Case Study UCA

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SCARLET+ University for the Creative Arts

The Crafts Study Centre (CSC), a university museum and research centre of the University for the Creative Arts (UCA), has worked with Team SCARLET from The University of Manchester to pilot augmented reality (AR) in education. The JISC funded SCARLET+ project (2012-13) carries on from the previous SCARLET project (2011-12) which resulted in the creation of this toolkit.

What is augmented reality (AR)?

In a nutshell AR is a computer graphics overlay on top of a live view of the real world. For more information and examples go to: Introduction to AR

The following Prezi contains a short introduction to AR given to second year students in January 2013.

Why AR in education?

For the CSC using AR has been a way to encourage UCA students to engage with the collections. AR has been used to provide additional information about objects in the collection and to build layers of relationships between objects and their interpretation. Through project funding the CSC has been able to purchase two iPads for use by students without access to a suitable device to view the AR apps. Student feedback has suggested that access to the devices would also encourage them to visit the CSC.

Pedagogy before technology

Crucial to the success of the project has been working with an academic to ensure that the AR relates to teaching and is not simply about the technology on its own. The project's Academic Lead has been Adrian Bland, Contextual Studies Co-ordinator, School of Media and Culture, UCA. He has worked closely with the Institutional Lead, Jean Vacher, Curator, and the Educational Technologist, Marie-Therese Gramstadt. These conversations resulted in the first AR app which used the concept of AR as a portal to another world, with links to specific areas of student interest. The second AR app was a re-thinking of how AR could be useful to a specific group of students and was based around a single object and related to a specific essay question. This second app will continue to be used by Adrian following the end of this project (April 2013).

Pitfalls to watch out for

In the future it is likely to be less of an issue, however at the time of writing (March 2013) some of the pitfalls experienced include: lack of understanding about QR codes and AR; lack of the proper device to access AR; lack of a robust WiFi connection.

QR codes versus AR

(in progress)

Devices

One of the challenges with AR is the need for suitable devices to view the digital content. This has been an important consideration as many staff and students do not own the required devices themselves. At the beginning of the project it was also not possible to loan suitable devices through UCA, but now additional devices are available on loan for projects through the IT department.

Wi-Fi and FTP

(in progress)

Try out the Crafts Study Centre's 1st AR app

Through the SCARLET+ project (2012-13) the Crafts Study Centre have been supported by The University of Manchester to produce an AR app. This can be viewed by scanning the QR code with the Junaio AR browser and then hovering your device over the image of The Little Gallery.

  1. check you have a suitable device with WiFi connection
  2. install the free Junaio app
  3. open the Junaio app on your device and click the 'scan' logo top right of the screen
  4. scan the following QR code to access our AR channel: JunaioQRLogo 140106.png
  5. then hover your device over the image of the interior of The Little Gallery to see the AR content:
    Image of the interior of The Little Gallery. Copyright: Crafts Study Centre 2013.
  6. Your device should show content similar to this screenshot:
    Image of AR content displaying on an iPad screen. Copyright: Crafts Study Centre 2013.

Watch the user journey for the 2nd AR app