Adult Learners' Week - by Naomi Norman
Did you know that this week is Volunteer’s Week? Next week is Hearing Dog Week and also British Heart Week. And, on Saturday it is World Environment Day. All in a good cause, but rather difficult to keep up isn’t it?
One date that we never miss at Epic is the third week in May: Adult Learners’ Week – not just because we exist as a business to support the learning needs of others, but also because as individuals and as a company we are passionate about learning. Never before have I worked for an organisation where in the nooks and crannies between work, there has been such varied learning activity: from learning the ukulele to learning sign language!
Therefore, each year for Adult Learners Week, when we put out an invitation for staff to ‘share a skill’, we are never sure just what might be proposed!
This year, Owen O’Donnell, one of our lead testers, shared his passion for the prehistoric history of Brighton and Hove, and there was astonishment at the ancient surprises hidden among the streets of Epic’s home City. None of us knew about the Cannibals of Whitehawk and the somewhat less famous Hovehenge!
Another day, one of our project managers, Iain White, gave a crash course on climbing, and more specifically how to ‘Tie in’ and ‘Belay’ – all demonstrated in the safety of the office as opposed to the outside walls of the building, I hasten to add!
On a more practical day-to-day note, one of our senior web developers, Ishameal Burdeau, shared a new kind of presentation tool to a packed-out boardroom of Epic staff. And we also teamed up with another company, Locomatrix, for a mobile GPS treasure hunt, raising to the fore many of the issues around mobile learning design.
Compare this to last year, when we learnt about organic gardening, photography, podcasting and debated the following question in a joint seminar with Oxford University MSc E-learning students: ‘Is technology transforming learning and if so, then what does it mean for us?’ You can see what I mean about varied!
Happy Volunteer’s Week, and roll on Adult Learners’ Week 2011 – who knows what skills we may have the opportunity to pick up?!
Augmented Reality - by Kath Fleet
In order to get a better understanding of what Augmented Reality can do, we recommend the reader watches the embedded videos and clicks on the weblinks below.
I’ll save you the trouble of looking up the definition of Augmented Reality (AR) on Wikipedia by quoting it here: “Augmented reality is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery creating a ‘mixed reality’”. The augmentation is conventionally in real-time and in contextual proximity with environmental elements (i.e. the information appears in direct physical relation to the object being explored). Information about the real-world environment becomes interactive, which is made possible by an information layer on top of the real-world view.
This is achieved using some kind of ‘visioning’ peripheral – a webcam or camera phone – and object recognition. Until recently the ‘objects’ being recognised by the camera have been in the form of black and white stylised icons which burst into life on a computer or phone screen when placed in front of the camera. The icons work a little like a barcode does in a supermarket, with the camera acting as the barcode scanner. Some AR creators refer to the technique as ‘papermotion’ – icons on paper become live action elements or avatars when read by the camera.
So what can AR do for learning? It’s probably more sensible to ask what it couldn’t do! There are already some fantastic models of what AR could be used for in an educational or L&D context. Take a look at these excellent examples from LearnAR - a new learning tool that brings investigative, interactive and independent learning to life using Augmented Reality:
These resources, and AR in general, promote an entirely new model of human-computer interaction. Just as the touch-screen has revolutionised human-handset interaction (and very likely yet, human-computer interaction) so AR is redefining how we will interface with the screens of our desktop devices. Two excellent examples in the LearnAR link above include using icon flash cards to submit answers to questions via the webcam with instantaneous feedback; and sticking icon cards to parts of the body to see a contextualised ‘dissection’ of the human arm. As, with the advent of the touch-screen, we already anticipate the demise of conventional peripherals so AR will, surely, eventually confine the keyboard and the mouse to being exhibits in the National Museum of Science and Industry.
One of the most natural applications for AR in learning will undoubtedly be product knowledge, or in fact any subject area that requires a working understanding of equipment, concepts or systems – physics, electronics, anatomy, engineering, mechanics, construction… I could go on. The augmented model that can be manipulated in 3 dimensions makes all of these subjects, and more, a perfect partnership for learning and AR technology. The examples below – from Lego and Mini/BMW – illustrate this application extremely well.
