Abstract
The advent of all types of eXtended Reality (XR)—VR, AR, MR—raises serious questions, both technological and pedagogical. The setup of campus services around XR is only the prelude to the more complex and expensive project of creating learning content using XR. In 2018, the authors started a limited proof-of-concept augmented reality (AR) project for a library tour. Building on their previous research and experience creating a virtual reality (VR) library tour, they sought a scalable introduction of XR services and content for the campus community. The AR library tour aimed to start us toward a matrix for similar services for the entire campus. They also explored the attitudes of students, faculty, and staff toward this new technology and its incorporation in education, as well as its potential and limitations toward the creation of a “smart” library.
TopBackground
St. Cloud State University, SCSU, (https://www.facebook.com/SCSUVizLab/), initiated in the College of Science and Engineering after the University reorganization, became the campus Makerspace.
The University provides learning opportunities for first-generation college students. Recently, the student body is changing as a result of a steady influx of international students. As in most academic libraries across the nation, the SCSU Library is facing various challenges, reflecting national trends, such as dwindling resources and evolution of services and expectations. Library faculty and staff have been reduced by layoffs, attrition, etc. Further, the Library struggles to adapt to the attitudes and expectations of current student generations: Millennials and Generation Z; patrons with preferences toward technology, mobile devices, social media, gaming, and lately, immersive learning and teaching (Howe, 2003; Levine & Dean, 2012). The failure of the Library to establish itself as the campus leader in the pedagogical application of technologies and the gravitation of current trends, such as Makerspace toward other units on campus, such as the SCSU Vizlab, is reflected also in the concept of Internet of Things (IoT); the idea is taught and entertained by faculty and students from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, but the majority of the Library faculty and staff, as well as its administration, has no interest and makes no attempts to adjust its vision and strategic planning toward work for the development and implementation of IoT ideas and structures both as practical application of IoT or as learning ground for patrons to become acquainted with IoT. In its role for the entire campus, the University Library struggles to respond to the rapidly changing worlds of education and learners.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Video 360°: Frequently called 'spherical videos' or 'immersive videos', 360 videos are video recordings where a view in multiple directions is recorded simultaneously.
Virtual Reality (VR): A computer-generated experience that simulates reality. VR may include visual, auditory, or tactile experiences.
Augmented Reality (AR): A live experience of a physical space, where computer-enhanced visualizations, sounds, or tactile experiences overlay the real-world environment.
Extended Reality (ER): An immersive experience involving interactions with the real world, virtual reality, augmented reality, as well as other machines or computers adding content to the experience.
Internet of Things (IoT): Network of intelligent objects.
Immersive Technologies: The sum of the technologies related to virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and extended reality.
Mixed Reality (MR): A blend of virtual experiences and the real world where virtual and augmented experiences are presented simultaneously.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): A system’s ability to interpret external data correctly, to learn from such data, and to use those learnings to achieve specific goals and tasks through flexible adaptation.