Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Aurasma....an introduction & plan...

So here is the second ICT tool post on here...apologies for the delay in getting to this point....

For this post, I'd like to explain Aurasma, an Augmented Reality (AR) application for iOS & Android devices. There are a number of other AR apps out there on the App Store/Marketplace however Aurasma seems to be the most popular. Now for the time being, I'll post the plan and hopefully get some feedback from you all...and once it happens, I'll write up a short evaluation, detailing what went right, what went wrong, what could have been done differently or better and some overall thoughts.

Home

See some of the other applications for AR that are currently out there at the moment....after the jump as always....JUMP!

PS >> Aurasma was recently discussed at TEDGlobal2012...no video just yet however a brief blog post from the great guys at TED..again after the jump....JUMP!


First of all, Augmented Reality...what is it?

Augmented Reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect view of a physical, real world environment whose elements are augmented by a computer generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics, or GPS data. (Mashable)

Aurasma is an app that facilitates these features and allows you to create & share Auras. Auras can be images or videos captured from your Photo Library, or they can be Aurasma animations, that can be overlayed on any object.

The way the app works is that when Aurasma detects an object that has had an Aura created for it, it displays/plays the overlay. Another feature is that Aurasma can be used to display/play an overlay at a particular location...these are called Location Auras; these are auras that are only activated

The beauty of Aurasma is that it is FREE and they do offer the option of signing up to their Partner Program which is also FREE and allows you a lot more freedom with the application...more on this part when I get my  head into it...

Example: See how Marvel Comics has recently implemented AR into their comics....JUMP!

So the plan:

What: I would to use Aurasma to help teach my Year 8 students about the Cartesian Plane and reading co-ordinates from a map in a bit of a more visual and engaging way.

How does Aurasma help this I hear you ask? Well giving the students a map of the school and an iPad, the idea is to have them go on an "Aura hunt" that would require them to gather the clues left by each aura at the various locations around the school to solve a riddle, question or conundrum. The other side to the plan is to not only have myself present clues (as an aura) to the students but their other teachers and other known personalities in the school community.

Feel free to suggest riddles, questions or conundrums for the students to solve...

How: Using Aurasma on my iPhone, create a number of overlays for the students to find using their AR devices. Then get the students to find the auras & gather the clues to solve the riddle, question or conundrum.

When: late T3 - early T4

So that's the plan...feel free to send the feedback my way

As always...May the Tech Be With You

Jimmy V

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