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

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).