Ashad Rehman
Augmented Reality laid its initial siege back in the year 2016. History was revolutionized when “Pokémon Go,” first made it to the forefronts of the mobile app market. Who would’ve thought that the world would find itself magnanimously engaged with swiping poke balls around the state map all day to capture some of their favorite Pokémon characters.
Those were the days when AR was only used for a single purpose; Entertainment. However, the Cupertino giant company in 2017 revealed a completely different view for the AR technology at its official release of the great iPhone X. As AR started becoming a more recognized concept in other professional categories as well, a place where it made a considerable progress was in the world of education.
We often wonder how AR can benefit the education system and what are some of its best instances. It’s exactly what I am going to discuss with you all tonight.
6 Powerful Reasons How Augmented Reality Plays Its Role in the Modern-Day Education System
1) Create Mind-Stimulating Presentations
Research shows that an expected $660 million is projected to be invested towards manufacturing AR applications in the year 2018. Indubitably, some part of this great investment is going to be channeled towards the educational app market. One of the best ways through which educationists can fully leverage the prowess of augmented reality is by incorporating the AR concept in their daily or weekly presentations.
Teachers investing their time and budget in optimizing their presentations by involving the concept of AR have elucidated how such practices make presentations more engaging, attention-grabbing and interactive for students. In further claims, they have outlined that a true moment is one where a student lends their undivided attention to a teacher, and with AR-based presentations, they have significantly achieved that mark.
For instance, a surgeon performing a complete surgical procedure of a heart dissection using 3D models in AR environment can help students comprehend the surgery better. Proximie is an AR-application that provides remote surgical experiences, so surgeons can learn from around the world.
2) Conduct Interactive Lessons
One way of setting up an interactive environment for easy learning is where teachers can capitalize on the power of AR to teach students. But have you ever wondered how lavish it will be if the audience can equally participate using Augmented Reality applications? Students can better participate in lessons if they have the opportunity to experience 3D moveable and rotatable elements for easy viewing across their mobile devices.
Now just imagine if students are capable of learning some of their important lessons in an augmented reality environment by viewing augmented models on a mobile app? Touch Surgery is an augmented reality mobile application that allows students to perform virtual surgeries on real-life subjects. It is not only an interesting concept, but it helps make your learning process much more engaging, interactive and fun. The concepts are more solidified and reinforced once the student is completely briefethed on them.
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3) Best Alternative for Portable Prototypes
Maintaining prototypes is a bit of a hassle and creating them physically can become a really daunting task. When it comes to modeling solutions, we often find ourselves engaged in implementing detailed illustrations, creating posters, fabricating physical models and much more. Creating such prototypes and subsidiaries can shave off a good amount of time and finance. Google AR prototype Article is one AR app which fulfills the purpose proficiently.
If you have access to augmented reality applications, you will never again have to wonder about investing your time and effort in utilizing physical materials to educate students. Students will have the complete liberty to access any prototype model through their smart devices. Irrespective of where they are, whether at home or inside a classroom, they will have the liberty to easily interact with the course material and perform surgery at any point in time.
4) Learn & Discover More Expansively
History is a favorite subject for many graduate students. They often have to visit a museum to experience what the world has previously experienced in the past. Roaming around the corridors, experiencing how things must’ve been back in the days. But, our imaginations can only assist us up to a considerate extent! If only students can have a more interactive way of bringing history back to life.
ClassVR is one such Augmented Reality (AR) application which allows students to explore historical artifacts in a whole new and exciting way. What’s more; It can bring these historical elements to life and create a life-like experience in a virtual environment which is highly interactive. It not only adds an experience of detailed learning but also gives a more in-depth insight and tons of most up-to-the-minute information on every matter.
5) AR Can Assist Students in Exhibiting Achievements
There comes a time when a student requires an abrupt need to display and reveal what they are capable of. One of the best ways for a student to flaunt their proficiencies is through their resumes. Students at the Manchester Metropolitan University in UK entertained a pilot project where recent graduates of the program created AR postcards with the help of the Aurasma app. The app gave students an extra edge on “Open Day”, hosted by the university.
According to German research, it has been analyzed that implementations of AR in education considerably boosts student motivation, concentration, attention, and confidence. Furthermore, it enhances student collaboration and participation while they perform group tasks. It also triggers areas of the mind that render individuals highly creative and productive. Graduates at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology have designed applications such as Historium to create engaging experiences which offer interactive education for younger students.
6) Use Holographic Instructional Materials
Whether you are teaching students in a classroom, workplace or laboratory, making use of animated and immersive techniques to educate the wide masses sounds like an incredible option. Modern-day educationists are now heavily skilled at creating holographic instructional materials with the help of apps such as WorkLink and HoloLens.
Moreover, there are more apps emerging into the market, which provide students the liberty to create their own respective curriculum. They manifest their own curated collection of AR apps which are occasionally shared by educational institutions on their official websites, up for downloads. One practical example is an app named, Augment. It is an ultimate AR powered educational app which provides a high impact scannable handout.
The Final Wrap Up
The world is always changing all around us. It is giving rise to augmented reality in different areas of professionalism. However, the rise of AR technology in teaching/studying is giving birth to many great concepts and is opening new doors to learning.
One of the greatest struggles for most educationists in these modern times is creating the right motivation level for students and retaining them for the long run. With AR apps, teachers can easily grab the attention of students and keep them motivated so they can visualize their subjects while learning. There is so much more than technology is giving birth to right now, and who knows how the future will shape the AR technology in the days to come.
But one thing that we are sure about is that AR is here, and it is here to stay!
Ashad Rehman
Mohammad Ali