Category: Review

Augmented Reality (AR for short) is a type of technology that allows “real and virtual objects to coexist in the same space and be interacted with in real time” (Bower, Howe, McCredie, Robison & Grover, 2014). Most people are familiar with AR games like Pokemon Go and Minecraft Earth, but there are lots of AR programs that are made and used for educational purposes. AR is becoming more popular in education today because it allows for more immersive experiences for both students and teachers, as well as increasing “learning achievement, motivation and attitude” (Akçayır, M., & Akçayır, G., 2017). It isn’t a technology that has much room for creativity unless it is being used with other technologies.

Some of these educational AR programs include:

For teachers that would rather make their own AR experiences for their classrooms, there is a website called ZapWorks. ZapWorks links with the Zappar app (available on both iOS and Android) to allow for full functionality of the AR experiences created on the website. Sites like ZapWorks show how AR technology can be used creatively as it has users creating their own AR experiences. I used ZapWorks to create an AR experience for the high school Languages KLA (Japanese).

As an educational tool, ZapWorks and by extension, AR technology, are great for implementing many different types of pedagogy as well as increasing student engagement and achievement. Yet there are some issues with AR that can make it difficult to work with. For example, when I was trying to use ZapWorks, it took me around thirty minutes to figure out how to go back to the ‘home page’ of my AR experience. My solution was to include ‘back’ buttons, but I am unsure if this is the most optimal way to go about it. Akçayır & Akçayır mention various challenges that include “Inadequate teacher ability to use the technology”, “technical problems” and “causes cognitive overload” (2017). I personally felt that these issues could definitely be an issue, especially if a teacher is pressed for time and resources.

Yet the benefits of AR are just as prominent and rewarding, and are outlined in many studies. AR supports different pedagogies like Constructivist learning (Bower, et al., 2014), which results in the promotion of “self-learning” and is a “student-centred technology” (Akçayır, M., & Akçayır, G., 2017).

References:

Akçayır, M., & Akçayır, G. (2017). Advantages and challenges associated with augmented reality for education: A systematic review of the literature. Educational Research Review, 20, 1-11.

Bower, M., Howe, C., McCredie, N., Robinson, A., & Grover, D. (2014). Augmented Reality in education – Cases, places and potentials. Educational Media International, 51(1), 1-15. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1080/09523987.2014.889400?needAccess=true&

Computational thinking has many different definitions. According to Jeannette Wing, “computational thinking builds on the power and limits of computing processes, whether they are executed by a human or by a machine” (2006). The Australian Curriculum defines computational thinking as “a problem solving method that involves various techniques and strategies that can be implemented by digital systems… organising data logically, breaking down problems into parts, defining abstract concepts and designing and using algorithms, patterns and models” (2015). From these definitions, we can determine that computational thinking is the idea that it is a process of thinking (by either human or machine) that allows for problem-solving and decision-making to be simplified.

Currently, computational thinking only features in one curriculum area in the Australian Curriculum – Technologies. Technologies is mandatory in stage 4, and optional in stages 5 and 6. The issue with this is that computational thinking can be applied to every KLA in the Australian Curriculum. This week, I explored some different technologies that make computational thinking more of an option in my KLAs (English and LOTE).

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I would love to use the Microbit in my LOTE (Japanese) classroom to help my students learn the hiragana and katakana characters. An example activity could be getting them to program the Microbit to cycle through the characters with the LED lights when they press the A and B buttons.

I believe that computational thinking is an extremely important skill for all people to learn and have. I also feel that it can be used in every KLA in some way.

References:

ACARA (2015). Glossary. The Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/technologies/glossary/?letter=C

Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 33-35.

This week, we looked at the concept of design-based thinking. Design-based thinking focuses on being able to think about an issue or problem with skills that underpin design (Bower, 2020). When thinking about these particular skills, I like to use a design thinking process. There are multiple ways that the design thinking process can be organised, so here is just one visual example of the design thinking process:

Stevens’ visual example is not the only way to map out the design thinking process, but it is a starting point. Some other words for the five phases are as follows…

Empathise: Identify, determine, establish, figure out, see, what is the problem or issue?
Define: Explore, think about, search, how do we define or interpret the problem or issue?
Ideate: Create, explore, think, idea/s, talk, brainstorm
Prototype: Decide, experiment, make it tangible, propose
Test: Practice, results, feedback, reflect, try it out

Another important point to make is that the design thinking process is rarely ever linear and rarely has an end point. Things can always be reflected upon and improved. As we can see from Stevens’ image, the arrows go down a linear path, but they also bounce around, go backwards, and skip steps, which is perfectly normal.

So keeping the design thinking process in mind, I went to Sketchup to create my own 3D printable object. I really enjoyed using Sketchup in class with the guidance from David (our tutor), and was excited to work on my own creation at home. Yet I found that whatever I could think of making almost always ended in disaster…

I looked up tutorials on youtube and guides in blogs, but to no avail. In the end, I thought to myself, why not use the skills I already have (what I learned in class) and apply that to create something new, instead of trying to learn a whole new website in one night.
This would mean that my creation would need to be made entirely of squares, rectangle and cubes. It would also need to follow the rule that it needs to be printed in a 3D printer (so no ‘bits’ hanging off the edges). I came up with this:

I believe that Sketchup is a tool that could be used in almost any classroom to foster creativity and critical thinking in students. My one issue though, is that it has a relatively high learning curve, and students will need to be shown how to use and navigate it step- by-step. This can only be an issue if time is limited and the teacher does not have much contact with students during the week, as they may forget what they have learned about the application. But it does help students to think about spatial awareness, dimensions and measurements, which are all valuable skills to have.

References:

Bower, M. (2020). EDUC3620 Digital Creativity and Learning. Lecture 1, week 3: Design Based Thinking [Lecture PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://echo360.org.au/lesson/G_6807d407-48ee-45a6-a85b-afa72e3c41ec_ce39b546-11bf-4ac9-a583-d0c52bf755a7_2020-03-09T11:03:00.000_2020-03-09T11:57:00.000/classroom#sortDirection=desc

Stevens, E. (2019, December 16). What is Design Thinking? [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/what-is-design-thinking-everything-you-need-to-know-to-get-started/