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Augment Your Holiday with These iOS Apps

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Many of us are getting in the holiday spirit right now, and what could create even more fun but to add some augmented reality to our gathering times? We’ve curated a list of iOS apps that you might enjoy. If you want to be even more nerdy as a gift giver, you can download the templates by Top Advertising and print/send augmented cards that will delight the receiver. But be sure they know how to download the ePrism app (iOS or Android) so they can enjoy your card to the fullest.

As you take a look at the apps below, consider how you can use them to make memories with your students and friends. And, as always, be sure to preview the app prior to sharing with your students/parents.

Augmented Christmas Tree
Free

Pico Christmas Tree AR
Free

Christmas AR Free
Free

Dr. Panda AR Christmas Tree
Free

ElfYourself by Office Depot
Free

Be sure to share which app you used to add fun and merriment as you are with your group. If you tweet out a photo, be sure to tag #TCEA so we can enjoy it, too. And, if you happen to find other augmented reality apps that are holiday-focused, don’t forget to share them in the comments below!

This blog has only scratched the surface of great tools that can enhance your classroom, school, and district using iPads. If you would like more assistance, contact me at bellis@tcea.org to discuss scheduling TCEA to come to your site to provide either a half-day, full-day, or two days of training. You’ll find our training is very customized, research-based, definitely hands-on, and reasonably priced.

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augmented reality yearbook
Educational Trends

Augmented Reality Yearbook

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

Selling a physical yearbook to a student body in the 21st century can be a daunting task for any yearbook advisor. We have to market a dying medium to a generation that already catalogs their greatest achievements and daily mundane routines on social media for everyone to see. But there are ways to make this difficult job easier with technology.

Enhancing Our Yearbook

Our yearbook staff decided to enhance the yearbook by making the images on the page come to “life” with the addition of Augmented Reality  (AR). Using a mobile device, AR can superimpose a picture or video over objects in the real world.  (View example.)  Our class used Aurasma, but there are many apps that will allow you to add AR elements to different environments. With the Aurasma app, a user can create a free account that other users can follow to access their AR media. Once the account is created, the user will upload the “trigger” image and the media that will play with the image.

Note: We are not the first to add AR to a yearbook! I learned how to do this via a professional development session. Try searching YouTube for more examples.

Creating Our Experience

Our first opportunity to add AR presented itself unexpectedly. As I was explaining the feature to our yearbook staff, we heard students protesting down our hall. When the students heard the protest, their faces lit up in excitement and they asked, “Sir, can we go take a video?”

All the students were eager to rush out the door, but I chose two students for the job: one to take pictures and another to capture video footage. The first video you see in the example provided is the product of that moment. The commotion was not a protest, but an energetic lesson. Two ELA teachers had their students create a beat to help teach coordinating conjunctions with the acronym FANBOYS. It had quickly escalated into a competition between the two classes. Our staff documented a great moment that our students will be able to replay in May when they go through their yearbook.

The second video in our example presented itself while I was walking to the teacher’s lounge during my conference period. As I walked past a science class, I noticed students competing with their individually-created drag race cars. It was another spontaneous opportunity for an AR feature.

We continue to do our best to capture more moments for inclusion. Just the other day, we had a school talent show with 20 contestants.  We were able to take a picture and a short video of each contestant that everyone will be able to relive again when our yearbook is released.

In the Classroom

Aside from a marketing feature to sell yearbooks, the use of AR can be added to many things teachers already do in the classroom. The following are a few examples, but there are many other ways to integrate AR:

  • Teachers can create separate accounts to display information for a specific group of students, for example, English Language Learners (ELLs). So one classroom display can meet the needs of a diverse student population.
  • Word walls: Student scans a word and an explanation video can play.
  • Interactive journals: These often feature visual content to take advantage of AR.
  • Review journals: Students can create their own accounts and create a video explaining the concept of the lesson. For example, a video can pop up of them explaining how to solve a math problem.
  • Parent’s night: Students can draw a picture and AR can be added of them explaining their drawing.

