Technological innovations are being made daily to improve every aspect of life from the medical field to helping toddlers learn basic skills at earlier ages. Park University is participating with one of these innovations in a special program using Google Glass.
Park University’s James Nelson, assistant director of software development, has been given the opportunity to be part of the Google Glass Explorer Program. This is the organization MOREnet’s latest collaborator for research.
MOREnet (Missouri Research and Education Network), an organization that provides Internet connectivity, access to Internet2, technical support, videoconferencing services and training to Missouri’s K-12 schools, colleges and universities, public libraries, health care, state government and other affiliated organizations, is working to see how this new piece of technology could be beneficial in the educational field.
Over the upcoming months, Nelson and other members of Park’s Information Technology Services staff will explore how Google Glass can benefit learning in a higher education environment including the development of Glassware, Google Glass’ version of apps, which is designed to enhance learning and the college experience.
The opportunity came about in November 2013, when MOREnet held a contest to receive submissions from Missouri schools on how Google Glass would benefit each school.
Nelson and David Monchusie, chief information officer, submitted proposals and both were selected by MOREnet.
“Part of my proposal for how the glasses could benefit higher education was designing an app that lets teachers know when students are studying,” Nelson said. “The app would also allow the glasses to analyze what the student is studying.”
Another idea in Nelson’s proposal was for instructors who would wear the glasses in order to analyze students in each class and find those who are not paying attention.
“That way,” he said, “teachers could direct their questions at these students to get them to pay more attention.”
After the proposals were selected on Nov. 12, the glasses were purchased and Nelson received his about a week later.
Unfortunately, Monchusie was unable to receive his glasses, as he wears regular eyesight glasses, which goes against Google Glass rules. He is still able to assist Nelson in the program but without having the glasses.
Besides getting to wear the glasses and work with them, Nelson said the program is, more or less, a test to see how society reacts to them.
“So far,” he said, “I haven’t had any negative reactions while I wear the glasses. I’ve read online and seen some negative comments about them. But I get stopped in the hall sometimes because people are so curious about them.”
According to Nelson, the major concern and negativity with the glasses is a matter of privacy. With the recent issues and news stories about the NSA spying and surveillance, Nelson said that most people seem to be worried that the glasses will add to the privacy issues.
“What people need to understand is that the glasses require effort to be made to turn them on and get them to work,” he said. “The glasses are not recording or looking at people unless the person wearing them messes with them to make the glasses do so.”
To get the glasses to turn on and operate through its functions, the person wearing them can either use the touch panel on the right side of the glasses or the person can interact with the glasses through voice command.
The glasses have various functions, including a video camera, a GPS and even an app that can tie to your phone and reply to texts, emails and perform other tasks.
“There are a lot of tools that aren’t available for the glasses yet,” Nelson said, “and there are only about 20 apps available that are designed for the glasses. Lots of work still needs to be done, but right now, it’s just more of a beta-type test to see how society reacts to them.”
Nelson also compared the apps to Facebook notifications, saying they are designed to give you information when you do not know you even wanted that information.
“Let’s say your reading something in your textbook while you’re wearing the glasses,” he said. “When those glasses are on while you’re reading, they are analyzing information in the book and finding more information for you that might not have thought about looking for later, or realized you might have wanted that piece of information.”
Some of the apps available are a CNN news app; a tourist app that provides the glasses user with information about a landmark, food, or other interest while you are on a trip; and even a fashion app that allows the user to take pictures of clothes they see and the glasses will send links to where the person can purchase those clothes.
The hands-free access that comes with the glasses can help anyone and they may be safer to wear while driving than using a mobile phone, but at $1,600 a pair, consumers may be waiting to purchase their own pair.
Other companies are making their own kinds to compete with against Google Glass, and there are many styles available but societal acceptance is key right now.
For Nelson, however, the program is more about discovery and learning.
“We are very excited to begin exploring Glass and can’t wait to share what we discover,” he said.