An augmented reality application to support learning and to get participant feedback

Mobile devices are radically changing the way in which we work and communicate. Most of the innovative devices offer the opportunity to integrate augmented reality in mobile applications, permitting the combination of the real world with virtual information. This feature can be particularly useful to enhance informal and formal didactic actions based on student collaboration and on traditional lecture. This paper describes a "collaborative campus", originated in the physical architectural space, but exposing learning contents and social information structured as augmented virtual areas. To this aim, ACCampus, a mobile augmented reality system, supporting the sharing of contextualized information has been proposed. This system combines the world perceived by the phone camera with information concerning the student location and his community, enabling users to share multimedia information in location-based content areas. User localization is initially detected through QR codes. The successive positions of the user are determined using the mobile device sensors. Each augmented area is univocally spatially associated to a representative real wall area. Selective content sharing and collaboration are also supported enabling a user to distribute his/her augmented contents to specific users or groups. The application also supports the teacher during Face-to-Face lecture in receiving feedback from the audience concerning their agreement with and the clarity of the presentation. © The Eurographics Association 2011