Topic 5 - Augmented Reality In Education

Augmented Reality (AR) is an interactive version of a real-world environment achieved through digital visual elements and other stimuli achieved through holographic technology. Augmented Reality is extremely popular today through things such as TikTok or iMessage but t many people don't even know that they are interacting with AR. AR has the potential to fit quite easily into a classroom environment. To begin with, AR can easily support teams of students working together to solve a problem (Dede et al., 2017). It also has a strong potential to foster creativity in the classroom as students can use it to create and learn new topics.

Some pedagogical issues with Augmented Reality are;

- Cognitive Overload - While AR can be a strong learning tool and assist with fostering creativity when used in the right way. It can also cause cognitive overload if it is not used correctly. Teachers must ensure that it is used as a tool for creativity and learning. This includes making sure lessons using AR are not too distracting or overwhelming for students.

- Hardware Limitations - While AR is still an emerging technology that may mean that not all schools have access to the hardware and/or software required to provide a strong and creative learning experience for students. Especially some regional/rural schools where funding is lower.

Pokémon Go was the first time AR caught the attention of the whole world.

In the tutorial, we were given the opportunity to interact with some AR experiences designed to be used in the classroom. Here are some of the ones I interacted with.

OSMO MONSTER

Osmo Monster is an app you need an iPad for that allows you to draw on a whiteboard and the app will take your drawing and bring it into the app. As pictured above you can see it asked for a drawing of a tree then you can see my drawing on the iPad with the monster holding it. It asks you to draw a wide variety of things such as cake, flowers, and trees. This app is a good introduction to AR for students and allows them to be a bit creative having it be their own drawings but it makes you draw specific things thus limiting creativity and it truly is a game with not much educational purpose.

VIRTUAL TEE

These two pictures are from an app called Virtual-Tee. As you can see someone will wear the shirt in real life and then using the app you scan the person's shirt and it will display the organs of the body. This app has strong educational value for science and limited creative potential. It could inspire conversation between two students It would be useful in a science classroom.

ZAPWORKS AR

Please scan the QR code and follow the instructions to see my own Zapworks creation.

Zapworks is a platform that allows you to create a scannable image which then displays three-dimensional assets through the phone screen. My creation is only very basic but the program has high creativity and educational value. There is no limit to what a student could create with this and then being able to see it through their phone screen portrayed in their own reality would be a very engaging and memorable lesson for any teacher.

Overall, if used correctly there is high potential for AR in the classroom when used correctly and once it has been developed to be a bit more advanced I'm sure it will be a mainstay in every classroom.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chen, P., Liu, X., Cheng, W., & Huang, R. (2016). A review of using augmented reality in Education from 2011 to 2016. Innovations in Smart Learning, 13–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2419-1_2

Dede, C. J., Jacobson, J., & Richards, J. (2017). Virtual, augmented, and mixed realities in education. Smart Computing and Intelligence, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5490-7_1