Living in a Virtual World

I was working on my website when I took a break to complete the QR Code assignment.  Since I had my website on my mind, I created a QR Code to take a reader of my blog direct to the website.  It seemed to make sense at the time.

For Christmas last year, we all received Virtual Reality headsets from my husband's aunt.  Personally, I find them relatively nausea inducing, since most of the mainstream apps for the headset center around things like roller coasters and other "experiences".  I can generally keep it together for a roller coaster when I am out in fresh air, but I'm sadly one of those people not enthralled by virtual reality.  On the other hand, I am fascinated by what can be done with augmented reality.  I have been to some museums that leverage the technology and we have really enjoyed it.  Both my sons also love the Color Alive coloring books that turn the colored page into a moving image once you scan in the picture.  We also have an endless supply of apps that allow the boys to scan in their toys and play with them in an electronic version of the game as well.  And, our digital-native children don't know a world without it.

Because children are already so exposed to the technology before they even enter a classroom, I think it is important for educators to be aware of the technology, even if they aren't using it in the day to day schedule.  It is very easy to envision using augmented reality to have students scan a poster or book, and link to biographies of the author.  Imagine an elementary school library where every book had a QR code on the back which took them an article online about the author or more information on the topic.  So, a book about elephants could be QR coded to take you to National Geographic content about elephants and their population.  I could also envision having sections of the library with the names of popular books and a "if you liked this" QR code which could take them to a digital collection of other books the students might want to read.

I could imagine using augmented reality in so many different ways in the library.  While I don't think it's viable to attack the whole library, I think featured books could be connected to augmented reality - where the student scans the book title and it takes them to an entire lesson on the author or the genre.  These lessons would be curated sessions developed by the librarian and packaged based on themes for the month for example.  I also like the idea of having an augmented reality map of the library.  For a larger library, this would be a great well to help students learn the areas of the library - it could not only be practical in helping students navigate the room physically, but the maps could include book reviews of popular books in the section  as well -by other students at the school which could be updated with what is popular that month/season.