Lead by Dr Andrew Sherlock, School of Engineering, the Centre for Research in Digital Education will contribute to this project to improve understanding of teaching, learning and assessment through augmented and mixed reality.
Augmented Reality (AR) allows digital content to be overlaid onto the physical environment, typically on devices such as glasses, tablets and smartphones. More recently, semi-immersive Mixed Reality (MR) devices, usually headsets (e.g. Microsoft Hololens), allow 3D holograms to be placed in the physical environment.
Recent research indicates that AR/MR offers significant educational benefits including increases in student motivation, collaboration and interaction. At the same time, challenges to using AR/MR are apparent in busy classrooms, additional time investments, and the need for appropriate training.
The year-long project will identify and develop 3 pilot apps targeted towards Engineering, Medicine and Curation Practice within Edinburgh College of Art, in order to:
- identify areas (across disciplines) where AR/MR piloting is most appropriate
- improve understanding of teaching, learning and assessment in AR/MR
- develop ‘inhouse’ expertise in the practical development of AR/MR apps
The project will engage with students through a sketch competition that will inform the development of 3 apps. In order to promote cross-disciplinary interaction, MSc students in the Centre for Research in Digital Education will be offered opportunities to engage with related VR/MR projects.
The project team includes Professor Sian Bayne, Dr Frank Mill (Engineering), Prof Timothy Drysdale (Engineering), Dr Tim Fawns (Medicine) and Dr Kirsten Lloyd (ECA).