Augmented Reality, Green Screens, and Writing Prompts - Oh My!

So I’m obsessed with augmented reality.  I’ve been using it off and on in my classroom for a few months but just recently began using it often with my students.  Last week we used augmented reality to explain and share our 2015 OneWord assignment.

Each student created a small poster that included their one word for 2015.  Then I filmed them explaining and sharing their one word using the iPad.  We used the posters as the trigger image and the video explanation as the overlay.  These were a huge hit with the parents and other staff members!  

After some of the staff saw what we had done, one of them suggested we do some type of augmented reality for the school board this week as it is School Board Appreciation month.  So we made each school board member a booklet titled, “Top Ten Reasons Our School Board is the Best.” Each page represented a word such as dedicated, respectful, inspiring, and caring.  We then filmed students sharing about each specific word and how we think it relates to our school board.  Before the meeting, we emailed the board members and asked them to download the app and follow our school using Aurasma.  

I got to the meeting early and made sure that most of the board members were able to get the app and follow the channel successfully. And then it was go time! They began to scan the black and white pictures and were amazed when the video appeared right before their eyes. They loved the booklets and were excited about the possibilities of augmented reality.

In my third grade GT class today, we were discussing details. In order to encourage my students to be more descriptive and use more details, I gave them the following writing prompt from one of my favorite websites, www.photoprompts.tumblr.com.

​I then asked my students to blog their responses using KidBlog as well as illustrate their doughnuts using lots of details.  

After they had completed this part of the assignment, I filmed each student speaking about his/her doughnut invention in front of the green screen.   Again, I reminded them to give lots of details while sharing their doughnuts.  I must admit, the strawberry cheesecake doughnut sounded very tempting! 

When we had completed the videos, we used the DoInk Green Screen App to add the picture prompt as our background.  

​Finally, we uploaded our videos to Aurasma and added them to our channel.  I sent home simple instructions so that the parents and other family members could watch their videos.  We used the doughnut illustrations as the trigger image and the green screen videos as the overlay.  

This was such a fun and easy thing to do.  My students really understood the importance of details and enjoyed using them to create the perfect doughnut.  

I just wanted to take some time today to share this lesson and encourage other educators to engage students using Augmented Reality.  This is truly a gamechanger in the classroom and the possibilities are endless.  If you would like to know more about AR or how it can be used in education, please follow Brad Waid and Drew Minock.  You can also check out their website, Two Guys and Some iPads for lots of AR integration ideas.

If you are already using augmented reality and have more ideas to share, please feel free to comment below.  I would love to hear about the innovative and exciting ways augmented reality is playing a role in your classroom!