EduPARK, mobile Learning, Augmented Reality and Geocaching in Science Education: 2018 winner of the ECIU Team Award

Abstract

EduPARK (http://edupark.web.ua.pt) is a Research & Development project that promotes mobile game-based learning with Augmented Reality (AR) in the outdoors. The project integrates a multi-disciplinary team, from Education, Biology and Computer Science, who created an interactive AR app, supporting geocaching, for exploration in the Infante D. Pedro Park. The app integrates curriculum articulated educational guides for basic, secondary and higher education, as well as for the public. Each guide is a game with interdisciplinary questions and challenges that prompts founding AR contents at different locations, enhancing an authentic and contextualized learning. The project has been organizing several teacher training courses and activities for students, teachers and tourists to collect systematic data to better understand mobile learning in outdoor settings. The EduPARK has been selected as the winner of the 2018 ECIU Team Award after a selection within the University of Aveiro applications, as only one application per institution can be submitted each year. The ECIU (European Consortium of Innovative Universities) Team Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning distinguishes interdisciplinary teams that successfully develop and implement educational innovations, challenging conventional thinking. Its aim is to promote, celebrate and showcase innovations in teaching and learning of interdisciplinary teams amongst ECIU member institutions, keeping with the mission of ‘Challenging Conventional Thinking’ for tomorrow’s world, today. The jury highlighted some of the strong features of the project, such as: i) the team is composed of specialists form different academic fields who worked together in a multi-disciplinary setting; ii) the integration of AR in a day-to-day technology, like the smartphone, was considered to be very innovative; iii) the project is a good example of how an everyday object can be used as an educational tool; and iv) the project is an excellent example of what the ECIU is all about: challenging conventional thinking in education.