Exploring the World without Taking a Step

Let me begin today with a new concept I haven’t heard of before, augmented reality. Augmented reality can be described as, “a variation of Virtual Reality (VR) that supplements reality, rather than completely replacing it” (Balog, 2007, p.1).  Now that I understand what it means, how could I use this technology in the classroom effectively? How engaging would it be for students to take a virtual tour around a museum, theme park, archaeological dig or even outer space without even leaving the classroom? Augmented reality has the ability to, “bring the field into the classroom” (Hopkins, 2010, p.1).  Augmented reality can provide learning experiences that are, “rich examples of complex phenomena (engineering, earth sciences, medicine, environmental applications, etc) while engaging students (Hopkins, 2010, p.1).

I found it interesting that the Horizon Report addresses augmented reality as a, “technology to watch” (Johnson et al., 2010, p.6) and will be introduced to schools on, “the far-term horizon, set at four to five years away from widespread adoption” (Johnson et al., 2010, p.6). Augmented reality has the ability to enhance the information available to students as a tool to for discovery-based learning. Recently, I have been introduced to ZooBurst which is a website that allows anybody to create a story book that in essence comes to life, or at least provides students with a 3D model as opposed to 2D text. ZooBurst is the perfect way to take ‘baby steps’ in implementing a simple version of augmented reality into the classroom (probably suitable for lower primary). Using ZooBurst has the potential to enhance student’s literacy levels as it is a more engaging way to read than paper back. Implementing ZooBurst as a tool to teach English to students through discovery based learning is an example of TPACK. This example demonstrates how the use of ICT is benefiting the teaching and learning of reading for students and not being used as an end itself.

This is an example of a storybook re-created using ZooBurst:

Reference List

Balog, A. (2007). Augmented reality in schools: Preliminary evaluation results from

             a summer school. Retrieved March 21, 2011, from 

             http://www.waset.org/journals/waset/v30/v30-21.pdf

Hopkins, D. (2010). Augmented reality: does it have a place/future in education?

            Retrieved March 21, 2011, from

            http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/technology/augmented-reality-does-

            it-have-a-placefuture-in-education-edtech/

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Levine, A., & Haywood, K. (2010). 2010 Horizon Report:

           K-12 Edition. Texas: The New Media Consortium.