Creating an Augmented Reality: Aurasma

This week my tech review is based off of the app Aurasma Studio. This app can help students create an augmented reality to expand their experience of the real world with video, sound, information, and many other things. Students are able to create different types of presentations that will make it much more engaging than text. 

• How to access the tool? 
• The Aurasma Studio Ap is available on the iTunes apple store or android market. If you go into the store and search Aurasma, you will be able to find the FREE app. One you download it, you can set up your account, class, and channel (yes, you will need a channel). 
• Compatability of the tool?
• The tool is very easy to use. Aurasma can be used in different ways. Students could scan an image and see its aura or they can create an aura for an image. An aura is the augmented reality that each image holds within. Both are easily done within the app. To scan the image, a student will only have to hold the scanner up to the image and there you go, an aura. To create an aura, students can link video, images, sound, and content to the image easily through the app. The steps of creating an aura would have to be taught throroughly to younger students, but older students should be able to follow the steps on the app. 
• What does it do?
• Aurasma uses images and pattern recognition to blend the real world, with engaging and interactive content, such a videos and animations called "auras." Aurasma gives teachers and students endless opportunities to learn. Students will be able to interact with content that teachers create. Students can also create their own aura for images, posters, art, etc. By doing this, students will learn content, practice the use of technology, and work on presentation skills. Teachers can use Aurasma to link information to content. For example, a teacher could create a poster of Martin Luther King. If students scan that poster, they could see a video of Martin Luter King's speach, or the teacher acting as Martin Luther King and presenting information. Aurasma is a fun way to present content to teachers, students, and families. There are endless opportunities with it!
• How do you use it?
• Aurasma can be used in many different ways. To create an Aura for an image, you will need to:

http://ipad4schools.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/school-aurasma1.pdf
Click the image above to view a larger version of the image!

• Classroom Ideas
• Like I have said repeatedly, there are many different ways to use Aurasma! Here are a few wonderful classroom ideas:
• Use Aurasma to bring a lesson to life and make it more engaging. For example, if you are teaching about the watercycle, have the students scan a picture to see the aura of the water cycle. Students will love actually seeing it. 
• You could also hyperlink one of the auras to add additional information to something. For example, if you were learning about primary and secondary sources, they could scan an image that would take them to a link of information about the image (date, location, point of view, etc.).
• You could even use Aurasma to make lessons come to life and tell the history of our country. 
• Another idea for Aurasma is to have the students create auras. They can create presentations about a poster, link it to their aura, and then have other students scan their poster to learn about their presentation. 
• Other quick ideas:
• welcome visitors and introduce the school.
• animate mathematical problems being solved.
• explain how to use school equipment (useful in my technology or science classrooms)
• bring famous people from history to life with students acting out their most famous moments or words.
• explain famous paintings on demand
• introduce apps with demos of students using them.

Here is a video to show you what it might look like when using  Aurasma in your classroom. In the video, parents are coming in to learn about the art students had prepares. Follow the link below to view it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2ji9OBvZsI