Tag: pitch

WanderBook is an augmented reality application that will assist young children from the ages 3-7 in reading, spelling, and pronunciation. It will allow children to engage in a fun activity while encouraging them to learn along the way. Apps and technological devices are increasingly common in helping young children in education. One of the most popular, LeapFrog SchoolHouse, has created their own patented technology called NearTouch, which allows the material to be touch-interactive (The Journal). There are also augmented realities that help enhance a child’s interaction with books. “These books merge traditional text with digital content using a piece of technology like a smartphone or a gaming console, and the use of an app which plays video, creates models from content, or allows for interaction with the text” (Levski). There is also an app where the famous Hungry Caterpillar comes to life through AR (StoryToys). However, there does not appear to be a book-free augmented reality application to help with and encourage reading. By creating this application, it would allow children to be able to learn on their own time without the need of a parent, provide a means for the child to be active while simultaneously learning, and help with pronunciation as well as enunciation.

Ideally, the application would provide augmented reality for the basic reading levels at the ages 3-5. One example of an augmented reality exercise is a letter scavenger hunt. This would require the child to run around their environment in search of hidden letters. Once a letter is found, the child taps on it to learn about it: the name, the sound, and words that begin with it. Another exercise is adventure mode which requires to child to complete multiple tasks in order to accomplish missions. An example may be to find five words beginning with the letter M to save the princess from the evil sorcerer.

Once the child’s reading level has increased, the level on the application changes. Adventure mode will still be applicable with more difficult tasks, such as searching for objects to fill in a sentence and spelling, but the child can also experience a story. This means that the child will see text that they will read aloud. The software will listen, and, if spoken correctly, the child will then see what happens in the story before following an arrow or a character guide to the next set of text. If the text is read incorrectly, the action will not take place. A set limit of attempts will be applied, and if all attempts are tried, there will be a negative consequence. For example, if the text is, “The frog jumps in the hole,” the frog may run off or get snatched by a predator, depending on the storytelling.

This product would require technical skills in order to create the app, and voice chip technology will be helpful in this endeavor. “Modern voice chip technology creates a simple, intuitive and interactive learning experience to help teach children phonemic awareness, letter names, letter sounds, spelling and reading” (The Journal). In order to be most effective, the voice chip needs to have a high quality of high to ensure children hear the sound as accurately as possible for clear speech. This technology also allows a child to listen repeatedly to the same thing and provides a means for accurate pronunciation further down the road. It can be used for phonemes, syllables, and words (The Journal). Another technology is voice recognition, similar to that of Alexa or Siri, where the application listens and understands what the speaker is saying. This is critical with the children who are reading text aloud and depend upon the application knowing if they’re speaking correctly or not.

My idea has to do with increasing the amount of participation that occurs when college students are giving a reading assignment. In The Fall, and Rise, of Reading, Steven Johnson writes that if students are giving a reading assignment and it is not graded, then only about 1/3 of the class will actually finish the reading assignment. How might we increase student reading in a fun/engaging way?

I am looking to target mostly the English majors in the United States, since reading assignments generally makes up about half of all assignments. I am also narrowing it to college students since my application that I am pitching will be used through their respective university.

The application that I have in mind will be an interactive, almost collaborative way to go about daily reading assignments. At the start of term, in one of the required English classes, students will be provided their Proactive Pen for initial usage. The idea is that all reading assignments will be generated/posted in this application. One the app is running, the Proactive Pen will switch on. Once the designated reading is located, that is when the pen will start tracking level of engagement that you are giving to the piece. This pen not only keeps track of how long you have been on a certain page of a text, but it also allows for careful annotating and commenting on others comments.

Once there is a section that is worth noting, you simple push the pen’s stylus side a little more aggressively, and the section will be highlighted for commenting or annotation. The pen can also be used for writing your annotations if students do not feel like typing.

When the next day begins for class, the teacher of the English course can look up and grade how much participation that an individual student had during a reading of a passage. More importantly, the professor can also track where students seemed to be getting stuck or had more questions than other sections and the professor can then address these concerns in class the next day. Not only will there be a more efficient way to grade reading assignments without quizzing, it keeps students more engaged in texts, but also feedback will be given as to what needs to actually be taught when the next class comes around.

Teachers/professors normally have a set schedule of how they want to teach a certain course, but with the Proactive Pen and corresponding application, they will know exactly where students are being thrown off and can address the problems in class.

