What the Hell is Augmented Reality?

           It escaped me that I might be actually read by those who might know a lot about augmented reality.  Having been a fan of science fiction and ardent fan of both written and film speculative works, it is something that I’ve always imagined as being very real although it really has not been.  If you’ve ever seen Star Trek and saw the captain or his crew access the Holo Deck or read the pages of Marvel and saw the X-Men go in the danger room then you can imagine what augmented reality has to offer to society and especially our students.

            Augmented reality are computer simulations on mobile devices that are triggered by real world locations and environmental influences or surroundings.  Augmented reality(AR) combines physical and virtual world contexts, dually.  AR embeds learners, or any audience, in authentic situations enhanced by computer generated graphics and sound.  AR also strives to engage users in a socially facilitated context, whose confluence elevates the interactivity and truly enhances communication and interactivity to new levels.  The term augmented reality is used by me very broadly in my discovery process and blogging to include elements that others might not consider as what is popularly defined as AR.

Equipment

Light Augmentation – Provides small bits of information of data to the user that may not be provided very rapidly.

Mobile Phones, PDA’s and Smartphones

Heavy Augmentation – Provides a great deal of virtual information (possibly including more immersive visual feedback).  The larger amounts of data are also provided to the user very rapidly to better simulate near live environments.

Immersive helmets and Goggles

Resources:

http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality

The Reed College Kindle Study: My Comments

The term augmented reality, which I guess as owner of this blog I should define for my audience, is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated sensory input such as sound or graphics (possibly in the future smell and touch).  Looking at the definition AR devices could be extremely varied. 

Being so varied I would like to include slate computers and e-books, which in some ways try to mirror books, which exist in the real world (for now).  I was exploring twitter links and retweets and found mention of a report done on the much touted study by Amazon of the Kindle DX in college environments.  This study at Reed College was undertaken as a product evaluation for Amazon, but was also grown by the evaluators as an opportunity to identify the impacts that Kindle/ebooks might have on teaching and learning activities.

The courses chosen were text heavy and tech light courses.  The faculty chosen was fairly technically astute.  46 Students were registered for the classes and nearly all the students participated (43 students participated). To garner feedback web surveys were used pre and post assessment, along with e-mails.

Positive finding of the Amazon Kindle were they were much easier to read than on laptops, the form factor (able to sit and lay), battery life was outstanding, proved very durable, very little extra paper had to be used, wireless and cellular distribution and the single function benefit.

Some of the negative findings were materials availability, PDF formatting, PDF distribution (10 cents), lack of color & images, refresh rate lagged behind LCD screens (problem with skimming), pagination (not able to be used as reference), multiple texts, with the real pain being in highlighting and adaptation.  Of particular note is the comparison video of working with the iphone vs. kindle.

Content comprehension was the big looser in the Kindle study and implementation.  It seems that the students were not able to interact with the media as efficiently as was done on paper.  They were only able to read linearly and not able to highlighting and annotating.  The students no longer interacted with the text, merely passively reading the text.

I think the students should have been given the option of getting the text as well.   Through formative assessments throughout the study adjustments could have been made as well.  With these adjustments being made within the study better information could have been garnered on using ebooks as a compliment to current materials.  I noticed that it was mentioned about the apprehension of students wanting to layout additional money for an additional device beyond the books and laptops was still in questions.  Speaking as a student, I couldn’t wait until the ipad was available and the only reason I didn’t get a Kindle immediately was because of its size.  The product I was actually blown away by initially was that of the Plastic Logic team (yet to come out as promised).  My “first kiss” product was the Sony E-book Reader, which made me fall in love with the whole bunch of them.

The future of ebook readers has definitely arrived since last fall when this study was done.  I can’t wait to see how the academy welcomes the readers with its new drop in price point and widening availability and growing prices of texts.

References

Dr. Martin Ringle, D. T. M. (Producer). (2009, November 10, 2010) Amazon Kindle DX Pilot Project Overview. Video retrieved from http://bcis.pacificu.edu/roundtables/Presentations/2010/index.php

 

Ancient Augmentation of Reality

It's important in my writing about Augmented reality to talk about how ancient of a practice that reality augmentation in in the realm of education and communication. Listening and watching my pastor today at church brings many of these ancient tools of communication to life.

Music & Song - for millennia  humans have transmitted information about history, beliefs and bloodlines through song. The ancient Indian Vedic Samhitas before they were written they were transmitted from generation to to generation through putting it to song.

Voice, tone & inflection - accenting some words to give emphasis and relate the emotion and strength of what's truly meant.

Written word - the thoughts and ideas of ancient, faraway strangers being besought to intimate levels.

Parables and stories - many cultural and societal norms and rules were easily communicated through the stories of it's peoples. You have aesops fables, greek mythology, and the great stories of Christianity. Jesus famously used parables to help everyday people understand complex interpretations of rabbinic and living scripture.

Gestures - my pastor today also used gestures mimicked by the audience to have them to corporately understand our church vision.


