Imagine walking into your study, a couple of years from today – you picked up your coffee mug, comforted on your couch, put on your AR glasses!
Now you are surrounded by clouds of glowing orbs. These orbs are the digital representation of your entire library. The vivid colors, the patterns of the orbs, entice you to play with the fingers. You reach out to select your favorite book that flows around your eyes.
If there’s one word that technology is synonymous to, it’s ‘disruption’. For so long, education and learning have governed by traditional pedagogical techniques. With integration of technology, things are changing in this domain. Though this immersive visualization seems difficult now (not impossible), it’s soon going to be a reality.
Thanks to AR, the Augmented Reality!
Augmented Reality is an enhanced version of user’s reality, where the real world of the user is superimposed with computer generated graphics.
AR enhances the current perception of physical reality. Unlike VR, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality overlays new information on the top of physical reality.
AR has already disrupted the education sector. The above scenario may be an exaggeration but AR is making advanced learning possible for- students, bibliophiles and every learner. It is gradually eliminating roadblocks in the education industry. Since the time when computers were served hot, back in the 80s and now when artificial intelligence has reached to the level of Siri and Google Assistant – we can clearly say that technology is setting a strong foothold.
Remember Pokemon Go?
The craze for Pokemon Go made everyone aware of the basic imagery of AR. The way Augmented Reality involves the user’s physical environment is phenomenal. Now that AR has completely fired up the entertainment industry, it is creeping in to education. And there is a good chance that it will supplement elearning process. Let’s find out how.
The Marriage Of Learning With AR
Since human laid their first stone, they are pretty intrigued by everything that’s unknown. And this notion has pricked him to innovate, invent and constantly be better at technology. Slowly the technology reached out to everyone – it’s now easily accessible, improved and is making lives easier. AR is one of those technologies which has helped visualizing things – apart from just seeing through a computer screen. It helps to ‘feel’ the presence and ‘see’ object in three dimension.
Coming back to the education – considering the current classroom ecosystem we are in, establishing a physical and semantic connect with learning is quintessential. Augmented reality facilitate the real and virtual merger that makes the learning come alive. By using the real environment, it takes the freedom to add something to it. It’s like seeing shark jumping out of your business card or heart pumping through your mobile screen. By merging it with education, there can be better learning performance, more student engagement and enhanced learning. Let’s explore the indepth advantages:
– AR helps in learning better with creative interactions and output
– There is a scope to grasp a subject with deeper impression that remains embedded in memory
– Students can easily access the AR as no extra tool required as AR can be integrated with mobile apps
– Real life perception of learning is gained
Now to see how AR is serving a valuable asset in education, we need to focus on AR apps for elearning and education, AR gaming apps and few AR devices which claim to upturn the education system.
Educational AR Apps – Are They Worth Our Investment?
Augmented Reality apps are improving classroom learning by altering the interactions. And there is a gamut of popular apps that are minimizing the line between reality and digital interface. These are few examples that will make you believe in what I am conveying:
The Google Sky Map
Students who have a keen interest in exploring our sky and learn more about astronomy will find it amazing. Google Sky Map app makes astronomy a next level thing. Instead of just looking at the constellation, you can easily identify them directly from your smartphone camera.
Image Source: Google Play Store
Just hold your mobile up in the sky and voila! You get a complete identification of constellations and stars captured by your camera. No more guessing games – is it a star or a planet?
ZooBurst
Digital storytelling is what Zooburst promises! It’s an augmented reality app that makes the story telling extremely intuitive. It engages students to interact with the books and be a part of it – just by placing the screen over books.
Talking about customization, it has a giant image library students can use Adobe flash animations, speech balloons, narration everything in the 3D storytelling. In addition, click on et characters to know more!
Augmented Reality Games – How Effective Are They?
Ever since AR came into the scene, it has been transforming gaming experience. Pokemon GO is exceptional example here. It played with the physical environment in real time. The game uses AR technology integrated with camera and GPS to design artificial avatars that overlays in physical world details. Using similar technology, AR games are devised.
PhysicsPlayground is a great example. This AR gaming app is a fantastic educational game that offers 3D experimental environment. Young learners can easily understand the difficult elements of physics.
So, Is AR better than VR?
While both these technologies are in vogue, each of them add different value to e learning. VR or virtual Reality takes the user to a completely faux environment, AR is intelligent enough to include artificial object in the physical scene. As AR merges new information and imagery in the existing user environment, it is more intuitive. Talking about the cost cutting, VR is pretty expensive now. Whereas, AR technology can be merged into mobile apps and used just with internet and a smartphone. No additional cost – which is great for students.
How AR Can Be Used In Classroom Education?
This GenZ are hardly those who sit at their desk quitely. So, eventually there has been different interactive learning courses which are a mix of traditional yet transformative learning. Instruction from teacher becomes fun and engaging for every student. By superimposing computer generated graphics, AR triggers the interaction in physical environment. This means, objects can pop up while reading a book!
The idea of interactive learning is manifested by Augmented Reality. So, students can simply hold their smartphone screen over their textbooks and can see how the heart pumps.
Not only schools but universities are taking up the AR and VR technologies in classrooms. So AR is an immense possibility to increase visual literacy, improve attention and ability to read objects anywhere.
Wrapping It Up
Keeping possibilities and feasibility in mind, AR will soon be implemented in schools and universities to enable practical, heightened and immersive learning experience. These are just few examples that can give facelift to the education system. AR is a trend worth following to implement in education app development. It might take few years or so and AR will rule the elearning industry to make education, intuitive, fun and amazingly interesting.
