A new $93,000 grant from the Inukshuk Wireless Fund has the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) ready to go mobile and get mapping, as they take their EasyMap project to Alberta schools. This pilot project features a mobile-online learning environment that allows students to map their communities and tell place-based stories through the power of locative media.

“We are on the cutting edge of mobile learning,” says BNMI senior mobile researcher Angus Leech. “The mobile interface we’re developing allows students to explore their communities in the field, and capture on-the-fly photos, audio, text, video, and environmental sensor readings, using phones equipped with GPS.”

For example, students studying wildlife might take a field trip to look for animal tracks along a trail. Using a Smartphone, the students would locate the tracks, take a photo of them, record themselves describing the prints, and then upload all of the data onto a digital project map. The students would then return to the classroom and explore the map, evaluating each of their diverse experiences.
More than 200 students from grades 5 through 10 will participate in the year-long project which launches in March, 2010. Participating schools include Banff Community High School, Langevin Science School, Olympic Heights School, and Our Lady of Assumption School. Joining the students in the classroom will be a documentary filmmaker, a musician, BNMI staff, and representatives from BNMI’s partner, Learning Through the Arts (LTTA)

LTTA is an organization that establishes long-term connections between teachers and specially trained artist-educators who promote collaboration and continuous learning for teachers and students. LTTA will be creating a suite of EasyMap learning plans for teachers to use, and provide curriculum development expertise for the project.

The goal is for this project to be a valuable learning resource for years to come, expanding throughout Alberta and across Canada. “We want the project to become a community of maps that people can learn from, that can grow and become an engaging, and self-perpetuating social networking space, remarks Leech. “We also want EasyMap to have a long lifespan. By making the technology open source and accessible to the public, it can grow and adapt as mobile technology continues to change in the future.”