Dear ETEC523 colleagues,
For our Open Educational Resource (OER) on augmented reality (AR), we chose to utilize a critical lens in order to examine some of the main critiques of incorporating AR into an educational context.
Using these critiques, we next identified strategies and resources that could be utilized by educators to gain familiarity and proficiency with AR technologies in order to increase the likelihood of incorporation into teaching practices.
This week, we invite you to explore the critiques and resources, while reflecting on the following prompts:
- Do you have any past experience in creating AR experiences? What opportunities were afforded by using AR technology?
- Other than the identified critiques of using AR in an educational context, are there any barriers you could anticipate to incorporating AR into your personal practice?
- Now that AR has become more prevalent on mobile devices, are you more or less likely to incorporate AR into your practice? Why or why not?
- How do you foresee mobile technology-based AR’s role in education? In society?
- How do you think that AR experiences will shape what we consider to be a traditional classroom environment?
- How would you forecast the future of AR in an educational context?
There are 3 learning activities embedded within the OER:
1. Padlet- A Review of Available AR Education Apps
2. Explore the Math with HaloAR app examplar
3. Create your own AR using the HaloAR app
Please access the OER here. Once complete, please choose at least one of the reflection prompts to expand upon in the WordPress forum below:
We look forward to discussing AR with you all.
Thank you,
Agnes Garrioch & Braden Litt
What a great app with Halo AR. Now that I had two devices and reliable internet it looks fantastic. I’m excited to explore the potential of it more and more. I was unable to figure out how to create my own collection and QR code but that will come with practice. What a great tool.
Thanks, Jennifer for taking the time to explore it! Once you do make your own AR, you can choose where to save it. There should be a drop-down menu where it saves to the unlisted & untitled collections. This is where I clicked ‘create a new collection’ and named it ETEC 523. I am looking forward to trying it in my classroom this year!
Hi Agnes and Braden,
Thank you for your OER. It was interesting and fun to go through.
– Now that AR has become more prevalent on mobile devices, are you more or less likely to incorporate AR into your practice? Why or why not?
The more time passes and improvements are made to the accessibility and availability of AR technologies, I am becoming more and more intrigued when it comes to exploring AR in the classroom with my students. To be honest, AR is not something that I was putting a lot of focus on, but now I am seeing that there are more applicable ways to introduce it to my students, even in the early years classes. It is simple to access certain apps through our phones or iPads and so, if we have access to them in our classroom, why not use it as a new means of exploring out environment.
Hi Danya, I am glad to hear that you would consider using AR in your practice moving forward. I agree with you that it has become simple to incorporate certain apps into practice and use them to supplement what many educators already do. I am looking forward to one day using AR as the primary learning and then supplementing with additional resources as needed, which I believe is still in the future. Is there a particular area you feel would make for the best starting point for an educator to try incorporating AR?
Hi Braden, I’m not sure what area would be the best starting point, but for myself and my younger students, I love working on instructions and physical movement. I kind of like the idea of having one student holding the mobile device, with an image on it representing a ‘surprise’ object in the classroom. Then, using only words, instructing a student who cannot see the mobile device on how to get to that object using small instructional steps. Even creating a kind of obstacle course in the classroom, or making it more vocabulary based for new language learners.
Hey Dayna, I also shared that feeling of intrigue in wanting to incorporate AR into the classroom and hoping there are more AR opportunities available. My goal this year is not to just have my students interact with AR, but to create AR. I think this allows students to understand the technology and consider future opportunities and limitations of AR. This will increase their technical skills of course, but also may lay the foundation for future AR developers!
Hi Agnes, I agree, having students create their own AR would we such a cool step towards encouraging future AR developers. The school I am going to work in this coming year invests a lot of money in their tech courses. I am wondering what that will look like for the younger students, but can’t wait to explore.
Hi Agnes and Braden,
Thank you for your OER, it was informative and fun to explore.
(Sorry, this was accidentally posted…)
Hi Braden & Agnes, I spent around 30 mins on your website, and I find your presentation so informative. My favourite page is “Augmented Reality Example” where you’ve included actual examples of what the AR learning experience looks like for learners and how to create an AR experience from educators’ perspective. The novelty of AR experience really energizes and excites me. I could see the next generation learning in aid of AR technologies. I also enjoyed reading the resources list on page “Critical Lens of AR” which I found helpful leads on what program to pursue if someone’s interested to take part in AR training, and what applications are available to be applied in educational settings. One thing I love seeing this, many of the applications you list are mobile-friendly, for instance, Halo AR, Quiver, GeoGebra AR, and more. Some of the applications are free, while others are involves costs. I feel like there could be more future investments going toward enhancing experiential learning, like AR and VR.
Thank you Vera for considering our resource valuable! As I dug deeper through AR over the course of completing our OER, although I was able to find and learn about experiences available, they were certainly limited. More training in creating AR experiences is needed, so there are more contributors to AR experiences!
Appreciate you and Braden’s work in finding out what’s are the latest AR technologies and what AR experiences look like. I certainly find your site very informative. Thanks for acknowledging the limitations as well. It’s good that AR learning experience has plenty of room for growth. In my opinion, I see a natural connection between game-based learning and augmented reality where learners can really immersively experience the virtual world. What are you excited about AR in the near future?
