The world of augmented reality is exploding right before our very eyes. As this platform expands its capabilities, teachers are asking a number of great questions:

• Is this going to be expensive to bring to my classroom?
• Are there lessons I can draw from, to incorporate into my own classroom designs?
• Can I create my own augmented reality designs for my students?

As usual, in the technology world, the answers are a resounding...maybe.

When it comes to augmented reality, we are in luck—thanks to the good folks at Aurasma. With Aurasma, teachers can create augmented reality experiences FOR FREE. Auras can be shared with others. And yes, teachers can most definitely create their own experiences for students. We can't write a better preview of Aurasma than the one created by a team of educators from Hillsboro ISD, Texas, at one of our ENG2: Engaging the Next Generation conferences. Check it out below.

Aurasma gives teachers a world of possibilities for creating engaging classroom resources using augmented reality. See below an example of how augmented reality can be used to solve a math problem.

The possibilities really are endless. Imagine a teacher creates a picture wall in a classroom. Using Aruasma, every picture can come alive with a video story, web links, etc. Another teacher visits a local state park that commemorates a historical event. The teacher takes pictures of all the descriptive plaques and associates vivid video with each. The following week, as students visit the park, every plaque comes alive with a descriptive video courtesy of an iPad and Aurasma. A third teacher has students research each plaque in the park and use their iPads to create their own videos at each station. This teacher uses those videos to create an augmented reality experience for future trips.

How does a teacher create augmented reality experiences? To help, we have linked a series of videos from Aurasma. But these videos don't always give the detail needed when you are new to creating augmented reality experiences. So we are also providing a very detailed step-by-step guide that will help. Remember to use the 10 Design Qualities of Student Work when designing resources for students. Addressing student needs, motives, and values will create the best possibility for student engagement.

Video tutorials explained:

Create an Aura in under one minute. This video shows the three basic steps to create an Aura. It assumes you can take pictures and video and transfer these to your laptop. It does not show you how to share and view an Aura.

How to create an Aura. This video is just like the first video but it has spoken instructions. It assumes you can take pictures and video and transfer these to your laptop. It does not show you how to share and view an Aura.

Share an Aura. If you want students to see your Auras on a mobile device like a smartphone or iPad, you have to share. This video shows you how. Note: In our user guide, we suggest you complete this step as you finalize your Aura.

Again, our detailed user guide walks you through every step.

Good luck, and enjoy the world of augmented reality.

The Engagement People