Presenting on #AugmentedReality  

 

(Introduction by @LauraLME) 

The benefits of Social Media have been largely explained, illustrated and promoted, but nothing gives a better idea about the positive effects of social networking and interaction, as the amazing experience of sharing, exchanging and in this case, being part of a great project: Augmented Reality Presentations.

Meet

Charles Cooper , High-school American Government & Texas and American Government College Instructor, 2012 Humanities Texas and 2013 Northwest District Teacher of the year awards, lover of the humanities & burgeoning tech-geek, @Thrasymachus on Twitter

And

Jill Compher, AP Psychology instructor at Northwest high school , Semifinalist-2010 O’Donnell AP Teacher Award, @JillCompher on Twitter

Charles and Jill have already presented AR technology to different audiences and they are planning new presentations and training sessions in September.

We’ll follow them closely (literally on the web) and keep spreading the word about their AR presentations journey.

Here at Apparmo, we are excited to be one of the organizations participating to their AR training projects.

 

Enjoy this great article by Charles Cooper:

Layered Learning – Presenting on Augmented Reality

*Note: to view the augmented reality media on these pages, you must download Aurasma and Yo2Mo “Windows” apps. 

In Aurasma, search  for and follow the “Thrasymachus” and “Compher Social Sciences” channels (much like you would follow someone on Twitter).

    When A Day Made of Glass video first came out (scenes left and below), it ignited an excitement in teachers for the long term technological direction education was going toward.  In the video, a thin futuristic Corning glass tablet, approximating an iPad, seamlessly managed all of the multimedia needs of the adults and students, doctors and teachers in public and private settings. It all seemed miles away…

In particular, a short clip within this groundbreaking video stuck with me. You can see it here. In it school age children walked through a forest with an iPad looking device.

When the children activated the viewing device by getting near an orange sphere, the forest, via the device, came alive with dinosaurs.  Students could hold their glass tablet in any and all directions to see virtual dinosaurs in HD throughout the forest.  It was a scene mixing elements of Doctor Who and Jurassic Park.  With efforts from groups like Aurasma  and Apparmo, that futuristic day is here much, much sooner than most ever thought it would be.

   Over the past month or so, my partner in crime, Jill (@JillCompher), and I have had three opportunities to present augmented reality to administrators, education tech experts, and teachers in three different setting.  In June we presented to a very large audience of administrators, techies, and teachers in Frisco, Texas at the Texas ASCD Ignite13 Conference.  When we played our introduction  to Augmented Reality Youtube  video  the buzz began.

As is often the case, ideas that sell in the commercial world find their way into the classroom setting.  So, after our video, in the last presentation we featured some images enabled by the Apparmo/Yo2Mo “Window” app.    

We demonstrated how, unlike a two dimensional and often visually distracting QR code, fantastic videos, click throughs, interactive trivia questions, or (with a tap of the screen) even a phone call or text message could be programmed into the layered video that pops up.  Major brands like Honda and Yamaha as well as Marvel Comics and GQ magazine are increasingly turning to Augmented Reality to engage their customers. Why couldn’t this also engage our students?

We showed this Metaio video and were met with wide eyes and excitement.  Everyone was floored.  However, watching cool augmented reality is not the same as engaging kids with the technology or having them become authors of their own augmented reality projects.

      In our video we try to show that Augmented Reality isn’t simply a one-trick pony or yet another one dimensional toy that will bore students in a semester or two.  By structuring our auras around Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning levels, we sought to show people attending our sessions that augmented reality has real staying power in the educational setting.  Not only is it visually appealing, but with a little imagination and a link to some open ended questions or PBL assignments, it can be a spark that enflames the Promethean embers of our students minds.

For example, you can post student work in the hallway and layer a video of them reflecting on their own work.  Further, you can have students watch a famous Shakespearean passage, program your Augmented Reality app to allow students to single tap the video to send them to some discussion or essay questions.  Finally, you can simply have students create their own auras or video overlays and share with the class as an extension of nearly any unit or lesson (ex. book reports layered on book covers, video explanation of a lab layered on the actual lab write up, OR layer students working through math problems and sharing that layered video with parents or other students).

  Instructors can also layer a video on the hallway room number with daily messages or a simple greeting for parents during “meet the teacher” night as they walk in.  The possibilities are quite literally, endless (if you follow the “Thrasymachus”, “Compher Social Sciences” and “Northwest HS” channels on Aurasma and view the three images in this paragraph or on my blog, you’ll get a taste of what I’m referring to).

The following two images are from our various professional development sessions with augmented reality.

  You can see the interest in the body language of the participants.  Imagine how students will react in your classroom!  Of course, engaging visuals are fine, but you must extend with high cognitive level assignments that connect the augmented world to the needs of the students in developing their skills and knowledge.  Students will always ask the proper and pragmatic question “What does this do for me?  How does this make my life better?”  This new technology is not a standalone object.  It should fit within a well-developed curriculum that increases rigor, relevance and helps to build stronger relationships with your students.

 As instructors, we respect students by challenging them and addressing them as if their future selves were in the classroom with us.  Augmented reality and those organizations like Aurasma and Apparmo bring us closer to realizing that soul enriching respect by adding authentically engaging depth to the classroom in an exciting and meaningful way.

Related articles

• BNHS Aurasma Presentation: More Trigger Images (some repeats) (armetww.wordpress.com)
• Augmented Reality Using Aurasma (theteachingpalette.com)
• Augmented reality to become a lesson in thousands of schools (mobile-ent.biz)
• Augmented Reality and Security – 5 Fascinating Use Cases (augmentedblog.wordpress.com)
• Augmented Reality in the Classroom (angelamackenzieblog.wordpress.com)