Physical Security Survey

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Nedim Slijepcevic

Last few months have been extremely busy, but we did manage to complete two more AR projects. This week we are posting an augmented reality project which is a part of the instructional materials for the course project of APS 201: Physical Security, taught by Professor Ryan Bagget. The course project requires students to conduct an on-site physical security survey of a building or facility of their choice. Professor Bagget worked with us to create a 3D community hospital and used the 3D model to illustrate how safety professionals would conduct an on-site physical survey of the hospital.  View the project video and download source files here.

Posted in Augmented Reality, Education, Safety & Security | Comments Off on Physical Security Survey

Augmented Reality Solar System v1.0

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Nedim Slijepcevic

We just launched our first Adobe Flash based augmented reality project titled “Augmented Reality Solar System v1.0“. The purpose of this project was to provide an Internet-based AR platform for people who are interested in learning or teaching Astronomy.

For this project we used FLARSquidderKit to create the AR platform and Blender 3D to create the 3D models. Tutorial and source files on this process coming soon.

Posted in Augmented Reality, Education, Flash | 1 Comment

Converging Trends in Teaching and Learning 2011 Presentation

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Nedim Slijepcevic

Here is a copy of our “Applications of Augmented Reality in Education” conference PowerPoint presentation in the METS conference center (Converging Trends in Teaching and Learning conference). Thank you for attending our session and please free to contact Wanju and I if you have any questions.

Posted in Augmented Reality | Comments Off on Converging Trends in Teaching and Learning 2011 Presentation

The Role of Augmented Reality in Language Acquisition Part 3

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Nedim Slijepcevic

This is our third Spanish 101 experiment we conducted with the aid of Augmented Reality models (experiment 1, experiment 2). Dr. Socorro Zaragoza wanted to determine what effects does AR have on student language speaking, writing, reading, listening skills as well as the language comprehension.

Each experiment corresponded to the textbook lesson for SPA 101 and the goal of each experiment was to determine if Augmented Reality influenced student learning. The topic of the third lesson/experiment was family members (miembros de la familia). Dr. Zaragoza suggested that we use “The Simpsons” as a scene to portray family members and family relations. This worked quite well as we found most of the 3D models we needed on Google 3D Marketplace. The ones we couldn’t find, we created out of 2D images. In addition to the 3D models, we decided to integrate vocabulary into the augmented reality scene in order to eliminate the split attention effect (Cognitive Load Theory). Split attention effect results when students are interacting with the augmented reality model and then referencing the textbook for the vocabulary while still holding the mental image of  the model in their working memory. This was observed in previous two experiments.

Overall, this was our most successful collaborative educational augmented reality project so far. The students who participated in the experiment were amazed by the models and seemed very engaged during the lesson. We should be analyzing the data (interviews, pre, post and retention test) soon and doing the writeup in upcoming months. Read the full post, watch the experiment video and download the Augmented Reality scene files here.

Posted in Augmented Reality, Cognitive Load, Language Acquisition | 2 Comments

Enclosure Fire Dynamics AR

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Nedim Slijepcevic

Enclosure fire dynamics Augmented Reality (AR) experiment is the first of several upcoming Fire Science AR projects we are preparing for our Fire Science undergraduate students. In this AR lesson, Professor Greg Gorbett discusses the process of fire propagation in enclosed space (describes the ignition, fire growth, flashover and backdraft).

We designed 6 educational Augmented Reality models in Google SketchUp to depict different stages of enclosure fire dynamics. We then used BuildAR to augment the models and FRAPS to record the video footage for post-processing. Read the full article and download files here.

Posted in Augmented Reality, Education, Fire Technology | Comments Off on Enclosure Fire Dynamics AR

Augmented Reality Solar System

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Nedim Slijepcevic

We recently posted our first experimental educational Augmented Reality application which depicts the Solar System. Models of planets are created as spheres in 3D modeling software (Swift3D) and later wrapped with a composite of Mercator scale planet images available from NASA’s Web site. Resulting models fairly accurately represent the Solar System planets.  Full article and download files are available here.

Posted in Augmented Reality | 1 Comment

The Role of AR in Language Acquisition Part 2

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Nedim Slijepcevic

We posted our second  Augmented Reality experiment we conducted in Spanish 101 class (experiment 1). Dr. Socorro Zaragoza wanted to determine what effects does AR have on student language speaking, writing, reading, listening skills as well as the language comprehension. The second lesson/experiment was a scene of a typical coffee shop which contained the following components: blond girl (rubia), black guy (moreno), young person (joven), old person (vieja), poor person (pobre), rich person (rica), tall person (alto), short person (bajo), skinny (flaca), chubby (gordo), new (nuevo), old (viejo). For full description of all AR activities, click here.

Posted in Augmented Reality, Language Acquisition | Comments Off on The Role of AR in Language Acquisition Part 2

AR Applied: Mechanisms and Progression of a Building Collapse

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Nedim Slijepcevic

We just posted our  third AR project titled Mechanisms and Progression of a Building Collapse (Building Construction – FSE 201).  Professor Andrew Tinsley wanted to be able to graphically demonstrate the mechanisms and progression of a building collapse. This is a fundamental and powerful concept within the class and has been incredibly difficult to explain without the use of some sort of drawing software. As you can see in the video and figures 1 and 2, the 3d model adds a lot of functionality to the explanation.For full description of AR activities and source files, click here.

Posted in Augmented Reality, Building Construction | Comments Off on AR Applied: Mechanisms and Progression of a Building Collapse

The Role of Augmented Reality in Language Acquisition

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Nedim Slijepcevic

We posted our second AR project titled Augmented Reality in Language Acquisition (Spanish 101), which is a part of the series of AR experiments we are conducting in Spanish 101 class. These experiments are designed to determine what effects does AR have on student language speaking, writing, reading, listening skills and overall language comprehension. For full description of AR activities and source files, click here.

Posted in Augmented Reality, Language Acquisition | 1 Comment

First AR Project

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Nedim Slijepcevic

We posted our first video produced with BuildAR and Google SketchUp few days ago. Dr. Dunlap was kind enough to participate in this first experiment, and he is already using it for one of his online courses (Special topics in Security Management).

After the students watch the video next week, we are planning on administering a survey to solicit student opinions about:

  1. Use of AR in the lecture,
  2. Did AR help them grasp the concept better than traditional media and
  3. How can we improve further AR lessons.

You can view entire lesson here as well as download complete model, marker and pattern used for this lesson.

Posted in Augmented Reality, Safety & Security | Comments Off on First AR Project