360 Augmented Reality
Construction Management Training
CHALLENGE: Construction sites are too dangerous for educators to teach Construction Management courses on-location. Create an authentic virtual experience providing students a safe alternative for identifying and documenting OSHA violations on an active construction site. Must be equally accessible to all students using available technology in classroom and at home. Mobile, tablet, laptop, desktop, iOS, and Android compatibility required.
BACKGROUND: The first industry job newly graduated Construction Management majors apply for is documenting safety violations. This consists of visiting live construction sites, identifying issues, taking photographs, then writing a report with details for each violation. My goal was to replicate this process as accurately as possible, preparing each student with truly virtual on-the-job training.
OPPORTUNITY: 360 video is widely dismissed by traditional filmmaking because “You can’t make viewers look where you want them to look.” An impossible task for traditional filmmaking. But in that very flaw, I find opportunity. Instead of trying to force the viewer’s attention, we will HIDE the message inside the video, and challenge the viewer look around to find it.
Influenced by Highlights Magazine’s famous “Hidden Pictures” puzzles, we collaborated with the Construction Management department to record 360 videos of mock OSHA safety violations on a working construction site. Viewing from the safety of their classroom or home, students were immersed in a live action construction site through their cellphone, tablet, or desktop, browsing each scene in augmented reality. Searching for safety violations in 360 degrees, just like the real world. Using their device’s screenshot feature, they would then “take a photo” of the issues, and include them in an industry standard Construction Safety Violation Report form. Upon graduation, students will have experienced several hours of virtual “on-the-job” training, and be prepared to take their first steps into a new career.