEAN is the basic fundamental building block to the success of the ASEAN Community. A research has revealed that currently there is still a significant knowledge gap about ASEAN among young generation. Therefore, this project aims to fulfill this gap by designing and developing an interactive application for learning ASEAN culture named “ASEAN 4 KIDS”. Objective of this project are to develop an interactive application that encourages young children especially primary school students to learn some basic knowledge about ASEAN and culture of each member countries. The project also aims to raise awareness and understanding of ASEAN, its people and cultures to the target users through ICT. Additionally, the objectives are to explore the use of game-based approach in promoting culture learning as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of the application in learning ASEAN culture. Currently in the market, there are limited numbers of culture teaching applications that integrate various aspects of culture. Furthermore, the products that actually focus on teaching ASEAN Culture are very scarce. Using Flash and Augmented Reality, the system exposes the young children to the technology while they learn from the animation lessons and play the interactive games which are the mechanism to teach about ASEAN and deliver the educational content. Besides, the proposed system, this project also involves the study of how culture is being taught in school and the study of young children nature. As a result, the lessons and games are age-appropriate and match the abilities of the children. As a consequence the system is not only creating a joyful learning for the children but also help create awareness and understanding about ASEAN among them. The prototype system was tested with 5 primary school children aged between nine to twelve years old under the instruction of the developer and parents. The result of the testing showed the excitement of the children towards the system which is a good sign for the implementation in the real learning environment later on