creating a digital learning culture
THE AUGMENTED EXPO
Dodge City Middle School and USD 443 transitioned to a 1:1 learning environment two years ago. Our school goal is to reach the SAMR Redefinition level in 50% of our classrooms by 2016. To support this goal we knew we had to create both internal and external resources. One internal resource established was our IT Student Support Team. The purpose of the IT Student Support Team (ITSST) is to aid other students and staff members with multiple ways to integrate and embed technology into everyday curriculum. The Dodge City Middle School ITSST has close staff support and supervision including a technology coach for training, building principal for selection and organization of responsibilities, and a teacher sponsor who supervises the student help desk.
The IT Student Support Team is in its second year and each year the team has researched new ways to enhance the innovative use of technology in the classroom. During the second year the team explored ways to incorporate augmented reality content into the everyday curriculum of our students. The augmented reality project opened with students asking essential questions on how to drive higher levels of creativity by deeply embedding AR targets into daily instruction. This essential question of deeply embedding digital content into AR targets lead our students to define the differences between AR content and hyper text images like QR Codes. Augmented Reality (AR) is the interaction of superimposed graphics, audio and other sense enhancements over a real-world environment that’s displayed in real-time. Augmented Reality is hidden content, most commonly hidden behind marker images, that can be included in printed and film media, as long as the marker is displayed for a suitable length of time, in a steady position for an application to identify and analyze it. Depending on the content, the marker may have to remain visible. Additionally our IT students developed presentations on the many ways you can use DAQRI as an educational tool for deep learning.
The AR Expo project began with a Google Hangout conducted by Drew Minock. Students designed questions to ask during the Hangout before they began their projects. During the Google Hangout students were given an in-depth look at the potential of AR in the classroom providing them with design decisions. After the Hangout students were given time to create their projects during a one day workshop. The video is about an innovative app called 4D Crayola Color Alive. This is app is the result of a joint DAQRI project with Crayola to develop Action Coloring Books. The Color Alive app integrated with coloring targets gives the ability to interact with their real world creations. Through-out the project students provided evidence of effective use of AR in the classroom through the creation of exhibits for the Augmented Reality Expo. The IT students created content displays including Research and Development narratives along with promotional videos. The videos are a part of the target displays serving as an introduction to the many ways you can use and create augmented reality content. The AR targets are designed as an introduction leading individuals on a self guided tour. The IT students set up the tri-fold displays in the library media center. Additionally the team created a Twitter hastag #DCMSAR and each time new content was posted individuals could track the project from start to finish. Each individual project included multiple targets providing evidence on how AR can be used to inspire and change the educational landscape through the development of augmented reality content. Some of the introduction videos posted on you tube include the following topics:
Through innovative programming, DAQRI has developed 4D Studio, a user interface constructed around “markers” used to trigger digital content. 4D Studio users can employ various multimedia information sources like videos, links or sound files to render content on top of images. The images printed and displayed in the real world serve as targets or activators of content. Take for example a QR code. The QR code is a printed image representing a link to digital content when scanned. The difference between a QR code target and AR target is that each time you need to resource new content with a QR code you have to print a new QR code. Augmented reality differs, as the target image stays the same and inside the DAQRI 4D Studio you can change the content and not have to change the target. The 4D Studio serves as a library of changeable content. This allows the producer the flexibility to upload and change out new digital content anytime material needs to be referenced by the learner.
Augmented reality applications for mobile devices like DAQRI are destined to provide new avenues or ways we share digital content across multiple platforms--embedding media into a digital textbook or poster formats. The potential to create virtual field trips, and ways to interact with layers of content within social networking communities will revolutionize learning within the next few years. |
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