Augmented reality (AR) uses the existing surrounding environment of a user and overlaps it with virtual objects that can be interacted with in real-time (Billinghurst et al., 2001). Some common uses of AR that you may be familiar with are Instagram and Snapchat filters, and even more recently, virtual backgrounds on Zoom. Often confused between virtual reality, it is important to distinguish where AR falls in Milgram’s Reality-Virtuality Continuum – between virtual and physical environments where mixed realities take place (Milgra et al., 2004).
Using Augmented Reality in Education
The affordances of AR, such as functions to determine location, direction and turns open up a plethora of possibilities for teaching and learning. In particular, different forms of AR applications can assist in implementing pedagogical approaches such as situated learning, enquiry-based learning and constructivist learning (Bower et al., 2014). Such applications provide opportunities for students to manipulate and interact with content that they may not otherwise have access to, right where they are (Sayed et al., 2011). On the other hand, however, AR does present several limitations, including requiring a certain degree of technicality to use (making it difficult to access for some), as well as having an overemphasis on lower-order thinking (Akçayır & Akçayır 2017). Educators must also consider how information will be derived and utilized between the two realities and multiple devices; particularly for younger students who may not have the cognitive load to tackle this (Wu et al., 2013).
There are a large number of AR apps that can be used in educational contexts. One of my personal favourites is the Skyview app, which allows its users to point their phone towards the sky and immediately identify the stars, constellations, planets and satellites that they are pointing towards. It fosters curiosity as informative details about planets/stars/constellations are displayed when they are tapped on. This can easily be used to engage students within the Science & Technology KLA. A more versatile example of AR is the Merge Cube, which allows hands-on manipulation of a wide variety of objects – particularly relevant in fields of science, social studies, history and geography.
Creating Augmented Reality with Zapworks
Zapworks is a simple, straightforward platform for both students and teachers to create their own AR platforms. Users can create a trigger image with a unique Zapcode, which they can then overlay with interactive text, images, sounds, hyperlinks and videos that appear when scanned through the application, Zappar. Creators can also structure their projects similar to that of a website, where pressing a specific parts of the AR triggers a new page (see the top left corner of my sample project).
In implementing this in a classroom setting, different students’ trigger images will ideally be printed and placed throughout the classroom, where students have devices to scan each others’ projects. Here’s a demonstration I’ve created – it shows how students might create a Zapwork project to represent their learning for a hypothetical science lesson about natural disasters. To view the project, simply scan the following image using the Zappar app.
Alternatively, here is a video of what you can see when this image is scanned:
Fostering Creativity…?
While I personally found Zapworks fairly intuitive to use, I also found it constricting when it came to expressing creativity. Due to the “Designer” modes’ emphasis on presenting multimodal information, creativity seemed to be restricted to how information is represented, rather than what can be created. Hence while using AR may open up a plethora of opportunities to explore and manipulate virtual objects, it is important to take note of the potential restrictions of creating AR for educational purposes.
References
Akçayır, M., & Akçayır, G. (2017). Advantages and challenges associated with augmented reality for education: A systematic review of the literature. Educational Research Review, 20, 1-11.
Billinghurst, M., Kato, H., & Poupyrev, l. (2001). The magicbook-moving seamlessly between reality and virtuality. Computer Graphics and Applications, IEEE, 21(3), 6-8.
Bower, M., Howe, C., McCredie, N., Robinson, A., & Grover, D. (2014). Augmented Reality in education – cases, places and potentials, Education Media International, 51(1), 1-15, https://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2014.889400
Milgram, P., Takemura, H., Utsumi, A., & Kishino, F. (1994). Augmented Reality: A class of displays on the reality-virtuality continuu. In Proceedings of Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies, (pp.2351-2334).
Sayed, N., Zayed, H., & Sharawy, M. (2011). ARSC: Augmented Reality Student Card, Computers & Education, 56(4), 1045-1061.
Wu, H.K., Lee, S.W.Y., Chang, H.Y. & Liang, H.C. (2013). Current Status, opportunities and challenges of augmented reality in education. Computers & Education. 62, 41-49.
Where Technology Meets Creativity 
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