Please follow the link to Michelle Kim’s and my Google Site on augmented reality in education, with an additional focus on decolonization.
https://sites.google.com/view/etec523mobileandopenlearning/what-is-ar
We have a discussion section you are invited to join in. We would appreciate hearing about your own experiences using AR technology in the classroom, or about any resources or recommendations you are able to share. Thank you for your time, and we look forward to discussing AR with you.
AR has the potential to revolutionize education. It creates immersive and interactive learning. For example, students can see abstract concepts, such as volume, mass, and density in real-world visualizations. This makes abstract subjects more concrete and understandable. Hands-on immersive experiences foster active participation and improve retention among the students. As a result, there are steady investment flows in AR market and the general public perception of this new technology is positive.
However, there is one challenge that prevents AR start-ups from gaining more stability. There is no solid business model that works in the long-term. For example, AR used by large companies (ex., IKEA, Amazon) is an add-on and most of these firms would survive without using AR.
What type of projects would absolutely require AR and would not work without it?
Thanks for sharing the well designed website Sarah and Michelle! From your presentation, it really seems like AR has a space in the educational world to come for many years. Most of my experience with AR comes from apps like the Ikea Place App. It can really help establish the idea of proportions and having a clearer picture of what things could look like in relation to the classroom (seeing the size of a dinosaur inside the classroom!). Moreover, it was inspiring hearing about Dr. Robert Campbell’s grant work and how much potential that project has.
Thank you for the amazing and informative presentation. I can honestly say before this presentation I did not truly understand the difference between AR and VR at least not fully (in my mind AR was a VR program on a flat screen). I also did not realize that Pokemon Go was considered AR even though I have played. Although, I always found myself turning that function off because it made me disoriented. After playing around with some of the apps you suggested (Xplore and Civilization) I think one of the current limitations of AR in mobile is screen size. It was way easier to run the apps on a tablet than a phone becuase of the bigger surface area for sight and exploration. Additionally, after looking at current AR and MR technology, I think it is crazy how in the next 15ish years this tech is going to permeate all types of modern living like the smartphone has.
Hi Rylan, I am happy to hear that you learned some new information. It was only recently that I learned about the difference between AR, VR and MR(mixed reality), in addition to the types of AR. It also surprised me how much AR has already been introduced and is being used in our daily lives. Although mobile phones are easier to carry, they may be more accessible. However, as most information is displayed on a screen, it may be easier to use tablets, primarily when learners use them for education.
Hi Michelle and Sarah,
Thank you for creating such a well-organized, informative Google site. I agree that using AR tools provides immersive, experiential, and visual learning opportunities for students. This technology can help students prepare for the real world by simulating real-world situations. However, the high cost and inaccessibility of AR applications and tools make it challenging for educators to use them as common/daily educational resources. I have played VR games and enjoyed playing certain games that did not cause motion sickness. However, I found it hard to continue playing any game that involved walking in the virtual world while I was standing still. In the context of education, motion sickness could limit a student’s access to education. Therefore, before implementing AR or VR for education, educators need to weigh the benefits of using the tools and decide if they would truly enhance learning experience, ensuring that such tools do not have any adverse effects on health and provide a safe and inclusive learning experience for all learners.
Hi Amy,
Thank you for bringing up a great point! I also have experience with VR equipment and have struggled with slight motion sickness to the point I had to rest for a bit. I was surprised at how realistic and immersive the experience was, and I agree that educators should use it with careful consideration. In my opinion, AR is a bit more accessible as it only requires a mobile device with an app.
Hi Sarah and Michelle
I thought I’d share this with the group – it’s an AR welding tool that we have been using for a few years now at VCC in our automotive programs. Prior to using this tool we were getting through a lot of materials as students kept practicing the various welds. Also, they were limited in the number of practice attempts they could make (because of the costs of materials). Using the AR welder has resulted in a measurable improvement in the assessed practical element of the course. Here’s a link to the tool: https://www.millerwelds.com/equipment/training-solutions/training-equipment/augmentedarc-augmented-reality-welding-system-m30100
A drawback with the AR tool that I should have mentioned is that the weight of the real welding gun is much heavier than the AR gun, and so students have taken to adding a weight to the AR gun (taping something small and heavy to it) to simulate this
Hello Andrew, thank you for sharing an intriguing AR tool. Welding is an unfamiliar area to me, so I found the drawback you mentioned interesting. Regardless of the difference in weight, it would be beneficial in various ways, such as the cost or accessibility in the long term. As you mentioned, I believe the implementation of AR would be helpful in higher education, which requires training with specific tools or even to introduce the concept and help understand different areas of work.
Michelle and Sarah, great topic and google site with lots of good resources.
I’ve been exposed to AR through my work in military. AR is increasingly used in military training due to realism, cost-efficiency, and safety. For example, it’s alot cheaper, safer and faster to place pilot trainees in a cock pit simulator to practice flight operations, and emergency procedures vs. up in the air or sailors in a birdge simulator to practice collision avoidance, and emergey drills vs. on a real ship. Overall, AR tech is an innovative and commonly used approach in the military that provides hands-on training in a cost-effective and safe manner.
On a personal level, I’ve never really used AR for entertainment or consumer shopping. I’ve heard of and/or seen AR products such as pokemon go, home depot’s color app, Ikea’s place app, or the StubHub app, but never a had a need to use them. In addition, I’ve never really heard of anyone using AR tech as part of curriculum in the classroom in BC. Although I think AR can enhance learning, engage students and make learning more interactive, I feel wider classroom adoption will be very slow due to costs, access, training, and pedagogy differences.