Oh, that’s a wonderful question! Early in the course, I posted the Nasa First Woman App (https://www.nasa.gov/specials/calliefirst/). I was so intrigued with how NASA connected literacy to AR, VR and mixed reality in this application. I utilized it with my students thereafter, and they had never participated in anything like it. I am excited for more resources like this to become available for students to experience. The immersive nature adds engagement to literacy which is always something ELA teachers are trying to do- continue the love of reading!
To add here, both Agnes and I felt strongly that it was important to take on a critical lens when looking at new technologies like AR because often novelty is misaligned with usefulness. While I personally believe that AR is very viable for future integration within an educational context, there need to be some advancements before it becomes common practice as you alluded to. As other colleagues mentioned, there were challenges with obstacles such as internet connectivity or awkward software that would discourage an educator from potentially taking on a new challenge with AR. As I have mentioned earlier, I think that having more user-friendly development tools will help to bridge that gap and make AR experiences exactly tailored to educator needs. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Thanks for the great resource – I don’t have much experience with AR (I think the only time I’ve ever used it is when my wife was trying to buy something on Wayfair and you can see how it will look in your room) so all of this was very new and informative for me. That said, I don’t imagine AR completely shifting or fundamentally transforming a traditionally classroom, however I believe there is an opportunity to enhance lessons using it. In my particular context (high school physics teacher) there are many experiments that we do that are too advanced, technical, or expensive to do any other way than a computer simulation or an analysis of provided data. I could imagine an experience using AR to perform Millikan’s oil droplet experiment (https://www.thephysicsaviary.com/Physics/Programs/Labs/MillikanOilDropLab/index.html) in a previously unattainable “hands-on” way. I think being able to perform these experiments in this way would allow students to better appreciate the genius of them.
Hi Michael, I have also spent time using AR to place objects in my house to see how they would look (time-consuming, but I greatly prefer to getting something home, not liking it, and having to return it!). As John mentioned in an earlier comment, I believe that risk mitigation is an area that AR could potentially open up significantly. Without real-world consequences or risks, students would be free to conduct that science experiment how they choose, potentially opening up new learning from new risky perspectives. AR could also be financially beneficial since no materials would be physically consumed and no specialized environments would be required to simulate a science lab or similar activities.
Michael, I can see what you mean about not foreseeing AR completely shifting a traditional classroom. I think the only way that it would be that if our classrooms became something akin to the Metaverse, dare I predict a future ‘Class-verse’? That would have been a great A3 project idea!
Great job on preparing a very thoughtful and practical OER, Agnes & Braden! I love how it even included the email template 🙂 Although I never really used AR, going through the activities helped me consider why AR isn’t more prevalent today. To add on to the critiques of AR, I feel like there needs to be more practical use cases that warrant the use of AR. I think a big one is entertainment (e.g. Pokemon Go). To answer one of the questions: How do you foresee mobile technology-based AR’s role in education? In society? Something that I would use myself would be for navigation (e.g locating a store within a mall, finding a friend at an airport or crowded place, etc.). In an educational context though, the HaloAR experience made me feel somewhat skeptical about its educational benefits. Yuanfudao, (one of the highest valued edtech companies in the world), successfully uses similar AR and AI for math education (i.e. point a camera at a paper-based math problem and it solves it with an explanation). In terms of efficiency, this could streamline how we find answers today using search engines/problem solving. But I wonder if this technology replaces an important step in the process of inquiry (contemplating a scenario, coming up with a question, and seeking the answer ourselves)? Learning kind of feels like going through a museum or art gallery while listening to one of those audio guided tours – probably more efficient and accurate, but more passive than a self-guided tour.
Aaron, thank you for your kind comment. I thought of the SAMR model (https://www.3plearning.com/blog/connectingsamrmodel/) when you mention the unnecessary use of technology in some instances. One may conceptualize, that replacing the video with an answer to a math question may just be substitution/augmentation, allowing for only the independence of the student, and not having to ask the teacher. I think that in the beginning stages of using any technology often educators start in the substitution phase to get their feet wet and feel comfortable with the technology. I agree with your observation that in most instances, this is where most applications of AR in the classroom are currently. In mainstream schools, there is still progress that needs to happen to see AR used in the redefinition stage. More experience of leaders in education and as the technology itself is developed will open opportunities to deepen learning experiences.
Thanks for sharing that link on SAMR – I haven’t come across that framework before! It’s also interesting that one of their examples is student production of podcasts – I didn’t realize that was already a thing. I wonder what AR in the redefinition or modification stages would look like in the math scenario? But to be clear, I wasn’t exactly saying it was unnecessary, but rather certain uses of AR might hinder the learning process/build independence. True, the student wouldn’t have to ask the teacher for help, but when the answer/explanation is presented right in front of them (via scanning), they aren’t really challenged to be resourceful and seek out the solutions themselves? At the same time, the AR help might prevent a student from giving up altogether.
Hi Aaron, there definitely does need to be a streamlining process done to some of the available AR experiences. Some come across as clunky and there is the risk of utilizing AR for the sake of using technology. I do believe that some of the awkwardness will be reduced with the development of cameras and the processing abilities of mobile devices. AR in its current form is definitely a step towards something greater. I would personally like to see the ability to interact with the AR model using hand gestures or an overlay that does not require “looking” through a screen. Maybe that would help to make the interaction more meaningful in an educational context. Thanks for sharing!