The new technology that I’m creating is by incorporating books into videogames. By introducing videogames because when you think about books and or plays like Frankenstein, Romeo and Juliet even the Odyssey. These all have very distinct forms of syntax and diction that could often be difficult for a student to understand. This item would focus on the age range of children between the ages of 18 to 30 years old. Around this age, the types of literature that are being given to read in high school even at the college level can be quite tricky and difficult to understand. So, by incorporating videogames and books into an art form this would see an increase in the way young adults follow along and read in class. This product would work with any current game console that we use in today’s modern age (i.e. Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo switch, etc.) It would be manufactured like a normal video game it would be sold in any store that sells videogames. The video games would be a third person perspective where you control the character and learn as you go throughout the story. For example, with Mary Shelly “Frankenstein” you would play as the Dr. Frankenstein and you would go throughout the whole narrative as the main protagonist and learn about the character an on ways that the character goes throughout the story.

For example, for the Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. The story of the book isn’t difficult to understand it’s the language and the vocabulary throughout the story. For example, “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel…” (Mary Shelly). Something like this would be a slight challenge for someone to interpret. So, in a way a student can learn is by exploring throughout the game and finding letters what are taken directly from the book and have subtitles underneath the quote so students have a better understanding of what the quotes mean or in a way of having the quote translated in a way that is used in modern English. By doing this method it gets the reader engaged and they aren’t just going through the game and listening to the narrative. They have a way of interacting with the story an being more engaged in the story seeing how the interpretation of the monster that Frankenstein created come to life on the screen in front of you. By also expanding it and taking on the monster’s perspective and learning and imaging how the monster is experiencing certain stimulus that affects him. This is more than just a videogame it’s a game that influences learning, teaching a student on ways that aren’t commonly conventional and make reading a more enjoyable and easier method of doing. Since in this day and age videogames are such a strong selling point that people doing anything else.

I have an idea that will help with learning and gaining knowledge of a science textbook through augmented reality. This is when visual images that are not originally part of a screen appear digitally through an electronic device. I think this will be the best way for people to learn, especially if they are visual and/or kinesthetic learners. Before I get into the product, let’s start with these two styles of learning and how augmented reality can be way of helping with these techniques.

Every person is different and has their own style of learning. A visual learner is one who best retains information by using any visual representations such as images. Kinesthetic learners are physical learners who best retain information with hands-on activities. Since augmented reality can be a visual and interactive representation, this form will help students better retain information about what they are learning. This is also why kinesthetic learners prefer the physical textbook because “Print texts also offer the reader a different kinesthetic experience” (Harbin and O’Callaghan 5). Andrea R. Harbin and Tamara F. O’Callaghan also feel that “The physical act of turning pages, which have both weight and texture, may engage our brains differently…” (5). My idea goes a little more in depth about using AR with Science textbooks.

I want to propose augmented reality textbooks for college students who are looking to study science, by using an app and special highlighters. This product is open for college students who currently study any branch of science including biology, botany, ecology, geology, meteorology, zoology, or oceanography. I have personal experience with learning science in college. In my freshmen year of college, I wanted to study Biology, so I took the pre-requisites needed for it. As time went on I found myself struggling with retaining the information. And I know that science is a complex topic to learn about. I am more of a visual and kinesthetic learner, so I preferred having a physical textbook as well.

The students would purchase a textbook, download the app and use these special highlighters. All science textbooks would have an app that works with both IOS and Android. The app would be programed so that college students could use it on any science textbook. There are two highlighters, a pink and a green. Students use the highlighters to mark what they do and don’t understand. Green for “understanding” and pink for “explanation needed”. Then, they go into the app on their phone and the app picks up the color of the highlighter. If green, the app will show a 3D model of the highlighted portion and the student is free to touch the model and observe it. If pink, the app will show a 3D model and a speaker will explain the concept of it. Although augmented reality amongst textbooks exist, having an app pick up these special highlighters makes the experience better because it encourages the students to read through and highlight what they do and don’t understand. Either way, they can use the app, hover over the textbook and a model will show up on their book. The students practice note-taking by highlighting key points and learn through visual, 3D representation. Since the models are interactive, it’s great for visual and kinesthetic learners.

 

Harbin, Andrea, R. and O’Callaghan, Tamara, F. “Print Texts and the Reading Brain”. The Digital Arts and Humanities: Neogeography, Social Media, and Big Data Integrations and Applications. Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2016. https://www.dropbox.com/s/src95mtx9ivucxq/text_and_sensorium_harbin_ocallaghan_DAH_2016.pdf?dl=0