Augmented Reality in the Classroom

As an historian, I have often wondered how augmented reality can be effectively used in my classroom.  Textbooks can be seen as too sterile and you cannot be expected to show videos or lecture every day.  There are ways to engage students in novel ways that many teachers are too afraid or technologically impaired to implement.  I was perusing some apps and found Popar Interactive Smart Puzzles.  This gave me an idea.  How about those static bulletin boards teachers place in their classrooms?  What can teachers do to bring them alive?  How about an interactive map?  A student can aim the camera from their smartphone or tablet at the map and zoom in on it and bring up pictures and information that the teacher incorporates into it about a particular subject that the students are studying?  This can change from lesson to lesson, keeping it fresh.  If the teacher has pictures of famous people, then the teacher can place web links for students to explore to find out more information about them.

EdSurge has a number of apps that would be useful in a number of different classroom settings from elementary school to high school.  Take a look at this site and you may get some novel ideas for incorporating augmented reality in your classroom.