Toy manufacturer Lego is now using AR in-store to allow customers to ‘try before they buy’. Lego’s AR application uses icons on the product box in which the model is packed, as the ‘readable’ element for their version of the webcam reader:
AR has become extremely popular in the automotive trade with one of the first commercial examples being produced by Mini/BMW to promote their cars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTYeuo6pIjY&feature=player_embedded
And, in arguably the most pioneering research project into an educational use of AR, the R&D team at BMW is investing in the production of ‘augmented reality glasses’ enabling the technology to be independent of a desktop or fixed platform. Drawing on the Head Up Display (HUD) interface favoured by so many virtual reality games, the project is developing data goggles to provide the interface between a ‘real’ car engine and an ‘augmented’ digital image for the purpose of teaching motor vehicle maintenance. It should be noted that this is in development, but a vision of how it could work provides an enticing insight into the future of augmented learning:
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/23/view/7473/bmw-augmented-reality-to-help-with-car-repairs.html
And now that Sony have developed their first ‘flexi-screen’ the ‘data goggles’ or HUD potential of AR is a fast approaching reality. This flexible, full-color OLED display (organic light-emitting diode) could potentially be used to coat the inside of any headset. You could even carry one like a credit card in your wallet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDuP8PtDJbE&feature=player_embedded
In fact for gamers, well-versed in HUD interactions, the first AR game has been developed by the University of Singapore, backed by military funding. In Human Pacman players enter the game by donning a wearable computer headset and goggles. Their movements are then tracked using GPS receivers and motion sensors to superimpose the game’s interface (and infamous yellow orb characters!) onto the streets of Tokyo:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6689-human-pacman-hits-real-city-streets.html
The integration of GPS into AR has enormous potential for the defence sector, which will invest heavily in the development of tools that can be used to both simulate operational environments within practice ranges, as well as be used in-theatre to feed real-time intelligence to troops on the ground. Imagine the enormous advantage soldiers would have with HUDs showing them the location of enemy enclaves. Lockheed-Microvision is already being commissioned as part of a US military project to do work along these lines:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/07/darpa_ultra_vis_specs_contract/
And herein lies probably the most exciting recent innovation for the everyday use of AR – its alliance with GPS for Smartphone Apps and Sat Nav systems. Real time Sat Nav video images of streets and roads are overlaid with directions and features of interest in this App developed by Mobilizy:
http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2010/05/21/augmented-reality-gps-coming-to-android-smartphones/
And now we can use the cameras in our Smartphones to find our way around the city – take a look at this example of acrossair’s Nearest Tube App:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fZk0HaIs4s&feature=player_embedded
The training potential of these burgeoning technologies is nothing short of astounding. With a pocket-sized handset, pair of glasses, or even a wallet card, an alternative universe of information can literally open up in front of our very eyes. I struggle to think of any training requirement that couldn’t benefit from being supplemented with AR. All that remains is for the necessary technology to become ubiquitous, which it undoubtedly will. In fact it almost already is.
But as a parting shot I’d like to share coccobaby2000’s vision of the commercial potential for AR. Alarming and intriguing in equal measure, this Masters-Degree-in-Architecture film shows the potential for consumerism giants to tap into our heads. It makes Minority Report look SO last millennium….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSfKlCmYcLc&playnext_from=TL&videos=nlUuwqTfqOo
Preparing for a Major OS Release - by Shaun Green
It’s an event which comes only once every four years or so; one which can easily throw off businesses and individuals alike. It’s something we expect but don’t always fully anticipate - a special occasion but also a real headache.
I’m not talking about leap years, of course, even if Chris Conley and Bob Speller enjoy such erratic birthdays. I’m talking about the release of a new version of a major operating system… which in IT today essentially means Windows. Today, I’m going to share some of Epicentre’s experience in preparing for the introduction of unpopular, awkward Windows Vista and its charismatic younger brother, Windows 7.
Writing an awkward intro to a blog post is easy: planning and preparing for the rollout of a new operating system is not. There are a substantial number of factors that must be borne in mind before you can even begin to prepare. Fortunately, at Epicentre we’ve had a lot of opportunity to practice this process, and over the years have gotten it as smooth as it’s possible to be…
The first thing to do is to get a confirmed set of hardware requirements for the new OS, both minimum and recommended. You’ll want instances of the new OS that sit on the baseline hardware as well as some that soar above it and can take full advantage of flashy features such as Aero, widgets, thumbnail tabbing etcetera. For the release of Windows Vista, with its significantly boosted minimum requirements, we purchased a large number of new machines. For Windows 7, with its requirements that matched or were just below Vista, our outlay on updated hardware was smaller.
The next thing to bear in mind is licensing. Typically, businesses can purchase a Volume License from Microsoft which allows them to use any number of instances of an OS up to a pre-determined cap. However, this type of license only applies to certain ‘flavours’ of Vista and Windows 7 – Business/Professional and Enterprise. For the versions aimed at home users, licenses must be purchased individually for each copy of the OS. These costs can very rapidly mount up, so it’s important to carefully plan out how you can cover as many requirements with as few licenses as possible.
This ties in closely to selecting which OS language version you’ll need. For many businesses this isn’t a concern – purchase what you need in your native tongue, and you’re away! But Epicentre has always offered OS’s in a bewildering array of languages from Basque and Brazilian Portuguese to Ukrainian and Urdu. It’s important to plan out not only which versions you’ll acquire but also in which language.
On top of that, it’s important to have up-to-date market research (for example, concerning which operating systems BECTA is recommending that UK schools upgrade to) as well as discussing future requirements with clients (primarily, this means target markets and what they know about future trends within them).
The final consideration rests upon the way in which Epicentre is able to offer such a wide variety of operating systems and language versions. We use a clever tool known as Ghost to create and store ‘images’ of installed OS’s on a number of servers. These images can be retrieved and re-applied to their source machine in a matter of minutes. However, it’s still necessary to plan where you’re going to install your chosen OS’s. There’s no point placing a dozen copies of Vista in obscure and rarely-required languages on one machine and a dozen copies of Windows 7 in oft-requested Spanish and Italian on another.
Of course, every new operating system brings with it unique surprises and challenges. But by bearing in mind the core considerations I’ve outlined above it’s possible to avoid the most painful pitfalls and ensure your new range of OS’s is up and running in a minimal amount of time.
