Toward future 'mixed reality' learning spaces for STEAM education

Digital technology is becoming more integrated and part of modern society. As this begins to happen, technologies including augmented reality, virtual reality, 3d printing and user supplied mobile devices (collectively referred to as mixed reality) are often being touted as likely to become more a part of the classroom and learning environment. In the discipline areas of STEAM education, experts are expected to be at the forefront of technology and how it might fit into their classroom. This is especially important because increasingly, educators are finding themselves surrounded by new learners that expect to be engaged with participatory, interactive, sensory-rich, experimental activities with greater opportunities for student input and creativity. This paper will explore learner and academic perspectives on mixed reality case studies in 3d spatial design (multimedia and architecture), paramedic science and information technology, through the use of existing data as well as additional one-on-one interviews around the use of mixed reality in the classroom. Results show that mixed reality can provide engagement, critical thinking and problem solving benefits for students in line with this new generation of learners, but also demonstrates that more work needs to be done to refine mixed reality solutions for the classroom

Piloting mixed reality in ICT networking to visualize complex theoretical multi-step problems

This paper presents insights from the implementation of a mixed reality intervention using 3d printed physical objects and a mobile augmented reality application in an ICT networking classroom. The intervention aims to assist student understanding of complex theoretical multi-step problems without a corresponding real world physical analog model. This is important because these concepts are difficult to conceptualise without a corresponding mental model. The simulation works by using physical models to represent networking equipment and allows learners to build a network that can then be simulated using a mobile app to observe underlying packet traversal and routing theory between the different devices as data travels from the source to the destination. Outcomes from usability testing show great student interest in the intervention and a feeling that it helped with clarity, but also demonstrated the need to scaffold the use of the intervention for students rather than providing a freeform experience in the classroom

Audit Certainty, Audit Productivity, and Taxpayer Compliance

Strategies for dealing with evasion include such standard policies as stricter enforcement (e.g., increased audit rates, more extensive audits, larger penalties). However, the exact responses of taxpayers to these enforcement measures are quite difficult to measure with existing field data, and so are not known precisely. In this paper we use experimental methods to examine how individuals respond in their compliance decisions to a "certain" probability of audit and to information concerning the "productivity" of an audit. Our design informs some individuals that their return will be audited with certainty prior to making their compliance decision, while other individuals receive information that they will not be audited; we also inform individuals of the productivity of the audit by stating how much unreported income will be discovered via the audit. We find that the announcement of audits increases the compliance rate of those who are told that they will be audited. However, the compliance rate of those who know that they will not be audited falls, and the net effect is that overall compliance falls. Working Paper 06-4

Assessing mobile mixed reality affordances as a comparative visualization pedagogy for design communication

Spatial visualisation skills and interpretation are critical in the design professions but are difficult for novice designers. There is growing evidence that mixed reality visualisation improves learner outcomes, but often these studies are focused on a single media representation and not on a comparison between media and the underpinning learning outcomes. Results from recent studies highlight the use of comparative visualisation pedagogy in design through learner reflective blogs and pilot studies with experts, but these studies are limited by expense and designs familiar to the learner. With increasing interest in mobile pedagogy, more assessment is required in understanding learner interpretation of comparative mobile mixed reality pedagogy. The aim of this study is to do this by evaluating insights from a first-year architectural design classroom through studying the impact and use of a range of mobile comparative visualisation technologies. Using a design-based research methodology and a usability framework for accessing comparative visualisation, this paper will study the complexities of spatial design in the built environment. Outcomes from the study highlight the positives of the approach but also the improvements required in the delivery of the visualisations to improve on the visibility and visual errors caused by the lack of mobile processing

A Milliped New to Michigan (Pselaphognatha: Polyxenus)

The authors wish to report the finding of representatives of the genus Polyxenus for the first time in Michigan (Fig. 1). In Bert M. Johnson\u27s survey (1954) of the millipedes of Michigan, no members of the subclass Pselaphognatha were reported. During the period of September through October 1970, the authors collected over 40 specimens of Polyxenus and observed over 100 in the field. All of the specimens were found in a mature pine stand in Ypsilanti Township

Visualising mixed reality simulation for multiple users

Cowling, MA ORCiD: 0000-0003-1444-1563Blended reality seeks to encourage co-presence in the classroom, blending student experience across virtual and physical worlds. In a similar way, Mixed Reality, a continuum between virtual and real environments, is now allowing learners to work in both the physical and the digital world simultaneously, especially when combined with an immersive headset experience. This experience provides innovative new experiences for learning, but faces the challenge that most of these experiences are single user, leaving others outside the new environment. The question therefore becomes, how can a mixed reality simulation be experienced by multiple users, and how can we present that simulation effectively to users to create a true blended reality environment? This paper proposes a study that uses existing screen production research into the user and spectator to produce a mixed reality simulation suitable for multiple users. A research method using Design Based Research is also presented to assess the usability of the approach

The Effects of Communication Among Taxpayers on Compliance

Taxpayer audits are thought to have a direct deterrent effect on the individuals actually audited. In addition, audits are believed to have an indirect deterrent effect on individuals not audited as these individuals learn (or are told) about the audits of other taxpayers. However, the effects on compliance of the ways in which taxpayers learn about - and communicate among themselves - audit rates are not known. In this study, we use laboratory experiments to examine the effects of three types of information and communication on compliance. In all sessions, each subject knows the probability of audit and the results of their own audit (if any). In our base case session, each subject knows only the result of his or her audit, and subjects receive no information about audit results of other subjects. In a second treatment (termed "official" communication), subjects are also told by the experimenter the actual number of audits conducted during a period. In a third treatment (or "unofficial" communication), subjects are offered the opportunity to send a "message" to the other participants about their audit experience. Our preliminary results indicate that "unofficial" communication has a strong indirect effect that increases compliance, but that "official" communication may not encourage voluntary compliance