Category: K-12

Education, K-12, Parenting, Teaching Tools

To a Bright Kid with Trouble(s)

Terri Eichholz
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photo credit: A.Ddiction via photopin cc

In view of recent disturbing events, of which the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, is the latest in a series, I thought this post from Tamara Fisher at Education Week Teacher would be particularly apropos for today.  Although it is addressed to a “Bright Kid with Trouble(s)“, I think that all of us who work with children could benefit from the resources and advice in Tamara’s article.  And, her words may remind you of a gifted kid whose life you touch, who may need help and not know how to ask for it.

Apps, Art, Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Education, K-12, Motivation, Videos

Using the Aurasma App, Continued

Terri Eichholz
Aurasma in action at Shaw Wood Primary School
Aurasma in action at Shaw Wood Primary School

Yesterday, I posted instructions on using the free Aurasma app on your iDevice.  Included in these instructions were how to use the plethora of “Overlays” provided within the app.  Once, you create an “Aura” these “Overlays” are short animations or videos that can will appear on top of a trigger image when you use Aurasma on your device to scan the trigger image.

But you are not limited to the “Overlays” provided by Aurasma, numerous and entertaining though they may be.  You can also add your own “Overlays” within the app.  For example, suppose you have a student who has created a work of art.  You would like to display the art on a bulletin board, but you really want people to see and hear the child describing her artwork as they are viewing it on the board.  You could do this with a QR code, of course, as I explained in this post, but you could also use Aurasma, which will make it appear as though the student is actually standing in front of the artwork as she explains it.  Another way you might use a “homemade” overlay would be with a textbook picture or a worksheet.  You could have a video that explains a certain concept or gives hints, and it will appear every time a user holds their device over the trigger image.  Here is how you could do this:

1.)  First, decide what your trigger image is going to be.  In the first example, it would be the child’s artwork.

2.)  Then, decide what you want to happen when the image is scanned.  In this case, we want a video of the child explaining her work to appear.

3.)  Using your iDevice that has the Aurasma app, videotape the above scene with your camera app, and save it to your Photos.

4.)  Open the Aurasma app.  Tap on the Aurasma logo.

5.)  Tap on the +.  Near the bottom of the “Create” window, tap on the “Device” tab.

6.)  Tap on the large +, and choose “Photo Album”.

7.)  Find the video you created and choose it.  Select “Use”.

8.)  After it process, give the Overlay a name, and tap on “Finish”.

9.)  You will be asked if you want to create an Aura with that Overlay.  Tap on “OK”.

10.)  Take a picture of the artwork.

11.)  Choose where you want the Overlay to appear on the artwork.

12.)  After it processes, add details (see my previous post for more info on this).

13.)  Once it is done, it will give you a message that the Aura has been added to your device.  After that, whenever you use the Aurasma app to scan that art, the video will appear over it.

Below, you can view a short video on ways Aurasma can be used in education.  Next week, I will give some more ideas on how this app can be used in the classroom.  (You can find it at http://youtu.be/5qRcIek4NY0 if the video does not show below.)

Apps, Creative Thinking, Education, K-12, Teaching Tools, Videos, Websites

Using the Aurasma App

Terri Eichholz

Screen Shot 2012-12-11 at 7.49.52 PM

On Monday, I posted a couple of holiday cards that I made using Aurasma Studio.  If you follow the instructions on my post, then you can view “augmented reality” versions of the cards.  I promised that I would give instructions for making the cards shortly.  These are NOT the instructions 🙂

I found that getting familiar with the free Aurasma app on my iPad and iPhone helped me when I ventured into creating my own channel “auras” using the web-based Aurasma Studio.  So, I’m going to start with the app instructions today.

I believe there is an Android app for Aurasma, but I only know how the iOS one works, so those are the instructions you will find below.  *Aurasma recently updated their app, so some of the instructions may be a little “off”.   You may be asked to register at some point in this process.  Registration is free, but I recommend that you use a fairly generic username and i.d. that you won’t mind sharing with your students.  This will make it easy for you to share the auras you create on multiple devices.

1.)  Download the free Aurasma app from iTunes.

2.)  When you first open the app, there will be a short introduction.  Tap on “Launch” to clear the screen.

3.)  To use the app on a single device, you must create an “aura”.  Tap on the Aurasma symbol. (It looks like a purple triangle with a notch in the bottom.)

4.)  The first thing you will see are “Super Auras” that were created by Aurasma partners, mostly for advertising.  Ignore those.

5.)  Tap on the +.

6.)  You will be directed to choose an “Overlay”.  For practice, go ahead and choose the “labrador puppy”.

7.)  Then you will be directed to choose a “Trigger Image”.  From experience with my students trying to create these, I have the following tips:  pick something that will not change how it looks any time soon (so, don’t take a picture of someone’s face) and is not very reflective.  A picture printed on a piece of paper is usually good.

8.)  The updated version of Aurasma now has a nifty little toggle at the bottom that will move toward the green end if it is a good image.  Tap on the camera when the image is good.

9.)  Then you get to “Position the Overlay”.  You can move the labrador puppy around on top of the image, make it larger or smaller, and even rotate it.  When you are happy with it, click on the arrow.

