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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
While DTALS can be used to examine any number of phenomena, this dissertation focuses on the community around Pokémon Go. The game, with its emphasis on geography and community, presents unique opportunities for research. This research draws on existing video game research which focuses on not only games but their communities, and in particular the learning and literacy activities which occur in these communities (Gee & Hayes, 2012; Hayes & Duncan, 2012; Squire, 2006; Steinkuehler, 2006).
The results here are presented as three separate manuscripts. Chapter Two takes a broad view of a local community of players, and discusses different player types and how they teach and learn around the game. Chapter Three focuses on families who play the game together, and in particular three focal parents who share their perceptions of the game's merits, especially its potential to promote family bonding and learning. Chapter Four discusses teaching, in particular guides written about the game and the ways in which they are situated in particular Discourses (Gee, 2014). Finally, Chapter Five offers implications from these three chapters, including implications for designers and researchers as well as calls for future research.
Using a 2 x 3 factorial design, this study compared learner outcomes and motivation across technologies (audio-only, video, AR) and groupings (individuals, dyads) with 182 undergraduate and graduate students who were self-identified art novices. Learner outcomes were measured by post-activity spoken responses to a painting reproduction with the pre-activity response as a moderating variable. Motivation was measured by the sum score of a reduced version of the Instructional Materials Motivational Survey (IMMS), accounting for attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction, with total time spent in learning activity as the moderating variable. Information on participant demographics, technology usage, and art experience was also collected.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions that differed by technology and grouping before completing a learning activity where they viewed four high-resolution, printed-to-scale painting reproductions in a gallery-like setting while listening to audio-recorded conversations of two experts discussing the actual paintings. All participants listened to expert conversations but the video and AR conditions received visual supports via mobile device.
Though no main effects were found for technology or groupings, findings did include statistically significant higher learner outcomes in the elements of design subscale (characteristics most represented by the visual supports of the AR application) than the audio-only conditions. When participants saw digital representations of line, shape, and color directly on the paintings, they were more likely to identify those same features in the post-activity painting. Seeing what the experts see, in a situated environment, resulted in evidence that participants began to view paintings in a manner similar to the experts. This is evidence of the value of the temporal and spatial contiguity afforded by AR in cognitive modeling learning environments.
Building on prior research, the current three-part study, first demonstrates the capabilities of single and dual Doppler lidar retrievals in capturing downslope windstorm-type flows occurring at Arizona’s Barringer Meteor Crater as a part of the METCRAX II field experiment. Next, to address the need for a reliable and computationally efficient vector retrieval for adaptive wind farm control applications, a novel 2D vector retrieval based on a variational formulation was developed and applied on lidar scans from an offshore wind farm and validated with data from a cup and vane anemometer installed on a nearby research platform. Finally, a novel data visualization technique using Mixed Reality (MR)/ Augmented Reality (AR) technology is presented to visualize data from atmospheric sensors. MR is an environment in which the user's visual perception of the real world is enhanced with live, interactive, computer generated sensory input (in this case, data from atmospheric sensors like Doppler lidars). A methodology using modern game development platforms is presented and demonstrated with lidar retrieved wind fields. In the current study, the possibility of using this technology to visualize data from atmospheric sensors in mixed reality is explored and demonstrated with lidar retrieved wind fields as well as a few earth science datasets for education and outreach activities.
alleviating certain, lightly held scientific misconceptions. However, many
misconceptions surrounding the theory of evolution are deeply held and resistant to
change. This study examines whether AR can serve as an effective tool for alleviating
these misconceptions by comparing the change in the number of misconceptions
expressed by users of a tablet-based version of a well-established classroom simulation to
the change in the number of misconceptions expressed by users of AR versions of the
simulation.
The use of realistic representations of objects is common for many AR
developers. However, this contradicts well-tested practices of multimedia design that
argue against the addition of unnecessary elements. This study also compared the use of
representational visualizations in AR, in this case, models of ladybug beetles, to symbolic
representations, in this case, colored circles.
To address both research questions, a one-factor, between-subjects experiment
was conducted with 189 participants randomly assigned to one of three conditions: non
AR, symbolic AR, and representational AR. Measures of change in the number and types
of misconceptions expressed, motivation, and time on task were examined using a pair of
planned orthogonal contrasts designed to test the study’s two research questions.
Participants in the AR-based condition showed a significantly smaller change in
the number of total misconceptions expressed after the treatment as well as in the number
of misconceptions related to intentionality; none of the other misconceptions examined
showed a significant difference. No significant differences were found in the total
number of misconceptions expressed between participants in the representative and
symbolic AR-based conditions, or on motivation. Contrary to the expectation that the
simulation would alleviate misconceptions, the average change in the number of
misconceptions expressed by participants increased. This is theorized to be due to the
juxtaposition of virtual and real-world entities resulting in a reduction in assumed
intentionality.
Underground infrastructure is a critical part of the essential utility services provided to society and the backbone of modern civilization. However, now more than ever before, the disastrous events of a striking underground utilities cost billions of dollars each year in societal damages. Advanced technology and sophisticated visualization techniques such as augmented reality (AR) now play a significant role in mitigating such devastating consequences. Therefore, it is vitally important to coordinate resources, share information, and ensure efficient communication between construction personnel and utility owners. Besides, geographic information systems (GIS) provide a solution for interoperability in the construction industry. Applying such technologies in the field of underground construction requires accurate and up-to-date information. However, there is currently limited research that has integrated AR and GIS and evaluated the effectiveness and usability of the combination in this domain. The main objective of this research was to develop an integrated AR-GIS for mapping and capturing underground utilities using a mobile device. To achieve these objectives, a design research approach utilized to develop and evaluate a mobile extended-reality (XR-GIS) application. This research has produced an efficient solution for data collection and sharing among stakeholders in the underground construction industry. The main challenge in creating a reliable and adaptive outdoor AR system is the accurate registration of virtual objects in the real world. Due to the limited accuracy of smartphones, this study used an external Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to reduce positional error. The primary motivation behind this research is to make the construction industry more aware of the benefits of leveraging AR to prevent utility strikes and enhance public safety.
This dissertation fills the gap in the knowledge regarding applying Augmented Reality (AR) in the underground infrastructure mapping. This study’s three research objectives are:
(1) Identify the challenges and barriers facing the underground construction industry when applying AR.
(2) Develop an integrated AR-GIS for mapping and capturing underground utilities using a mobile device.
(3) Evaluate the horizontal accuracy of the captured data used by the AR phone application XR-GIS that has been developed by the author.