Image Credit : Images supplied by Spiire.
Project Overview
This Smart Cities experience gives high school students a tangible, interactive learning opportunity that brings the possibilities of working with data to life.
Spiire teamed up with Wyndham Tech School and Wyndham City Council to provide a Smart Cities experience that invites students to explore data-driven decision making.
We worked together to design a concept for an activation where students plan a local festival. They can then test and adapt their decisions in a simulation that uses real-time Internet of Things (IoT) data to show flow-on effects to key stakeholders such as attendees, local residents and businesses.
It brings the application of data into the real world, using a 3D printed model of nearby Watton Street as a basis for the projection. Students connect to this physical surface through their laptops so they can team up to interact with and influence the simulation.
Project Commissioner
Wyndham Tech School | Wyndham City Council
Project Creator
Team
This project was a collaboration between Wyndham Tech School, Wyndham City Council and Spiire.
Spiire's project team included:
Project Director
Anthony Wansink
Creative and Technical Director
Michael Lyons
Lead Software Developer
Richard Ritchie
3D Production Manager
Matt Girardi
3D Artists
Sam Mohan
Neil McLellan
Quadraphonic Music Score
Josh Mitchell
Workshop Facilitators
Daniel Gregor
Belinda Hodkinson
Project Brief
Our challenge was creating excitement around the use of data in a meaningful and interactive experience for high school students.
From early conceptual conversations with the Wyndham Tech School team, we worked closely with their facilitators in a co-creation process that evolved throughout a series of workshops.
The importance of having a physical anchor to help students visualise data in the real world soon emerged, which we achieved through a 3D printed scale model of Watton Street, a major hub located close to the Wyndham Tech School campus.
Through using a local, real world example to create a physical surface as the basis for the data projection, we hoped to create a genuinely engaging experience of applying data to decision making.
Project Need
Today’s high school students are preparing to enter a workforce that will be shaped by emerging technologies.
This project seeks a way of showcasing how IoT data collected by Smart Cities teams can be applied to influence decisions.
Working collaboratively with Wyndham Tech School and Wyndham City Council, our team designed a hands-on educational experience that asks students to assume roles as Smart City planners, giving them a real taste of this future career path.
Through a series of discovery workshops and a prototyping phase, the concept was refined for an experience that puts data into a local context, anchored around a physical surface, with a gamified simulation mode that challenges students to interact with data in real time.
The technical delivery included a complete custom build of the application students use to navigate the simulation, spatial design of the room and projection surface, and the real-time motion graphics, artwork and quadrophonic audio that enacts the simulation.
User Experience
The project has two modes: idle and simulation. In the idle mode, the projection plays back real-time data from local smart devices for students to observe trends such as parking, smart bins and solar energy generated. When not being used for a simulation, the project remains active in its idle mode as a data visualisation tool that can be integrated into different learning units. The physical surface has also served as the basis for an urban design unit that uses AR technology to invite students to visualise their designs on the scale model.
The simulation mode asks students to team up in groups and choose from four different roles in planning a local festival. Students make decisions based on local data and then adjust their decisions throughout the simulation, in response to feedback received in real time.
Students’ decisions are put to the test against the satisfaction rating from three key stakeholder groups, which drive the students’ scores. Poor satisfaction triggers an alert within the simulation so that students can adjust their settings and see how the results play out.
The simulation mode is modular, so it can be tailored to suit the requirements of a particular class. A natural event, such as a weather event, is incorporated at the midway point as an additional challenge for the students to react to and adjust their plans.
Project Marketing
More than 400 students have participated in the Smart Cities program to date, alongside 20 teachers who have participated in related professional learning. Feedback from these users shows the program is successfully meeting its objective of empowering students to make decisions that are informed by, and directly impact on real-time data.
“The Smart Cities program is a really fun, hands on way to see how data can be interpreted, and how we can use real world data to make decisions,” – teacher.
“I really liked playing with the simulation and seeing how changes I made impacted the stakeholder satisfaction,” – student.
Members of the local community also had a chance to experience the Smart Cities workshop as part of the Wyndham Learning Festival in 2022.
Beyond its original purpose, the platform has also been linked with wider real data-set initiatives, through a connection with Digital Twin Victoria, and been incorporated into another Wyndham Tech learning program that allows students to design, model and visualise the city of the future.
Project Privacy
Wyndham Tech School values the privacy of all individuals and is committed to handling their information in a lawful and responsible manner. Find more information in the privacy policy listed on their website: https://www.wyndhamtechschool.vic.edu.au/
Digital - Education
EdTech focuses on how education is changing through technology, changing the way we learn and process knowledge. What will stand out here is those that enhance the learning experience and make a lasting impression.
More Details