Category: IPad Apps

Election Day via Green Screen

11/5/2014

Our 8th grade civics class was split into two teams for Virginia's Senate race: Mark Warner and Ed Gillespie. Students were assigned various roles in their campaign, such as researcher, technology specialist, candidate, speech writer, etc. Each campaign had to release a commercial and hold a press conference. We used a green screen ($18 from Amazon with the $7 clips and $33 backdrop stand) and the $2.99 Green Screen app from DoInk.

Students chose their background and used their devices as prompts to complete the press conference. They really enjoyed watching their bodies get transformed into another location with the green screen effects.

After filming, the students submitted their assignments via Google Classroom. The class vote will take place tomorrow in their classroom. Good luck to both campaigns!

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Books come to life through augmented reality

10/31/2014

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I've been working with our school librarian to add some augmented reality to our books. Our school's book fair is next week, and we wanted students and parents to have an opportunity to hear from other students about specific books. The librarian took pictures of the book covers she wanted students to review and recorded them giving a 40-60 second summary of the book. Then, she passed the pictures and videos along to me. I created trigger images from the book covers and linked it to the video review (who says you can't judge a book by its cover?!). Now, when students/parents/teachers look at the book through the Aurasma app on their iOS or Android device, they will see one of our students reviewing the book title. We will also put a little logo for augmented reality to indicate that the book could be scanned.

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Google Glass flips art class

3/19/2014

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Our school art teacher Megan is awesome. Here are a few reasons why:

She's always trying new projects.
University of Montana is her alma mater.
Student art is displayed and frequently refreshed all around the school.
Her materials are usually recycled (or up-cycled).
Nothing phases her.

One of the new projects she's trying this year is some digital art with some photoshop-like elements. The apps she used were Sketchbook X (free) and SuperImpose ($0.99). She was willing to try using Google Glass to flip her multi-step lesson for the students (more information about flipped learning here). Here are the steps we took to create her directions:

Record/narrate each step of the process as a separate video on Glass.
Upload videos to YouTube (Megan tweaked a few with the YouTube editor to tighten up the time).
Label videos with the step number and title.
Add all the videos into a playlist.
Create a QR code from the playlist link.
Display QR code during lesson.

When the 4th graders arrived, Megan modeled all 12 steps of the process live for them. She put a QR code up on her SMARTboard for students to use if they needed a refresher for one of the steps. Students started working on their projects and scanned the QR code to get a list of all the steps required.

Google Glass was awesome because it allowed Megan to use both her hands for the artwork. Without it, I would have had to make the recording next to her. This way, the students could see the project's progress from a first-person perspective.

As students were working, Megan was freed up to walk around the room and assist with troubleshooting instead of going over the directions. Her comment to me was, "This is great! I don't have to repeat myself all the time!"

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No more yearbook deadlines through augmented reality

3/18/2014

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Anyone who has ever been in charge of the school yearbook knows how stressful the last few weeks can be. Deadlines, misspelled names, layout tweaks, and missing pictures can all contribute to a frenzied finish. And that's assuming all the orders have been processed!

I've published four yearbooks now: three in Philadelphia and one (almost two!) in Richmond. Each one has been a labor of love. Despite their troubles, I find them fulfilling. It's all worth it when I see the eagerness in kids' faces when they ask if the yearbooks have arrived, listen to them squeal when they see their crazy teacher, or take their pen when they ask me to sign theirs for them.

99% of the yearbook editor's job ends when s/he submits the yearbook to the publishing company. All that's left is for them to be distributed! However, this means that none of the school events from the final few months of school can be captured. UNTIL NOW.

Augmented reality works by a user setting a "trigger image" that causes an app to display other content when activated. By setting each page in the yearbook as a trigger image, each page can come to life with additional pictures, slideshows, and videos. These elements can be changed at anytime online via the Aurasma Studio interface.

This added element means my yearbook team can continue documenting the school year after we submit the book. This year, we're going to be able to include our official class pictures, which weren't possible before (they are taken in late April, well past our submission deadline). We'll also do some interviews with students about the school year and maybe include a message from the teachers.

I'll have to post a follow-up after our book is finished, but here's a preview of what it might look like:

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Election Day via Green Screen

Books come to life through augmented reality

Google Glass flips art class

No more yearbook deadlines through augmented reality

Eric De Boer

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Election Day via Gree﻿n Screen

Books come to life through augmented reality

Google Glass flips art class

No more yearbook deadlines through augmented reality

Eric De Boer

Archives

Categories

Election Day via Green Screen