Praise & Worship - hands up to the sky
Learning the word/being fed the word - hands on your stomach
Outreach & witnessing - hands stretched forward

These hand movements use the body mind connection to help create deeper understanding of what's being communicated. If 93% of communication is non-verbal than to truly transmit the full meaning it seems to reason one might have to repeat or re-mediate those gestures as well as the words transmitted.




Props - my pastor to demonstrate what he was communicating in his message also used physical elements. He used a thrown that had cotton piled at it's feet to represent the throne of Christ and a life-sized real wooden cross to represent the sacrifice of Christ. Matter of fact you can see strong symbolism throughout Christianity (e.g. Rosary, cross, communion, robes, women's covering).

I was watching this evening a show on the science channel about the ancient coliseum's of Rome and how they were spectacles for the public.  I remembered learning how great productions were done in these great places that transformed the spaces into jungles for hunts of far away animals imported from Africa and other lands along with recreating great naval battles in a flooded coliseum.  These spectacles recreated events and realities from places far from Rome.

Augmented reality through the technology available to day is obviously far more complex than these ancient devices. AR will help to make information and learning live like never before. If a medical student needs to understand what the heart looks like a professor can call one up for the class to see and explore in three dimensions by looking through their smartphone or through some new AR lenses.

"If I could play video games in school I would cry!"

            In the above picture you see kids in a non-charter, New York public school is just over one year old and focuses on teaching kids through game theory, which is systems theory based and coincides with New York City School standards.  The school is staffed with curriculum designers who design instruction with the use of video games and game based learning spaces.

            The children at the school are engaged because they use very popular medium to help them learn.  They play existing games, they build and mod other games.  They basically build their own worlds through collaboration.  These  children are being prepared for the world that they will inherit. The world they will run will be a global one, based on technology and filled with information that must be navigated and negotiated through higher order thinking and problem solving done collaboratively with a diverse workforce.

             The kids at this school are having fun, but they are learning to create, discover, research and work together in a "funner way" as Don Levins, one of the game designers says.  One of the children feature on the video for this article said that 'it would be great to play video games at school [so badly], it would make him cry!"  When was the last time a student said that about a worksheet?

Reference

Corrbett, s. (2010, September 15, 2010). Learning by Playing: Video Games in the Classroom. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19video-t.html

Freedman, S. (2007). New Class(room) War: Teacher vs. Technology. The New York Times, 4

Games are the Future of Education says the father of Sociobiology

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112203095

During an open mic segment on NPR, Will Wright (Creator of the Sims & Spore) takes the host chair and interviews someone who inspired him in designing his first successful video game.  He is interviewing E. O. Wilson, biological evolution inheritor of Darwin’s mantle.  They talked about how games are important in education.  Wilson actually stated “Games are the future of education.” He said print textbooks will soon be left behind.  He envisioned being able to take students on virtual fieldtrips.  He mentioned how games were helping us to move away from wrong-minded teacher centered models that run counter to what has worked through human history and sociobiology. He said that the human brain is made to learn through participation, which was a pattern established in Paleolithic times.  He mentioned these virtual experiences created through gaming actually encourage kids to go out and have real experiences.  He mentioned his own experience as a child getting bitten by an ant at the age of 9.  He mentioned that he was able to spend a huge amount of his time in the fields that grew his knowledge and curiosity.

Tomorrow I will discuss the work being done at a New York School where gaming is the focus of education.  This school really echoes in reality what  E. O. Wilson imagined with his evolutionary and psychobiological expertise.

Wright, W. (Producer). (2009, September 1, 2009) E.O. Wilson And Will Wright: Ant Lovers Unite! Open Mic. retrieved from http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=112203095&m=112427309

History Education through Augmented Reality

The Civil War Augmented Reality Project is a great demonstration of what is capable when this technology is put in the hands of educators.  This team has taken what would normally be an uneventful field trip to a national park and made it leave for the visitors.  What would normally be a tour of empty battlefield once filled with action are now active scenes filled with activities that engage the students in play and transport them back in time almost.  Student in an environment are engaged physicall, emotionally and mentally.

The ability to achieve something like this is well within the grasp of this project team with the purchase of the needed equipment and money.  This concept could be widely applied to museums and similar parks.

References

Solon, D. (Producer). (2009, October 13, 2010) Civil War Augmented Reality Project. Twenty Minutes for Tech.

Seeing the World through New Eyes

The Augmented Reality Event 2010: "Seeing" - Keynote by Jesse Schell from Ori Inbar on Vimeo.


            On the hills of a very popular TED speech during his keynote at Augmented Reality Event, Jesse Schell reveals his remarkable insight into the concept and reality of Augmented Reality.  Jesse Schell likens AR to the wearing of glasses. Augmenting the reality around us and helping the wearer to enhance what he sees.  He talks about the shadow of what's possible and the likelihood of what will be, in terms of augmented reality.


             Take note of Jesse's take on vision and what's possible.  I believe, as Jesse does, that AR will fundamentally change how we deal with the huge amounts of information we've amassed and the social networks that are being made digitally available to us.  In this blog I will  seek to provide information and perspective on how we can use AR to better engage students and leverage the vast amount of information available to us.

References

Cadmus, J. (2010). Augmented Reality Event 2010 to Feature Qualcomm as Lead Sponsor. Business Wire.