That’s a cool idea regarding hand gestures – reminds me of the Iron Man movies. When I was playing around with the AR apps on your OER, I felt the same way. It was slightly troublesome to get my iPhone SE’s camera to focus when scanning, and hold the phone at an awkward angle while watching the AR video. I’m not sure if I understand how AR technology works, but seems like if “x” object is identified by the camera, then present “y” overlay? It’s a bit clunky in that slight changes of “x” will break the process. It seems a lot of work and data in machine learning needs to be accumulated in order to robustly identify one type of object (e.g. human faces for instagram filters) – I wonder if this is a bottleneck in the development process of AR applications?
Aaron, you are correct! The trigger image is identified by the camera, and the overlay is AR. Slight movements or slight changes to the trigger image may mean the AR does not work. The tedious aspect of maintaining a steady hand is such a limitation of AR. Most users, but especially people who experience hand tremors, for instance, would have incredible difficulties maintaining a still hand that is required to be steadily maintained for the AR audio, image, model or video. I especially see this when teaching primary learners, and sometimes their frustrations grow as a result. Looking forward, I think it would be neat if AR was a hologram that you could see coming out of your mobile device, instead of having to look at the mobile device screen.
I continued my research on augmented reality to discover what my province offers to access it in the classroom. I thus found an interesting site which refers to other relevant articles. The site is in French, but the following article is in English and explains how immersive media such as virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and multi-user virtual reality can work as supplemental digital materials for instruction and assessment. It focuses on the sensory comfort and fidelity of interaction as these issues impact the viability of these technologies in the classroom. Very interesting! Here is the link : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321077793_Infrastructures_for_Immersive_Media_in_the_Classroom
Hi again Sebastien, I think it is interesting that the author notes that while the technology exists to make this classroom vision a reality, they believe that there will be resistance due to existing pedagogical practices. There would need to be a significant shift in educational practice for this to be a reality, as well as a major investment in available technology. It will be a matter of time to see if this is how the modern classroom looks, but I would be encouraged by this advancement. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for providing the experience with Halo AR. I have been playing around with Adobe Aero. Creating with AR has a definite learning curve, especially if you aim to create a story: layered with interacting avatars, triggers, sequential elements, and voices. It was fun, but I had trouble mixing horizontal and vertical components. I plan to revisit once the summer classes wind down. Nevertheless, I think it would be an excellent activity in the classroom for student/group projects in art, math, and science; I’m thinking about having my adult class in LINC create an AR project in the fall. It works for following oral and written instructions.
We are so glad you enjoyed the Halo AR experience. What a great idea to have your adult class create an AR project in the fall using Adobe Aero. After diving deeper into AR in ETEC 523, I have come to believe that providing the opportunity for students to create AR, instead of solely using it as a participant is so valuable. Even if a teacher does not fully understand how to create AR, they can learn alongside their students through tutorials, courses and experimentation. Then, students have the skill set to continue diving deeper in their learning of AR if they wish and have technical skills that will be coveted by future employers.
You have made a good point that teachers can learn alongside their students. Too often, we get caught trying to fill the students with knowledge. But the learning space could take the journey to explore and share the possibilities of AR. In the classroom, would you consider this an ongoing project that spans the entire academic year or bounded in a shorter time frame?
Hi Elizabeth, I’m glad to hear that you took some time to experiment with the AR elements. There is a definitive learning curve, especially when we are used to interacting with virtual elements in a two-dimensional manner. I think that there is potential for integrating AR into any curricular area, but the challenge becomes finding or developing a resource that meets your specific lesson/curricular need. As I have mentioned a few times in this forum, I believe the key to AR becoming more prevalent will be making some more user-friendly development tools for those not fluent in coding. Thanks for sharing!
Brad, coding definitely could be an asset. So I dabbled a little to mirror my LINC students’ experience learning the English written code. But unfortunately, I left off with a yet-to-be-solved problem of communicating between HTML and C++. Definitely, fluency in coding allows for building advanced products. But there seem to be a few no-coding AR software platforms available. Have you found a good AR app that functions on IOS and Android?
That is one of the major limitations of a lot of the resources that we have come across so far. There are a few that function on both, such as the Merge Cube, but rely on extraneous materials to make this possible. Having a unified application or software would be necessary for AR to be practical on a large scale.
Thanks for the insight. The ability of systems to connect and communicate readily is the challenge of BYOD from various parts of the world.
In addition, I’m not sure if this has been mentioned before but Microsoft Mesh is shaping up to be a promising form of AR technology which could really improve and redefine how traditional classrooms are taught (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mesh). The main selling point seems to be enabling presence and shared experiences from anywhere and on any device, which sounds quite accessible in theory? No idea if it’s ready for large scale education/commercial use but I think this is the general direction AR is heading for large scale solutions which can be applied to educational environments.
John, thank you for adding this valuable AR technology to liven our discussion! I particularly am so intrigued with Microsoft Mesh’s Holoportation mixed reality concept. I also am interested to see how Google will respond and engage in a similar way. I also appreciate your perspective that AR may be used in a large scale way when it comes to communicating, as I can see classrooms collaborating using this technology and connecting virtually.
