We live in a world of digitalization. Augmented reality (AR) is a part of such a transformation. Augmented Reality is the modification of real-life surroundings with the addition of visual parts, sounds and other stimuli. In simple words, it is a combination of real and virtual elements.
This technology is useful in numerous fields and education is one of them. In recent times, the use of Augmented Reality (AR) in education has increased. The reason it is so widely used is because they are fun and interactive. This gives way to the creativity and imagination of the learner.
In this article, we are going to discuss in detail about AR in education. This article will give you an idea about the impact of AR and its benefits. Along with that, we will also discuss the future of this technology as well.
Ways Augmented Reality is changing the Education System
- Augmented reality is becoming more popular than ever in schools around the world. Educators improve learning methods by increased interactivity and engagement. AR has far more advantages over Virtual reality (VR).
- Augmented Reality offers less expensive choices to schools with many same attributes as of Virtual Reality. It enhances various abilities which include problem-solving, preparation of students for the future of collaboration.
- Augmented Reality is replacing traditional methods and introducing creative ways to learn. AR motivates students to engage, interact and increase the ability of students to learn curricular subjects. It encourages students to spend more time on curricular subjects and minimizes the time spent on social media platforms.
- Augmented Reality(AR) uplifts one’s ability to sense and understand someone’s emotions. It features two-dimensional techniques to present data instead of the one-dimensional method. Interactivity, engagement combined with empathy enhances a student’s ability to learn and remember the information and skills.
- It is providing students ways to deepen their knowledge in various areas such as Reading, Content creation, playing, working with numbers, real-life situations and spatial concepts. These concepts help in training for different professions including field trips.
- Augmented reality, combined with teamwork and assignments, intensifies the abilities of students to communicate and collaborate with others. These qualities will help in the workplace in the future.
How to use AR in the classroom?
There can be various methods to incorporate Augmented reality subjects in the education field. The schools can simply add some contextual experiences to expose the students to the concepts. It is useful for vitalizing interest through a discussion about the subjects.
Teachers use AR during class activities without disturbing the time distribution of normal educational subjects. There are various apps and setups used for AR mode of education. Given below is the minimum requirements for such a mode of education.
- An internet connection.
- Gadgets like mobiles or tablets.
- AR apps that are specially designed for education and training.
- Triggers or markers which makes the device show augmented digital content.
Types of Augmented Reality (AR) used in Education
Now, let’s see some types of augmented reality that are being used in education.
- Premade markers
Use of markers is to trigger the augmented reality to display on the surface the device is capturing. There are numerous apps available that make use of AR markers or triggers. These markers are directly related to the topic of the lesson. The students can obtain the content by pointing their device camera towards the page.
With applications which have predesigned markers, the teachers do not need to involve in complex technology work of creating custom markers. This saves time and money. Due to this reason, they can focus on more important tasks.
- AR worksheets
There are several AR-enabled worksheets. These worksheets give the students to engage in Augmented Reality content from the ease of their homes. This will also make the home assignments fun and creative for the students.
- Custom designed markers
Along with premade markers, one can also design custom markers for their students. The custom markers might take up some time but they ensure that you have appropriate markers for all kinds of subjects.
You can hire a professional to personalize markers or create them on your own if you have sufficient knowledge. With this, you can create markers that are unique and in accordance with the age and interests of the students.
- AR-enabled photos on the wall
An outstanding way to make more interactive AR content is to have AR-enabled photos on the walls of the school or any educational organization. These wallpapers will allow the students to scan them and get the appropriate AR content. As an example, one can put up wallpapers that have some fun facts.
This method will motivate the students to learn and make learning less mundane. The educational institution can even use this tool in the faculty photo wall. The student or the parent can simply scan a picture and see them come to life.
- AR for experimenting
Science experiments which require working with concentrated chemicals can be dangerous. With the help of AR, students do not need to be directly involved in such experiments. Science teachers promote the use of AR to ensure that a safe learning environment is there for the students.
