This is my Aurasma aura:
Augmented reality (AR) is the use of technology to superimpose a digital or computer generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view. (google definition) Augmented reality is sometimes referred to as blended reality as it is blends together the technologically created, together with the real world around us. (NMC/CoSN Horizon Report, 2016) Augmented reality differs from virtual reality in that it is an enhancement of a users actual reality with layers of information, as opposed to the creation of an artificial immersive reality where the user is no longer engaging with their actual surroundings. While it may seem like something out of the world of science fiction, AR has actually existed since the sixties. With recent and rapid advancements in technology, augmented reality is becoming more applicable, attainable and affordable by the broader public.
In the area of education, special education students can greatly benefit from AR technology. Students with disabilities could often benefit from having their realities enhanced. Deaf students, for example, could benefit from the use of AR looking glasses. These glasses can use voice recognition technologies to create speech bubbles that will allow students to visually recognize what is being said in real time, sometimes replacing the need of sign language interpreter. (2016) Similarly, technologies and apps have been created that can translate the visual world into audio, thus allowing blind people to have audio interpretations about what is happening in the world around them. AR technology can definitely enhance the educational environment for students with disabilities by allowing them to access information through a variety of different ways. (2016)
Augmented Reality: speech bubble technology at a train station in Vienna
Museums are often using Augmented Reality technology to provide layers of digitally created information for exhibits for their general collections. This enhances patrons', often students', experience by providing a variety of history, scientific and geographic information about particular works of art or installations.
Augmented Reality Demo for American Museum of Natural History
The ability to transfer learning from one context to
another is a significant skill, one that AR can facilitate in
its overt use of context and layering. (NMC/CoSN, Horizon Report 2012)
The area of medical education seems to be where AR is having its most significant impact so far. The Augmentarium at the University
of Maryland develops innovative deployments for
surgery training; physicians can utilize AR technology
to “see through” patients’ bodies before beginning
operations. (2016)
Companies and labs have been developing a variety of technologies for AR. Google developed google glass but took it off the market in 2015. They are working on a new version to be released soon. This is a stand alone AR headset. In 2009, the MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group presented SixthSense, a device that combined the use of a camera, small projector, smartphone and mirror. The device hangs from the user’s chest in a lanyard fashion from the neck. (Emspak, 2016)
Smart phones and tablets are proving to be the most effective way that augmented reality gets into people's lives. Vito Technology's Star Walk app, for instance, allows a user to point the camera in their tablet or phone at the sky and see the names of stars and planets superimposed on the image. Another app called Layar uses the smartphone’s GPS and its camera to collect information about the user’s surroundings. It then displays information about nearby restaurants, stores and points of interest. (2016)
One criticism of the increased use of augmented reality is that with all of these layers of information being provided to us we have the possibility of being overloaded with too much information that can confuse us or hinder our inherent understanding of a subject matter. In his article, 7 Ways Augmented Reality Will Change Your Brain, Author Thomas K. Carpenter warns that we must be careful and selective as we enter the world of AR so that we aren't overwhelmed by too much information and made incoherent by this cognitive overload. (Carpenter, 2012) Information can enhance and inspire a more profound understanding of reality but too much information at inappropriate times may muddle our understanding just the same.
paragraph on my Aurasma aura:
I currently work as a health and life skills teacher at Hope Learning Academy in Toledo. One of the major components of my health curriculum is dental hygiene. This week we had a visiting dental hygienist come to visit so dental health is fresh in my mind. I created an Aura with a short video that explains how kids should care for their teeth. I am planning to test this out with my kids next week and see how they like it. Just having a phone and app activated seems to get children more engaged. This AR technology is so much fun that I think the kids will enjoy the novelty of it as much as I have. With a little more advanced technology, I envisioned an aura, or series of auras, of a mouth with multiple videos that explained the different kinds of teeth and parts of the mouth -- gums, tongue, etc.. I have found these weeks on virtual and augmented reality to be very enriching for me. Before this class I was practically a novice at even downloading an app! This segment on AR really came together without a hitch and is so much fun!
screenshot of my aura:
References
Carpenter, Thomas K, 7 Ways Augmented Reality Will Change Your Brain, 2012. http://thomaskcarpenter.com/2010/02/23/7-ways-augmented-reality-will-change-your-brain/
Emspak, Jesse, What Is Augmented Reality? Live Science, 2016 http://www.livescience.com/34843-augmented-reality.html
NMC/CoSn Horizon Report, 2012 K-12 Edition https://blackboard.utdl.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-5176843-dt-content-rid-18800231_1/courses/XLST.N5.201710/2012-horizon-report-K12.pdf
NMC/CoSN Horizon Report, 2016 K-12 Edition https://blackboard.utdl.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-5169561-dt-content-rid-18672524_1/courses/XLST.N5.201710/2016-nmc-cosn-horizon-report-k12-EN%281%29.pdf
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI found your Aurasma to be educational and entertaining as well. I forwarded it to a friend because I thought it might assist her in getting her children to brush their teeth. She said she will show it to them and see what they think about it.
In reference to your blog post, I agree with the section that discusses using AR in order to assist students with disabilities. Having access to locations that one might not have normally, as well as access to information, would be beneficial to these students. When you described how the deaf students would have access to a sort of interpreter it made me think about my ESL students and allowing them access in both their native and second languages. Oftentimes it becomes difficult for them when they are learning so being able to have additional access to their native language would be helpful to them. Provided of course that they do not use it as too much of a handicap.
I also agree that a downside to AR is becoming overwhelmed due to accessing too much information. Like social media and internet use in general, it seems like AR is something we will have to monitor for children; we will also have to be aware of our own limits.