Getting started with Augmented Reality: Aurasma – early steps

There are a number of different packages that offer access to Augmented Reality – ranging from very expensive high end industry/ government funded simulations to bespoke equipment giving the ‘immersive feel’ such as OCULUS RIFT. For educational purposes, some packages will offer a small number of credits/ pages, but for user generated content by students for students AURASMA is hard to beat.

Our first venture into using AURASMA has been with our ARU first year Computer Gaming Technology students, who experimented with creating Augmented reality artifacts as part of their CPD activities, and a further post will showcase  their results.

We then interviewed the different groups to see what, if any benefits came out of working together in this way. A enhanced sense of team work, communication and a marked focus on the future world of work were early themes, a report is forthcoming.

Our early findings were presented as a poster at the ARU Faculty of Health,  Social Care and Education (FHSCE) Awayday, and generated significant interest from the staff. We also used it as part of an Augmented Reality ‘wall’ as a technology teachmeet for new staff studying for their PGCERT.

You can download the poster from here : Augmented Poster, and the instructions on how to download and install AURASMA onto your mobile device here:  Aurasma Getting Started. Print the poster and find the embedded ‘trigger’  videos of the students talking about their projects by pointing your device at ‘GROUPWORK’ and ‘REFLECTION’

For our new workshops, where we will be getting staff, students, visitors and anyone else who is interested to create an Augmented Reality Poster about their favourite book. The next blogpost will supply instructions and details to enable you to take part.

On November 20th the Augmented team provided a short workshop session to new staff from a variety of different departments and faculties on the PGCert as part of a ‘technology teachmeet’. The three hour session showcased different technologies that can make a difference in the classroom, and  demonstrated resources new  staff may not be familiar with.

In this context we introduced Aurasma, showed how a QR code can be used to simplify the downloading of the app and triggered media from a poster. You can find a video example and instructions on how to do this here: Augmented poster.

The Heart Cam App, available on iTunes (HeartCam)  by Mechanism digital uses a dedicated app that is free to download, to super impose the beating heart on a printed (or screen) target of a heart.

Here is a link to a video showing the effect, it is a little gory but reasonably anatomically accurate.  The Heartcam Example Video

One of the targets for using Augmented reality is to ‘bring to life’ research and other posters by using the images and text on the poster as a trigger for AR. In this case we have used Aurasma to create some ‘Auras’ for a poster.

Here is a video clip showing auras triggered by a poster 

You can have a go yourself, even in the absence of the ‘real’ poster – here is a link to the pdf ARPoster2

Below is a QR code that when scanned by a normal QR reader will link your device to the Aurasma Channel for the augmented poster  URL     http://auras.ma/s/wFokv  (or search within Aurasma to follow the channel CGT_PDP_MH)

Link to Aura Channel

This site will provide information, resources and progress reports for the Anglia Ruskin University Funded Learning and Teaching 2014 project that seeks to explore the use of Augmented Reality in Higher Education and to develop a generic framework for its use.