Educational Augmented Reality and LocationBased Applications.

Case Study: Microblogging

Holotescu C.1, Grosseck G.2, Ivanova M.3, Creu V. 1
1 2

University Politehnica of Timisoara (ROMANIA) West University of Timisoara (ROMANIA) 3 Technical University of Sofia (BULGARIA) carmen.holotescu@cs.upt.ro, ggrosseck@socio.uvt.ro, m-ivanova@tu-sofia.bg, vladimir.cretu@cs.upt.ro

Abstract
The Augmented Reality (AR) and Location-Based Applications (LB) are becoming popular in the last three years, together with microblogging, one of the top social media technologies. After a short overview of AR (what is AR, some features and its impact on society), well focus on the implications of AR in education (the teaching-learning effect). A special section of the article is a case study on AR and LB extensions of the Cirip.eu microblogging platform and their uses in higher education. Keywords: augmented reality, microblogging, education

What is Augmented Reality and why should we care?

Coined for the first time in 1990 by Tim Caudell, Augmented Reality (AR) defines the latest and the greatest concept of computer-aided life, being in constant evolution and redefinition. Augmented Reality (AR) combines the real world with that which is virtual [18]. It is considered an area of real interest, a promising and effective technology [14], still little developed. Augmented Reality connects and combines real life objects, places and people around us to a variety of information and simulated computer generated experiences [13]. The most used domains are: advertising and marketing, architecture and construction, entertainment, medical sector, military field, travel. The idea to combine digital information with reality is not very new, but since recently such attempts could be seen only in human robot movies, like Terminator or Robocop. Currently, however, the technology is available to everyone and has a lot of effects: the fact that you can see things that are not in the place that seem to be, but it helps you orient yourself or find out much more about that space.

AR influence in education

Although the booming of AR development is seen in domains such as marketing and entertainment [7], AR entered in education too in tangible and exciting ways, with lots of possibilities for teachi ng and learning environments [23]. Yuen, Yaoyuneyong & Johnson [23] show that the research for augmenting education is still in its infancy, with no actual educational agenda when it comes to developing new AR technologies and applications. However, the educational applications of AR have potential in lots of disciplines and fields of education such as: chemistry, biology, astronomy, medical training simulations, engineering design, mathematics and geometry, architecture, e-learning systems or science education ([2], [7], [23], [13]).

2.1

Opportunities and challenges

In the educational contexts there are several benefits of the AR technologies, which can be highlighted as follows ([23], [12], [13], [21], [22]): - Visualizing the invisible by exploring teaching-learning resources from different angles: engage, stimulate and motivate students through learning content in 3D perspective and interactive experiences. - Innovative ways of learning: to teach subjects that students have difficulties in experiencing real-world phenomena, to visualize complex spatial relationships and abstract concepts, increase the understanding of spatial spaces (the case of astronomy or geography).

Enhancing collaboration and engagement between students and teachers and among students to a ubiquitous, collaborative and situated learning. Stimulates creative thinking among students and enhance comprehension in a specific domain. Fostering student creativity, curiosity, discovering and imagination (e.g. adopt virtual personas). AR technology can stand as a motivation tool for conduction of students their own exploration and as a supportive tool of theory learning in an interesting and enjoyable way [13]. Knowledge construction and transfer to create an authentic learning environment suitable to various learning styles customized / personalized learning experiences, engaging students in authentic exploration of the real world. Create contextual awareness / achieving awareness of multiple perspective of self-presence in real-life experiences (for e.g. learners can disassociate themselves from negative self-conceptions). New learning opportunities by bridging learning in formal and informal settings (explorative environments). Increase the effectiveness of individual study / to improve learning outcomes. In this respect, [12] define three instructional approaches emphasizing engaging learners into three major categories: roles, interactions with physical locations and the design of learning tasks. Facilitate human communication / interaction - through the AR holographic technologies educational actors will have the opportunity to conference face-to-face and will be able to communicate effortlessly over a distance. Inducing positive emotion to learners. In a recent research, [15] surveyed a group of teachers from primary education whether the AR technology can induce emotions during educational activities. The study showed that the integration of AR with traditional learning induces the following emotions: concerned and interested in, attentive, excited and enthusiastic.

The AR disadvantages are summarized below. In the near future due to rapid developments of AR in terms of technologies and devices these will be overcome / should ease with time ([4], [12]): - Because AR can be implemented by varied technologies, such as desktop computers, handh eld devices, head-mounted displays and so on sometimes arise hardware and software problems (including physical safety risks for devices available for students). - Cognitive students overload when trying to learn new technology (technical knowledge / technology design). - Students lost track and time of their actual surroundings trying to solve complex tasks. - AR content is still quite difficult to create and deploy both by teachers and students. - In order to transfer a proper knowledge to their students teachers have to understand and experiment before the class sessions the AR technology. In the literature there are described five significant applications of AR in education: Skills training (virtual scenarios training): AR provides rich contextual learning for individuals learning a skill; multiple learning styles, provides serendipitous exploration. Examples: AR Goggles train specific tasks such as airplane maintenance; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for physicians training and practicing ultrasounds on pregnant women; ARMAR military mechanisms. Discovery Based Learning: students take control of their own learning, each student has his/her own unique discovery path; flexible learning. Examples: Through Wikitude students can research collaboratively locations, concepts, sites, areas, events etc. based on school field trips. EU-funded iTacitus AR project (www.itacitus.org) will allow visitors to pan across a location while hearing and seeing a historic event play out. TAT Augmented ID application use facial recognition technology. SREngine use AR object recognition to display information about everyday items in the real world, allowing for easy price comparison while shopping, as well as identifying plants and animals. LearnAR (www.learnar.org) allow independent investigation of learning scenarios (e.g. chemical reactions or exploring 3D geometric shapes). Gaming (for e.g. in forensic disciplines students can solve a fictional crime). Possibilities of AR gaming for education are: more authentic / interactive form of learning, grasping class concepts, creating digital creatures and objects to show relationships and connections, increase students learning and engagement, gaining students interest and attention. Examples: SimSnails: the students learn and experiments the concepts of natural selection and evolution. Alien Contact/Landing (for K12 students): discovery, enquiring, collecting evidences, solving problems, using different skills from math, science, art and language (to build user interests in factual data, such as real-world socio-economic regional statistics). Modelling Objects allow learners to envision how a given item would look in different settings; students get immediate visual feedback (e.g. in architecture proposals).

AR Books: to build connections between readers and the book, to open a new way to understand and use storytelling. Examples: The Future is Wild: The Living Book was developed by Meatio in Germany and was launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2011. The book has 42 AR features. Another type of AR book experience is offered by AR pop-up books (Digilog Books), created by Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in South Korea, which can display 3D characters spring from each page when readers wear a special pair of glasses. The Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology in Thailand developed a 3D augmented reality geology textbook which teaches students about the discovery of earths layers, their relationships, differences, and functions.

2.2

Tools used to create AR applications in education

Some tools are simple, very friendly and easy to use and require no programming knowledge (without writing any code) or skill, like Daqri (www.daqri.com) or Zoobrust (www.zooburst.com) the 3D storytelling tool for creating 3D books [3]. With powerful programming interface, other tools are intended for developers (ARToolKit, Unifeye, Mobile SDK, or Wikitude).