I had not heard of Mesh prior to you sharing, so thank you for adding to our conversation this week! I really appreciate the ability of Mesh to customize your avatar. Representation in the digital sphere can often be reduced to a username and picture, which can be isolating for the person on the other end. Being able to have a “human” element to the technology may make audiences more receptive and allows the user to put forward the representation that they intentionally choose, creating meaning. Thanks again for sharing!
Hi Agnes and Braden, great work on the OER. I’ll start off by answering “How do you think that AR experiences will shape what we consider to be a traditional classroom environment?” Learning will definitely be more engaging, interactive and visual focused as learners won’t need to rely on words/text to understand the context. Classrooms will become more “alive” as normally static concepts can be brought to life and creates a multi modal experience for students. Customization is a concept which I believe will become popular once AR becomes more prominently used. Since every student learns in a different way based on factors such as their personal preferences, abilities, location and desires, AR can create a learning environment which provides activities for constructive and analytical learning that are specifically tailored to their needs. A deeper understanding amongst the learning audience will result in increased engagement and higher retention rates for classes. Students will also able to manipulate their learning environment in order to gain deeper understandings and fill the gap between theoretical and practical learning (eg: use AR to learn what interests them). Additionally, AR could act as a safety net (removes the aspect of consequences) and teach normally dangerous concepts such as chemicals or risk training for certain fields such as Medicine, Architecture or Engineering without the fear of failure. With AR, concepts which were thought to be inaccessible (such as Dinosaurs) becomes a reality (without the baggage/barriers VR carries) I’m optimistic and have confidence that AR will be a effective tool to enhance the traditional classroom and allow students take what they learn through lectures and combine it with the practical experience they need to excel in the real world (bridge between soft and hard skills/knowledge). Students will most likely be more inspired to explore and discover more learning content and information than they would in a traditional classroom if AR was brought to the forefront.
Hi John, thanks for your thoughts. Multi-modality is something that is so crucial as we move forward with a generation of learners who are increasingly technologically literate. Having something like an AR-enabled textbook would allow learners to experience new information in a way that makes the most sense to them, which would help promote understanding as you referred to. I am also interested to see learners’ abilities to generate AR models in addition to consuming them. How might an interactive, three-dimensional model allow students to better demonstrate their understanding? It is something that I hope to explore more in my own practice during the upcoming school year.
John, thank you for your thoroughness in your involvement in our OER. Michael recently posted a similar thought to you in that AR affords opportunities to do labs and experiments without the consequences as you identify, and without the cost and risk as Michael points out. Essentially AR and VR is so valuable for this reason, reducing cost and increasing accessibility. Often the focus of AR is on how engaging it will be for the learner, but the incredible potential to reduce barriers of access is paramount of its significance to its future involvement in education.
Thank you Agnes and Braden for your presentation on Augmented Reality. If I’m not mistaken, I do remember Braden feeling strongly about Augmented Reality as he has mentioned it in a few of his responses.
How do you foresee mobile technology-based AR’s role in education? In society? How would you forecast the future of AR in an educational context?
How do you think that AR experiences will shape what we consider to be a traditional classroom environment?
A common struggle is the usability in using or creating Augmented Reality content. As mentioned in your OER, lack of teacher training (or willingness to) can impact the role that AR can or will play in the future. If teachers remain resistant to using AR, I cannot foresee AR (or technology) gaining any grounds (This would be where MOOCs being publicly acknowledged and offered to teachers are specializations can come in handy). But in a perfect world where there isn’t resistance and teacher training is widely accessed, there are many gains in student learning that can occur using AR. Taking my recent trip to the Zoo as an example. If AR existed here, rather than having to search for a sign and missing it or lining up to read a sign (sometimes signs can only hold so much info), I can access knowledge immediately using AR. Through tapping on the animal or materials within its environment, learners can manipulate objects and the animal to learn about them (i.e., size, weight, lifespan, food chain, etc.), its habitat, food source and other important and minor details immediately. In gym class, AR can be utilized to measure distance traveled in a long jump. In Art class, AR can be used to learn about Art mediums, history and artist names. Just to name a few ideas. Being mobile-based, it allows for education to happen anywhere and anytime. In ways, it can allow for students to take the lead and access the information they are curious about or in need of in a timely manner. As mentioned in your OER, it allows for contextual learning and understanding. As schools are moving to including ipads within each classroom, i can foresee that certain units in certain subjects could move to include AR. As schools acknowledge the importance of emergent curriculum, hands-on and play-based learning for students, especially in the younger grades, I can foresee AR being a technology in the classroom that can grasp students’ interest, yet support emergent, hands-on, play-based curriculum. It is also contextual, drawing on concepts of Piaget’s theory, as some children may only be able to learn through concrete experiences rather than the abstract. So based on research of how students learn, it seems that AR checks many of the boxes that researchers have argued that contribute to the optimal development of students.
Rika, thanks for your insight and reflection. Your example of how AR could improve your experience at the Zoo, accompanied by Jackson’s idea of a scavenger hunt magnifies how AR is undoubtedly mobile. When we think of AR we think about movement, travelling, and not being stagnant. The idea that we can interact and not be confined to a desktop or television is one of the defining traits of AR.
In some ways too, because of its mobility, having a mobile might reduce the need for extra tools.
