5 Ways Augmented Reality Will Transform Education

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Pay attention Miss Crabtree!  Chubsy-Ubsy may have eaten your apple but put on your Augmented Reality glasses and you can see a mesmerizing digital one.

Everyday another article, blog posting or video crashes our smartphones with news of another feat as AR creeps into our mainstream life.  Every thinkable industry can benefit and be reshaped through an AR capable device.  Books, newspapers, and magazines are jumping on board to create an immersive treasure trove of digital information.

What are the areas where Augmented Reality will transform educaton?

1) Enhanced Storytelling – I can think of no better way then to enhance a story through the power of AR.  Reading words can create a visual picture in our mind but when a story book comes to life, the impact is so much greater.  We will see more advanced storytelling through AR capable books and mediums.  Kids cannot only read the story but see characters come alive and interact with those book characters.   Popar Augmented Reality Childrens Books.

2) Sensory Interaction – Why watch when you can touch something and see it change.   Augmented Reality allows for users to interact WITH the content.  You no longer are an observer but you can touch and feel which enhances your learning senses and takes education to a entirely new level.   As you can see by this PS Vita video – learning becomes a true adventure. PS Vita AR Suite Demonstration

3)  Back-to-the-Future –  What better way to learn history then to revisit it.  Go to an old military battlefield and see it come to life.  Go to a cemetary and scan a tombstone with your AR capable smartphone and see a video of that person and learn about their accomplishments during their lifetime. Smartphones bring the dead to life in cemeteries.  I have also blogged about the Civil War Augmented Reality Project.

Students also learned about the American Revolution through initiatives like this: Student Postmortem: Reliving the Revolution (learning about the Battle of Lexington)

Through AR, learning is transformed……

4) Anti-couch Potato syndrome –  (It’s not really a syndrome.)  Don’t you hate when your child has drool running down the side of their mouth while they gaze at the TV?  Well with AR in education, you can kiss those days goodbye.  AR has created an interactive way for kids to get out of the house and learn on the go.  Smartphones and tablets have created mobility which allows kids to learn and play while outside.

AR allows kids to walk around outside and still learn.  I cherished the days when my elementary teacher would let us read outside because the weather was beautiful.  We learned outside and it made the our environment fun!

Augaroo has created apps where kids can kick a virtual soccer ball around and play games where they physically move around!  You can have treasure hunts, play kickball, and tons of other healthy ways to keep kids on the move.

5) Project Based Learning on Steroids – Research has shown that project based learning has tremendous advantages in an academic environment.  Problem solving of complex challenges in a group creates important skills needed in the 21st century.  Augmented Reality, is the perfect way for groups of children to thrive in a project based learning environment. Each child can use their Augmented Reality capable device to build or help solve problems.  We will see a sharp jump in AR enable PBL settings.  This Identi-Tee Project is just one example of how technology merged with AR based devices can create a project based learning success.

What is your opinion?  Where do you see Augmented Reality transforming the world of education?   

To learn more read this latest article on cutting-edge learning with Augmented Reality.

 20 Augmented Reality Experiments in Education

Here is one example of how Augmented Reality can help a child in interactive learning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zb2spZvHFQ