The students can perform and learn about various experiments. With this, the students can scan numerous lab instruments and get information like what rules and safety measures to keep in mind while working with such instruments.
Some of the best AR apps for Education
As mentioned before, there are plenty of apps to choose from when speaking of AR apps for education. In recent times, the AR mode of teaching is becoming popular and hence, there are more and more apps developed each day. It can be a challenging task to decide one option from the hundreds of them available in the market.
To ease your search for finding the best AR app, we have curated a list of a few apps which most people recommend. These apps are free and easy to operate. Given below is a list of such apps.
Vossle
The platforms helps create Web AR Experiences in under a minute. Educators can use this free platforms to create AR experiences for their students without any knowledge of coding or downloading any application. This cloud based is simple to use
- Create a free account
- Upload the content on the Vossle creator studio
- Get the link & QR code to publish or embed on your website
Teachers could use this platforms to create augmented experiences to teach students with far greater engagement.
Layar
The use of this article is to create markers for postcards, posters, textbooks etc. With this easy to use applications the teacher can add AR content, for instance, photos, questions, videos or web links with any item. This is the software which teachers can use to create AR homework sheets as discussed above.
Google Arts & Culture (or Google Expeditions and Tour Creator)
Google Expeditions (Google Expeditions and Tour Creator will be migrating to Google Arts & Culture in 2021) delivers features of both AR and VR. This offers the students and teachers the freedom to observe objects in 3D and also view 360 degrees scenes. With the following features, the students can explore various geometric shapes and objects at different angles. Such apps will improve the observation skills of the students.
Shapes 3D
This AR app is beneficial to create various geometric shapes. It can be difficult to explain concepts of 3D objects on blackboards or other 2D platforms. Hence, this app will make it easier to learn and design objects like prisms, pyramids etc. With the help of this tool, the students can slowly learn to explore and create complicated geometric shapes.
Wonderscope
This is one of the magnificent storytelling apps. With the help of this app, one can change places into stories using Augmented Reality. It is an interactive app and hence the students can ask the characters of the story questions and get answers from them as well. Such tools are most useful for children learning to read.
Metaverse
Educational games are very popular. Parents should motivate their children to utilize these kinds of apps. A metaverse is a tool which enables the students to play games in AR. This app includes puzzles, location-based experience and geocaching. With this tool, you can have customized interactive games for your students on different educational topics.
AR Makr
AR Makr is a iOS only app with which students can design, scan and capture the environment around them. This will allow the students to view 2D objects in 3D. With this app, teachers and students can share screens.
CoSpaces Edu
With this content creation app, students can design 3D objects of their own and also animate them. It has the feature to work in both AR and VR view modes. You can show your creations onto the real world surface as well as handle the creations with the Merge Cube.
Future of AR in Education
Augmented reality is becoming the future of education. It modifies the traditional methods of teaching. AR has the potential to influence the learning process and make courses more engaging and develops interest among the students to learn more subjects.
Augmented reality has shown record growth since 2018. A study showcases that there are approximately 1.5 billion AR applications users in May 2019. According to the research firm Markets and Markets, the AR market will be worth $72.7 billion dollars by 2024.
Generation Alpha will be the world’s youngest generation by the year 2025. This will be the first generation born entirely in the 21st century. The people of this generation will be the most educated. The alpha generation students will benefit most from the Augmented reality as they have not seen a world without internet and gadgets.
Alpha students have the usual habit to gain knowledge by screen touching, doing or experiencing. Schools need to improvise their methods and encourage this type of learning. They need to adapt these learning methods which are according to the Alpha generation.
Bottom Line
Augmented reality offers various benefits in the field of education to enhance the quality of education and experience. It has a lot of scope in future for the improvement of the education system. This mode of education increases the understanding capabilities of students to help them to improve the future.
We hope that after reading the benefits given in this article, it is clear that AR is the future of education. AR is undoubtedly the best mode of education and most suitable for the upcoming generation. It can be easily incorporated into the schooling system and give exceptional results.
