Unit 6 Forum: Augmented Reality Presentation

EDU 639 Trends in Online Learning

Bradley Whetzell
Post University
Instructor: Peter Madonia
April 26, 2022
This document is for my speaker notes for my presentation, the notes are included on the slides
as well. Thank you.
Speaker notes
Slide 1: Augmented reality
Augmented reality is a fast-growing innovation that takes education to places it has never been
before. Augmented reality in education is not a new concept, however it became vastly more
popular during the pandemic, when students were forced to learn from home. Student
engagement dropped and every teacher was searching for a way for their students to stay
engaged while not in the classroom. Augmented reality apps started appearing more and growing
in popularity as they if aspect that learners needed, interaction with the material. Whether we are
learning from a classroom or a website, interacting with the material will always lead to
increased retention of it, whether slides, videos, face to face lectures, interaction is key.
Slide 2: What is augmented reality and its use in education?
Augmented reality as a whole works with MR, which is a combination of virtual and existing
reality, usually in a 25% & 75% split, with 25% being virtual and the rest existing reality. What
this means is that a learner can use their own smartphone and an AR app to put a digital reality
over their own, taking a kitchen table and turning it into an interactive science lab. AR
technology can use a form of projection mapping to measure objects sizes and the distance
between them, allowing it to create an interactive virtual overlay over the current one. This
technology is useful in career education as well, allowing employees to train safely and with
minimal costs by not having to learn hands on, allowing for mistakes that do not have an impact
on themselves or the company. Imagine walking through the backyard while simultaneously
seeing a rainforest, with all the touches of nature that are normally read about in books and seen
in movies.
Slide 3: Advantages to AR
As the interest in AR learning grows, more apps are coming out weekly that offer a variety of
learning experiences such as an app that allows learners to explore the inside of the human body
while it is functioning, letting them learn hands on in a way they have never been able to due to
physical limitations. Another app, 3D Bear, creates an AR reality by placing a 3D model over the
existing reality that learners can interact with, identifying distinct parts in some, pouring the right
amount of solution in a test tube to create a reaction in others like the app Elements 4D. Apps
and technologies such as these are the first step in creating a fully immersive form of learning as
AR continues to innovate. It is projected that by 2023, 2.4 billion users will be using a form of
mobile AR technology. This is a trend that is growing fast, and it has already been shown to
increase engagement in the material and improve interaction for sustained periods of time.
Teaching students about mammoths while they are watching one move around while listening
helps boost their retention of what they are hearing. Watching the things, we learn about come
alive in front of our eyes leads to a fascination with the subject, a desire to learn more and see
more.
Slide 4: Disadvantages
Being a newer technology, there is the downside of having to teach and train both instructors and
students on how to use AR technology. Teachers typically would have a hand in creating the
online elements of the lessons they are teaching, be it training or education, the specifics of the
course outcomes must be implemented to create the right experience. Training educators on how
to run the apps can be high, as the teachers must not only know how to use it, but they also must
be able to teach students how to use it. Another disadvantage is the cost to schools and
workplaces for the headsets and apps that create content specifically for them. Creating an AR
training specific to one workplace and their individual expectations can be costly, as well as the
headsets that a lot of AR and VR use instead of a smartphone to increase the experience and
therefore efficiency. These materials are reusable however, so equipment is mostly a one-time
worry.
In education, the loss of face-to-face learning is not new, however in person learning has always
been the prevailing environment for comprehensive learning. AR takes away that element of
learning, which for those not used to it, can lead to confusion and lack of engagement due to it.
While AR creates an enriching environment that is fun as well as educational, it is not the norm
and can be difficult to navigate for early users.
The environment in which a student learns is crucial to their interest and retention of the material
learned. On that side, where a student uses AR can affect the learning experience in many ways
and while technological advances in this area are coming daily, AR learning can still have real
time application problems. Most AR relies on the learner's environment they are learning in and
the ability to overlay an augmented reality over it. This means that learners typically need to be
in a quiet area without a lot of moving elements to achieve full experience.
Slide 5: Implementation
How does an educator implement AR in their classroom? As most AR apps out on the market
today can run on smartphones, learners are able to access the material they need from their own
phones. For experiences that require a more immersive element, such as practicing surgery on a
virtual patient, universities and companies will provide the equipment and technology needed. In
day-to-day learning, in person classes can introduce a form of AR in their regular classrooms, as
well as assignments that involve AR apps to be completed either at home or in school. Many
corporate training exercises are already being done in AR, such as retail training with Wal-Mart
INC. with companies using headsets to allow new employees to interact in real time with the job
they are learning. Depending on the material, many apps on the market today can be used in
collaboration with other learners and with the existing books or resources used in the class such
as textbooks.
Slide 6: Conclusion
Augmented reality is a style of learning that allows learners to directly interact with scenarios
they will face in their chosen field. Virtual reality let learners leave the classroom and experience
a different setting, to see what their interest could result in. Augmented reality takes the visual,
overlays it over their existing environment and adds interaction, taking the learner to higher
levels of learning by letting them practice in real scenarios without the risk of harming
themselves, others, or equipment. AR allows learners to experience what they are learning in
person versus learning from a book and facing learning challenges regarding real time
application in the field. Letting a heart surgeon perform heart surgery on a patient in real time
without having to enter the operating room, allowing an astronaut to experience cultivating life
on Mars without leaving the planet, AR creates these environments so that errors can be seen and
corrected before the learner enters their chosen field. In early education AR allows learners to
experience breathtaking views, to see the first plane take off as it goes around their head, allows
them to see dinosaurs walking around in front of them. AR in education is a mix of fun and
learning and it has great impacts on keeping students engaged and wanting to learn.
References
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Velichko, Y. (2022, March 11). The best augmented reality apps for education. PostIndustria.
Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://postindustria.com/the-best-augmented-reality-apps-
for-education/
Sinha, S. (2021, May 12). Augmented reality in education: A staggering insight into the future.
eLearning Industry. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from
https://elearningindustry.com/augmented-reality-in-education-staggering-insight-into-
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Augmented reality in education: Interactive classrooms. Maryville Online. (2021, March 18).
Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://online.maryville.edu/blog/augmented-reality-in-
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