Augmented reality in education

Student engagement in the classroom is dropping every year because they may be bored with that traditional stereotypical learning styles, though we can have better learning in this digitalized era. Ever wondered why they become inattentive in the classroom and fond of smartphones and tabs? Imagine what if we can introduce these technologies to school. Students will prefer technology-based learning than choosing a textbook based live class learning.

Augmented reality is an emerging technology in education which can be used in human anatomy learning to space-related learnings. It is defined as a technology used to superimpose information in text, image, sound formats. .There are several apps launched by elearning development companies. for students to let them engage with interactive learning even though  Augmented reality is still developing. it can bring evolution to the field of education than any other technology.

Impact of augmented reality in the education

main advantage of using augmented reality in the education sector is that it completely changes the way of interaction of students to books and learning methods. It makes things easy to understand since augmented reality shows content in the form of  3Dvideo, image, graphics etc. Undoubtedly, it increases student interaction and attendance in the classroom. Students can learn anytime from anywhere, by the help of augmented reality application installed smartphone devices. This method is definitely an entertaining way of learning that students love to use. The dedicated market of augmented reality devices is expected to reach USD 60.55 billion by 2023. It adequately takes a leading position among the most significant trends in education. In short, a number of applications are available for both ios and android and are easily accessible on mobile phones, thus in classrooms.

Benefits of  using AR in education
1. 24*7 available study materials
The main advantage of using AR in the sector of education is that it has the ability to replace paper textbooks and printed study materials. As a result, study materials becomes accessible anytime from anywhere. That saves time and expenses as there is no need to buy textbooks and models. The anytime availability of materials helps clear and better understanding of educational concepts.

2. Increasing student interest and classroom engagementMost of the AR applications are interactive and gamified so that students have more interest to learn through these technologies than textbook-based education. Students grasp the concepts faster and easier when learning using AR models. Since learning became more attractive, automatically classroom engagement increases. Using augmented reality applications in classrooms brings more student interest and engagement in the classroom.

3.Practical learning
Practical learning is possible by using augmented reality. Unlike usual schooling, it helps in gaining job oriented practical experiences by using AR applications. For example, the anatomy of an organism can be conveniently learned by Augmented reality, in which users can use many tools to learn each and every part of the human body and can learn them effectively. Completely interactive stunning visuals increase student's interest and classroom engagement.

4. Improved and increased learning
Student participation in the classroom increases with the use of augmented reality applications. This helps students to understand the topics and lessons through the provided materials. The provided materials and the style of learning are interactive, that makes learning more easier and interesting. Thus students can learn anytime from anywhere using their materials saved on their smartphone, rather than going through a number of referring books. Also, it saves time.

5. Less expensive
Usually, in visual-based learning physical equipment and tools such as 3D models, posters, illustrations are expensive. