During a university seminar I was introduced to the world of augmented reality, visual and digital literacy. One of the apps I was introduced to was called Epic Citadel. Whilst the app itself does not offer a lot in terms of variety, it does offer a beautiful, enormous citadel for you to explore. The graphics are incomparable and allow you to walk around a huge castle and admire the scenery. Definitely the app for pupils who have limited creativity or need a something a little more thought provoking. The app could be used to create word clouds and opening paragraphs to a variety of literary texts.
A different app that was discussed was the augmented reality app called Aurasma. It is an app that allows the user to create various “Auras”.
“Augmented reality lets you interact with the world around you, unlocking information and experiences by simply pointing your device at a specific image, object or location…”
-Aurasma website
I could therefore make certain parts of the classroom or school interactive and set the children off with a tablet in groups to complete independent activities. This would make the work more engaging and interactive, whilst incorporating important IT skills Pupils could have a go at making and creating their own Auras for other pupils in the class to interact with. Their Auras would be to complement subject content and to add extra detail, being used as a simple form of assessment.
The video below explains how to make an Aura.
Finally, the last app discussed was an augmented reality programme that allows its user to interact with a book called “Fantastic flying books of Mr Morris Lessmore”. This is a pre made augmented reality, in which the user points the device at the book and it comes to life, allowing the user to look around the library or various locations throughout the book and interact with various objects.
My PGCE journey! 