CONTEXT-SENSITIVE MOBILE LEARNING IN THE GEOSCIENCES: AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITIES

The traditional classroom is being disrupted by mobile devices! Students are frequently distracted by email, SMS text messages, YouTube, Twitter, and especially FaceBook. Often, professors may try to enforce a “no mobile devices” policy, however even if students do not peek at their devices, they may be unable to concentrate on material delivered in a traditional setting because of the way their devices have rewired their brains. There’s no way to police daydreaming!

We see many opportunities to using mobile devices to enhance geoscience student engagement and learning in non-traditional, context-sensitive settings. We here present results of experimentation with a number of bleeding-edge technologies that support both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). AR refers to a combination of real-world images or data with digital overlays, whereas VR is totally virtual. First, we used an AR mobile app called FreshAiR (www.playfreshair.com) to experiment with delivery of data or questions to students’ mobile devices in the field, with content delivery triggered by locational proximity. Students see the content superimposed on their phone's or tablet's live view. Second, we experimented with streaming video from an agile person at the outcrop to a sessile companion using Google Glass and the LiveStream app. Third, we recorded split-screen VR content using Poppy3D hardware and software. The 3D and 4D split-screen recordings can be viewed with Google Cardboard (a digital ViewMaster) or by re-purposing the old air photo stereoscopes that most geoscience departments used in pervious decades.

We conclude that there is great potential for enhanced student engagement and learning by taking the student out of the passive classroom mode and transferring the learning experience to a real-life context. Technologies such as FreshAiR also make it possible to conceive of asynchronous field classes with implications for attracting non-traditional students to the geosciences.