From Board Game to Augmented Reality: A Learning Tool

“We integrated a simulator in class to bring students closer to the reality of a car assembly plant, but with the component of augmented reality and gamification.”

One of our students’ and graduates’ problems is the lack of professional experience when applying for a job vacancy. Although we have made enormous efforts to prepare them for the professional world with professional practices, activities with training partners, and academic networking, students still complain that they are excellent at problem-solving – but from the book.

Maintaining students’ attention during class time in a face-to-face course is difficult; the pandemic exacerbated this challenge with the forced migration to online classes viewed through a screen. Teachers and students had to compete with all sorts of distractors. To mitigate this problem and motivate student participation and engagement, we integrated an ERP simulator(Enterprise Resource Planning) into a course, using augmented reality and gamification to bring them closer to the reality of a car assembly plant. By combining these two teaching strategies, we aspired to achieve three success variables for learning: interest, academic quality, and the development of specific competencies.

“With augmented reality, we managed to bring our students closer to situations that are very close to reality. They no longer had to imagine the car or assemble it in two dimensions because now they could break down and assemble the system by learning the concepts in video lessons.”

Augmented reality and gamification in class

Together with a group of industrial engineering and design professors, we implemented a gamification strategy in class using Meccanos to emulate a car assembly plant. With the gamification, we sought to replicate day-to-day situations in a company, supported with dice, role cards, spinning tops, hourglasses, and a hefty dose of creativity to create the scenario. The students got hooked on assembling their car and obtaining more and more points that helped them in their final grade. The topics covered in these activities included quality, statistics, production planning, forecasting, inventory control, experiment design, project management, and mechanical design, to name a few.

However, there was no way to apply the car assembler via the remote digital model during the pandemic lockdown. We tried to construct the autos with online applications that employed digital puzzles and dice, but the students did not find this engaging. In the summer of 2020, with the help of the CEDDIE south-central region and the Laboratory of Emerging Technologies at Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mostla), we explored using augmented reality through the EON Reality application. Its lessons included a traction system similar to the Meccano Pandemic Furious model we designed on campus.

The application was a success; we had the students wholly hooked on these Methodologies for Problem-Solving activities. Students came from several careers (academic programs). We were able to measure the learning and development of competencies. The problem was the time required to download the app on their devices, which became the catalyst to propose a Novus Fund project for educational innovation. We aimed to have our augmented reality application for our cars.

We managed to bring our students closer to real situations with augmented reality. They no longer had to imagine the car or assemble it in two dimensions with a puzzle; they could take apart and assemble the system learning the concepts supported by videos in the lesson.

Luck does not exist. Everything we learn in life leads us to a moment of using our skills. My passion for carpentry and Jeeps helped me add value to the work team’s research by building lathes, machining centers, and manufacturing cells that emulated the assembly of a car. It had an engine to the scale of a Jeep Willys and a body part that later served as the physical part in one of the EON lessons (see Image 2).

The course “crashing” the Formula One

In the national Methodologies for Problem-Solving course (i.e., on all the Tec campuses in Mexico), we had to continue the restriction that students could not physically enter our training partners’ businesses to do a project. So, we proposed a virtual plant to a group of more than 300 students from all campuses as an option.

We designed the virtual plant with cases to be solved by the students in different contexts involving inventory control, supply chain, quality, experimental design, and administration. So that students could achieve the objectives, we provided them with data generated in Excel sheets, and they could problem-solve using Minitab, Matlab, or Excel itself.

Image 2. Jeep Willys lesson to learn about engine parts and assembly.

Concurrently, we designed the simulator using the ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning) concept and the augmented reality application to simulate the day-to-day operations of a car assembly company.

We reached a time when expectations ran high. I must confess that our egos prevented us from perceiving the activity as gamification. It became very much a professional case solution, which was not fun. It required many hours from the students, working simultaneously as a team. I compare this experience to driving a Formula 1 at top speed and crashing it into the wall.

Although the students developed skills and solved problems, the activity was not attractive. We ignored essential factors such as the deteriorating emotional health they were experiencing locked in their homes, the stress caused by the situation, and family and personal issues. Personally, it was hard. The teaching team spent extra hours designing the cases and advising the teams but did not reflect their efforts in the student’s course evaluation. Consequently, we no longer offer the subject.

Failure is a good teacher

From failures, one learns more. We applied systems thinking to redefine the Novus project parallel to the virtual plant. We designed a methodology based on Design Thinking (DT) and Design of Experiments (DOE) to find the right factors and parameters for students to have the best simulator.

Image 3. The interface of our VEP simulator with the constructor robot “Chencho.”

Thus, VEP (Virtual Enterprise Planning) was born with a manufacturing superhero named “Chencho,” a robot that assembles the cars. The simulator is a condensed version of an ERP, very similar to an SAP, but with an attractive graphical interface for students where gamification plays a primary role. Students like video games, for the most part, so it was not difficult to engage them with the simulator to find winning strategies. It involved applying the classroom knowledge to the simulator to obtain the optimal utility of the company.

Applying project management is key to achieving desired results. Although we had very adverse circumstances, we learned to negotiate and look for solutions. The “it can’t be done” is eradicated from our thinking. We firmly believe that to achieve the impossible; we must try the incredible and learn from our mistakes.

Reflection

We understood the need to design for the students and not satisfy our academic concerns. In the end, the designs converged to become articles for scientific dissemination and presentations of our project in several congresses.

Academic activities can be fun. As professors, we need to find the success zone of our activities, hang our ego on the coat rack, and perceive our students as companions in the learning adventure.

To date, we have done a pilot run in three courses. We have applied tests before and after using the simulator to measure academic achievement and surveys to measure the qualitative aspects and engagement of the students.

We continue to use EON Reality for the augmented reality part. Currently, the simulator runs on a 2D platform; we are considering a third Novus project to design and manufacture our cars with metal and plastic parts for future work. In this way, we could extend the project to other types of products, for example, airplanes. The methodology can also be used in academic extension for diplomas and the training of new professionals.

We are confident that the gamification of a simulator to pose challenges experienced daily in a company will give students confidence during their job interviews to demonstrate that they have the necessary skills for the position.

About the author

Carlos Alberto González Almaguer (cgonzalz@tec.mx) has a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering, specializing in new products and processes. He is a faculty professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the Queretaro Campus of Tecnologico de Monterrey.

Edited by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Observatory of Educational Innovation.

Translation by Daniel Wetta.

Novus is an initiative of the Institute for the Future of Education that seeks to strengthen the culture of educational innovation based on evidence in the professors of the Tecnológico de Monterrey. To do this, we provide funds to implement educational innovations and their impact measurement. We seek to disseminate, transfer, and scale the projects and their internationalization through peer-reviewed publications, conferences, and international competitions.

Our purpose is to encourage experimentation and research in educational innovation as a means for the professional development of the faculty, the continuous improvement of its teaching practice, and the construction of the future of education.

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