Teleport:History

Teleport: History immerses you in the past while you explore a historical site in the present.

Overview

When you visit an historical site, it’s difficult to conceive the totality of the event that took place there. You may well form a detailed impression from prior reading, photographs, personal accounts and films, but you cannot begin to experience the event as it really happened. You may be stood on a battlefield, but the smells, noise and devastation have been swallowed up by the landscape over time – you could be anywhere. Currently available technology can help us bridge this divide and bring these events and stories to life.

Teleport: History aims to exploit these technologies and take the learning experience out of the classroom and into the field. The game supports multi-sensory learning: listening; seeing; touch / experience. It can be played individually or as a group. It has two modes of play:

• In the field, where all the learner’s senses are stimulated and the game is physically acted out. The game is played using a smart phone which guides and prompts the player.
• In the classroom/home where the player can replay their experience, explore the wider themes and follow further learning links. In this mode, it can be played on a smart phone or PC.

Audience

• Primary audience: 11-14yr olds studying Key stage 3 History and Citizenship units.
• Secondary audience: GCSE History students and adults.

User Experience Description

We went on the field trip last week. Thought it was going to be the usual muck about. But Sir pulled out this wicked game on us. He gave us these smart phones and we ran around like lunatics with em following in the footsteps of the soldiers, like we were them. I could hear bombs going off all around me – shit man, it was almost scary. Yeah, OK, they weren’t real bombs, but it was pretty mental, your head gets a bit mixed up when you’re trying to stay alive. I was with Jon from Arizona, a GI from the 35th Infantry. He really was at the D-Day landings. Interesting guy, I read about him later on – and he led me through everything, telling me where to go and when to duck down. He kept popping up on the phone. It was like he was a ghost, a bit weird, like he was still there, trapped in time or something. With the headphones on, it’s like he’s really in your head. Our mission was to liberate the nearest village, Vierville-Sur-Mer. We had to do some serious ducking and diving before we got there though: we had to run North-East up Omaha beach, capture the 50mm gun – me and Tommo nearly ran into a mine-field on the way – re-up with ammo from Jen and Ste and then meet up in the square. Look, you can see where we went here…

Rationale

Teleport: History is a framework for augmented reality gaming. It aims to create significant and powerful experiences which stimulate and inspire interest in historical events.

Teleport: History is a physical game, the players have to carry out a mission and they have limited time to reach their markers along the way. On the surface, it’s a game of soldiers, but they’re not trying to kill anyone. It’s not a shoot ‘em up, they live vicariously through another person, their buddy, and so over the course of the game they build up an intimate understanding of this person. They go through this experience together, so naturally there’s a bond. The player will build empathy for their battle buddy and this may form a curiosity for further exploration.

As they move through the landscape using the navigational tools shown on the device – live maps, compass, audio and video prompts – the landscape really begins to come alive. With their pulses raised, the sound of their beating hearts and of the battle going on all around them, they are alert, excited and open to the experience.

The Learning Experience

Teleport: History aims to grab hold of a child’s interest and give them a powerful emotional experience which they won’t want to forget. Teleport: History challenges where learning can happen – not just outside the classroom, but in the home, down the street, on the bus etc. And by using smart devices, Teleport: History challenges how learning can occur.

By using a smart-phone, we not only have a device that has cool written all over it (players positively disposed immediately), but it allows us to use some fantastically smart technology to present the player with a unique, personal and immersive experience in a format they’re completely comfortable with.

The game targets all their senses, they’re not watching passively, they’ve really got to listen to the videos and instructions; when they’re moving, they’ve still got to listen really hard in case they miss something important. By giving the players many visual and auditory clues, the player will inevitably begin to paint much more vibrant scenarios in their own imagination, filling in the gaps. Wearing headphones is crucial to creating intimate, immersive and meaningful experiences. With the sounds playing in your head, you’re not talking or thinking about what you need to say next, you’re listening, you’re alive and you’re taking it all in.

Teleport: History isn’t to be played only on-site as a one-time experience. The smart-phone means the student can take the application home with them to explore further. When the player returns to the game at home having experienced the physical aspect, they are in a more reflective mode, and are able to explore other people’s journeys within the game and share their own.

Submitted in part for Futurlab’s Call for ideas.

Download high-resolution PDF version of the storyboard.