From Augmented Reality To Social Reality Through Learning And Knowledge Technologies

Abstract

This paper focuses on describing a pedagogical experience carried out on a Multimedia and ICT subject belonging to a Migrations social awareness project which is being carried out at SAFA University Center. Given the fact that many students knew not so much about social topics, specially the international ones, with this experience authors have tried to show the importance of teaching the use of technology in a social context, as a way to better understand the real causes of migration phenomena. The main focus of the experience had to do with making students aware of how technology can help in creating social awareness and how it can help teachers to creating resources, which being technologically fashionable and useful can also contribute to create a social and fairer conscience in society. At the end, authors conclude that in the university it is possible to deal with social problems at the same time that student fulfil their academic purposes.

Keywords: Augmented realityICTmigrationssocial justicetechnology

Introduction

In the 21st century panorama, technology is seen as an element distant from the feelings of human beings. People tend to believe that ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies), regarded as cold and distant. Traditionally, the world of technologies has been separated from that of the humanities. In fact, our tradition in education has been to show that science has one way and humanities follow another philosophy. Even now this is a general presupposition we have to cope with. The specialisation to which society bring us at university and during studies in general make its contribution to this belief. By contrast, we have set out to demonstrate that it is possible to establish a bridge between the world of technology and people’s real needs. In this sense, we should bear in mind that technology has to benefit the neediest people in the world. ICTs should aid us not just towards a sophisticated world, but also to build a better and fairer one.

Problem Statement

Given the fact technological development is unstoppable and that it is often isolated from the real needs of poor people, our aim is to establish bridges that could lead to a better and fairer world by using ICTs with teachers in order to learn how it can serve us in the future to be more aware of the experiences of migrants and questions of migration.

Research Questions

This research attempts to work on questions related to the problem statement. More precisely, we believe that this paper can be useful in three main lines of research:

• -Make our students aware of the migrants’ situations.

• -Establish a direct link between concrete ICT tools and their usefulness to show what is happening in the migration field.

• -Be able to relate poverty, education and migration and how the level of one of them can affect to the others through ICTs.

Purpose of the Study

The primary concern of this research is to:

1. Examine the impact of ICT in terms of building up some kind of awareness around the topic of justice and social equality on undergraduates.

2. Check the impact of augmented reality as a technological resource to improve students social conscience.

3. Demonstrate that ICT resources are just mere means but not an end, increasing the awareness about social characteristics of temporary migrants through ICT tools.

Research Methods

This study is part of a larger project on “University for social transformation” on the issue of pedagogical and educational implications of migrations in a specific local context. In this sense, we cannot present meaningful data input and analysis since it contributes to the final results of a wider longitudinal research. In fact, we are analysing if all those educational proposals included in the project will have some kind of impact in a general scale.

As we have mentioned before, this practice belongs to a wider project in which some subjects of Education degrees at SAFA University centre have developed an action-research approach. More precisely, this educational experience has been carried out in a ICT-based subject in which students needed to learn all the different approaches and resources related to the introduction of technology on kindergarten and primary education.

To do so, we have followed a methodology based on the building of knowledge through the different phases of learning. We started locating all the phases that this project could have within the own learning that the students would develop themselves. In this sense, we divided the practice in four different stages, namely, an initial motivation, which we call awareness, a second one, in which we manage and transform the information called elaboration, the third in which we create a multimedia product, called elaboration, and a last one in which we carry out an evaluation of the whole process that we call metacognition. This methodology is called “CAIT”, in Spanish,because it correspond to the acronym formed by the following keywords: constructivo (constructive); autorregulado (self-regulated), interactivo (interactive) and tecnológico (technological).

To carry out this experience, teachers first asked students to investigate on the internet and media about press news related to migrations and refugees; actually, a lot of significance was given to the case of Syrian refugees.

After analysing critically the news, students had to elaborate a digital wallchart about the different news they have found beforehand. To do so, they needed to use an ICT tool called Glogster (glogster.com). However, the task did not only have to do with creating something technologically adequate; actually, those wallcharts should serve as a trigger for creating some consciousness on anybody watching those posters.

When the wallcharts were finished, students started to create a video in which they explained the meaning of their own challchart and they also tried to sensibilize the rest of people who watched it.

Once students were quite familiar tothose social problems related to migrations, they had to work in cooperative groups so as to elaborate a written tale in which they tried to create some conscience about migrations.

First of all, they wrote their tales creating three different scenarios in each one. Each scenario had to coincide with one of these moments (beginning, conflict and end), after that they had to record every scene according to one of those parts.

Once the tales were finished, students prepared a trezzo, decoration and clothing to record the different scenes of their tales. They edited their videos and used chroma to create some special backgrounds that represented migrations scenarios.

Finally, after having recorded the videos and edited them, students used Aurasma software to connect different pictures printed in paper representing migrations to the above-mentioned videos. This software permits students to create Augmented Reality experiences so that when anybody scans a picture, this one “comes to life” and a video emerges from it.

After having created all these resources, students organised a special event at the centre where primary students came and scanned the different markers and watched the videos about migrations. Once they had seen the videos, there was a space devoted to reflection in groups about what they had watched and how they felt about those social problems.

Findings

After the experience we found a prospect future. The purpose of that experience was precisely to know if it is possible to find a way to explore in order to relate ICT and awareness in migrations. The way in which we found the answer at first (it will be the aim of further researches) was the assessment at the end of the experience in Multimedia and ICT subject, particularly, seeing what the assessment items in which student were reached the highest levels. In our assessment we call them “learning indicators”.

We saw that the task required obtained the highest average marks in students (9,58 points), so we could say that the experience was so useful to work on these “learning indicators” linked with the task:

-R1. CFB 6: To carry out practice exercises on promoting both individual and group development.

-R7. CFB13: To raise critical analysis on multimedia languages and understand the implications on students.

-R5. CFB 13: To explore possibilities of technologies as a tool of exchange of information and human experience from social agents.

-R9. CFB 21: To design educative materials with partners to engage pre-teaching school students into multidisciplinary educative experiences.

Conclusions

At first, we could see that our students are more aware of the migrant’s situations. This is something that allowed us to:

• Establish a direct link between concrete ICT tools and their usefulness to show what is happening in the migration field.

• Be able to relate poverty, education and migration and how the level of one of them can affect to the others.

3D was seen as an interesting tool that showed us that there is much more to research about it. As final conclusion, after this ICT experience, we know that ICT has something to say, a role to play in the original questions raised on the general research: what do we want to transform? what do we need to investigate? and over all what do we need to know?, as the first step for further awareness and actions to involve our students.

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