I have not seen A.R. in my school, so this presentation provided many exciting examples, and A.R. has potential. However, until this technology becomes more ubiquitous, I feel any talk about student achievement is a bit premature. The technology is only becoming a bit more affordable for classroom settings. BYOD principles that embrace student use of their smartphones likely provide some opportunity here to begin bringing this technology into the classroom. Most smartphone manufacturers are adopting these A.R. features. As one example, I am aware that Apple has a developer toolkit called ARKit and that their latest smartphone models are pushing A.R. as a significant selling point. I could find a few applications that seemed interesting, such as some of the astronomy applications, but regarding improving student academic achievement, I’m not sure that any one technology, including A.R., is going to do this. I see some potential for student engagement as the technology is fascinating to work with, but I suspect there is an element of novelty here and once that novelty wears off, a technology by itself is not going to improve academic achievement. I am also wary of any technology that is used as a toy or distraction tool that is purported to 'engage' students without evidence of improved learning. I have witnessed many teachers use mobile tech as a babysitting tool, and I worry that AR in the wrong hands could lead to more of this trend. AR’s success in the classroom will come down to how the teacher integrates the technology with other activities. Once the technology is widely used, and teachers find meaningful ways of using it beyond novelty, then we can begin looking at how student achievement is affected.
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Hi Neil, Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The title of your comments "Toy or Tool" had me reflecting on gaming and learning. Is AR one of the things that is blurring the lines between entertainment and learning? Will "learning" the way we know it eventually become a thing of the past?