Coll-app-orating with students: iBeacons and AR and gamification, oh my!

• Main Author: Low, Jiaxin
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2016
• Subjects: augmented reality; iBeacon; gamification; app development; student project; Academic libraries; Singapore; library orientation; library tour; mobile app; Library and Information Science
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/library_research/93; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1094&context=library_research
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Freshmen at Singapore Management University are required to attend library orientation in person before their first term. Traditional workshops were replaced in 2012 by LibQuest, a problem-based activity which received positive feedback from students. However, due to increasing sizes of each freshmen cohort, we started considering alternatives which were more scalable and sustainable. In 2015, we collaborated with a student team from the School of Information Systems on a Proof of Concept: a mobile app that allows on-demand library orientation. In the app, users are tasked to capture “monsters” scattered throughout the library. The app alerts users if there are monsters nearby. Users have to locate a picture of the monster, scan it to view content and answer quiz questions correctly to capture the monster. The app incorporates iBeacon and augmented reality technology, sending alerts and pushing content to users as they approach areas of interest in the library. To gamify the experience, we introduce a countdown timer, achievement badges, and a gallery of successfully captured monsters.