AUGMENTING THE REALITY OF WYOMING’S RICH FOSSIL RESOURCES: DOES AUGMENTED REALITY ENHANCE MUSEUM VISITOR EXPERIENCE AND OUTREACH?

The use of augmented reality (AR), a technology that superimposes computer-generated images or models on a user’s real world view, as an educational tool is an increasingly growing field of interest. In an effort to make the University of Wyoming (UW) Geological Museum’s fossil collections more accessible and to provide a new and engaging tool to encourage learning about Wyoming’s fossil record, we developed a free downloadable augmented reality (AR) app called WyoFossil that superimposes 3D models of our fossil specimens on cards. As the user changes either the orientation of the phone or the card, they see 360-degree views of a selected 3D model. We designed and printed 10 educational AR cards and made them available to museum visitors to take home, and also made them globally accessible for download on the UW Geological museum website. Users were asked to take a quick survey to better understand how they envision using the cards in the future, what they liked, and if it enhanced their visit or inspired a visit to the UW Geological Museum. Here, we present the general design of our AR cards and results from the user survey.

Of the 300+ returned surveys, we found that the majority of the users were female (70%) and were mostly less than 25 years of age. Our users were a mix of students (50%), general museum visitors (28%), parents/guardians (13%), educators (7.5%), and researchers (2%). Our users mostly visited the museum (90%) and were from Wyoming (70%). Overall the responses were very favorable towards the WyoFossil app and cards. Over 90% of the responses indicated that the AR cards enhanced their museum visit, and 60% indicated the app/cards inspired them to visit the museum. We are pleased to report that 70% of the users felt more connected with Wyoming paleontology, that 75% users felt the AR cards were like taking a fossil home with them, and 90% would like to see more cards developed of both skeletal models and life-reconstructions. Users indicated they will primarily use the cards as mementos and show-and-tell, but many users indicated they indented to use them for school, research, and art. Based on survey results we believe the app did in fact improve visitor experience and strengthened the scholarship and outreach use of our displays and collections.