Augmented reality in education will soon revolt learning as we know it. AR will fully change location and timing of study process and open additional ways and methods. Finally, AR capabilities may make classes more transformational and engaging.

Educators know for sure that learning can’t include just learning and reading parts. It should have creative and interactive elements as well. Meanwhile there is for no need pedagogues  to become students’ best friend to get them involved into science. Everything pedagogues need is to get students interested in subject and AR helps it a lot.

Augmented Reality in education

Nowadays 71% of people from 16 to 24 years in the U.S. have smartphones. Most of them are active smartphone users that use these gadgets to enter social platforms, play games and to be in connection with friends and relatives. But meantime less part of them use their smartphones in the learning process to find some help for homework, receive extra info about subject, etc…

Perspective of engaging smartphones and usage of augmented reality for education process is amazing, but meantime only few educators really move this way. AR may help in various ways to give students and pupils extra digital information about any subject, while making complex information is easier to understand.

Nowadays we may find some excellent examples of augmented reality in education usage worldwide. Ability to connect reality and digital content has slowly become true and opens more options for pedagogues and students.

Augmented Reality Classroom

Pedagogues are trying to start using augmented reality in classroom lessons, commonly, to support their classes material with AR features.

It may entrap attention of students as well as motivate them to study.  Adding extra information like short biography of a person, some facts about various kinds of stuff, geolocation of historical eventі or visual modelі of math concept would give studentі wider understanding about the topic.

Oleksy and Wnuk by using AR tech were able to recreate historical places of Warsaw, Poland. Students saw via their mobile devices streets of Poland and might go for a walk there.

By doing homework, receiving a deeper understanding of hometask, students may scan pages of homework to receive text, audio or video tips from their teachers that may assist them in solving problems.

By scanning photos of teachers and students on board students may get extra information related to them. It may help make tighter connections in the group.

Using AR to scan cover of book students may get a short overview of a book and decide would they need it or not.

Layar and Wikitude AR Browsers enable to provide short reviews of books and magazines when their covers are scanned by applications.

Explain abstract and difficult concepts

AR technology has an ability to render in 3D model anything that may be hardly visualized in a classroom, at a computer, in minds of students. Inverse abstract and difficult content in visual models help students get deeper understanding about lesson topic.

That works especially good with visual learners and also helps others get alternative ways of integration theoretical material into real concept.

Polytechnic Institute of Leiria integrates AR technology into education process to support oral and text explainings of math to students. Those who worked with AR applications found that process as easy, intuitive and interesting.

Involving and interacting

Including AR into lessons may help educators directly involve students into the studying process by interacting 3D model. Taking part in such kind of things helps motivate students, capture their attention for the whole augmented reality classes and helps them understand subject deeper.

Interaction with AR may be part of lesson like a teaser, support of main topic providing extra info to students or be the main content of a lesson.

Canadian tech company CASE transformed a wall of school gym into huge skee-ball game by adding augmented reality layer to it. Therefore, children should launch rubber balls onto wall to destroy model of floating shapes visualized on it by the projector.

Discover and Learn

Visitors of museums by using their mobiles may access AR and discover historical events by exploring various additional content in connection to objects. AR provides visitors with extra information about what they see, or even allows to virtually equip some stuff to themselves or take tour to the past.

On the other side museums mostly can not show whole collection to visitors due to space limitation, lack of resources or just high value of objects. Using AR capabilities provides great opportunities for museums to present more than it is possible in normal conditions.

Augmented reality give visitors ability to use their mobile devices as pocket-tool through which area around them receive endless additional layers of information.

Objects modeling

Manual elements in education, such as the usage of their hands in practice or solving some quiz, may help learners better understand a lesson. By using apps medical students may easily learn human anatomy. Usage augmented reality in education enable them exploring different parts of body individually and discover its unique features.

AR allows students to interact with 3D model. Whatever, rotating, customizing it by setting transparency, changing colours, styles and even parts.

Finally, by using special gadgets, for example hololens instead of smart phones, students may explore the same AR model.

Interactive books

AR books provide deeper understanding of complex content. It also help make process of learning brighter and engaging.

Sadly but, reading common books didn’t motivate children to study science. If so, using books that includes digital AR content can make a deal. For example, revising pages through devices that support AR features may give access to additional content. As a result, springing to life 3D models with animations, sound and interaction actions attracts children attention.

Skills training

In many cases theoretical knowledge is hardly enough to become a good specialist in the wide range of professions.

In measure to give students skills they need in practice education system should change. So, today concepts of teaching should move to way more active position. Finally, as more practical learning method would be included in learning process as less students would stay as passive observers.

Technical students need practice and hand-on experience to get skills of maintenance and assembly suitable for their profession. Sadly, but often skills can’t be practiced in a classroom.

In addition, using AR features may help them by virtual study and practice with fully digital content, or additional 3D models linked to real parts. AR tutorial animations and graphic content also may give extra knowledge about new methods and innovation concepts.

Meantime, AR technology could create different situations and simulations suitable for practical process where students may acquire some experience.

Summary

It is not a secret to any pedagogue that more motivated and engaged learners always understand subject better and learn faster. Their attention and energy concentrate on studying process as educator keeps them engaged and interested. So augmented reality in education process provide huge benefits to all learners.

Source: Think Mobiles