Technology Tools for Teachers: Bring Learning to Life with Aurasma

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Bring Learning to Life with Aurasma

Aurasma is a FREE augmented reality application for mobile devices with many interesting and creative uses in the classroom. Aurasma is a way to bring the world around us to life. It is a way to interact digitally with the world around us. In order to begin, though, we need to understand some basic terminology:

Aurasma - a FREE app to make and view auras on Apple devices, Android Devices. You can even make auras using the Aurasma Studio Web App.
Target - any image or item on which you can to add media. A target can be an image in a book, a printed document like a poster, or any picture of the real world. ANYTHING can be made into a target to trigger the interaction.
Overlay - media that is viewed over the target in Aurasma.
Aura - the creative combination of targets and overlays.
Channels - the way your auras are made available for viewing.

Auras are often compared to QR Codes. Whereas QR codes are an unidentifiable images needing to be created and then added to websites or printed for use; auras use images from the world around us to trigger the digital experience. Learn more about the app by watching below.

The easiest way to create an Aura is by using the Arasma app. You can also create more complicated auras using the online Aurasma Studio Web App. More information can be found in the Comprehensive Guide or by watching additional tutorial videos found on Aurasma YouTube Channel. Ideas for creative ways Aurasma is being used can also be found by following the Aurasma company on Twitter, Facebook, or Pintrest.