supporting mental health awareness through the use of augmented reality

Education: Transforming learning

and teachingAugmented Reality

Steve Wileman - Chief Learning Technologist, South Staffordshire College

Terry Hammond – Director, Rethink Mental Illness

» South Staffordshire College’s partnership with Rethink Mental Illness charity has led to significant progress being made in developing Augmented Reality resources that promote and raise awareness of hidden disabilities

» This PowerPoint showcases how the partners contributed to the creation of high quality Augmented Reality resources allowing early identification or self-referral of learners with hidden disabilities

Raising mental health awareness through augmented reality

Jisc FE and skills development and resource programme - Innovation through technology South Staffordshire College data shows the number of young people referred into the mentoring and safeguarding service with pastoral support needs has increased by 56% since 2010/11. The issues that learners are dealing with are not new society concerns; they have been around for a long time - we believe it is the improved awareness of the support mechanism offered that allows learners to disclose.

‘Raising mental health awareness through augmented reality’

Jisc funded project

Promote, engage and collaborate

Jisc FE and skills development and resource programme - Innovation through technology Young people with hidden disabilities may still go undiagnosed for many years. Despite attitudes about sexuality, ethnicity and other similar issues improving, discrimination against people with mental health problems is still widespread.

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Jisc funded project

Promote, engage and collaborate

» Rethink Mental Illness had been looking for new and innovative ways of engaging with young people and get mental health awareness on their radar

» South Staffordshire college was looking for an organisation that had high quality health information -it was the perfect match

» Following discussion between the two parties, Rethink agreed to provide the mental health material and give access to their website & South Staffordshire college provided the IT expertise and mentor support to move forward the initiative


» Rethink Mental Illness - Help millions of people affected by mental illness by challenging attitudes, changing lives.

» Today they directly support almost 60,000 people every year across the UK to get through crisis's, to live independently and to realise they are not alone. Rethink Mental Illness change attitudes and policy for millions.

» With over 200 mental health services and 150 support groups across the UK. From psychological therapies and Crisis and Recovery Houses to peer support groups and housing services, they directly help thousands of people every year.

» Campaigning nationally for policy change, and locally for the support people need. They have changed the law to improve life for millions of people with mental health problems and we are changing public attitudes through the Time to Change campaign, which they lead in partnership with Mind.

Rethink Mental Illness

» South Staffordshire College’s mentoring facility offers learners an opportunity to talk about matters that are worrying them (personal/social or course difficulties) discuss options and develop skills and techniques to empower, overcome and move forward from those concerns.

» Last academic year 562 learners were referred to our mentoring team and 272 were referred to safeguarding.

» Significant number of those referrals related to self-harm, suicidal tendencies, threats, attempts, other mental health concerns and homelessness.


» Themes and content relevant to our learners wellbeing had already been created by Rethink on their website and YouTube channel.

» Rethink Mental Illness allowed SSC to repurpose and generate high quality Augmented Reality resources and website support links

» This project helps to overcome stigma and the lack of knowledge about mental health; a problem that affects many individuals but remains little understood and is often treated as a subject which is difficult to discuss


http://www.rethink.org/

email: [email protected]

» Following the introduction of Augmented Reality at South Staffordshire College, AR is changing the way we teach, learn and communicate to our 21st Century learners making the whole learning experience more entertaining, rewarding, engaging

The Start of the AR Journey - App:

Redefinition: Tech allows for the creation of new tasks previously inconceivable

Modification: Tech allows for significant task redesign

Augmentation: Tech acts as a direct tool substitute, with functional improvement

Substitution: Tech acts as a direct tool substitute, with no functional change

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» The technology is having an impact particularly in practical subjects such as construction and is driving up their success rates!!

» See more at: jiscrsc.ac.uk/case-studies/wm/south-staffordshire-college-wm66.aspx#sthash.7Ci5E8xM.dpuf

The App:





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http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/case-studies/wm/south-staffordshire-college-wm66.aspx#sthash.7Ci5E8xM.dpuf




» Utilised the Aurasma AR platform.

Created a South Staffordshire College branded app. This allowed the generation of content specifically for curriculum areas and also apply some corporate identity to the wider cross college learner experiences.

Aurasma is currently free for educational organisations. They helped us to set up a ‘studio’ for our college where we could create AR content.

Aurasma studio allows you to link video content, web page links and animations (auras) to a ‘trigger’ image.”

The App:





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» The college learners are familiar with the use of AR around the campus and we see this as an opportunity to develop resources that deal with issues outside the curriculum. These resources provide an excellent way to gauge the impact and use of AR as it is a new use of the technology. Currently hard evidence of the difference this can make is limited and anecdotal.

» DFE requires FE colleges to promote/practice standardisation & sustainability recognising ‘the role of colleges in this is perhaps greater than most since they are responsible for the development and learning of the next generation of citizens, and are an important part of the local community’

» Using AR enables staff and learners to gain new skills and adopt new ways of employing technology into the learning process, giving a rich, interactive experience.


» Persuading young people to be more aware of their mental health is crucial because:› 1 in 4 at some stage in their life will be diagnosed with a

mental illness

› Early intervention is crucial, it can make the difference between recovery and years of ill health

» Augmented Reality is a unique tool that really does help young people to be more engaged in understanding mental health

» The pedagogical evidence for improved engagement and learning from this area is measurable.

» Although not purely attributable to the implementation of AR as a tool, the College saw a massive improvement in retention and success in Level 1 Bricklaying in 2012, achieving 6% above national benchmark.


