Last fall I demonstrated a couple of augmented reality (AR) apps to some of my workshop participants at the NESA Leadership Conference in Athens, Greece (yes, we were there during the riots). One of those apps was Aurasma, which allows you to connect digital content with real-world objects. No company-provided cardboard squares to lose, no special paper to print, no what-the-heck-are-these QR codes – just the ordinary objects around you. For example, imagine that you point your iPhone at a picture of a platypus and the Wikipedia platypus page pops up on your screen. Or imagine your students pointing their iPads at a drawing of a DNA helix on the walls of your science classroom and the Crazy Plant Shop genetics game launches. Or imagine a mother at your school’s Parent Night pointing her Android phone at her kid’s 3D clay sculpture and a video pops up of her daughter discussing her art. Or imagine a diabetic student pointing his smartphone at his school lunch and the nutrition menu appears, complete with carbohydrate counts. Or …
I think the ability to connect virtual content with real-world objects holds a lot of learning potential, particularly if we teach kids how to create their own real-world AR objects (and the background content to which those objects link). What ideas do you have for how AR – particularly AR linked to real-world objects – might be used for learning and informational purposes?
Oh, and for your viewing pleasure, here’s Matt Mills explaining in his TED talk how Aurasma works. Happy viewing!
Some other ideas for use of AR in teaching and learning at
http://www.shambles.net/pages/learning/ict/augreality/
This is so cool! I used Aurasma with 4th and 5th graders this past spring with book talks. Typically they would type a book report, share it with the class, and then that would be it. This year, they recorded their book talk on the iPad and then used the cover of the book for the trigger image. The teachers printed the book covers and put them up on the bulletin board so anyone with a iOS device and the free Aurasma app could watch. What’s cool is the trigger image could be the book cover itself, a printed paper copy of the book cover (in color OR black and white even worked!). Since a couple kids read the same book, they hand-drew their cover (or scene from the book) which added a nice personal touch. What do you think was the #1 question every parent asked? How can we get this on our phone? 😉 Everyone LOVED it!
Very cool, Lynn. Thanks for sharing!
I’m a Digital Media major at the University of Houston. As part of my senior project due next year, I have a research project that I am working on. I have decided that I would like to get to know the applications of AR for use in the classroom – with a focus on students with autism. What I would like to do is put together an inexpensive kit that can be easy to use for teachers and their students with disabilities, likely with them using an ipad. If anyone has any information or ideas on this subject, I’d love to hear them. I’m excited to have found this article and can’t wait to look into what can be done with Aurasm… lol What a risque name!
Some great educational AR resources here http://www.twoguysandsomeipads.com and http://twoguysandsomeipads.weebly.com