Category Archives: Augmented Reality

What an interesting week!

Members of ETEC 522 were treated to a very thorough, engaging and interactive learning experience that exposed us to VR and AR technology. Please follow this link to go to the homepage that Tanya and Jonathon created.

Admittedly, my experience with this technology is extremely limited.  Via my Pokemon Go habit, AR is occasionally utilized.  Last year, I bought a birthday card for my father-in-law that gave the recipient a free, hot air balloon ride, using VR technology. I know that my husband bought a HMD (Head Mounted Display) from Visions recently, and the family used it for about 48 hours, before the novelty wore off.

And that is just it.

Are VR and AR here to stay, or are they nothing more than a novelty that sticks around the same amount of time as She Blinded Me with Science by Thomas Dolby?

Situating myself in this technology this week makes me believe that it is here to stay.  The technology is evolving; becoming both smaller, and more affordable. Since it has also been around for quite sometime, early adopters are producing some really great exemplars and how-to videos, showing us newbies the ropes!

My largest takeaway from this week came from the time spent with HP Reveal.

If you are keen, go to your app store and download the HP Reveal app right now.

Once you create your account, watch this quick screencast I made from my phone, that shows you how to view an AR video.

To view the AR video, simply hover the converging and diverging array of points over the narwhal image on this post.  Unfortunately, my classmates videos are set to “private” so I can’t share their creations here.  If you stick with my video, you will meet my parent’s dog, at least!

Imagine….

• Having images beside stations in a science room that explains the instructions, as the students require them.
• Having math problems on a bulletin board that are the key ideas of the unit.
• Having a treasure hunt throughout the school with video clues guiding the adventurers.
• Having an image of every teacher outside their door that links to a welcome video on the first day of school.
• Having videos of the band, the choir, the improv team, the basketball team, the robotics club, the ??? on the bulletin boards throughout the school. 
• Having a student explain the inspiration behind their artwork or to read their poem to a wider audience.
• Having student projects brought to life with music and video.

There are endless possibilities to this technology and the best part is that HP Reveal is easy to use and free!

We also spent time with CoSpaces EDU. After a very short experimentation time (which is nicely set-up by their programmers), I was able to create my very own VR project.  Although I wasn’t able to intuitively learn how to program the characters, at least I know that it is possible.  I am certain if I watched a couple of YouTube videos, that the coding process would be a heap easier.  Click on the image below to see my amazing product! The image I used was a regular photo from a camping trip to China Beach, Vancouver Island.  Using a panoramic image would have produced a better product, and if you have access to 360 imaging, then I am jealous!

I am not seeing the immediate applications of this technology to my practice, admittedly. At this point in time, VR is still in the novelty category for me.  That is not to say that I won’t eventually see its worth as an educational tool, however.  Time will tell!!!