Horticulture students ‘leafing around’ campus

A new app will enable horticulture students to climb to new heights as part of their VET course at Charles Darwin University.

Students can identify a range of plants on Casuarina campus with the augmented reality app FloraXplora, developed by CDU’s Innovative Media Production Studio (IMPS).

CDU Certificate III in Horticulture student Ange Trnka, who was one of the first to trial the web app that uses GPS location to unlock activities, said it was helpful for her studies.

“I’ve only used it once, but I believe it will be useful for my training and it has added to my local knowledge of plants for work,” she said.

Horticulture Lecturer Robyn Wing said students could use the app to identify bark, leaves and flowers of specific local plant species.

“The game is still being trialled, and we have worked closely with IMPS in developing the app so it is engaging and interesting,” Ms Wing said.

“We gave each level a fun name, for example the level on different types of bark is called ‘Barking Mad’. Other levels are called, ‘Leafing Around’, ‘Foliage Facts’ and ‘Flower Power’.

“It also has the level ‘Bad Habits’, which provides users with the scientific name of the plants – all adding to their botanical knowledge, rather than the bad habit of using common names.”

IMPS Manager Alison Lockley said the app was another example of CDU embracing technology and developing a range of products to enhance student engagement and learning.

“The app was developed to provide students with the opportunity for practical, self-guided activities on-campus and there are plans to expand the game to other local areas,” she said.