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Augmented reality on trial at Walsall College

Alex South

 

Lecturers are the unsung heroes of our industry, taking on multiple roles to teach and help students find apprenticeships which will lay the foundation for future careers. And if we’re honest the very standards of the industry too! In the first of a series of interviews with college lecturers for SPARKS Magazine we talked to Alexandra (Alex) Tranter who works at Walsall College.

A quick look at their website (www.walsallcollege.ac.uk) confirms an impressive list of credentials in the ‘about us’ section. In March 2013 they became the first OFSTED outstanding general further eduation college under new inspection framework, with outstanding success rates achieved by students, which put the college in the country’s top 10 per cent of colleges. They’ve also just invested £300,000 to create a new engineering manufacturing workshop, and a brand new business and sports hub.

Alex joined the college six months ago, and was previously working as an electrician in Wales. Which sparked off so many questions! After having spent four years working for a housing association as an electrician, she explained that unfortunately job opportunities were few and far between in her local area. That, combined with the fact that she has family near Walsall, encouraged her together with her husband to make the move from Wales.

Giving a clue as to why she chose to be an electrician she said ‘I remember watching Challenge Anneka on TV (ok it’s a fairly old programme from the early 90s where Anneka of the title helped people with projects such as restoring old buildings) and wanting to be that person who helped others to get the job done. I think I achieved that working at the housing association as sometimes we’d be called in to bring a recently vacated house back up to scratch, and after two weeks working on the job I’d have an immense sense of satisfaction and pride that I’d been part of making that house safe for the next tenants.’

Although Alex was a fully trained electrician, she had to undertake a TAQA qualification which trains assessors. If women are supposedly better at multi tasking, then Alex has the perfect job. At Walsall she teaches, but also visits students on site when they are working as apprentices, and reviews them too. She prefers this approach rather than different people handling different elements, saying ‘by being involved with everything I have a much better overview of each student, and how all the elements of their course fit together’.

She continues ‘it’s a three way relationship between student, lecturers and employers and being part of the Employer Responses team means I’m not just teaching but involved with all aspects of the Level 2 and 3 NVQ electrical qualifications. Being involved with the practical side is important because there is a difference between what we teach, and what actually happens in the work environment. At the moment I’m looking after 20 learners, but that will increase to 40 at fully capacity.’

Walsall is a forward thinking college and says she’s impressed with the set up so far. One of the projects she’s involved with is trialling an augmented reality app as an aid to learning. It’s a free app which students can download and Alex explains that the college is trying it out to see if there is any value to it. She says ‘by trialling it we can see if it increases the time that students spend learning, or whether it reduces that time. Part of the aim is to see whether it can help with students who learn at different rates, so quick learners won’t be held back and those who take more time won’t be left behind. It’s all about looking at new ways of learning, and students really like the new technology.’

As you would probably expect Alex is an advocate for women in construction, and has been profiling female student success through case studies. She’s also involved with a role model project for the 2015/15 student intake where existing apprentices are matched up with new starters to give them positive solutions and mentoring to help build confidence and on site skills. As if that wasn’t enough to keep her busy then she also engages with local schools, visiting them to deliver skills specific training to both male and female students with a view to inclusivity. ‘In a male dominated industry it’s a huge culture change, but things are gradually changing – one small step at a time.’

 

Augmented reality – what is it?

According to Wikipedia augmented reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. The augmented reality that Alex is trialling at Walsall involves downloading an app onto a smartphone or tablet, which can then be used to animate images or symbols on course material. She explains as follows:

‘Some of the course units are very full of information so I am developing booklets to accompany those which are ‘auras’ for the augmented reality app. What this means is say I put the triangle for ohms law onto the booklet, when the student holds their smart phones over the image it will become animated and my voice will explain how we use transposition of formula. This will aid the learners who sometimes take a bit longer to fully understand the principles of electrical theory. It also means that I can make the classroom fully interactive for each individual student with posters around the room which will become animated to explain concepts to fit in with the units they are being taught. It is a way to ensure that the apprentice is in charge of their own learning and they can go at a good pace for themselves, it is also quite a lot of fun in the classroom for what might otherwise be quite a dry subject!’

 

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