Capture technologies (EdTech)
From The Learning Engineer's Knowledgebase
Capture technologies are those that can receive input on physical phenomena and translate that information into electrical signals or data. Such technologies are sensors of all types (e.g., light, sound, motion and movement, pressure, geolocation) or media recording devices (e.g., microphones, cameras)
Definition
A capture technology is one that receives some kind of input information from real world physical phenomena and in turn represents that information as a digital signal or data - which allows computers to use that information. The concept of capture is the ability to record phenomena and represent it in a new, usable way that maintains accuracy and reliability to the original phenomena, as well as when the event was captured.
Additional Information
Environmental phenomena are plentiful in every space that a learner occupies. Digital technologies make it easy to capture how people operate within online spaces through digital logs and analytics. However, it is becoming easier for instructional designers to also capture aspects of the physical environment so that they might be considered and actively used in educational products.
Common physical environment phenomena that are used by capture technologies include:
- Light, captured through cameras and light sensors - which can not only detect light sources of varying frequencies in and out of human vision perception, but also create full images and videos on screens or print by taking photos or videos with a camera
- Sound, captured through microphones
- Motion, captured through speed and acceleration (accelerometer sensor) or direction (a gyroscope and geomagnetic field sensor)
- Location, captured through GPS systems and positioning technologies
- Temperature, captured through digital thermometer technologies
- Pressure, captured through pressure resistance sensors
- Proximity, captured through near-field communication (NFC), RFID, and bluetooth sensors
- Biometrics, captured through fingerprint, eye, and facial scanning systems; or fitness trackers (heart rate, blood pressure, etc.)
Some of these common capture technologies that are listed above are all included in most modern mobile phones and tablets today. Instructional designers can take advantage of the capture technologies that are in most mobile devices and rooms today to create experiences that take advantage of the physical environment and movement of the participant.
All sensors that are connected to a computer via software can also have a clock attached to the software, giving designers the ability to know at what time or for what duration sensors captured the information on the phenomenon. Timestamps in records are useful for evaluation and research to understand how things happen over time, such as learner interactions and behaviors.
Toward the goal of better understanding how learning occurs and whether learners achieved the desired objectives, capture technologies can readily record many aspects about learners' behaviors in physical spaces if appropriate sensors and capture technologies are prepared.
Tips and Tricks
- If you are designing learning experiences in physical spaces (like a classroom or a museum), what are some of the environmental factors that might be used to increase interactivity or engagement in your product? Factors could include the movement and physical location of learners, light, sound, and proximity of people and objects.
- How might you use the physical location for learning, so that learners can interact with objects in the physical space and have devices respond to different locations, environmental conditions, or other factors that can be captured by the technologies listed above?
- How then might environmental factors be captured and interpreted by computers toward interaction in the experience? What kinds of sensors could you use to capture these factors, and what would you have software do to interpret, notify, and make decisions about what the capture technologies show?
- What objects (including mobile phones) could learners carry around with them in a physical space that could interact with sensors or other phones placed about the space in different ways? How might these physically interactive objects be used to create an interactive learning experience?
Related Concepts
Examples
None yet - check back soon!
External Resources
None yet - check back soon!