Augmented Reality: New Strategies in Location-Based Mobile Learning Games and Simulations

AR experiences combine virtual overlays of information onto real-world locations. These interactive experiences equip users with location sensing devices (for example, Windows Mobile PDAs with GPS), providing players with location-specific data, narrative, and rich media. As players move around a real-world location, their devices allow them to interview virtual game characters, collect virtual data, and consider the interrelationships between their real-world location and the virtual information provided.

In this seminar, Perry will provide an overview of recent work in AR by the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program (MIT STEP), which has been conducting research on using AR simulations for educational purposes with the aim of better understanding how these experiences might offer new learning opportunities. AR games have the potential not only to engage players with specific content but also to provide opportunities to develop 21st-century skills such as collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. The MIT STEP lab is also developing AR authoring toolkits that will allow AR game designers to create their own location-based games.