M2AR: Mobile Microblogging Augmented Reality

Despite the global need to engage articulated naturality (AN) or augmented reality as the new frontiers of Mobile 2.0 [5], the use of mobile micro-technologies are, undoubtedly, the next strand of integration within educational practices, in developing new ways of teaching and learning. In a recent survey [11] only a small percent of educational actors from academia use AR (Layar.com, Wikitude.com, Zooburst.com) and locationbased applications (Foursquare.com, Yelp.com, Zvents.com), 8% and respectively 10%. These figures can be correlated with the issue that the experience in integrating such tools in education is lower, also with the fact that the AR and LB applications are mobile and a relative small percentage of educators use mobiles or tablets/ipads (28% / 37% [11]). In order to utilize the mobile AR applications, a mobile device or a smartphone must be equipped with: GPS technology (for location-finding), an accelerometer (for detecting the movement) and a digital compass (magnetometer - for direction) [23]. Numerous mobile AR applications use mobile augmented reality browsers, such as Layar (http://www.layar.com), Wikitude (http://www.wikitude.com), Junaio (http://www.junaio.com), Aurasma (http://www.aurasma.com) or Acrossair (http://www.acrossair.com). These AR browsers support experiential and mobile learning, meaning that students can interact with the environment using the phone, obtaining contextual information and can build their own applicatio ns for others use. Being a mobile technology too, in many cases microblogging is used in conjunction with mobile AR applications. M2AR = Mobile (Microblogging) Augmented Reality is the acronym we propose to be used for mobile Augmented Reality applications on a dedicated educational microblogging platform (such as Cirip.eu or Edmodo). This concept is not new, but the combination of mobile devices for AR with social media such as the microblogging tehnology in a personalized manner is ([8], [19], [20]).

3.1

Case study: Cirip.eu

Cirip.eu is a Romanian microblogging platform designed for education, which provides numerous posibilities for sending/monitoring messages (Figure 1) [9]: native scripts/plugins: online, SMS, mobile interface (http://m.cirip.ro), CiripFox / Firefox extensions, import/export Twitter notes, import/export RSS, e-mail, widget published on blogs/sites, YM/GTalk/Jabber messenger clients, export notes in a file, real-time wall, Post2Cirip bookmarklet; 3rd party mashups based on API: Firefox Ubiquity command, CiripChrome extension, CiripGadget (Google gadget), WP2Cirip (Wordpress plugin), AddThis social plugin, CiripAir standalone application, CiripME mobile application, CiripGroup Augmented Reality Layar application, Compendium2CiripLD application for converting Compendium scenarios in Learning Design Cirip objects.

Figure 1. Plug-ins and mash-ups as a mindmap. Source: note at http://www.cirip.ro/status/3113278

3.1.1 CiripGroup Augmented Reality Layar application implementation

Using a Cirip mash-up implemented on the augmented reality browser Layar, one can geo-locate, find information and join different groups: a student/learner can join a group by simply sending an SMS or using the Twitter or Cirip account. The mash-up is important especially for finding groups for workshops, events, trainings, being a valuable facility for educational marketing [10]. As architectural style the Cirip Application Programming Interface (API) uses Representational State Transfer (REST) [6].

Figure 2. CiripGroup Augmented Reality Layar application implementation (POI Points Of Interest)

Cirip API has a rate assuring 60 GET-based requests per hour per access token, this way preventing the server overload. The following functions provided by the Cirip API are used by the CiripGroup Augmented Reality Layar application: get_group information about the selected group URL: cirip.ro/statuses/group_show.format; Format: xml, json; Parameter: user group name get_groups - information about the groups in a geographic area URL: cirip.ro/statuses/groups_show.format; Format: xml, json; Parameters: latitude, longitude, radius group_timeline recent messages in a selected group URL: cirip.ro/statuses/group_timeline.format; Format: xml, json; Parameter: user group name.

Figure 3. Layar on Cirip.eu

Instead of conclusions

Although there are many topics and issues for future research, there still are some key questions to answer [2], [17], [12]: How AR can help students learn? What are the key technologies suitable to support and afford a meaningful learning? How AR could be designed for educational purposes? Who are the drivers? And how AR technologies / apps could be best incorporated into educational settings? What are the major learning outcomes promoted by AR? What are the developments and key problems in these areas? What are important future trends for AR research? However, the M2AR is here to stay as an effective tool that can change the rules of the teaching-learning process and models good pedagogy responsive to student's learning needs and challenging teachers to revisit their roles as educators. It also incorporates innovative characteristics or allows for mash-ups identified by the Horizon Report 2013 [16] as emerging technologies likely to have a large impact over the coming three years in education around the globe: cloud computing, mobile and tablet computing, social reading, adaptive learning environments and AR [16].

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