Creating Opportunities for Multimodal Layered Learning through Augmented Reality

Augmented reality offers opportunities to expand our concept of learning spaces, to create new dimensions in mobile learning and to increase connectedness of learners in multiple contexts. From simple systems where a tagged artifact reveals hidden images when viewed through a fixed web cam to interactive environments accessible from mobile devices allowing for communication and co-design, the technology for augmented reality is here now. Augmented reality is being embraced in marketing, the visual arts and in the museum sector. There is a real imperative for the education sector to experiment and find ways of using augmented reality to enhance student learning. We propose a two-year project with the primary goals of developing effective uses of augmented reality in an educational context, together with tools for mapping its uptake and evaluating its effectiveness.

This project will result in four key deliverables:

1. a collection of developed practice models, illustrating interactive, pedagogically-driven uses of augmented reality in common learning spaces;
   
2. tools for mapping the uptake and evaluating the effectiveness of augmented-reality-based learning opportunities;
   
3. documentation and guidelines on the construction and implementation of augmented reality in educational contexts; and
   
4. a documented augmented-reality history of the project itself, showcasing the potential power of layered reality as a means of providing evocative histories of learning spaces and ideas.