Hi Rika, you are correct in thinking I have mentioned AR a few times! I have really come to appreciate the potential throughout the course and the MET program in general. I like the idea of virtual reality, but the necessary equipment can sometimes be a financial barrier to access. AR helps combat some of those ideas by taking advantage of ever increasingly advanced mobile technologies, being cameras and processors. I appreciate your forecasting of ideas that take advantage of AR, such as the zoo example. AR and mobile technology in general would provide learners with agency since they now have the power to learn about what they choose and where/when they choose. It definitely also supports an inquiry-driven model of education and development!
I am suddenly imagining AR utilizing a Wikipedia system mixed with Google Maps or Waze where you can enter your own AR details. Of course, augmented reality doesn’t exist without a source inputting AR content into an application or such. So I can foresee an application that is like a google search. Instead of scanning a QR code or such, AR hovers an object for you to learn more about that particular street or landscape. Just another sudden forecast that I am now thinking about would have made an awesome A3! ????
That would be so awesome! I can see this for sound walls, and word walls even in classrooms! Instead of like you mentioned, scanning a trigger image, a student could interact with the AR word in real-time and it can be sounded out or said, or a 3D model could accompany it. Cool idea!
Thank you Braden and Agnes for your thorough work this week. If I am being quite honest with everyone, AR is something that I have heard a lot of buzz about but have always found it very intimidating to understand and dip my toes in. I have had a pretty narrow mind in terms of thinking that AR is only for people who enjoy gaming (something that I really have not done) and I have not really expanded or learned beyond that. This week, your OER and the amount of information that was able to help me think about AR in a different way. I especially liked the section you included on the benefits of AR in the classroom because it helped me to see that AR has many benefits in the classroom. I also really found useful, the section on teacher training opportunities as I really had no idea of the amount of opportunities there really are to expand my knowledge on this area.
Sonia, thank you for your reflection. One of the reasons why we chose to frame our OER through a critical lens, is as teachers ourselves, we have noticed a hesitancy in utilizing AR in the classroom, so we thought finding out why this was through research, and then providing support in those areas would enhance teacher confidence. It has been awesome to learn more about the teacher training opportunities, especially because school districts are continually looking for quality professional development for teachers, outside of educational tech conferences. Which teacher training opportunity interested you most?
Hi Sonia, AR has always had a bit of a science fiction mystique around it, but developments in mobile technology have started to make its implementation in classrooms more realistic. I am glad to hear that you see the potential for AR in the classroom. Professional development is important to open educators’ eyes to new and upcoming resources/technologies in order to provide the best learning experiences possible and I personally would like to see more training provided from an institutional standpoint. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the great OER Agnes and Braden! Now that AR has become more relevant on mobile devices, I can see myself using it more in my practice. I feel it would help facilitate scavenger hunts. I also think it can transform the traditional classroom environment by giving students and teachers more space to express ideas beyond the physical limitations of a classroom. With various mobile device policies around districts, I think standardization of that can help propel future AR projects in education. I feel the lack of educational experiences for AR at the moment have stifled its popularity. Hopefully, new innovations in this field can continue to progress; perhaps more people will take notice. Having an element of discussion on being connected to the present world and the virtual world can also be interesting. Thanks again for taking on this specific technology !
Hi Jackson, I really like your idea of AR-enabled scavenger hunts. I also envision posters in the classroom that can be scanned to have supplemental information through AR. I am curious as to your thoughts on the lack of educational experiences; Should it be the responsibility of the institution or the individual to seek out training in AR (or any technological phenomena for that matter) to promote integration in an educational context?
Thank you, Jackson, for participating in the learning activities within our OER! Your point about standardizing various mobile device policies around school districts is a high priority if AR is to gain traction in schools. Some districts lack the funding to access mobile devices and some restrict mobile devices altogether, which limits students’ ability to participate in the majority of current AR experiences in education. I am curious if anyone works or knows of a school district that limits mobile device use in the classroom, and if they are aware of the administration’s justification for this?
Hi Jackson:
In reading your example of using AR for scavenger hunts made me think of how might I use it with kindergartens. We take nature walks often due to the area we are in (a lot of natural space). It would be for students to acknowledge the “signs” of the different seasons through a scavenger hunt. Or if we could utilize AR for students to be included in the “classroom design” by allowing them to do it in AR prior to actually moving in or purchasing furniture. This is important as we always try to find ways to allow students to take lead in the classroom and be included in all aspects of planning and implementation.
Hi Jackson, your AR scavenger hunt idea reminded of Pokemon Go. Imagine how fun classes could be if students showed the same level of enthusiasm and dedication to learning through AR as if they were on the hunt to catch a rare Pokemon through the app. That would be a game changer itself as AR can both intrinsically and extrinsically motivation students to enjoy learning. It could also encourage students to think in possibilities and encourage their creative minds (eg: use AR to design a functional room with decor within a limited space)
Wow, thank you for this resourceful OER. I am familiar with AR, but I do not use it at all in my teaching, both in my role as a secondary school teacher and as a trainer for adults. It is with your web site that makes me believe that I have the necessary tools to start the integration in my teaching next school year. I particularly enjoyed the critical section on the lack of teacher training. This has been my hobbyhorse for several years: teacher training is not up to date, professional development is rarely adapted to student needs and technology is rarely part of the interests of my colleagues, because they feel incompetent compared to their students or younger teachers. To answer one of your excellent questions: Now that AR has become more prevalent on mobile devices, are you more or less likely to incorporate AR into your practice? Why or why not? I think I’ll finally get into AR incorporation through tools like Google Lens and all the other resources that don’t require coding like Qlone and UniteAR. I believe that this exploration will allow me to integrate augmented reality mainly in a playful way, at least for the first years. It is definitely a way to motivate my students and the teachers who attend my training, because it is still new and more and more accessible mainly because of mobile devices. Then, I think I would be interested in taking the Google AR-CORE training to go even further in my integration. The course is offered on flexible dates, in French, 100% online and takes approximately 11 hours to complete. It suits my very busy life! Has anyone here completed this course yet? Once again, thank you for all these great resources. 🙂
Hi Sebastien, thanks for your thoughtful reflection. I agree with you that the novelty of AR technologies would serve as a great motivator for incorporating them into an educational context. When I am teaching, I am struck by the sheer scale of available AR resources that are out there, but stuck with the limitation that the AR resources don’t always link up with my goals curriculum-wise. Maybe being able to develop specific AR experiences with those development tools will be what is needed to make the jump to mainstream practice. Please let us know if you do decide to try the AR-CORE training!
