Learning through Situated Simulations: Exploring Mobile Augmented Reality

This ECAR research bulletin illustrates and reports on a series of experiments with situated simulations that have been tested with students in real environments in Norway, Athens, and Rome over the past couple of years. To improve your enjoyment of this bulletin, the author recommends clicking on the short video demonstrations at http://inventioproject.no/sitsim/ to better understand and “see” how situated simulations work. The goal of the researchers has been to understand the extent to which mobile technologies and augmented reality used for situated simulations can improve situated learning. Situated simulations can use verbal resources in combination with 3D graphics to create a multi-modal dynamic representation that augments the real place with relevant information needed for different educational purposes. The big question is how these simulations should be composed and organized in order to improve learning. The experiments reported here are early attempts to build knowledge and experience in this exiting field.

Citation for this Work: Liestøl, Gunnar. "Learning through Situated Simulations: Exploring Mobile Augmented Reality." (Research Bulletin 1, 2011). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2011, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.