Students asked for Google Glass ideas

The best suggestions for the internet-connected spectacles will be used to enhance teaching across the University.

Launched in 2012, Google Glass works with smartphone apps, allowing the wearer to record and photograph what they see.

Controlled by touch or voice-commands, Glass also enables the user to access the web wirelessly, with information appearing on a display screen in front of their eyes. E-mails and texts can be sent and received and music streamed to it.

Students are being asked to make a three-minute film, explaining their idea of how Glass could be used to develop and enhance teaching and learning in higher education, with the best ideas chosen for further development.

Research partnership

Edinburgh has received 20 pairs of the device and is the only British university taking part in the initiative.

The University of Edinburgh has formed a unique partnership with Google to evaluate and test applications for this radical new technology, sometimes known as “wearable computing”.

Students are already working on a mobile app to help under pressure cyclists in cities. Participants in the ‘Brains on Bikes’ experiment wore Glass to record what they saw and talked about during journeys along some of Edinburgh’s busiest roads, while a headset tracked their brain activity.

Glass has also been used as a teaching aid. Applications include surgeons recording operations and other medical procedures to show to students.

Experts from the University of Edinburgh’s department of Information Services are working with students and staff to evaluate how technologies such as Glass might support and enhance a wide range of educational activities.

Throughout January we will be inviting students in all disciplines to share their innovative ideas by submitting three-minute video proposals. Some of the best proposals will go forward to become live projects within the University. This is an exciting opportunity for students to shape the way new technology is integrated into learning and teaching. We hope those submitting ideas will be radical and inventive. The University’s vision for digital education will be shaped by our students’ creative potential.

Competition deadline

The deadline for films to be submitted is 30 January 2015. Further information about the project and how to participate can be found at