Hi Sebastian, I found a website that had reviews of the training and of ARCore itself, that may be of interest to you – https://www.trustradius.com/products/google-arcore/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons. You add great insight that motivation is a strength of AR, which attracts early adopters, as it certainly adds engagement for their audiences. Thank you Sebastien for your thorough engagement with our OER!
Thank you Braden and Agnes for providing more information about AR, it is a complicated area, especially in education and you did a great work of presenting all the important aspects and literature review on AR spaces. I have never used AR apps in my classes, mainly because my lessons are conducted fully online and I cannot see the benefit of AR apps in teaching languages, at least for the time being. The barrier that I experienced while trying out Activity 1 on Padlet, was the app’s compatibility issue while trying to find similar apps on my Android device, the apps were not similar in any way and were laborious. I believe this type of difficulty wouldn’t be successful in an educational setting with different devices. The future and the success of AR would be connected to AR glasses. I think AR in education would start being beneficial and utilized more often by educators and schools when it becomes easily accessible using gadgets. In a futuristic scenario, the teacher would be able to control what each student is seeing and interacting with within an AR space using one device while students are wearing headgear or other visual gadgets. AR has a lot of potential in education and I hope it would reach its full capability in the future.
Hi Maria, compatibility was definitely a limitation that we stumbled across as well. For AR to be a viable resource in an educational context, it would be necessary for there to be a common resource that is accessible across all systems and mobile devices. I am intrigued by your idea of a teacher-led experience of AR glasses and think that it would be an incredibly viable way to integrate AR in the future. I do wonder if those AR-enabled glasses that you envision could even help with teaching languages, such as seen in this Google video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj0bFX9HXeE
Definitely! These glasses are going to help AR become more accessible and fun, it will also offer effortless experiences for learners and teachers.
Thank you Maria for your interactions and comment! Mario noted within the Padlet that he could hardly find any AR apps on Android- which points to a bigger issue of access to AR across mobile operating systems. Certainly, this is something an app developer must consider when creating these apps – that there is variance across schools, in what devices and operating systems are being used. Later in our OER, we do feature Halo AR and Merge Cube, which both are accessible on Android devices- hopefully, you get a chance to experience those! Your idea of the AR-enabled classes reminds me of Google Expeditions VR headsets, where the teachers controlled the learning experience on a tablet, and all students were able to follow the learning experience in VR. This would be an amazing development if a teacher had glasses as you mentioned, and students would be able to interact with their environment in AR, xR or MR.
I have experienced Halo AR and Merge Cube. These two apps are a great start for AR educational apps, I enjoyed the activities, especially creating my own! The VR example you mentioned is very similar to what I envisioned. AR and VR are similar in many ways, however, the advantage of AR is that it combines real-world experiences with extended reality, which in my opinion, creates more memorable experiences.
Well done, Week 11! You did a fantastic job organizing your thoughts and content. Now that AR has become more prevalent on mobile devices, are you more or less likely to incorporate AR into your practice? Why or why not? I am extremely hesitant to bring AR into my classroom, and I believe this to be because I have little to no training. However, I sometimes think that connecting real-life experiences and technology is a grey area. The reason is because we want students to experience real life opportunities in the moment. I think it is important to disconnect from technology, however, I do see the value that AR can bring to possible educational opportunities. I just sometimes feel that technology is becoming more immersed in our daily lives and I feel that it is getting harder to disconnect. Thanks again for an awesome presentation!
Hi Megan, I really appreciated your point about using technology for the sake of technology. I think that AR technology is wonderful and can supplement any learning, but we as educators do still need to be mindful of our intent when incorporating any material into our practice. It would definitely be most meaningful to help make abstract concepts more tangible, such as scaling planets or atoms, than it would be to display something that students interact with on a regular basis. I am glad that you could see some of the potentials for AR in an educational context and can understand your hesitation as well. My hope for the future of AR would be that tools become so user-friendly that it is second nature for educators and learners. Do you think that more institutional support may help educators, such as yourself, feel more comfortable with bringing AR into their classroom? Or does it just come down to personal preference?
