Hack day produces prototype mobile app for enhanced learning

Thanks to all who attended Developing Solutions Camp on Friday. We had an exciting day of interactive working with about 50 people in the room and 6 teams working on ideas that had been submitted under the first phase of the competition.

Congratulations to the winners of the mobile application competition; the team who worked on Learning QuRve.

David Moody, VP Solutions of Kana, a Judge of the Competition commented “Learning QRve’s solution cleverly engages citizens in a fun and interactive way, leaving them better informed about how government works.”

Learning QuRve

The Learning QuRve was hacked from scratch, based on an idea from Guy. A mobile optimised web application, it will encourage children to visit cultural and educational sites across the county, and stimulate engagement with learning activities by gamifying the experience. Using OS Open Space and open data sets on sites of heritage, natural history and geographical interest etc, it will provide enhanced multi-media learning for children and marketing opportunities for the sites themselves.

By presenting on a website a map of Kent overlaid with (for example) heritage data, it will allow children to see the location of all heritage sites near to their position. A back end facility will enable sites that want to participate, to register, and all participating sites will be flagged on the map.

Once at the site the child/user will accrue points by scanning QR codes situated around the site marking points of interest. Scanning the QR code will reveal multimedia learning tools such as text, pictures, audio or video content, that can provide information or instructions. Running scores can be kept to allow children at the same site to compete to see who finds the most points of interest and/or completes the most instructions.

The main architect of the prototype, Ric Roberts of Swirrl, explained that the benefits are for both the children in their enhanced learning, and for the sites who could take advantage of the online marketing opportunity and the possibility of replacing costly audio tour equipment with what is effectively an outsourced solution to providing information to visitors. A wonderful use of open data and OS Open Space which was functionally feasible and had a clear vision of how it could be developed, and it clearly moved the competition judges to score it highly.

If you would like to help take forward this prototype, do get in touch with @ricroberts.