AR, QR, and VR, oh my!

Are you interested in integrating more technology in your classroom instruction? This blog series will help you do that! Today's topic: the 3 "R's" of technology integration. Augmented Reality, Quick Response, and Virtual Reality.

I will start with AR- Augmented Reality. The idea behind this technology is to "augment" a physical thing (like a book) with a virtual reality scene. To try it out there are several iPad apps. I recommend Aurasma but there are many out there that are great! I take no credit for this tutorial. The video below is a great demonstration of how Aurasma works for the viewer.

For a media specialist, this could work as an amazing project on book reviews/previews. Students could make a review video of a book they have read and then create an Aura for it. When other students use the Aurasma app on that book cover, they will be shown the video review made by the other students! Awesome, right?

I'm thinking ahead to teaching science specials soon. This could be a great way to review vocabulary (or anything really) without me having to use class time to do it. Or, students could make video presentations that would be available for their teacher to watch and grade later. I wouldn't have to provide links to private You Tube videos because the teacher would only need the app and the picture the students used to create the aura. Quite private!
The "VR" part of my post is actually just that AR is a simple and free way to add virtual reality to your classroom teaching as assessing. No fancy equipment needed.

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Now I want to share some information about QR codes. You've probably seen QR codes in advertisements and even teaching materials over the past few years. QR stands for quick response and that is a great description of its use. In my technology lab I have used it for a few different vocabulary activities. One of my favorites was a challenge I set up with riddles about the parts of the computer. Each student had a worksheet and an iPod touch with a QR reader installed. I recommend this QR reader, but just like the AR apps, there are several great ones. The QR codes I created for this activity contained the riddles, then the students had to record their answer on the worksheet.