» The Learner Journey mentor team immediately saw the potential of AR and worked with the learning technologist team identifying ways that support and guidance could be provided to our learners in an unobtrusive manner

» More mental health in cities than rural areas but a high rate of suicide amongst farmers. Many of our Rodbaston learners progress into this particular profession.

» Good outcomes for young people rely on interaction between their needs and how well services can meet them.

» Many young people rely on their family for help/support, which becomes a problem if the family does not have the skills or knowledge to manage such complex needs.

» This becomes more noticeable in deprived postcode areas and a number of this fall into the catchment areas of South Staffordshire College, placing a duty on the College to fill that support gap.


» The college recognises that well trained staff are essential but what we wanted to do is to widen support by creating a series of Augmented Reality posters to raise awareness for both learners/staff.

» The posters signposted where the learner can go next for further support.

» Well-trained staff are essential, but AR posters act as an additional first step in mental health self-awareness from a learner/staff perspective, providing easy access to information.


Content Augmented Reality (AR) posters


Jisc funded project

Usage» Facilitate easy and informal

access to short Rethink mental health videos and support services intended to help raise awareness of mental health issues for staff and students

» Appropriate points signposting key topics and messages

» Ongoing and throughout the learner journey


Jisc funded project

» Augmented Reality (AR) is a way of superimposing digital contents into the real world

» Our college app takes a device’s camera-view of the real world, understands what is sees and then overlays this view with an interactive layer of the virtual world

What is Augmented Reality?

» It utilises the ever evolving mobile communications industry

» AR has been predominantly be applied in the areas of entertainment, retail, travel, advertising, and social communication

What is Augmented Reality?

The App: :

» Learners can confidentially seek information regarding support and staff are more informed to able to guide the learner towards support provision and relevant agencies

» The college’s learning technologist and Mentor support teams plus combined outputs from the Rethink partnership are allowing staff and learners access to more inspiring, engaging, innovative and modern self-support / situated learning communication methods and mental action


» Posters carrying the AR logo are placed in student areas and staff rooms to deliver essential information quickly and efficiently upon access

» See more at: jiscrsc.ac.uk/case-studies/wm/south-staffordshire-college-wm66.aspx#sthash.7Ci5E8xM.dpuf

The App: :

Call to arms campaign





» 562 learners were referred to the College mentoring team and an additional 225 learners were referred for safeguarding support in Term 1, during 2013/2014› Term 1 in 2014/2015 - 508 learners were referred to mentoring

and although this has shown a 9% decrease, we have seen a 59% increase in our safeguarding referrals - 358 learners were referred to safeguarding

» A significant number of those referrals related to self-harm (42% increase), suicidal tendencies, threats or attempts (8% increase), diagnosed mental health concerns (58% increase)

Statistics

Making mental health issues more visible is important for the college

Insert logo here

» As a result of this work the College is continuing to develop teaching and learning approaches and pedagogy across the whole campus through their growing expertise in AR technology. This includes work on student experience, the student learner journey and curriculum enhancement

» Examples› Student Experience: Interactive Artwork, Directions, Course

Information, Student induction trail, AR welcome from Principal

› Student Learner Journey: Surveys, Equality and Diversity messages, Advice and Guidance, Progression Tools, Tutorial messages

› Curriculum Enhancement: Practical demonstrations, assessment tools and tests, learner assessments, demonstrations of other apps, social media and video


» Through our collaboration with the charity Rethink Mental Illness, the project has built upon our work promoting greater awareness of hidden disabilities

» Using Augmented Reality has enabled us to do this in a way that is comfortable and easily accessible to staff and learners developing a college wide inclusive culture

Often stigma is attached to the perception of mental health issues

» AR poster outputs can be viewed using the South Staffordshire College AR app.

» Upgrade your QR to AR and download South Staffordshire College's Augmented Reality (AR) app on an ipad/iphone or android device.

» Open your QR code reader - point your device at your smart phone specific QR code to be taken to your free AR reader .

»

The App:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/south-staffordshire-college/id570972496?mt=8

#https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aurasma.skinned.south_staffordshire_college_ar&hl=en

» Alternatively AR poster outputs can be viewed using the unbranded Aurasma app.

» Upgrade your QR to AR and download Aurasma app on an ipad/iphone or android device.

» Open your QR code reader - point your device at your smart phone to be taken to your free Aurasma app.

»

The App:

» All of the Mental Health Awareness Augmented Reality support posters (including the instruction guide) can be downloaded here:

» https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ur2xecln3ec6lp2/AAAuMWHuXwSQPQEAtJGj10Oza?dl=0

» Tiny url

» http://tinyurl.com/q75z2y3

» All outputs will be available on the UK's largest repository for discovering and sharing Open Educational Resources - JORUM

» http://www.jorum.ac.uk/

» http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/20104?_ga=1.95262300.177064960.1433778088

The App: :

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ur2xecln3ec6lp2/AAAuMWHuXwSQPQEAtJGj10Oza?dl=0



http://tinyurl.com/q75z2y3

http://tinyurl.com/q75z2y3

http://www.jorum.ac.uk/

http://www.jorum.ac.uk/

http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/20104?_ga=1.95262300.177064960.1433778088




Find out more…

Contact…

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND

Stephen WilemanChief Learning TechnologistSouth Staffordshire [email protected]: uk.linkedin.com/pub/stephen-wileman/38/9b4/39aTwitter: @Bluejam15

http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/stephen-wileman/38/9b4/39a



supporting mental health awareness through the use of augmented reality

Documents

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rethink mental illness

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thousands of people

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