SBIR-STTR Award

Project OAR (Oceanographic Augmented Reality) is a software-based tool that leverages embodied cognition with augmented and virtual reality to create highly engaging and impactful oceanographic training. With OAR, trainees will see oceanographic animated behaviors up close and from several angles to help ensure learning. The project brings together education researchers, software developers, and oceanography subject matter experts to create a software tool that provides animated web-based vignettes, mechanisms for building in scaffolding and overlays for instructional points of interest, incorporates assessment, and recommends training options based on learner progress. The software will allow instructors (and subject matter experts) to easily build training scenarios that are immersive and interactive.

Benefit:
Augmented and virtual reality as educational tools have the potential to transform the classroom because instruction instantly becomes more visual and attractive for learners. On-the-job training is literally augmented, or enhanced, in that trainees can be placed in real-world situations in which they must perform their job duties. This enhanced level of training hands-on experience without the costs and risks of real hands-on training. Furthermore, AR and VR can help the Department of Defense overcome geographic constraints that arise during training. A gas turbine system technician, for example, can perform a repair in tandem with the expertise of another person who is thousands of miles away.

Keywords:
Virtual Reality, Virtual Reality, remediation, Augmented Reality, interactive, Training, web-based software, customization, Tailored Training