Conclusion

By adding AR features to our yearbook, our staff has been able to capture moments that otherwise would have been overlooked and forgotten.  Augmented reality is a medium that will continue to expand and be integrated into many areas of our lives. Whether aiming your phone at an art piece to get a superimposed history lesson or bringing your surroundings at your favorite Disneyland amusement park to life, AR will only improve in the future and become a seamless part of our lives.

augmented reality yearbookThis is a guest blog post by Rogelio Ramos, Computer Applications Teacher and Yearbook Advisor for Sharyland ISD. Rogelio has 12 years of experience in education in both an elementary and middle school setting. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from UTPA, as well as a Master’s of Education in Educational Technology from the University of Texas at Brownsville. He currently holds the following certifications: Bilingual Generalist 4th-8th, Master Technology Teacher EC-12, and Business Education.

 

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augmented reality
Educational TrendsSTEM/STEAM

Top Five Tips for Diving into AR/VR

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

The new frontier of augmented and virtual reality has all types of goodness it can bring to your content. Many educators are eager to dive into this pool, and with good reason: the possibilities are nearly endless. With this in mind, I thought I would share my top five tips for getting started with AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality). Some seem simple and obvious, but I have found these to be the steps you definitely don’t want to skip.

1. Read the Instructions

It seems silly to actually not only write that, but start with that tip. But AR/VR apps often have specific instructions that will make or break your success with the program. Be sure to peruse them to make sure you are doing everything required to have the best experience. Also, as a facilitator, it’s best if you read the instructions to know all of the ins and outs that could be asked about by students.

2. Locate Necessary Triggers

Most AR apps use triggers in order to create the experience. Sometimes, those triggers reside within the app, which requires a download and then a transfer process to print out. Or they may reside on a companion website, which also may require a download and print situation. Next, refer to step 1. You may see specific instructions on whether or not the trigger must be printed in color in order to work.

3. Don’t Be Device Dependent

Lots of people, especially when exploring VR, get very caught up in whether or not they have a Cardboard, a Vive, or a Viewmaster. Then their next step is what devices to use in those headsets, and how to get a class set. These are all valid questions, but I would challenge you to notice that the majority of VR apps are not device dependent, meaning that you can utilize them with a tablet or other mobile device without a viewer.  So don’t let the headset be a hindrance.

4. Be Aware and Share

This bit of advice could be a part of any educational tidbit. AR/VR (and really all educational technology) move fast. In the famous words of Ferris Bueller, “If you don’t stop and look around, you might miss it.” In that vein, utilize all of your resources, especially social media, to locate, follow, and stay current with what’s going on, what’s updated, and what’s coming soon. Along those lines, don’t horde remarkability. If you find something new, share it. If you see something cool, shout it out. As we all know, sharing is caring, and I guarantee if you share something out, you will get back something just as good, if not better, for your efforts.

5. Connect to the Content

I often say “A turtle on a skateboard is really cool, but what does it have to do with anything?” AR/VR is a similar case. Audiences and participants of AR/VR will be wowed with very little effort on your part; it will dazzle even some of the toughest to reach. But if it is not connected to the content, it will have very little impact on improving learning. You are the content expert and it’s up to you to help students make those connections. Apps and devices don’t make those connections; you do.

This blog was written by Kim Murphree, an educational technology trainer from Mansfield ISD. You can reach Kim on Twitter @murphree_kim.

 

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augmented reality
Online Tools and Apps

Geocaching in a Real-World, AR Geosphere

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

New digital technologies (such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and geocaching) enable us to transform our experiences in the real world. In essence, we are increasingly able to include layers of virtual and augmented reality, replete with information and visual transformations, in our real world interactions.

In a previous blog entry, Cultivating a Maker’s Attitude, I shared the perspective that blending high-tech and hands-on (e.g. crafts) yields a new way of creating and working in the world. In the past, we enjoyed a dichotomy between working with your mind and working with your hands, even though it is ridiculous to think that you could do the latter without being fully engaged. Still, the latter has long been seen as less valuable. That is why “college ready” has held such a high appeal, while going to “vocational” schools been seen as a disappointment, a failure somehow to realize the full potential of a human being.

