Educational Technology and Methodology -- Technology Division
[x] Program Year Three
Undergraduate In-class Participation in Advanced Engineering
Research
Project Final Report, December 22,1995
Anthony Webster, Director of Building Technologies
This report details the work done for the Undergraduate
In-class Participation (UIP) Gateway EEC grant. The UIP project
was evaluated under a separate contract by Columbia's Institute
for Learning Technologies (ILT). ILT's draft report (submitted
separately) indicates that the project was a pedagogical success,
that its main features are extensible to other educational domains,
and suggests how such extensions can be implemented by other Gateway
schools.
As described in the Schedule/Deliverable
section of the EFA proposal, the following items were sited for
completion by 9/95 or sooner:
1. Computer code and equipment design
- Installation Design (tracking equipment and
spaceframe supports)
2. Spaceframe delivery
3. Computer hardware construction
- Completion of fullscale, augmented reality
testbed
4. Animated and augmented computer model design
5. Project report (Paperbound and WWW) and
project video
6. The following items are not under the scope
of this project but are promised by the dates indicated as part
of the terms and conditions of this grant:
a. Teaching an interdisciplinary experimental
research class and collecting evaluation data (12/95)
b. Computer programming (12/95)
c. Evaluation reports and dissemination (1/96)
d. Use the testbed to complete a working prototype
of an augmented reality system (5/96).
Deliverables Status
All items covered under the scope of this grant
(1 -- 5) have been completed. Items 6a through 6d are on schedule
to be delivered as promised. Following is an item by item status
report:
Tasks 1 -- 3:
We have created an augmented reality testbed
in the Carleton Laboratory at Columbia University. The testbed
includes: a full size, commercial grade spaceframe (the spaceframe
was donated by Starnet International Corporation); a pentium computer
with accelerated 3-D graphics; an ultrasonic position tracker;
and a magnetic orientation tracker. A video documenting the testbed
will be completed by March 1996, and the entire testbed will be
available for demos at conferences by June 1996. Project students
enrolled in the interdisciplinary research course taught at Columbia
this fall (see task 6 below) are available to demonstrate the
system.
Task 4:
We have completed the design of both models.
Representations of each are available on the WWW at: http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~archpub/BT/RESEARCH/SPACEFR/class.html
and in the project report (see below).
Task 5:
We have completed a project report. A Paperbound copy is attached to this report. An electronic version is available on the WWW at:
http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~archpub/BT/RESEARCH/SPACEFR/class.html
Tasks 6a -- 6d
We are teaching a class this (fall) semester
including undergraduate mechanical engineering, computer science
and architecture majors. The students have programmed the drivers
and interfaces for the augmented reality system, and we expect
to have the testbed operable by the end of the semester. Some
student work completed to date is attached to this report. The
Institute for Learning Technologies is evaluating the class, and
its report will be completed before April 1996.