Ach so! is a mobile application for recording, commenting and sharing commented videos at work in situ. Wherever demonstrations of skills or work sites are needed, Ach so! is the solution. Ach so! users watch and comment each other’s videos in a cloud which supports both individual and communal learning at work. Videos can be used in Ach so! service or be exported to and integrated in other systems, which makes the use of Ach so! videos even more extensive. Application possibilities are international and cross-sectoral.
Shoot a video about important matters at work
Highlight significant points in the video by adding comments
Share your videos easily with your colleagues via multiple channels
- Integration with your existing systems
- Embed or export annotated videos
- One-touch mobile video commentary
- Trim your videos
- Use video metadata on one click
- Comments of a different colour identify users
- Watch videos online or offline
- Join groups anywhere in the world and add videos to them
Uses
- Creating knowledge: create knowledge by shooting videos and adding annotations
- Reflecting: watch the video, reflect what you see and add annotations
- Sharing knowledge and experiences: share annotated videos with your colleagues and learn from shared knowledge and experiences
Tech specs
- Native and fast Android and iOS clients
- Ruby-on-Rails server backend, with web viewer for commented videos
- Authentication with Layers OIDC or Google account
- Modular server backend: configurable authentication service, metadata storage and video storage
- All open source, all free, Apache 2.0 licensed
- Dockerized and Layers Box-compatible
The Story
Four years ago, LeGroup at the Aalto University got a challenge to design and develop a mobile application for enhancing informal learning at work in construction industry. The design process followed the main principles of participatory co-design and involved construction students, educational institutes and companies in the design and development work, and in field studies. Iterative design and development cycles took over 3 years and resulted in a software prototype called Ach so! that was at first applied to learning at construction sites and then also to healthcare education. Ach so! design matched with the needs for mobile learning in the real life, which helped to establish the use of it in various sectors where documentation, reflection and sharing of work practices was needed.
Collaborators:
Research
Design and action research with field trials were the key in Ach so! research. Conceptual learning theory created background and shaped the application use at constructions sites and in healthcare education. Pilot studies with the end users provided valuable feedback for designers and developers and improved the application further.
Further Reading
[1] [2]Contact
Jana Pejoska, Merja Bauters, Teemu Leinonen- M. Virnes and J. Thiele, “Working paper: Applying mobile learning to vocational training at construction sites: barriers and possibilities.,” 2016.
- M. Bauters, J. Purma, T. Leinonen, and others, “In-time on-place learning,” in 10th International Conference on Mobile Learning 2014, 2014.
