Playground Tactics:

Real-time reflexive learning.


Pete Hamilton and  David Lynch  were commissioned, by The Ashton Group Theatre on behalf of Creative Partnerships Cumbria, to train staff at James Rennie School a school for children with Profound Motor Learning Disability in Carlisle, in animation software and video production.






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Abstract

This paper explores the application of augmented reality as a tool for reflexive learning in playful environments. Augmenting Expectation in Playful Arena Performances with Ubiquitous Intimate Technologies by Bayliss, Lock and Sheridan proposes the ‘Performance Triad’ (PT) model as a method for the analysis, deconstruction and understanding of performance in playful arenas. In the cited example, the PT model (See Figure 1.) operates in a specific cultural and social context, but when we apply this model to an education environment, particularly with regard to special needs, then it can be used as a tool for reflexive learning.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Performance Triad Model (Bayliss, Lock and Sheridan, 2003)


Background

Pete Hamilton and Dave Lynch were commissioned, by The Ashton Group Theatre1on behalf of Creative Partnerships Cumbria2, to train staff at James Rennie School3, a school for children with Profound Motor Learning Disability in Carlisle, in animation software and video production. 

The idea was that as much of the school should take part as possible right across the age groups and that the project should be inclusive of:  

The Inclusion Programme; a partnership with local mainstream schools 

The Comenious Project; an exchange project involving James Rennie School with similar schools across the EU.   

and address the deep learning agenda, in particular three areas: 

Learning to Learn 

Assessment for Learning 

Student Voice. 

…[We] felt that given the essentially reflective nature of the Deep Learning Agenda (DLA), film and new media skills would be really useful tools for the school. Film has the capacity to be re-wound, re-watched and analysed.  (Ashton, 2007)

The project ran for two weeks in July 2007 culminating in a presentation of the work of staff and students to the school. A preliminary visit revealed that the school was already using assistive technology in the classroom; Intellikeys4 boards and trigger buttons were used as durable alternatives to standard computer input devices like the mouse or keyboard. There was also SoundBeam5, hardware which uses midi signals and movement sensors to detect proximity, which we combined with live performance video mixing (VJ6) software called Vjamm7 to create an interactive environment.

As part of the training remit, we experimented with a video feed to create a live composition using a ‘blue screen’, a process very similar to that used in television weather reports to superimpose foreground elements onto a dynamic background. Weather reports require meteorologists to choreograph their movements in direct response to the changing weather patterns behind them. In our experiment, students performed scenes from stories they had written in the classroom. A camera was positioned in front of the screen on a tripod and was connected8to a computer running VJamm. With the facilities at hand, we were able to superimpose the performer into a scene from the story. 


Applying the PT model

We have used the PT model as a basis for investigation. While installing our ‘bio-feedback mechanism’, we addressed several technical issues relating to the performance of the equipment. The hardware limitations caused a visual hysteresis9which allowed one person, the participant, to become an instant observer of their virtual performance. In this instance a black curtain was erected in the school hall behind a table and a crash mat placed on the floor in front of that. We were then able to key10out the background. 

In the virtual space, the story required each of the children to jump down an animated toilet, to travel to Chocolate Land in search of buried treasure.  This was a real-time performance environment where the child was engaged as performer.  In the physical space they played the role of participant and were directed to jump down on to the mat. Once they had landed, they were able to look up and observe themselves seconds earlier making the jump within the virtual environment. The rest of the children in the hall completed the triad as observers who would eventually become the participants and virtual performers.

Using the PT model as a basis for research allowed us to dissect the performance into sections and investigate the benefits of using this process in a school environment. Operating simultaneously within a virtual and real space with a delay in feedback creates an environment where the students can explore and react to themselves. We suggest that further research into ‘out of real-time’ immersive learning environments could create a tool for reflexive learning at all levels of education.  



References

ASHTON, R. 2007, Here, Now and Then: A media, story-making and performance research project for James Rennie School. Unpublished

BAYLISS, A., LOCK, S. and SHERIDAN, J. G. 2003, Augmenting Expectation in Playful Arena Performances with Ubiquitous Intimate Technologies, in Proceedings of Pixel Raiders, Sheffield.

Fitzpatrick, G., Husbands, P., Jungmann, M., Lutz, R. and Villar, N. Exploring the Boundaries between Perception and Action, Lancaster University, Infolab21 and University of Sussex, Department of Informatics and Artificial Intelligence.

LESH, N., RICH, C. and SIDNER, C. L. 2000, Collagen: Applying Collaborative Discourse Theory, Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories.

PECS - Picture Exchange Communication System [online], CALL Centre, University of Edinburgh,  Available from: http://callcentre.education.ed.ac.uk/SCN/Level_A_SCA/Using_Symbols_SCB/Hot_PECS_News_HTA/hot_pecs_news_hta.html [Accessed: 01.07.07].


Biographies


Peter David Hamilton

Pete Hamilton is a UK based artist, designer and web developer. His work has been exhibited in both real and virtual spaces; nationally, at Milton Keynes Gallery, and abroad, at the Europäisch Austausch Akademie. He produces documentary video using found and archive photography and uses new technologies to generate digital work from analogue media.

Since 2000 his work has explored the liminal qualities of place, time and consciousness and his meditative transitions are an antidote to the expected fast-paced nature of contemporary culture. Hamilton’s Re:Photo Series looks at public spaces and personal histories, exposing the relationship between past, present and future, place and memory, emergence and urban growth, new technologies and nature.


David Lynch

Dave Lynch has been a practising video artist for around 5 years, playing upwards of 250 live performances to audiences of over 5000 people; he has worked nationally with contemporary and traditional artists from an international stage.

He utilises public and private spaces as well as the Internet. Individual pieces have been shown in traditional spaces such as galleries, cinemas and the BBC.  He also employs the use of non-traditional spaces such as public green spaces, club and film nights and guerrilla projections from moving vehicles onto moving water, people, temporary and permanent structures. 

His work manifests itself through interactive installation works, traditional film and computer animation as well as projection based work specifically designed for live audiences and screenings. His work mixes and blurs the boundaries of modern new technologies and uses innovative filmmaking techniques as a natural part of this process.