Augmented Reality

Is augmented reality the next big thing in the educational world?

Aurasma has been available for about three and a half years now and although I had not heard of Daqri until this past summer, it has been in existence for about the same amount of time as well. Lately, these two apps have been getting a lot of mention on Twitter and YouTube, and I'm wondering if augmented reality might finally be making its way into the mainstream educational world along with 3D printers.

Through some behind the scenes work by Brad Gustafson (@gustafsonbrad on Twitter) of the Minnesota Educators on Voxer, a series of short videos on the value of being Connected Educators submitted by members of the group were edited together and the resulting video was linked to aura that triggers the video through the Aurasma and Daqri apps.

If you have Aurasma, scan the picture of the front of the Voxer group t-shirt and follow Greenwood Elementary's channel to watch the video.

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Image Source

If you have Daqri scan the picture of the state of Minnesota icon to watch the video.

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Image Source

Click here to play the video if you do not have one of the apps and cannot see the video embedded below.

Minnesota Educators on Voxer - Why I'm A Connected Educator

Why I'm a Connected Educator? That's the question of the hour...

Members of the Minnesota Educators on Voxer group are creating 10 - 15 second video clips about why we value being part of our PLN group on Voxer to be linked in an augmented reality video to our Voxer group t-shirts.

My video about why I'm a connected educator is embedded below:

TEDx Burnsville Video Released - Real World Ready

The long-awaited TEDx Burnsville videos have been released and I'm excited to share mine below.

Please watch why I believe we need to start recognizing that our students learn differently than most of their teachers did and that traditional classrooms must change in order to retain our students' interest and develop their academic skills.

The amount of screen time that our students devote to their interests and hobbies online could impact their academic learning if schools tapped into using more digital resources and online delivery formats that could extend the school day beyond the classroom walls and typical school day bells.

The amount of technology from previous generations still being used in our schools today seemed to hit home with the audience as a humorous walk down the path of instructional technology used during my K-12 educational years. If you missed an earlier blog post I wrote about some of the inspirations for my TEDx Talk, it's worth noting that the idea for sharing the timeline of educational technology was spurred by this 2011 Edudemic article by Jeff Dunn on the "Evolution of Classroom Technology" and has been a topic that I have poked fun at in some of my previous ISTE presentations over the years.

A popular flat icon graphic from my presentation was the depiction below created by my amazing colleague David Freeburg based on an Apple presentation showing the timeline of our current students' lives and the immersive availability of technology that has developed throughout their short lifetimes.

Image Credit: David Freeburg

I would be remiss if I also did not give credit to another of my talented colleagues, Lee Vang, whose images below not only demonstrate her eye for layout and skill with Photoshop, but also represent visuals for two of the primary initiatives in my school district that the department I am working in supports.

Image Credit: Lee Vang

I hope that watching my TEDx video inspires other educators to see the need for change in the classroom to better engage our students today.