Augmented Reality and Education

      It is always complained that getting the interest of students is very hard in those days, it is mostly what we hear from the educators but actually it is not such a hard task with the help of technology. As an example augmented reality is a very effective way to gain the interest of learners, according to the researches learners are fascinated by the augmented reality, it creates a "wow" effect on the learners and motivate them so it can be a useful tool to be used in the education.

     What is Augmented Reality ?

                                                                                     

     It is a new technology actually a web 3.0 toll that allows you to visualize the videos, pictures and 3D objects and playing the audios upon scanning a picture on mobile devices. It displays digital images onto your view of the real world with the smartphones and other devices but generally smartphones are used. Augmented reality is often confused with virtual reality the main difference between two of them is that augmented reality doesnt change your whole physical environment as it is in virtual reality but it only presents you a direct view of existing environment and adds visual images, graphics, sounds and videos to your existing environment, it doesnt immerse you a whole digital world like virtual reality enables you.

There are four types of augmented reality such as markerless AR, marker-based AR, project-based AR and superimposition AR. Marker-based AR includes the usage of flashcards, pictures, books and other materials with using an AR technology or application, it uses image recognition and by scanning a picture or sign with the help of AR you can animate these pictures or signs. Markerless AR on the other hand doesnt need to use these pictures or signs it usually uses your location or position by benfiting from the GPS and it sends to you maps and graphics to augment your reality feeling. 

                                                                                       

     What are the Benefits of Augmented Reality ?

     The benefits of augmented reality can be sequenced as enhancing critical thinking, enabling collaboration, communication, improving social skills, increasing motivation while learning, creating better learning environment, having fun while learning, being attractive and getting the interest of learners. providing better understanding of the presented content, earning problem solving skills and developing productivity. The scope of augmented reality is also very high, it can be used in education, medicine, navigation, design and modeling, video games, architecture, job trainings and more...

Especially in education you can use AR to get interest of your students, make contents easier to comprehend, permanent learning with visualization, reinforce learning process, increasing communication with the possible group works for example you might ask your students to create their own augmented reality works because it is very simple to use and more, you can give homeworks or group works based on augmented reality, or use these technology to present topics, give specific examples and more. 

     How to use Augmented Reality ?

     First of all you must decide on your topic i mean for what you will use the augmented reality then you have to select your resource it might be a picture from a book, sign, logo, poster, newspaper or a QR code afterwards the only thing that you must to do is attaching a link or a video to your selected resource. Finally, by using an AR device or application you can animate your recourse, just scan and show or see thats all. 

     Some Augmented Reality Applications: 

     To use augmented reality technology you can take advantages of  QUİVER, DEVAR, AR Flashcards, AR Alphabets, LAYAR, ZAPPAR, HP REVEAL, BLIPPAR, UNITEAR. AUGMENT 3D AR and you can search for more in the internet.