Social Distancing Trainer Shows What Six Feet Away Looks Like
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 04/06/20
Two
education organizations have created a free Apple iOS app to help
children understand how far they should be from other people to
practice safe physical distancing. The program, "Social
Distancing Trainer,"
was produced by Discovery
Education
and Afterschool
Alliance.
The app uses augmented reality to get the idea across.
Once
the app is installed, the user finds a clear space and waits for the
signal to press the screen. The student chooses imperial measurement
or metric, and then a holographic image of a human figure appears,
along with the distance between the figure and the student. The
distance changes as the student moves closer or farther from the
augmented figure, to give the learner a sense of how far away he or
she should be for safe contact.
The
trainer also provides information about the COVID-19 health crisis,
using resources from the World Health Organization, the Centers for
Disease Control and the United Kingdom's National Health Service.
"Getting
a true sense of safe social distancing can be challenging, especially
for young students," said Afterschool Alliance Executive
Director, Jodi Grant, in a statement. The app, she said, provides
students with "an effective and cool way to see what social
distancing looks like, all from the safety of their homes."
Although
the app is currently available in
the Apple App Store,
a Google Android version will also be made available shortly via
Google Play, according to the Alliance and Discovery Ed.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.