=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1154/paper18
|storemode=property
|title=Wearable learning: How Google Glass is changing education?
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1154/paper18.pdf
|volume=Vol-1154
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/biiml/Sapargaliyev14
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==Wearable learning: How Google Glass is changing education?==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1154/paper18.pdf
"This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License".
Spargaliyev, D. (2014) Paper presented at the Bristol Ideas in Mobile Learning 2014 symposium, Bristol.
Wearable learning: How Google Glass is changing education
Wearable computers have become very popular among consumers last year. The
emergence of new types of devices (including bracelets, watches, clothing and glasses)
can significantly change our society, consumer markets and education. The demand is
constantly growing and the global spread of such devices is expected to increase in the
near future.
One of the most anticipated and popular wearable computer is Google Glass. This
device displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format that can interact with
the Internet via natural language voice commands (Wikipedia, 2013). Google Glass is
still in a development stage and is not available to customer market. The Glass Explorer
program was available for developers to test this wearable computer since February
2013. Today 10,000 people were selected as part of a contest to test the early version
of the device (Wikipedia, 2013).
Google Glass has the potential to bring new possibilities to educators and
students. Probably, Google Glass is a new educational tool that allows using actions,
such as “Search”, "Take a picture", "Record a video", “Translate” and other for
integrating into teaching and learning activities.
Successful implementation of new technology (in this case wearable technology)
in education depends on many circumstances. We need to understand how Google
Glass can change teaching and learning. The following questions should be asked:
• How to use Google Glass for teaching and learning?
• Which of subjects are appropriate for Google Glass?
• Are educators and learners ready to use Google Glass?
Currently we have a limited number of quantitative and qualitative researches on
the use of Google Glass in teaching and learning. However, in our work, we tried to
consider the various aspects and problems of using Google in different areas related to
education.
Some researchers are studying new cultural aspects related with emergence of
Google Glass. Pace (2013) provides a preliminary analysis of how users are creating
the cultural platform that will determine the success of Google Glass. Users are shaping
the meaning of this product through two contrasting ideas: that Google Glass will
empower users or that it will detach them from reality.
Meanwhile, Gates (2013) argues that Google Glass designed to literally integrate
bodies more seamlessly with devices and more thoroughly into network infrastructures.
The appearance of new Google Glass applications can help consumers to integrate real
and virtual worlds. For example, Campbell (2013) describes game application that
brings crowdsourcing to Google Glass and has real-world tasks.
Norman (2013) points out that Google Glass is deliberately designed to be
inconspicuous and nondistracting. When technologies are used to supplement our
activities, when the additional information being provided is of direct relevance, our
attention can become more highly focused and our understanding and retention
enhanced.
Also, there are several different opinions about technological limitations Google
Glass. Current edition of Google Glass is not supporting augmented reality (simply
overlays information about the scene before the user) and helps users pay attention to
the real world as opposed to retreating from it (Furlan, 2013a; Starner, 2013a). Google
Glass user needs only a short adaptation period to become fully comfortable using
device, then streams of information fade into the background as conscious attention is
replaced with mostly automatic behavior (Furlan, 2013b). On the other hand, positioning
a micro display outside a person’s natural field of view could lead to eyestrain and visual
confusion (Ackerman, 2013). As we can see from the examples, wearable technology
still needs improvement, particularly regarding health.
Although our work is devoted to the study how Google Glass could improve
education, but wearable technology is actively used in medicine. Google Glass has
good prospects in pharmacology and healthcare (Fox & Felkey, 2013). Several medical
institutions consider Google Glass as the most convenient device for coordinating and
delivering information to doctors in real time (Wiltz, 2013a). Google Glass can predict
glucose levels in the food diabetics eat and help paralytics (Marks, 2013).
Developers offer special applications that greatly facilitate the work of physicians.
Some of medical wearable apps have facial recognition features, but Google do not
allow using such apps without having strong privacy protections. Though face
recognition is fastest, most efficient way to bring up data and allows doctors and nurses
to search patient records by taking a picture of the patient's face (Wiltz, 2013b).