Thank you,
SS
Hi Sebastian,
I agree that implementation in school will be take time becuase of cost and pedagogy. Some teachers simply do not want to implement new technology. On a positive note, I managed to discuss AI with my staff recently and quite a few teachers have started using it to ease their workload. I think in a similar way, if we take it upon ourselves to learn the tech and then help explain it we can speed up the process. After all, if no one champions the technology, funding will never be approved. However, like you say, in upper level training (military, medicine, etc.) this technology is already in use becuase it is more cost effective than risking the actual materials involved in training brand new recruits.
As much as I know that many educators are open to new technology and adjusting new tools for better teaching experiences, AR would take a long time to implement in a classroom. Thinking about all the technologies and devices that are deeply embedded in our lives, such as tablets, are still taking time and overcoming challenges to be used in a classroom. I believe that AR use will initially start with being implemented in particular areas, such as military training, and then slowly be exposed in our daily lives. When teachers are more comfortable with AR, I believe educators will be able to introduce and implement it in the classrooms.
Hello Sarah and Michelle,
Your topic on Augmented Reality seemed to cover it well, with well-grounded research and analysis and an engaging design. In my experience, I have noticed AR has placed a lot of emphasis on visual overlays, with some on audio to create an immersive experience, which I have seen in using AR works very well with the resolution cameras can output in real-time, combined with the processing that can be done.
However, after sight and somewhat hearing, what do you believe the following sense may be in the immersive AR experience? Haptic feedback has significantly improved in the sense of touch category, but I am unsure if a better choice is available.
Hi Daniel, thank you for your insightful questions. Indeed, AR experiences are currently emphasized on visual, such as overlay and audio elements. As you mentioned, touch input (haptic feedback) has significantly increased the users’ immersive experience as they can communicate with the device. Similarly, I believe that extending such a feature to kinesthetic feedback would also enhance the user experience. It will open up various opportunities to be used in the classroom, such as for physical education or simply for body breaks. Maybe in the future, it would be interesting to incorporate the sense of smell(olfaction) to amplify the augmented reality experience.
Thank you for your work on augmented reality, I have to admit before this I did not have a lot of experience or context around AR so I felt your presentation was very informative and gave a great background and introduction into where AR could be used in education. This gave me some ideas on how it could be worked in to some of the work I do which is exciting so thank you
Hi Meagan, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I also learned so much while researching and working on this project, and I am excited to hear that our presentation gave you some ideas to implement in your work.
Hi!
I enjoyed your topic and found it informative, especially the reference to applications that I can use to create my AR tasks. I loved that you included the part on how AR is being used as a decolonizing tool and that withholding their knowledge from the web is very important to maintaining control over their knowledge and practices.
I was wondering if AR can be used with any other devices than a phone or tablet. Do you know if I can use my laptop to display augmented details? I’m just wondering in the case that students don’t have a phone/tablet, or if their camera is broken? Obviously, a laptop is not ideal, however, it is better than being left out of the learning process. Thanks!
Elvio
Hello Elvio, Thank you for your kind words and a great question. The mobility AR apps availability on computers would depend on the app you plan to use. You can use laptops with webcams for web-based, desktop or software that supports computer access. However, most of our suggested apps are more applicable and designed for mobile devices. I would carefully recommend pairing or making a small group of students share a device. I also occasionally use a projector to model with the whole class.
Pairing would work!
Do you happen to know how fast the VR technology is progressing? For example, if my school invested in buying headsets, how long would those headsets be expected to remain relevant technology-wise?
Thanks
Elvio
Hello Elvio,
I’m sorry, I don’t know how fast VR is advancing, but I imagine quite quickly as it is a growing subsection of video games, which is a large industry, and it is also being approved for medical use and military use. However, I would also caution against rushing out and investing in something new. We learned in our library courses, never to be the first to buy into the technology, but to be the second. Find out from the people who used it first what their thoughts were, what was worth it, and what was not before investing yourself. I know someone in one of my previous MET courses mentioned that their school invested heavily in some type of Google Expeditions headsets, and ended up only getting to use them for two or three years because the program was discontinued. Not discontinued as in there were no new updates, but discontinued in a way that the headsets were no longer functional, and they were left with some very expensive paperweights.
You may find this article interesting ‘The AR headset ‘revolutionizing’ cardiac procedures’: https://finance.yahoo.com/video/ar-headset-revolutionizing-cardiac-procedures-220734345.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=YW5kcm9pZC1hcHA6Ly9jb20uZ29vZ2xlLmFuZHJvaWQuZ29vZ2xlcXVpY2tzZWFyY2hib3gv&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALpfP4FadAxXRNY9pkC3EQQs6eHW4ZV4mYDEbNKt5P6XoVx7H7ZmloM5M3h6qonUVUumD3ZJFLnx9LgOmnvml2EY4gYlZIvudU4jNWHi4JFmckYeyiZtLPMpXuA9fda1pMVUWihq0b4jwr9ThOuncGnjFYenzFSp2WI717PITD9l
Yes, to build off what Michelle said, AR is often meant to be looked at through like a lens, or magical magnifying glass of sorts. The problem with laptops is that the camera is usually facing the person. So theoretically if you could pair it with a webcam like Michelle suggested, and have it point behind the computer (looking in the same direction as the person) then it may be possible. Also like Michelle said, they could be good for group activities, like stations, decreasing the number of required devices.