AR4EU, short for Augmented Reality in Formal European University Education, aims to build Higher Education capacity for Augmented Reality (AR) by teaching associated innovative ICT, media, and digital skills & competencies, being both transversal (through its media competency dimension) and rich professional skills (rooted in media, computing, and engineering).
As a technology, AR provides composite views to the user, enriching the perception of the tangible, ‘real’ world with virtual visual overlays and using other sensory modalities. AR allows the real-time fusion of computer-generated content with offerings of the real world. The augmented elements provide access to information that the user cannot directly detect with their own senses, enhancing user perception which helps them to perform real-world tasks more efficiently.
In the canon of digital skills and new key competences needed for digitising Europe’s industry, AR takes a key position. However, the quality and relevance of students’ knowledge and skills in this domain need to be improved, in order to prepare them for the digital labour market of the future.
With this goal in mind, the consortium will collaboratively create multidisciplinary teaching courses on the topic of AR that will enhance quality and relevance of students’ knowledge, skills, and other abilities. The courses will equip graduates with the right skills for IT industry and other employers in Europe and around the world. Industrial stakeholders will be actively involved in the course design and validation process, because their understanding of the international real-life IT and creative industry context will ensure that the produced courses address the labour market needs of the new, rapidly developing field of AR.
Over the period of three years from fall 2017 to fall 2020, the partners will apply their expertise and leverage existing best teaching practice in related fields to ensure didactic quality.