From: Jade Overkill
Sir,
My Final Analysis
It is my view that Pearl Harbor Visitor Center and the USS Arizona Memorial are excellent cases of education technology integration into an informal learning environment. Because of the somber nature of the memorial, integration of technology at the memorial must be tasteful and done carefully to create enthusiasm for learning and preserving history, while at the same time, honoring the dead. For example, the audio tour could be done by smartphone, but it makes sense to keep it as-is due to the headphones allowing for a quieter atmosphere.
To upgrade the status from excellent to exemplary, a few changes might be made to the current technology. Basic fixes should be implement to ensure that broken equipment is fixed in a timely manner. Touch kiosks might be beneficial at the outdoor exhibits, but care would need to be taken for protection against the elements and keeping with the solemnity of the site.
Realistically, I believe the best choice of resource management would be to fund the development of the virtual reality application further. The groups partnering might do a usability study of the current application and continue the revision process through its continued development. The VR application should be upgraded to include educational and interactive content that could be used from home or in the classroom. Classrooms could visit as a virtual field and the interactive, educational content would only enhance this. It might be integrated in the same fashion as the Acropolis VR application (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rendernet.acropolis) as shown in Image 9:
Image 9: Acropolis VR Application
A VR video or animation might make sense rather than the time-lapse that is currently in the app. It might make a bigger impact on the viewer, rather than showing only photos of the damage. A video would also make the material less clunky and awkward. Sound effects and music could also be incorporated into the app. My recommendation would be to start the app in silence for use at the memorial and have added features that allow the user to choose to turn on the sound in a settings menu. Various settings might include a Narrator On/Off, Sound Effects On/Off, and Video On/Off. This also gives a bit of control to the user.
In McMamay’s article (2017), it was mentioned that interviews might be developed in to the app somehow. This would certainly take ed tech integration to the next level. This link to a TED Talk on history education through VR is an example of what could be possible with story-telling, history, and empathy for learning and understanding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea08yn4emPg. The Pearl Harbor VR app could potentially benefit from this kind of story-telling immensely since the stories are already being told through videos in the museum. The greatest benefit of focusing on the application development is not bringing a new form of technology and wow factor to the museum, rather, it is the capability of bringing the museum, monument and historical experience to the audience, most of whom could never afford to travel to Hawaii to visit these sites in person.
I hope you will agree to allow us to integrate this type of technology into our future cases.
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