Wearable technology allows also recognize colors and patterns on clothes as a human
fingerprint for discriminating one individual from another (Wang et al., 2013). It seems
that the privacy issues expect changes with growth of wearable computers' popularity in
the near future (Hong, 2013).
One of the first projects of using Google Glass in education was STEMbite
(www.youtube.com/STEMbite). This YouTube channel with a series of bite size videos
have been set up to show the math and science of everyday life. It is the shift in
perspective, from watching a lecturing teacher, to seeing as if through the eyes of a
teacher that allows for new teaching and learning experiences (Buchem & Pérez-
Sanagustín, 2013).
There are several examples of the successful use of Google Glass in medical
education. Many physicians are excited about how Google Glass could revolutionize
graduate medical education. Google Glass allows medical students watch different
medical procedures in real time. Wearable computer could be helpful educational tool
because it allows residents to view their bedside manner from the patient’s perspective
(Glauser, 2013).
Vallurupalli et al. (2013) carried out a study of using wearable technology for
enhancing medical education. The authors used Google Glass to explore different
scenarios in cardiovascular practice. A mock trainee was wearing Google glass that
enacted to each scenario. Live video stream from Google Glass was transmitted via
wireless connection to smartphones of each fellow who participated in experiment. It
allowed improving education and patient outcomes in cardiology fellowship program.
We still can hardly determine whether teachers and students are ready to use
Google Glass in the classroom. But we can assume that wearable technology
significantly changes the situation in educational practice. It will be important to
determine the recommendations for revision of curriculum, assessment to new skills
and extending educational opportunities by using wearable technology in the near
future.
References
Ackerman, E. (2013). Google gets in your face: Google Glass offers a slightly
augmented version of reality. IEEE Spectrum, 50(1), 26-29.
Buchem, I., & Pérez-Sanagustín, M. Personal Learning Environments in Smart Cities:
Current Approaches and Future Scenarios.
Campbell, M. (2013). Hive-mind solves tasks using Google Glass ant game. New
Scientist, 219(2928), 20.
Fox, B. & Felkey, B. (2013). Potential uses of Google Glass in the pharmacy. Hospital
Pharmacy, 48(9), 783-784.
Furlan, R. (2013a). Build your own Google Glass: A wearable computer that displays
information and records video. IEEE Spectrum, 50(1), 20-21.
Furlan, R. (2013b). Google Glass this wearable computer augments the self, not reality.
IEEE Spectrum, 50(10), 24-24.
Gates, K. (2013). Key Questions for Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies:
Posthumanism, Network Infrastructures, and Sustainability. Communication and
Critical/ Cultural Studies, 10 (2-3), 242-247.
Glauser, W. (2013). Doctors among early adopters of Google Glass. Canadian Medical
Association Journal, 109.
Hong, J. (2013). Considering privacy issues in the context of Google Glass.
Communications of the ACM, 56(11), 10-11.
Marks, P. (2013). A healthy dose of Google Glass. New Scientist, 219(2936), 22-23.
Norman, D. (2013). The paradox of wearable technologies. Technology Review, 116
(5), 101-103.
Pace, S. (2013). Looking at innovation through CCT glasses: Consumer culture theory
and Google glass innovation. Journal of Innovation Management, 1(1), 38-54.
Starner, T. (2013a). Project Glass: An Extension of the Self. Pervasive Computing,
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Vallurupalli, S., Paydak, H., Agarwal, S.K., Agrawal, M. & Assad-Kottner, C. (2013).
Wearable technology to improve education and patient outcomes in a cardiology
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Wang, H., Bao, X., Choudhury, R.R. & Nelakuditi, S. (2013). InSight: Recognizing
humans without face recognition. In ACM HotMobile 2013: The 14th Workshop on
Mobile Computing Systems and Applications.
Wikipedia (2013). Google Glass. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Glass
Wiltz, C. (2013a). EPGL medical sciences among first device makers to use Google
glass. Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry, 35(4).
Wiltz, C. (2013b). Google glass bans facial recognition, sets medical apps back.
Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry, 35(6).