In what ways can we incorporate augmented reality in classroom settings?

I can see something like augmented reality being particularly useful in teaching architecture or architectural engineering. Students can develop designs for a structure and then go to the actual site and have their designs superimposed onto that space. They could also see how historic structures have deteriorated over the years by superimposing an image of the structure when it was originally built on top of an image of what the structure looks today.

Geology and earth science students might also benefit from augmented reality when studying erosion or other geomorphic processes.

I think it could be interesting to use this concept in medical schools. Imagine being able to augment the classroom setting to an operation room or an exam room with imagined patients. This could be ideal so that instructors could really walk students through different steps without putting real patients at risk. 

I also imagine that having individuals in intercultural classes being placed into this type of augmented reality in the classroom would be excellent. I was thinking of our class last semester with Dr. Kramer. It would have been most interesting to have played out intercultural scenarios through an augmented reality. It would also help to teach students about other cultures by literally showing them what it's like to be a part of another culture through these augmented reality. 

The possibilities are endless for the augmented reality in the classroom setting. It's actually a lot of fun to think of so many different ways that you can go with this. 

You may also take a look at the research by Eric Klopfer at MIT as an example of using AR for experiential learning.

As VR technology (e.g.Oculus Rift) comes down in pricing and becomes available to school budgets, it can be useful for many educational purposes such as taking virtual field trips to far away countries or exploring molecules in 3-D.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/08/27/02oculus.h34.html 

I'd love to have an augmented reality device + app that allows me to show nametags over people's heads.

With 80 students each semester I simply can't remember all of them by name.

Now for the students various applications could be usable.

Let's think school classroom and chemistry or physics. You could visualize things mid-air. Show students molecules and interaction effects while still being able to see their teacher talk. For visual learners this might be quite helpful.

As for more weird ideas:

You could hide disturbing classmates or decrease the saturation in areas which are not important, as in areas other than where the teacher is standing. This might increase focus, as the visual sense is usually dominating.

Show students an overlay or inset with what's currently on the whiteboard/blackboard so they can keep track while looking down to write notes.

Having previously taught students with learning needs in the mainstream environment, I can see this being particularly liberating for students on the autistic spectrum, particularly those who struggle to communicate verbally. My experience taught me that these learners engaged positively with interactive technology. Furthermore a possible system could be modified to support dyslexic learners by providing a visual language.

Mari's mention of medical training reminded me of one of the most impressive academic presentations I've seen, involving a Scottish university and its VR cave for first-year medical students, helping them to learn to diagnose common ailments. This was a few years ago (and the details are a bit hazy), but I recall the complexity of the design and VR activity being much better than what I would imagine the textbook equivalent would be, much more engaging and fun, game-like but not in a trivial way. That was a sign to me that ordinary textbooks on most subjects eventually will be replaced by more dynamic and interactive media. 

Hi, Godwin.

I would not reduce the focus of this theme to augmented reality. I rather think about new technologies of information and communication applied to everyday classes, which have a higher scope. Considering in this way, we can also say that there is no closed set of applications for NTIC in classes, it's always a matter of contexts. How can we incorporate them in classroom? I would answer: "considering both harms and benefits". Many teachers often see only the harm side, for instance when they see students chatting to each other through smartphones in classroom. On the other hand, many others see in this fact an opportunity to explore new teaching strategies using these devices. In which group are you?

Aloha!

Tarcisio.

since 2005 I've been using AR to show medical doctors the importance of treating the feeder vein to get rid of the undesirable telangiectasis (or spideveins). We've been using a typo of AR that does not requires glasses or videos. The vein image is projected on the skin, right on top of where the vein is (spatial augmented reality).

The patients are not students but they also learn about their problem and how to fix it (with better result and less recurrence)

I've submitted a manuscript of a paper on how to use it not *in* classrooms, but *out* of the classroom. In outdoor education, in which we've worked with AR in a 3-year project.

Hello Godwin,

In teaching, the use of virtual and augmented reality has been on the rise, exploring different means of interaction and student engagement. Augmented reality offers functionalities which improve immersion, interaction and imagination. However, despite technology’s important role in integrating learners in the field of experience, it represents merely a means to an end.

I hope this could help you:

DOI: 10.4018/ijacdt.2014010105

All the best!!!

The sector is bursting with new applications of this technology, across industries. For some ideas of classroom use, this link might be helpful: