4. November 2014

KIDS interactive wins innovation prize for augmented reality app ZOOM

Awards

AR textbook app by KIDS interactive wins Thuringia innovation prize 2014

Reason to celebrate at KIDS interactive!

On 19.11 the Erfurt-based company was awarded with the Thuringia innovation prize 2014 in the category “Communication & Media”. Augmented reality, the digital expansion of real object is currently primarily used in the entertainment or tourism industries. In an educational context, however, the technology so far hardly reaches the everyday life of the smartphone user. Zoom is the first augmented reality app appropriate for textbooks with which complementary medial knowledge content can be controlled directly on the page. You simply have to place your smartphone or table over the relevant page of the book and open the related video, audio, animation or additional materials on the textbook page. Once the page has been detected all the multimedia educational content for the page saved in the app can be displayed and played. For the user this opens an exciting, digitally enhanced view of the previously static content of the page. In addition to spoken words, audio material and grammar crib sheets the textbook app also contains image galleries, video reports and tutoring modules. This additional content can be accessed using a clear menu or can be projected on the scanned page directly in the camera image. Joerg Michel, Managing Director of KIDS interactive GmbH: “Our app solution offers the opportunity to bridge the gap between classic printed textbooks and new digital media with the help of the student’s and teacher’s smartphones and therefore combine both aspects. This creates an easy to follow media bridge for the classic book into the technological age. The AR technology is also suitable for other areas of application such as adult education or special needs schools due to its easy handling. In additional to other textbook apps for other educational publishers AR app projects for magazines, museum tours or transmedial games are also currently being developed by KIDS interactive.

Judgement of the jury:

“The Erfurt company KIDS interactive GmbH is one of the pioneers in the field of mobile education and provides a modern and motivated learning experience both in school and at home. Together with one of the largest textbook publishers in Germany the company is bringing a textbook-enhancing app series with augmented reality technology onto the market. The textbook app connects directly to the everyday reality of the target group and offers students added value when grasping their subject matter. This way student’s smartphones and tables can be sensibly integrated into teaching and above all in practising and learning at home in an appealing way. The app recognises the pages of the book based on the image properties and then calls up the associated media content. The detection and processing of the information is very reliable and fast. The company receives the Thuringia innovation prize 2014 for the textbook app in the communication and media category.”

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