I just came from a very inspiring workshop by Paul Driver where he talked about Augmented reality (AR) among other things.

Lately I’ve been reading and experimenting with Virtual reality (VR) and how it can be used in the ELT classroom, but AR was a totally new thing to me. So, what is it?

Paul Driver defines it as ‘real-time superimposition of digital media over real-world physical environments’.  Sounds puzzling, but it is really not.  Think of it as an advanced version of QR codes where instead of the code you are working with a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data.  By scanning these elements you trigger that digital media to appear on the screen of a mobile device.

The great thing about AR is that, unlike VR which replaces the real world with a simulated one, it is embedding digital media into the physical environment of the real world.

Paul showed us lots of great ways of using AR in ELT classroom and after a bit of brainstorming we came up with some others. I’m going to write a different post dedicated to different ways of incorporating AR into the learning process.  But just to demonstrate how  easily applicable AR is, on my way home I popped into a shop to get some folders and  simply by looking at what’s available I could see a lot of resources  for potential AR activities.  Can’t wait to start experimenting with it.

Here is the link to Paul Driver’s blog and the demonstration of AR use http://digitaldebris.info/listeningpost/