Grant recipient: Dr. Robert Campbell
This is the first grant being awarded to UBCO:
Grant funding provided by the Edith Lando Digital Pedagogy Lab will be used to develop, implement, and document an immersive learning experience at the Komasket Park Gathering Space, where Augmented Reality (AR) technology will be used to enhance land-based learning. AR generally refers to situations where computer-generated information is blended into a user’s real environment.
The participants in this project are 127 UBC Okanagan School of Education pre-service teachers enrolled in a teacher education course in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math). As part of the course activities the pre-service teachers will visit Komasket Park during the last week of June, 2023. Komasket Park is a recently opened (2022) gathering space for the Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB) in the north Okanagan, just outside of Vernon. The purpose of this visit is to have the pre-service teachers acquire more knowledge of the OKIB culture and language, and also become aware of the resources available at the Gathering Space. Additionally, as the pre-service teachers learn about Indigenous species in a land-based learning activity at Komasket Park, they will be able to value the ways that Indigenous knowledge and ways of learning can contribute to the content areas in a STEAM curriculum.
While exploring the Komasket Park, the pre-service teachers will be able to use a smart phone AR application called Arloopa to navigate a map and find different Indigenous flora species on the site. The Arloopa app will direct them to the flora species using GPS. Once they are near the location of a specific flora species, an AR object will appear on their smart phone screen, which will provide information about the species they have just found. The information will include growth patterns, range, the common name, the scientific name, the Okanagan/Syilx name, and information about traditional uses of the species by the Syilx people. Using AR in this context will serve as a model to show pre-service teachers how AR software can enhance land-based learning, and also support how AR can be used in other types of instructional activities.
Part of the Digital Pedagogy Lab grant funding will be used to purchase two Arloopa Schools and Universities user software licences. One licence will be used by the UBC Okanagan School of Education to produce the map and experiences used for this project. The other licence will be gifted to the Komasket Park Gathering Space as an act of reciprocity in appreciation of the visit by the UBC pre-service teachers. Another portion of the funding will be used to hire three students to develop the Arloopa map and create the objects using Arloopa studio software. An additional portion of the funding will also be used to hire three additional students to script, shoot, edit, and produce a documentary video of the pre-service teachers’ site visit to Komasket Park Gathering Space. Once produced, the video will be available on the UBC Okanagan School of Education website, and will also be shared with the Gathering Space and with the Edith Lando Digital Pedagogy Lab.
This project supports goals, priorities, and articles found in the UBC Indigenous Strategic Plan; the UBC Strategic Plan; the UBC Faculty of Education Strategic Plan; the Okanagan School of Education Strategic Plan; and the Final Report for the UBC Task Force on Race, Indigeneity, and Social Justice.
