Mixed Reality and Libraries

Welcome to Mixed Reality

Mixed Reality is the new term coined by devices combining the elements of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to create a different type of interface that uses both elements.  One of the devices that promotes this type of use is the HoloLens from Microsoft.

The actual gear for the HoloLens is currently out of stock for individual purchase, but commercial purchase  puts the product at the lofty price of $5,000.00, but that includes the software necessary to create content for the HoloLens.

HoloLens Apps from Microsoft

The first app that I really liked with the HoloLens tool was actually the Vyzn app because it was a way to collaborate on 3-D content.  I thought this type of app would be wonderful when students may need to create community models with more than one person-  or a different type of 3-D project that takes more than one individual.  The app is available for free from Microsoft.com.

According to their website:  “Zengalt Vyzn lets you create and run augmented reality (AR) applications quickly and easily without requiring any specialized programming expertise. No need to use Unity or Visual Studio. With Vyzn, you can build highly immersive and interactive scenes that run on HoloLens. For example, you can build an interactive hologram of a machine tool to train operators, or overlay your NavisWorks model with the construction site to detect conflicts. Vyzn makes it easy to turn your existing 3D Content/vyzn_assets into a multi-user HoloLens presentation and add interactions such as animations, views, spots, movable and floating objects, labels, voice-overs and more. Vyzn does not require specialized expertise beyond 3D editing skills and you can design the experience in a 3D editor of your choice.”

I know for our second graders, they have to create communities (college, urban, suburban, or rural) over the course of the school year, and I thought this particular app would allow the students to collaborate on creating their unique environments in a more technological environment so that they could interact with their mixed reality community and add details that would be missing from a paper and cardboard model.

As Cynthia Cassidy mentioned in the Meyer (2017) article, collaborative projects are key to helping incorporate AR and VR (or mixed reality) tech into the classroom in a functional manner.  It’s key to choose simulations that are short enough to fit during one class period, that offer a challenge or problem to help stimulate critical thinking, and that have controls which are easy for students to learn quickly.  The Vyzn app could be such a tool for older students.

There are other websites that expound on the variety of other apps available through the HoloLens device that are educationally oriented.  Microsoft offers a selection of their current apps designed specifically for education here.  The following video is a demonstration of the HoloStudy app available through the HoloLens.

For those who are looking at how this type of technology can help with secondary education, there’s a blog through Bryn Mawr college that gives links to great resources and initiatives of how they are incorporating this technology in a variety of their programs.

Another really great website is the Mixed Reality for Education site.  The following video is a great TEDx talk AmsterdamED from Beerend Hierck advocating for mixed reality for more active learning for their medical students.

VREdTech also has a great post explaining how the HoloLens is being used in education.  Although the majority of these posts show the work being done in secondary education, this type of technology has potential to be used in a variety of classrooms of all ages.  Some tweaking will need to be done to help offset the complaints of headaches, dizziness, etc from our current technology; but the outlook seems promising for the use of such tools in our libraries during the course of the coming years.

What this type of tool does is bring the abstract concepts of practical knowledge forward in a way that allows students to actively participate in the learning experience.  As librarians, we can use this type of tool to help supplement our students’ experience in the classroom so that we can fully integrate our role of being curriculum supporters whether it be in helping by creating collaborative environments using the technology or by creating a more interactive environment in our libraries utilizing apps available in tools like HoloLens.

Sources

Blended Learning in the liberal arts. (2018).   Educational Technology Services Canaday Library.  Retrieved from:  http://blendedlearning.blogs.brynmawr.edu/educational-applications-for-the-microsoft-hololens/

Goerner, P. (2016). Augmented reality. What’s next?. School Library Journal, 62(9), 19-20.

Kevin M. (2018).  How microsoft hololens is being used in education.  VREdTech.  Retrieved from:  https://vredtech.com/blogs/news/how-microsoft-hololens-is-being-used-in-education

Massis, B. (2015). Using virtual and augmented reality in the library. New Library World. 116 (11/12).  796 – 799. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/NLW-08-2015-0054

Meyer, L.  (2017).  Virtually There:  Kids are using VR to explore worlds and create new ones.  School Library Journal.  Retrieved from:  https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=virtually-kids-using-vr-explore-worlds-create-new-ones

Stott, L. (2018).  Hololens mr apps for education.  Microsoft Faculty Connection.  Retrieved from:  https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/uk_faculty_connection/2018/02/28/hololens-mr-apps-for-education/

 

MakerSpaces: Agency, Authenticity, and Audience

What I Thought I Should Talk About

Initially when I began this week’s assignment I just knew I’d use something from the blog I’d stumbled upon during the Digital Curation assignment:  Renovated Learning by Diana Rendina.

