Mobile Learning: Augmented Reality and Quantified Self

MIT’s Dr. Eric Klopfer’s YouTube video on mobile AR games was an interesting watch, and directly related to two of the three articles I chose to read this week. I looked at Dunleavy and Dede’s Augmented reality teaching and learning and Martin et. al.’s Participatory scaling through augmented reality learning through local games. Both were fascinating reads about AR. Dunleavy and Dede (2014) introduced what augmented reality is and described two forms of AR for educator:

“(1) location-aware and (2) vision-based. Location-aware AR presents digital media to learners as they move through a physical area with a GPS-enabled smartphone or similar mobile device. The media (i.e., text, graphics, audio, video, 3D models) augment the physical environment with narrative, navigation, and/or academic information relevant to the location. In contrast, vision-based AR presents digital media to learners after they point the camera in their mobile device at an object (e.g., QR code, 2D target)” (p. 735).

They ground their AR research and findings in two learning theories: situated learning theory and constructivist learning theory. Martin et. al. also discuss their AR findings around situated learning theory as well. iphone-ARMartin et. al.’s (2014) piece focuses on ARIS, “an open-source tool for creating and disseminating mobile AR learning experiences and a socio-technical network of educators who develop and exchange resources and best practices” (p. 35) which “began as a class project” (p. 37). Martin et. el. discussed three projects that utilized ARIS, or augmented reality and interactive storytelling, mobile games. One specifically that caught my attention was Folklore, where a class of 80 college students were given iPads with an unlimited data plan and were tasked with “map[ping] and document[ing] (with photographs, video, and text notes) places on campus that they felt embodied their own university experience, share with the class, then visit their peers’ notes in the context of their significant places” (2014, p. 38). Through this assignment, both the instructor and students noted increased engagement and collaboration and community.

Dunleavy and Dede (2014) did comment on a limitation of AR; “students are often overwhelmed with the complexity of the activities” (p. 739). In contrast, this was a strength of the Fitbit article from Lee et. al. (2015);fitibit “a wearable activity tracker will passively gather information about the wearer’s movement…without requiring that individual’s attention. This means a child can gather activity data without disrupting their regular routine, and then subsequently examine and reflect upon these data” (Lee, 2015, p. 210). I was drawn to the Fitbit article because I myself wear a Fitbit daily and have now for quite a while. Also, I think there is a ton of potential for me to incorporate some sort of instructional activity within the College of Nursing, for student and/or faculty and staff. Lee et. al.’s (2015) Fitbit article used Fitbits in opportunistic ways in an elementary school setting. In other words, they utilized aspects of the day that were already being used for another activity.

For example, the school was already implementing what they calling “Morning Meetings”. The researches and teachers were able to incorporate “Fitbit starters” or “short data exploration episodes” (2015, p. 211) into these already existing Morning Meetings. What I found fascinating about this article was how 5th graders were using Fitbits to argue and prove how football wasn’t a more strenuous (more steps) activity than soccer. They used data from their trackers to prove that the sports actually required about the same exact steps.

I find these two areas fascinating: AR and the quantified self movement. After reading these three articles, I began wondering what an activity or game would look like that incorporated both? A Fitbit could be used or really any self-tracking device, and build that data into a mobile-AR game—it could make for some super engaging learning. The AR piece could be triggered by anyone wearing a Fitbit, and the Fitbit would send a bluetooth notification to the user’s smartphone, activating a web-based AR game or scavenger hunt, or a to-do list for the Fitbit (e.g. This area’s specific high step score is “xxx”. Would you like to try to beat this step score?). This, of course, is all a thought that was triggered from reading this week. Is it possible? Most likely. Would there be any educational benefits? Not sure. Further research is definitely required.

References

Dunleavy, M., & Dede, C. (2014). Augmented reality teaching and learning. In Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (pp. 735-745). Springer New York.

Lee, V. R., Drake, J., & Cain, R. (2015). Opportunistic uses of the traditional school day through student examination of Fitbit activity tracker data. Proceedings of IDC 2015.

Martin, J., Dikkers, S., Squire, K., & Gagnon, D. (2014). Participatory scaling through augmented reality learning through local games. TechTrends, 58(1), 35-41.