The PepsiCo Ed Tech team has been learning augmented reality to use in multiple settings.
The first will be to bring a book on Young Activists to life by embedding targets in illustrations we helped middle school students create.
Our next AR adventure is creating an AR scavenger hunt in conjunction with students at Rogers-Herr Year Round Middle School. Some of the book covers in their Media Center will become AR targets.
A similar AR scavenger hunt is planned for Duke Libraries to help engage the many visiting students on the campus.
Civil Rights Mural
A multiyear community project led by Brenda Miller Holmes resulted in the impressive wall mural next to the Durham Arts Council. We built on that by adding an AR component to identify many of the people in the mural and supplement that with videos and other background material. Here is a simulation page for the AR program but it is best experienced in person.
Augmented Reality
Books
In collaboration with students at Rogers-Herr, we added an AR feature to the books they selected and wrote up. The AR was compiled in MyWebAR and linked together in a Padlet page.
Nasher Museum
In Led by the Duke Ed Tech Fellows, the Nasher Museum project is an in-progress work using Unity to create Augmented Reality models for works of art at the Nasher. The project is focused on creating a model for St. John the Baptist II, a painting by Kehinde Wiley. The model will be able to zoom in on details about the painting and allow viewers to change elements of the painting, such as the background and subject.
Data Analytics
Data is everywhere! The data analytics project demonstrated kids the power of being able to access massive amounts of data and derive insights from them. The EdTech fellows-built data-driven projects that were both fun and relatable. The main objective was to educate children the process of gathering data and extracting meaningful insights from them. This cycle included collecting data from different data sets or conducting surveys with Google Forms, visualizing these data with CODAP (a data analytics tool that uses the “drag and drop method” to avoid the hassle of coding), plotting different charts, finding patterns, deriving insights from them, and analyzing the data. They used Kaggle to retrieve datasets for performing the analysis. One such fascinating data collection named Datasauras created a graph resembling a dinosaur by plotting random values! In order to develop healthier eating habits, the fellows also constructed a survey of eating behaviors using Google Form and a data set on cereals. We all could benefit from learning to have a healthier diet! This project teaches them the analytical abilities required to make sound dietary decisions based on data.
Dall-E 2
A fun and powerful tool that employs artificial intelligence to convert text prompts into visual masterpieces. With numerous possibilities to help kids bring their revolutionary ideas to life, the illustrations that can be created are endless! They can solve even the world’s most pressing challenges. The Edtech Fellows developed a few stories highlighting the vast storytelling possibilities for children to explore with Dall E 2.
John Hope Franklin
The Duke John Hope Franklin Young Scholars, Rogers-Herr Middle School students, and Duke Ed Tech Fellows created an Augmented Reality experience honoring the life and legacy of Dr. John Hope Franklin, a Black historian, educator, and activist from Durham. The AR was created in MyWebAR and features videos and articles about Dr. Franklin. Visit Duke’s John Hope Franklin Center to check it out!
Chromebooks Refresher
The Chromebooks distributed by the Durham Public Schools to all students were very useful in helping everyone navigate remote learning during the pandemic. But over time, the students tended to forget some of the basic rules for care and feeding of the computers. Rogers-Herr instructor Dorothy “Addie” Carr led a two-week challenge project with 16 8th graders to create a video to remind students about safe uses of the technology. David joined the class for those two weeks to provide technical assistance with the green screen and animation aspects. The resulting humorous video has been shown in all the classrooms.
Teacher Reads
Kids love to read books over and over and sometimes a parent or sibling isn’t available. The videos in this series, recorded by Durham Public School teachers and other local educators, aims to help kids absorb books as much as they want, even if they can’t read by themselves. These videos can be also used for ESL students who want extra time and practice with the English language. Click here for more info.
Duke Explore Mobile App
Over the summer of 2016, we teamed up with a group of students attending between grades 5 and 12 and created the Hidden Durham tour. It is the first tour to feature on Duke Explore, a mobile app with Global Information System. It can guide you on a walking tour or you can flip through the stops from the comfort of your home.
Flipping Prisons Virtual Reality
In 2016, we received a $52,647 grant from the State Farm Youth Advisory Board to transform an abandoned prison into a sustainable farm and education center through the magic of virtual reality. We worked with eight high school students in the Advanced Game Design class at the Durham School of the Arts, veteran teacher, Robert Bourgeois, and youth participants from the nonprofit, GrowingChange. Our goal was to help others visualize this prison’s untapped potential. The final product includes a mobile VR lab that is currently traveling around to state as a tool to convince legislators to fund the creation of this project in real life.
Click here to read an article about this project!
It’s also free! Click here to find out how to get it!
Previous Projects
David, now I am ready to add some of the previous ones!! Thanks Jeannine.
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