Spotlight: Aurasma and Augmented Reality

(c) Aurasma logo

I have been introduced to some excellent online tools this week and I will eventually write about each one. But for today, the winner is Aurasma, hands down. I attended a wonderful online webinar yesterday through INFOhio and I am ready and willing to promote, design, and share. (FYI: I have linked the webinar site but it isn't live yet...keep checking back for it.)

Aurasma is the cutting edge (not just a cliche this time) for using augmented reality to teach (after this known as AR). If you remember the QR codes we got excited about a few years ago, then AR is QR codes times a hundred. The website tells us that every image, object, or even place can have its own "aura," this company's term for an AR experience.

A wonderful universal example is what Guinness World Records has done for their 2014 published record book. Look for the AR symbol on the cover to make sure you have purchased the right version. Find the trigger image on a page, open the iOS or Android app on phone or tablet, aim the camera at the symbol on the cover or pages, and see the information come to life. One example used in yesterday's webinar was the world's shortest woman. Because you can rotate and move with your camera and see the AR picture in all 360 degrees, students who viewed this were able to take a photo that made it seem like they were posing with the shortest woman. Priceless learning and great fun!

Aurasma is your ticket to create these for yourself and your students. Advertisements (marketing classes), architectural drawings (design classes), art history (3D of statues in museums around the world), music performances (focus on your choir's trigger photo and listen to them perform!). Are the ideas beginning to form? Keep a list.

I believe one of the most compelling uses for this AR model is creating a bulletin board that has designated triggers around your topic.

• Math: make the trigger a picture of the problem and the AR can be the video you created showing how to solve it.
• Art: post student artwork and the trigger shows a short clip of the student explaining the design.
• Social Studies: Martin Luther King Day and the MLK photo triggers his speech or trailer for the movie, "Selma."

Many applications support this AR movement. I hope to cover some in the future. What child wouldn't like to color a trigger picture from the ColAR app, then see the picture come to life and move across the page. If you want to play, download the application on your phone or tablet (check your App Store on your phone), print one of the sample trigger pictures and have your grandchild or student color it, then turn on the app. Magic!

Most of the apps are free - what a plus! And Aurasma lets you create your aura via your own "channel," and as long as the person trying to view the trigger is connected to your channel, your content is easily shared.

Don't be afraid of this one. Three steps gets you from start to finish in Aurasma, so it is easy to see how it works. Once I have a few of my own created, I promise to come back and share my channel so you can explore. This is exciting!

Follow Aurasma on Facebook too. And many thanks to INFOhio and Morgan Nickolai, Sidney High School, Sidney, Ohio.