News

If you aren’t familiar with Pokémon GO, Drexel news blog describes how to play the game:
“users play the game by physically walking around buildings, neighbourhoods and towns in movement tracked by GPS, hoping to come across cartoon monsters that are generated on their phone’s screen. Using the phone’s camera, the game portrays the Pokémons in a person’s surroundings in augmented reality”.
Or watch this YouTube video

So, what is Augmented Reality (AR) and how is it different from Virtual Reality (VR)?

WhatIs.com explains that augmented reality is the integration of digital information with the user’s environment in real time. Unlike virtual reality, which creates a totally artificial environment, augmented reality uses the existing environment and overlays new information on top of it.

AR for businesses

AR gives customers the ‘try before you buy’ experience. You probably have ‘toyed’ with AR for products from businesses like IKEA Furniture, Converse Shoes and Lego

AR for education (say what now?)

I presented an AR app called Zappar at the team’s Technology Showcase session last year, and some ideas as to how it could be introduced in a classroom.
Some of the ideas include:

  • Showcasing a Subject – include a Zap code on a printed handout for your new students and include your Welcome video, a glimpse of the Subject Outline, or even a video interview with past students could pop up on their phones
  • Treasure hunt – students (in a group) walk around campus following clues; zapping the clues on real objects provides more information leading students towards the ‘treasure’
  • Interactive poster – ‘zap’ a poster to show richer information about the content

I’ve asked a couple of Law academics to try out the app and give me some feedback. I will report back next month.

To be continued…

 

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