UNS — The Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia can infect all people of different ages, including children. However, it is considerably challenging to educate children about Covid-19. This situation happens because children have yet to understand the concept of a dangerous virus. Many parents are overwhelmed to provide such education to their children. To solve this problem, students of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta took the initiative to develop an Augmented Reality (AR)-based education book on the Covid-19 pandemic designed for children.
The book entitled “How to Stay Healthy during Covid-19 Pandemic” is an innovation from a Team of Student Creativity Program in Entrepreneurship (PKM-K) UNS. The team was led by Anggun Prasasti, with four members namely Feby Sekar Ayu Kuncoro Ningtyas, Annisa Nurul Azizah, Attiena Arsyad Ibrahim, and Desma Astia Lavenda.
The advantage of this book lies in the applied AR technology. With this AR technology, readers can see three-dimensional (3D) shapes from animated images in the book by scanning the barcode available in the book. In addition, this book is compiled in two languages, Indonesian and English, to help children learn daily English conversation.
The book has been compiled since June 2021 by the PKM-K team under the guidance of a lecturer in the English Education Study Program, Hasan Zainnuri, M.Pd. Due to the pandemic situation, this team carries out its activities through a blended method between online and offline to complete the scripting, designing, and online AR development process. Meanwhile, book printing, product quality control, and marketing are done through on-site monitoring.
“For the production process, we completed the manuscript writing through Google Docs. The script preparation process starts from determining the main points of discussion for each page in the book. In addition, we also sketched images for each page of the book, which was completed through a virtual and on-site meeting,” said Anggun, as the team leader.
The sketches they make are then converted into digital drawing designs. After that, they determined the drawing objects that need to be converted into 3D animations in collaboration with partners from BIV Projects.
The finished book prototype is sent for the printing stage, a process where they work closely with CV. Yuma Pustaka. Currently, printed books are ready to be distributed and ready to be used.
“We have finished 30 copies with a printing cost of Rp. 50,000.00 per book. Our PKM-K team has also finished the product quality control by directly visiting the printing press,” added Anggun. Humas UNS
Reporter: Ida Fitriyah
Editor: Dwi Hastuti