10.) You will be asked if you want to make the aura public or private.  Go ahead and choose public.  (This may be a part where you will be prompted to Log In or register.)

11.)  Once the aura is created, you should then be able to hold your iPhone or iPad over the image you used as  a Trigger Image (staying within the Aurasma app), and the labrador puppy will appear.

12.)  If you chose to make the aura public, then any device that is signed in to the account you used to create the aura will be able to view the labrador puppy overlay as well. (This is a brand new feature in the latest update, and I could not find the exact differentiation on the Aurasma site for “public” and “private” images.  However, in my very scientific home testing, it appeared that other accounts could not view the public aura unless signed in to the same account, and devices other than the one on which it was created could not view the aura at all if it had been labeled as “private”.)

Tomorrow, I will give instructions for adding your own overlays to your Aurasma app, rather than using the ones in their library (although those are quite fun!)

Apps, Education, K-12, Motivation, Teaching Tools

Augmented Reality Holiday Cards

Terri Eichholz

About a week and a half ago, I mentioned that I was going to post some holiday activities that could be used with the Aurasma app.  I encountered a couple of technical difficulties – not with the app, just with my desire to make a video without actually using my own voice.  I solved the problem by bringing two more apps on board – Talking Santa for iPad and Talking Penguin 3D (both free).

Here are the steps for using these creations:

1.)  Download this free PDF, and print it out in color – Holiday Cards

2.)  Download the free Aurasma app to your Android device, iTouch, iPhone, or iPad.

3.)  Within the Aurasma app, you will need to tap on the icon that looks like a fat “A” at the bottom of the screen.

4.)  Click on the magnifying glass icon to “Search”.  In the search window, type “Hidden Forest”.  (At some point, you will be asked to register.  Go ahead and register; it’s free.)  Subscribe to the channel for “Hidden Forest Elementary”, and then tap “Done”.

5.)  Now, tap on the icon that looks like photo corners.  You should have your camera on.  Hold your device over one of the pictures (make sure the volume is turned up), and position it slowly until you see the “Loading” signal that looks like a purple swirl.  Then hold your device still so you can see the video.  (Be sure your sound is turned up!)

6.)  Enjoy the short video!

Penguin AR Card

Each picture has a different video attached to it.  The penguin is a “Happy Holidays” video with a pass for lunch with the teacher, and the Santa one says, “Merry Christmas”, and offers a homework pass.

You could print these out, and make holiday cards out of these for your students.  Then, you could either allow them to view them in the classroom with a device, or send them home with the above instructions – depending on how many of them have access to iDevices.  Or, you can use them as class rewards.

UPDATE:  Here are some other augmented reality reward coupons you might want to use.  You also may want to check out some other fun Augmented Reality resources here.

Education, K-12

Edublog Awards Open For Voting

Terri Eichholz

votingopen-20ywkt9

The Edublog Awards Committee has announced its “shortlist” of nominations, and I encourage you to visit the site to vote.  Voting is open until 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, December 9th.  Even if you do not intend to vote, you will find a surfeit of great links in each category that are fabulous resources.  I’m going to spend my entire Winter Break exploring the new sites and apps recommended in each category! Unfortunately, two of my favorite nominations, Byrdseed and Not Just Child’s Play, did not make the cut this year, but please look them over if you haven’t done so, yet.

Here were my nominations:

Best individual blog – http://www.byrdseed.com

Best ed tech / resource sharing blog – http://www.freetech4teachers.com

Best teacher blog – http://notjustchildsplay.blogspot.com

Best free web tool – http://www.classdojo.com (also an app now!)

Best mobile app – http://www.aurasma.com

Apps, Education, Games, K-12, Motivation, QR Codes, Teaching Tools

Holiday QR Codes

Terri Eichholz

Last year, I posted a few sets of QR codes for the holidays, and I would like to offer them to you again.  For each of these, the user will need to have a device with a QR code reader app.  There are plenty out there that are offered for free.  For the purposes of testing these QR codes this year, I used the “Scan” app on my iPad.  If you are interested in making your own QR sets, Kaywa is one of the free sites I like to use.  QR Hacker allows you to “dress up” (though they use a different term!) your QR codes with colors and background images.

Here are some QR codes that you can use as a countdown calendar for Random Acts of Kindness.  These can be used any time of year, but might be nice around the holidays:

QR Codes Kindness Countdown

QR Codes Kindness Countdown Answers

Here are 6 QR codes that are good classroom coupons.  The first one is just black and white, and could be used any time of the year.  The holiday option is in color (red and green), and has Christmas icons.  These are fun to put in a class treasure box, or to give out to the kids in holiday cards:

QR Codes Classroom Coupons

QR Codes Classroom Coupons Answers

QR Codes Holiday Classroom Coupons (same answers as above)

If you are a parent, you might be interested in these QR codes for home:

QR Codes Home Coupons

QR Codes Home Coupons Answers

This is not holiday related, but you can also download this QR code tic-tac-toe reflection for the end of the year or unit here.  And, if you are really interested in QR codes, you might want to take a look at my post on an interactive bulletin board that I did last year.

Next week, I will be kicking it up a notch with some Aurasma holiday activities!