Welcome to the Augmented and Mobile Learning Research Group at Penn State.
A learner using an iPad to augment tulips with additional information while in the gardens at the Arboretum at Penn State.
We are university researchers who conduct research on pedagogies and designs to support learning with mobile computers. Our perspective combines theories from informal learning, place-based learning, and technologically-enhanced learning to create learner-centered environments deployed on mobile computers.
Our latest project is Transforming Outdoor Places into Learning Spaces, a 6-year design-based research project, funded by the National Science Foundation, that investigates how rural families learn in outdoor places when engaging in mobile learning experiences. Our partners in this work include the Arboretum at Penn State, Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, rural libraries, and university researchers.
Another project, STEM Pillars, focuses on developing a project-based workshop model for rural families usable in other small museums and rural libraries. The STEM Pillars curricula is designed for community scientists to teach hands-on inquiry-based workshops for families with elementary-aged children (aged 6 to 10 years old) that reflect science important to rural communities.
An example of our data collection set up for Transforming Outdoor Places at the Arboretum
We also have a series of projects related to mobile computing and connecting learning across settings—often using digital photography, augmented reality technologies, digital resources, and scaffolds to encourage science conversations in outdoor informal sites.
Related projects lead by our team’s previous doctoral researchers, include: augmented books, iBooks as trail guides, digital photography, mobile digital badging project, and 3-D images to support science learning