AUGMENTED REALITY SANDBOXES IN THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT

Teaching students to think spatially, in such tasks as reading topographic maps, is a challenge in the classroom (Ishikawa and Kastens, 2005). This challenge is compounded when working in the online environment, where the instructor is not able to guide students while they are working. In a previous study, we found that one way to address this is by incorporating 3-D modeling tools like the Augmented Reality Sandbox (ARS). The ARS is a 3-D model that allows students to see how contour lines change in real time as the surface is changed, thanks to software developed by Kreylos and his team at UC Davis (http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/). We found that students in an online Geology of the National Parks course were better able to read and interpret topographic maps after viewing videos of the instructor manipulating the sandbox (Clark and Ryker, 2016). The lab for this course relies heavily on topographic maps to demonstrate the variation in land surfaces at the different parks, which, in turn, reflects the underlying geology. A solid understanding of topographic maps is a crucial skill for students in a variety of geoscience courses (Mosher et al, 2014). We have developed a series of videos demonstrating topographic concepts using the ARS that can be incorporated into other courses. These can be used to supplement face-to-face courses or replace instruction in a completely online environment. Based on feedback from students, we have developed a set of best practices for creating videos with the ARS. We will present these best practices, provide links to the video resources, and encourage interaction with attendees to select topics for future ARS videos.