Megan, I can understand your hesitations and lack of comfortability with AR. You mention the main reason is your lack of training, which is certainly a common reason to why educators do not incorporate AR in their classrooms. The more I have used Merge Cube in my classroom and supported other teachers as an educational technology coach, I have started being more inspired on how i could incorporate it into my teaching, and student learning experiences. However, this has taken time. I had to teach myself how to use the Halo AR app, and now that I have used it, I have ideas populating frequently of how I could incorporate into my classroom. Just because I have used these two platforms, still means there is a learning curve on the next app, platform or program I may try. Oftentimes, this learning curve or the amount of time it takes to learn or be trained, on specific platforms, apps, programs etc. that use or create AR is too demanding for a teacher’s busy workload. This learning curve limits AR in classrooms for this reason. I envision a future with AR apps that have endless opportunities for AR educational experiences, that possess no or minimal learning curves.
Thank you Agnes and Braden for leading us into the discussion of Augmented Reality.
I would like to respond to, “now that AR has become more prevalent on mobile devices, are you more or less likely to incorporate AR into your practice? Why or why not?”
As far as I know and within my reach of students and instructors, very limited AR experiences they’ve incorporated into the classroom teaching and instructions today. Although I can see AR as a fun and engaging way to learn in the near future, it might be at least a decade or even longer for us to actually see it applied massively in education. I could see great value and huge difference that AR could make in special education to help learners meet their special needs or accommodate learners with physical or learning disabilities. A good example that I can think of is to utilize AR to help handicapped learners make up for what they cannot do in real life, but can actually ‘walk’ or ‘run’ with their teammates to complete a project in a virtual learning environment. To conclude, my point is to apply AR in broad educational settings could be a long game, but it could be applied in special education to aid learning.
Hi Vera, I appreciated your point about using AR to offer learning experiences that can be modified to meet differing learning needs. Many people often assume that virtual reality would be the best way to offer an immersive learning experience, but augmented reality may also offer this opportunity. I think of someone who struggles with vision or hearing attending a class trip to a theatre production. They may struggle to have a meaningful experience normally, but AR could afford an opportunity to have subtitles or sign language overlaid onto their field of vision as they watch. As you mentioned, it may take time, but there are more meaningful potentials for AR beyond supplementing in-class instruction. Thanks for sharing
I thought I would add to your discussion on accommodating persons with disabilities. This spring, Snap Chat came out with a new AR lens that teaches sign language (https://vrscout.com/news/snapchats-new-ar-lens-teaches-you-sign-language/). I think this is a great use of AR and more app developers should advocate for inclusive features.
Exactly, AR technologies could dramatically change the learning experience for signers. I am pleased to find Snapchat has already started the game by incorporating AR lens to serve a broader clientele, users who are deaf or hard of hearing. Thanks for adding rich insights to the discussion, Agnes.
Hello Agnes and Braden. I think you did a fantastic job with this OER and how it was framed with the critiques and the learning activities. It has been one of the most interesting and engaging presentations, in my opinion. I have become very interested in AR since this course started as most of my assignments have focused on it. It’s incredible to think how long AR has been around, although as you mention its true potential is becoming more apparent now. I think that the accessibility element enabled by mobile devices, particularly phones, is key in making AR more mainstream and prompting us to think about how it could be used in educational contexts. The learning activities allowed me to explore AR and it was great to have a direct experience of what I have been learning about and researching these last few months. I was able to experience some of the affordances often mentioned, such as immersion, engagement, and curiosity, and see how this could facilitate learning and different forms of learning, such as those described in the OER (inquiry learning, contextual learning, gamification, etc). As mentioned during the first week, I work at ETS in UBC and we’re always looking for ways of providing instructors with innovative ways they could use digital technologies to enhance learning experiences. This OER has been inspiring and will help me to think about how these could be used in my specific context. Thank you!
Eduardo, thank you for your kind words, and participation in the learning activities! I took note of when you mentioned, how it is ”incredible to think how long AR has been around” since that is one of the reasons we chose to focus on why teachers may not be incorporating it in their classrooms, and hence created an OER to positively influence teachers to feel more comfortable and confident with it! My vision for AR in higher education is to see instructors not only have students engage with AR but also encourage and teach how to create lessons and learning experiences in AR.
Yes, I agree! I would say the objective is to find ways we could incorporate AR into learning activities and take advantage of their unique affordances. Before exploring your OER it seemed to me that this would be difficult as it would require students to have wearable technology such as headsets or smart glasses. However, now I see that through mobile apps we could find a way of making this work in this day and age. I’ll have to look in more detail into the applications and I believe your resource will be a great starting point. My impression is that most of the apps are targeted at younger audiences (k12). In your opinion and Branden’s, which of the apps presented on the OER has the greatest potential for higher education? Thank you!
Interesting question, I personally really see the potential for the development suites, such as the Apple Reality composer. Having a library of pre-made assets helps reduce the reliance on specialized skills and I think will make AR experiences more approachable. I also believe that having educators and learners be able to easily create these experiences will promote agency and familiarity, increasing willingness to engage in further AR. I also think that making development tools more accessible will allow for tailoring of AR experiences to be precisely what is needed, making it more likely educators will put in the effort to incorporate them.