Yet that perspective and understanding of the world must change. If we raise our children to be college ready, it must be with a deeper appreciation of hands-on work because technology enables us to create and interact with the world around us in ways we have never been able to do before. Augmented reality is just  one of the ways.

Consider the video from Smartly Things of the augmented reality sandbox, as well as this one of the Lawrence Hall of Science AR sandbox. In each video, it’s clear that hands-on in the best way to interact with the topography of a map enhanced by augmented reality. Beyond the coolness factor, we begin to experience the world in a physical and digital way that fundamentally transforms our experience as human beings.

In her blog entry How to Use Augmented Reality to Transform Your Classroom, Patricia Brown points out:

Using the Aurasma App and Aurasma Studio, you can create your own “Auras” (or AR experiences), and use them to engage students in creative ways. For example, jazz up your school’s art show, or make math come alive through videos of students solving math problems–perhaps students can trigger an Aura by pointing their smartphone at a particular equation. You could even attach a trigger image to a Google Form to request time with the school counselor, or make a class picture image on your teacher website trigger a virtual tour of a classroom.

AR is obviously finding its way into our lives in new and different ways that involve seeing the world around us in a digital, augmented way. This augmentation brings a richness of experience not previously possible. Consider Katie Ann Wilson’s (Diary of a Tech Chick blog) description of a new app that allows her to see things in a different way:

BlippBuilder is Blippar‘s augmented reality platform where you can create one of a kind augmented experiences. I started experimenting on creating augmented educational 360° experiences. I took a picture of the Great Pyramid and integrated some facts. I’ve even included a map of Egypt. The possibilities of creating reach augmented educational content.

 

After you scan the above image, tap anywhere on the image when prompted and, like magic, you just brought 360° experience of the pyramids to your classroom.

Katie Ann adds that there are several educational applications, including creating augmented learning experiences for national landmarks, zoos, historical sites, field trips, historical reenactment, art gallery, museums, and other environments. You can start to see that technology activities that intersect with the physical, such as geocaching, are finding their way into daily life.

Geocaching, as well as augmented reality, provide an entry point for those who may be skeptical of living, teaching, and learning at the intersection of the physical and virtual. AR and VR, augmented reality and virtual reality, respectively, allow us to enhance the physical with a wealth of information, knowledge, and experience.

Geocaching is the hunt for any of more than 2 million geocaches worldwide hidden by folks like you. Each treasure hunt will take you to a fun, creative or beautiful place outdoors. Geo means earth and cache means hidden item. Geocaches range from very small (like a film canister) to large (such as a metal lunch box). Many are camouflaged, but they are not buried. Geocaches hold things like a log book to sign your name, tradable items for kids and adults, and more. To find a geocache, use a GPS unit or smartphone app to find the coordinates (the exact location) of a geocache nearby. Adapted from source: Texas State Parks

Apps like those shown below can enhance our experiences as we go “treasure-hunting.” It is not too big a stretch of the imagination to see the merging of augmented reality and geocaching. These enable us to engage and learn in ways that enrich the human experience. We must provide our students with these innovative learning opportunities.

Android apps:

 

iOS apps

 

While geocaching appears to enable us to insert geomarkers into the geosphere we all live in, augmented reality can actually see the world appear to be transformed. Molding the virtual reality provides new insights into the physical, making teaching and learning how to for young learners critical for the future. Consider these predictions:

Some economists are predicting Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) will be the 7th and biggest media technology revolution in history (the first being movable type of the Guttenberg press and the last few being the internet and mobile devices). Markets will exceed $150 billion by 2020. Scientists have been predicting this for decades while writers have been predicting this for centuries…our measure of our success will be how we can make this real world a better place. This will be done by sharing the power of our imagination and the passion of our vision within future virtual worlds. Its about inspiration, learning, exploring, sharing, living more purposefully. Source: Virtual World Society

To learn about where VR is heading, check out this article.

What a powerful question: How can we as educators help our children learn to make the real world a better place through the use of augmented and virtual reality? The answer may be simpler than you think. Begin by introducing them to geocaching, learning spatial science, as well as exploring how to augment reality in their portion of the geosphere.

This blog was updated with additional resources on November 7, 2017.

 

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