Jodi McFarland INST 6233

Augmented reality can be a valuable educational tool for teachers. Educators are constantly challenged to keep students' attention in an ever expanding world of technology. Many teachers are now "gamifying" their lesson plans to engage students. AR has many uses in the classroom, however accessibility and functionality of AR within the classroom is limited. On my quest to find an AR app I may use in my art classroom, I found very few. Many of my students do not have computer access, much less access to a mobile device or computer capable of running the programs. For this assignment, I found an AR coloring app by Crayola called "Color Alive 2" where students can color sheets and then by scanning them, the program creates the character in 3D and shows the drawing/character running around the room and is animated in amusing ways. This app would appeal to younger, elementary level students the most, but it could be used in a high school setting to show some of the m...

Virtual reality, augmented reality, and hybrid, or mixed, reality are promising new technologies that will enhance education, gaming, medicine, and much more. Virtual reality are simulations that pull the user into thinking they have been brought somewhere else. It transports the user to an artificial location that they can interact with and experience a virtual reality. Using highly advanced systems of depth perception, motion sensing and tracking, users experience virtual realities similarly to real world activity. Many pieces of the VR system are currently lacking, which can cause some users motion sickness and other problems. As scientists work to improve the system, it can still be used in many ways which education, gaming, and for advancements in technology, engineering, and medicine. VR seeks to provide users with a seamless virtual reality experience, merging real and virtual realities with lifelike interactions. "If you are talking about what you can feel, what you can ...

Newsela is a platform that encompasses digital articles from all over the world. Newsela is very useful in education. You can select an article and then select the lexile level of any article, which makes any article on the site available and accessible for all reading levels. Newsela will also generate questions and quiz items for any of it's articles that are also scaled to the selected reading level. Newsela focuses on reading skills and comprehension. I have personally used Newsela very often in my classroom to use as bellringer activities or supplemental activities for materials being covered in the classroom. Newsela is a very useful instructional resource for teachers in classrooms across all curriculum.

I tried out two augmented reality apps! Samsung Note 9 9 "Pie" 1. Google Lens Google Lens is an awesome AR app that uses your phone's camera to read labels on products and identify objects and then produce Google search results with objects or products that most closely resemble the object identified by Google Lens. Lens is also integrated with Google's other apps, like Google assistant and Google photos. I personally use Google Lens often and have identified several things I ended up purchasing or using in other ways. Recently, a table in my classroom broke, but I didn't know what kind of table it was or how to replace it. I used Google Lens to identify the work table and found a really great store online where my school is currently now ordering several pieces of furniture. 2. Just a Line https://justaline.withgoogle.com/ Just a Line is a simple AR app that allows you to draw in 3D. Just a Line records your drawing and you can share it with ...

Technology in the classroom continues to move forward and advance at an ever-increasing rate. "Gamification" is a new term used to describe learning activities that utilize game-like priniciples to drive interaction and appeal to digital learners. Using games can help students comprehend and retain information. Device mesh is a term used to describe how people are using technology in the classroom to interact and communicate with each other on a personal and organizational level. As device mesh continues to integrate itself into daily life and educational settings, new ways of monitoring and security will need to be implemented into the systems. New technologies also enable personal learning, where learners receive customized learning that teaches to students' personal needs. Through personal learning, students can choose what they learn and how they learn it. The popularity of robotics will give rise to students seeking knowledge in coding and computer programming. Due t...

RealSense is an amazing new technology that can enhance many experiences, from education, to gaming, facial recognition and much more. RealSense technology can recognize facial features, hand gestures and track people and objects in crowds or busy streets. RealSense can also recognize voices and create digital images of 3D objects it scans. I personally own a RealSense camera that I use to scan basic 3D objects for 3D printing on my FormLabs II SLA printer. One of my first projects was to scan a small egg and import the object into 3DS MAX to create a surface to work on. I scanned in the chicken egg and used the object to edit scales onto the surface - creating a dragon egg. I designed it to open with magnets. I then printed the egg! It was really fun to use RealSense and I look forward to learning more about it. I use the eggs to keep my D&D miniatures safely stored as I travel to conventions or in local games. Here is a link to a FaceBook video of my RealSense egg! https:/...

There are constantly new and changing trends in technology. Many of them apply to education. Here are the current top educational trends! 1. Custom Learning Experiences Education has a long history of teaching to the majority, which left many different kinds of learners behind. Thanks to modern technology, learning experiences can be more customized to specific kinds of learners and what they need to master concepts within the system of education. 2. Cloud Computing Cloud computing is a type of anytime-anywhere accessibility to information that is stored on "cloud" servers. Apps from mobile devices can access a vast source of information at the touch of a fingertip. Cloud access offers so many ways to access and store information and even collaborate with others across the globe. 3. Speech To Text Options Many apps and technology applications offer speech to text options. This allows for faster note taking and more comfortable speech to text communications. Smart...