As informative and practical-minded as I find her blog about creating and maintaining maker and collaborative learning spaces (she has a very informative view of using whiteboards that I find absolutely vital to creation projects of all types), I knew I needed to traipse across the world wide web in search of something a bit more….socially useful especially after reading the convincing arguments of Angevine and Weisgrau (2015) in regards to 3 key concepts when looking at the purpose of STE(A)M and Makerspaces:  Agency, Authenticity, and Audience.

What Really Inspired Me

Meet Digital Promise, a blog that is a conglomeration of education leaders, researchers, and technology developers who work to provide educational experiences, opportunities, and training to close the digital learning gap that exists for many of our students.

The article that had caught my attention was, “Student Makers Create Solution for Kids in Need.” This particular article struck the cord of:  Agency:  a student made their learning intimately personal and unique, Authenticity:  a student was able to engage with work in the community in which they live, and Audience:  by considering who the project was being created for, these two particular students were able to contextualize the place of their creation and their own place in being facilitators of this creation in the wider society they live in.

The students had access to what is called a Learning Studio (put together through a joint effort of HP and Microsoft’s Reinvent the Classroom initiative) that came equipped with a 3-D printer and a variety of other materials.  Basically, Quentin Ellis came upon a young girl at his church who had lost her arm to disease and was having problems adjusting to her new prosthesis.  With the help of another student partner (Lucas Bacon), they were able to create a Lego-like kit where children could participate in the creation of a prosthesis that was functional and not intimidating while educating the children on the process on how to use the custom-made device.

From our variety of resources, lectures (thank you, Dr. Moorefield-Lang), and articles this week, we do know that 3-D printers are pretty standard in many makerspace areas thanks to technology grants.  So having students engage with their peers in the community who have such unique needs and provide them with an opportunity to participate in projects similar to this is a wonderful idea.  It allows both the creator and the person in need to become collaborators in projects that are meaningful and practical for all involved.  For me, this article actually worked beautifully in illustrating how sticking with those three essential concepts when looking at these challenge-based learning opportunities (you can thank Digital Promise for the change in terminology) moves education forward from an isolated classroom setting into the practical applications in the real world.

How does this apply to libraries?

Dr. Moorefield-Lang mentioned (and I remember touring Richland after they implemented the new teen makerspace areas on the main floor of the library) that RCPL has a 3D printer.  Now, this is a public space…  but I am a public librarian, and my programming heart says:  “If my school that is local in Richland county could not afford our own 3D printer in our makerspace, why not ask to coordinate with our local public libraries and look at collaborating with unique community groups to create practical projects?”  As Angevine and Weisgrau (2015) said:  “creating sharable artifacts is a compelling way to learn anything.”

Most of our middle and high schools (and elementary schools) have clubs that meet afterschool.  Partnering with our fellow library science professionals (and other community members) to give our students a challenge to create projects for would give a purpose and an automatic authentic audience for the students’ creations.  Interestingly enough, Quentin mentioned that his first prototype of the lego-like hand prosthesis was made out of balsa wood, glue, and tape.  There are low-tech options for such unique creations, but taking the extra time to reach out to our community members to help our students learn practical skills in engineering, computation, and design…  would be a phenomenal boon to the entire educational experience for all involved.

The key would be in having our students document their process:  both in thinking and creation so they can see their steps and assess their own methodology for streamlining their procedures for the future.  In this instance, we act as facilitators for other presenters and community members to help engage and interact with our students.

Sources

Angevine, C. and Weisgrau, J. (2015).  Situating Makerspaces in Schools.  Retrieved from:  http://hybridpedagogy.org/situating-makerspaces-in-schools/.

 

Britton, L.  (2012).  The makings of maker spaces, part 1:  space for creation, not just consumption.  Retrieved from:  http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/10/public-services/the-makings-of-maker-spaces-part-1-space-for-creation-not-just-consumption/.

Moorefield-Lang, H.  (2018).  Makerspaces 761.  Retrieved from:  https://youtu.be/BBsEHD0XE6E

Rendin, D.  (2015).  3 way whiteboards can make your space more awesome.  Retrieved from:  http://renovatedlearning.com/2015/06/01/whiteboards-for-the-win/.