In a recent discussion post, Sebastien actually emphasized one of the programs we featured within our OER, ARCore (https://developers.google.com/ar and https://www.coursera.org/learn/ar), which is suitable for higher education students. The applications after completing the course are endless. I envision that in the future, the MET program may offer a course solely focused on AR, VR, and xR, in which students undergo training akin to ARCore training, then go on to apply these new skills to design a learning experience or a product that aligns with their professional context. Another thought of mine is that typically AR experiences are created by the instructor/trainer, but I think it would be great for students to also create AR experiences for their peers. I think that for adults in higher education who have no experience in AR, Halo AR is a great place to start and build up capacity and knowledge. Does anyone else have any suggestions for Eduardo of AR apps suitable for higher education?
Fantastic, Agnes and Braden! Thanks for these suggestions – I will look into them and think about how they could be used in ETS Projects. It is exciting to know these tools are becoming more accessible and it’s worth investigating to become innovative in our practices. I agree with Agnes that we should go beyond just providing students with AR experiences from an observer’s point of view, and provide learning experiences in which they create AR outputs. This connects well with the learning theories mentioned in your OER, such as constructivism.
Hi Eduardo, thanks for your kind response! To add to what Agnes’ response, I think that AR is often so intimidating because it is viewed as a technically complex entity that requires specialized knowledge (i.e. coding) in order to participate. I think that the educational sector is finally starting to catch up to the point where there are either pre-developed assets or tools available for non-coders to make use of AR. Understanding the roots of the technology and providing a concrete jumping-off point for exploration was our hope to inspire others to try AR, so I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the hands-on experience.
Yes, I think there is an intimidation factor and also, as mentioned in my last response to Agnes, an idea that it depends on wearable technologies. This is usually the case but your OER helped me to see that it can also be experienced through mobiles, which makes it much more accessible. It would be interesting to start thinking about how these could be integrated into online learning environments and experiences, and assess how engagement increases. I think it is important to consider how much production time needs to be invested into it against how impactful these hew methods would be.
Speaking of innovative ways to enhance learning experiences, I think having an AR app to help new students navigate around the UBC campus (maybe one already exists which I’m unaware of?) could be an interesting idea as the campus itself is quite vast and easy for students who are unfamiliar with where certain rooms/venues are to get confused. AR in this situation would be a form of interactive navigation app which could connect to the overall learning experience (eg: reduce frustration from ambiguity and increase overall enjoyment of learning)
Hi John. Yes, that’s a good idea. It could also provide students with interesting facts about the facilities and the campus. I know that the Emerging Media Lab recently showcased an ‘augmented audio’ project, in which you can hear pronunciations of the indigenous names in the signs across campus.
Hi John, that’s a practice idea of improving new students’ campus experience, or even prospect students to boost their application. During the pandemic, the university I’m working at had something similar called a ‘virtual campus tour’ which allows prospect students ‘see’ the campus and ‘feel’ the campus vibe. However, there were no AR add-ons like trigger images, audio or text as introduced by Braden and Agnes. Now that you brought up the idea of incorporating this to improve students’ experience, I think this could really fly and be utilized on the real ground. As I think about it more with technological maturity and financial viability for individual institutions, I feel including AR experiences in teaching and learning is more of a game with strong technical support and financial support. Obtaining enough technical support and financial support to build sophisticated AR experiences may be difficult for some institutions.
Do you have any past experience in creating AR experiences? What opportunities were afforded by using AR technology?
Other than the identified critiques of using AR in an educational context, are there any barriers you could anticipate to incorporating AR into your personal practice?
Now that AR has become more prevalent on mobile devices, are you more or less likely to incorporate AR into your practice? Why or why not?
How do you foresee mobile technology-based AR’s role in education? In society?
How do you think that AR experiences will shape what we consider to be a traditional classroom environment?
How would you forecast the future of AR in an educational context?
What an amazing application. I did not have a strong internet connection so Activity 2 and 3 were challenging and I will revisit them in Week 12 when I am back to my usual internet. I really understood the hesitation on AR in the classroom and feel that the AR experiences in the classroom will bring math to life! The measure app that I used really created opportunities to create labs and investigate math and measurement. I can see that creating real-world experiences via the Halo mathematics app will be something I will be implementing next school year in my own classroom. I appreciate the depth of learning and critique that went into the AR apps presented and I can’t wait to go back and try them all! I would forecast that the future of AR will be strong in our educational context as long as teachers are willing to try ‘new’ things and experiment in their classrooms.
Jennifer, your example of the Measure app within the Padlet shows how AR can truly bring a mathematics classroom anywhere! It is great to hear that you will be incorporating the AR apps within your teaching, that you explored in our OER.
Hi Jennifer, I think your response highlighted a key issue within much of the technologies we have discussed in this course, being internet connectivity. It is often taken for granted, but the functionality of many devices, including AR-enabled ones, hinges on being able to get online. I have experienced many frustrating days at school where the wi-fi cannot keep up with the demand. It makes you wonder what priorities will be when designing future educational spaces and raises the issue of whether Internet connectivity is a privilege or a right ( a completely separate issue!). I am encouraged to hear you would consider trying an AR application in your future teaching! Thanks for sharing.
Brad, it is really a key issue about wireless connectivity. I am fortunate to be in an economic bracket where I can ‘up’ my data plan on my phone so that I can use data without wireless to complete the course this summer. It really does highlight the issue of connectivity being a privilege and should it be one for all. I am fortunate that this course was designed to be completed on mobile technology and my understanding of how my ‘phone’ works has increased 10 fold. I will reply again after your week is over once I have been able to complete the Halo assignment 2 and 3. Thank you for your very informative resource.