Augmented Reality in the Classroom

     Over the course of the last 4 weeks my students have been working on a unit called Trip Planning.  In this unit the students are learning many different skills and concepts.  To begin the unit each student was assigned a country in the eastern hemisphere.  They then go through many different steps and assignments that will them to create their own one month long trip to that country.  When the students are finished with all of the main assignments;  a fact outline about their country, a digital story that takes us through 24 hours in their capital, their travel map with placemarks, and a complete daily trip itinerary they hyperlink all of the assignments to their home placemark on their travel map.  Then they download the finished map as a viewable KML file and share it as their final project.

     Each student begins with creating and sharing a Google map and calendar for their trip, which is then shared with my cooperating teacher and myself.  Both of which, will be used to create a complete trip map with placemarks and a daily itinerary that explains what and where they are for each day of the trip.  The next step is creating a fact outline for the country they are traveling to.  This piece helps students conduct research about their country, so they can learn different types of information about it.  To quote one student, "The fact outline is kinda fun.  You just find new facts and get smarter."

     After the fact outline is completed the students move onto the next assignment, which is creating a digital story, using an iPad and the Puppet Pals app, to take us through a day in their country's capital city.  Once the students have created their digital story they upload their video to the school YouTube channel, and the link the video to their home place mark on their travel map.  Since each student in the class is researching and learning about one individual country, I wanted to find a new and exciting way to share all of their videos with one another so that they can explore and learn about what other countries have to offer and what their classmates created.

      This is where augmented reality and the Aurasma app come into play.  Instead of just having the students watch each others' videos on YouTube they can now link there video to different images in the classroom.  Right now for the trip planning unit, our classroom is covered in postcards and other souvenirs from all around the world.  Using the Aurasma app the students are now able to link their own video to an image or object in the classroom.  Once all of the videos are linked up to different images, the students will then explore the room with the app and view each others' videos.

Here is a walk-through of how I used the Aurasma app in the classroom.

     This is a new and exciting way for the students to experience a history classroom, and embodies what I call iHistory.  Other possibilities include linking student explanations to primary source documents so they can show their understanding about the document, you can link videos to pictures or text from the textbook, or even attach the videos that you would show in class to different images so that the students can explore them at their own pace.  This tool is extremely adaptable and can be worked in any type of classroom.  I am currently helping set up student book reviews to a student recommended literature board in the library, explanations of student artwork which are tied directly to their piece for an art show, and videoing math problems being worked out so students can explore the process of different math problems.

Here is the tutorial I made to show students how to link their video to an image.

Digital Storytelling with Puppet Pals in the Classroom

This is a copy of the review that I did for The Teacher's Digital Toolkit.  A site run by Sol Joye where teachers share their digital experiences with programs and apps in the classroom.

9	Cost
8.5	Difficulty
9	Longevity
9	Versatility
10	Classroom Readiness

91.8%

Average Score (based on a weighted scale – SEE HERE)

Site Link:

iTUNES PREVIEW & BLOGSPOT SITE

	X
Website	iOS Apps	Android Apps	Standalone Software

Summary:	SUMMARY: Puppet Pals HD is an app for iOS devices such as the iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone.  It is a digital storytelling tool that allows students to tell a story using pre-created characters, or their own with the Director’s Pass.  Students move their characters across different backgrounds and record their voices and movements.  Digital storytelling with Puppet Pals can be used in many different classrooms from History or Science, to Language Arts and Foreign Language.  It can incorporate many different topics and allows the students to create their own story and learning experience.  Here is a summary on how to use Puppet Pals. COST: There are two different apps that you can download from iTunes.  There is the Puppet Pals HD app, which is free, and the Puppet Pals HD Director’s Pass app that costs $2.99.  I recommend downloading the free app first, and then you can purchase the Director’s Pass inside it for $2.99 if you like it.  This is a one-time fee that allows you to download all of the character packs in the app, and also allows you to use any picture you want (from your camera roll or camera) in your story. DIFFICULTY: This app is designed to be used for many different ages from toddlers to adults.  The students (7th graders) found the app to be rather easy to use, which is what it is designed to be.  They were able to incorporate all of their images and record their stories with ease.  The first two lessons were spent with the students learning how to use the app.  Many thought that that was too much time, because they picked it up rather quickly. LONGEVITY: Students really enjoyed using Puppet Pals in class.  When they came to class students were always asking if it was going to be a Puppet Pals day.  Throughout the project they all seemed to be engaged.  After the project on world revolutions, the students used the app again during a trip planning unit as they took us through a day their capital city.  The students were engaged the second time through the process as well.  I wouldn’t do the project more than the two times that we did in our World Cultures class, but I could be incorporated into other curriculum and still retain its’ excitement. VERSATILITY: There were three issues that students found the most annoying were that once you started recording, you couldn’t go back and just re-do a section.  If you hit the back button, then you lose the entire recording that you were working on.  The second issue was when the students were cutting out their characters.  While the process was simple, some of the students wanted more accuracy in the tool.  The third was when they were recording.  The microphone can pick up background noise easily, so if they were trying to record in a room with other students there was sometimes “extra noise” included in their recording.  All of these items were easily worked around, as the students found solutions to the problems and shared their best practices with one another. CLASSROOM READINESS: Since the app is so straight forward, it is ready to go right out of the box for classroom use.  There is a short learning curve and the students gravitate towards using it.  During the unit I taught on world revolutions, I provided the necessary scaffolding for the students to understand the process of digital storytelling.  We went through the basic use of the app, picking and researching the topic, how and why to use historical images, how and why to storyboard, recording, editing, and how to upload / post their stories to their blogs.  The project was more about the process of creating a digital story, rather than just using the app.  For more information on digital storytelling and downloadable lesson plans please visit my site. by John Zingale @ihistorywmrjz ihistorywithmrjz.com
Screenshots:
IMAGE 1
IMAGE 2
IMAGE 3
IMAGE 4
IMAGE 5

Student Summary:	Letter Grade: Average student rating: 8.4/10: B
	Ease of use (1 easy – 10 difficult): 4.2 / 10
	Time needed / wanted to use: (1 less – 10 more): 5.8 / 10
	Level of “fun” involved (1 less – 10 more): 6.6 / 10
	Level of versatility (1 less – 10 more): 6.2 / 10
	STUDENT SPECIFIC THOUGHTS: “Puppet Pals is super easy and convenient to use! But like any other tool it takes an explanation and practice work.” “I think Puppet Pals is really fun! When I need to use it for a project it is fun and convenient. However I wouldn’t spend my free time on it when it is not for a project. But it is always exciting to hear I have a project on it!” “Puppet pals is very versatile. I could use it for a documentary with real pictures or I could make a cartoon about a bunny on it.” “I really like how you can make your own backgrounds and characters from photos with the directors pass. I really wish there were a part of it that let you put multiple clips together so you didn’t have to transfer it to iMovie or something like that.”