The Augmented Reality Co-Teacher Tool
The Augmented Reality Co-Teacher Tool is a web-based resource that will guide students and educators in creating an Augmented Reality (AR) learning experience using the Tinkercad software.
A series of co-taught videos allows educators to administer specialized lessons that may be outside of their comfort zone or for students to independently achieve new learning at their convenience.
Why Choose the Augmented Reality Co-Teacher Tool?
For the purpose of the demonstration, the Augmented Reality Co-Teacher Tool draws from the Grade 6 British Columbia curriculum areas of Science and Applied Design, Skills and Technology (ADST). The skills that are developed are transferable across grade levels, subject areas, and geographic regions.
BC 6 Science Curricular Connections
Force of gravity
The overall scale, structure, and age of the universe
The position, motion, and components of our solar system in our galaxy
Demonstrate an openness to new ideas and consideration of alternatives
Identify possible sources of error
Suggest improvements to their investigation methods
Contribute to care for self, others, and community through personal or collaborative approaches
Co-operatively design projects
Transfer and apply learning to new situations
Generate and introduce new or refined ideas when problem-solving
Communicate ideas, explanations, and processes in a variety of ways
BC 6 ADST Curricular Connections
Strategies for identifying and troubleshooting simple hardware and software problems
Function of input and output devices, including 3D printing and adaptive technologies for those with special needs
Visual representations of problems and data
Visual programming
Media technologies and techniques to capture, edit, and manipulate images, sounds, and text for specific purposes
Demonstrate an awareness of precautionary and emergency safety procedures in both physical and digital environments
Identify and evaluate the skills and skill levels needed, individually or as a group, in relation to a specific task, and develop them as needed
Identify and use appropriate tools, technologies, and materials for production
Make a plan for production that includes key stages, and carry it out, making changes as needed
Generate potential ideas and add to others’ ideas
Screen ideas against criteria and constraints
Evaluate personal, social, and environmental impacts and ethical considerations
Choose an idea to pursue
AR allows learners to experience working towards meaningful understanding and facilitates the comprehension of intangible concepts such as molecules, body systems, or planets. These may be challenging when viewed through pictures and words since they exist outside our field of vision. For those who work in classroom environments, AR allows for a shift in educational practice toward a multimedia approach to align experience with theory better. This makes way for a method of learning that aligns spatial and temporal learning in an interactive way rather than simple didactic instruction, creating more authentic learning opportunities (Akçair et al., 2016). AR also allows for the experience of learning opportunities that may not otherwise be possible for various financial, security, or practical constraints.
While AR resources have demonstrated various educational benefits, a study by Barroso Osuna et al. (2019) revealed that educators could feel inadequate or unfamiliar with emerging AR technologies. This can act as an obstacle when incorporating AR into educational practice. Our web resource serves as a guide to help alleviate these trepidations and make the development of AR resources more meaningful, accessible, and prevalent within educational contexts.
With the shift in educational philosophy away from a didactic instructional style that is located in a specific physical learning environment, such as a classroom, the need has arisen for approaches that bridge the gap to instruction that can be delivered from authoritative sources while be offered remotely and asynchronously.
The Augmented Reality Co-Teacher Tool relies on the usage of pre-recorded videos to assist the administering educator in their instruction and their students with their learning. This format allows students to learn in a classroom supplemented by their educator or remotely at a time of their choosing.
The usage of video-based resources that embedded prompts for critical reflection and explicit skill instruction were found to increase learner autonomy since students could work at a pace of their choosing, as well as being able to review upon demand through methods such as rewinding instructional videos where they did not understand the content (Van Alten et al., 2020). Furthermore, increased learner agency stemming from video-based instruction resulted in higher learning outcomes and an increased amount of on-task time. This allows for both student independence with students having control of the material they may find difficult and asynchronous instruction due to the removal of location-bound instruction of new skills (Herder et al., 2002).
As a supplemental instructional resource, the Augmented Reality Co-Teacher Tool allows educators to teach new skills from an expert perspective, while augmenting with their own feedback/commentary. Learning experiences have been observed to be more effective when receiving two views on a subject area (Herder et al., 2002). Video-based co-teacher resources help to alleviate strain on educators by providing resources that require minimized effort to prepare and teach with consistency, while also being regularly updated with new information/content (Herder et al., 2002).
Additionally, video-based learning helps to increase learner excitement and engagement with the learning materials when the instructional technology being used is integrated “functionally and naturally within the curriculum and skills the teachers and students are focusing upon” (Akmal & Maring, 2004, pg. 81).