Two Bond University students who built an augmented reality app from scratch in one week hope to roll it out in classrooms across the country.
Olivia Meredith and Samuel Tulloch had been studying augmented reality, as part of their Bachelor of Interactive Media & Design, for only two weeks when they hit upon the idea for the app that teaches primary school children about the solar system.
The Astro Exploration prototype will be available for download soon and uses a phone to scan special playing cards. Virtual planets and interactive buttons then appear on the smartphone screen.
“We both have a real passion for education and bringing in more of a purpose for game design,” said Meredith, 25.
“I started looking at the primary school curriculum and they were learning about the solar system. We designed this so kids will engage again and make classrooms more playful.”
The pair plan to refine and improve the app, giving students a new level of immersion and interaction.
“The kids are learning, they’re using new technology,” said Tulloch, 27. “There are so many things we could do with what we have started.
“We could put it into maths, we could put it into a whole range of educational things. Now that we have the basic design and concepts, there is no limit to the things we could create.
“If we can continue on this path of creating gamification for primary education…it is a completely different pathway. It is a cool direction and an area that is going to explode in the next few years.”
Meredith and Tulloch will be showcasing their design at Bond University’s Open Day on July 28 where visitors will have hands-on opportunities at the Faculty of Society and Design.
There will be an architecture exhibition, robot and woodwork demonstrations, interactive film and television tours, and media and design stations to immerse visitors in the latest 3D printing, virtual reality, drone and mixed reality technologies.
You can follow the Astro Exploration project and updates on Facebook.
For more info on Bond Open Day, click here.