Suncheon National University Launches Augmented Reality Game ‘SCNU Picks’ to Support Freshmen's College Life

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Suncheon National University (President Ko Young-jin) announced on the 5th that it launched the ‘SCNU Picks’ game, which incorporates augmented reality technology and contains useful information necessary for university life to help new students adapt to university life this year, starting from the 2nd and will operate for three weeks.

‘SCNU Picks’ gamifies 27 AR/VR missions containing information and useful content that Suncheon National University freshmen must know from admission to graduation. It was developed in 2019 as part of the University Innovation Support Project to help current students successfully adapt to school life, and this year marks its second launch.

The game operation method is similar to the augmented reality game ‘Pok?mon Go’, which was once wildly popular.

After installing the ‘SCNU Picks’ app on their personal smartphones, when students go to major locations on campus, missions available in that building are activated based on GPS information. Each time a mission is successfully completed, reward points are accumulated, and the student’s individual ranking is updated in real-time based on these points.

‘SCNU Picks’ is designed exclusively for Suncheon National University freshmen, allowing light competition among classmates to immerse themselves in the game. Through completing 4 stages and 27 missions in order, students can acquire diverse educational information such as ▲the purpose and usage of major facilities on campus ▲mandatory regulations like the graduation qualification certification system ▲useful university life tips from seniors ▲education on disability awareness improvement and sexual harassment prevention.

Heo Hee-ok, head of the Education Innovation Headquarters at Suncheon National University, who led the game development, said, “Although gamification is understood as an effective educational method for the new generation, there have been almost no precedents of its use in educational settings due to technical and operational difficulties encountered during actual application.” He added, “In this situation, ‘SCNU Picks’ is attracting attention as the first case in Korea to apply gamification to university education, and we will continue to pursue experimental challenges for educational innovation.”

President Ko Young-jin, who personally participated in the game demonstration before the launch, said, “New students who must have felt depressed for not being able to freely enjoy the beautiful spring campus with friends due to the COVID-19 situation, although participating alone holding their smartphones, I hope this will be a good opportunity to roam every corner of the campus and feel the spring atmosphere.” Regarding the mission to find the university’s famous cat ‘Chongjangnim’ (nickname), he smiled and said, “I want to remain not as a distant and difficult president but as a friendly president like a cat who lives and breathes together with the students on campus.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.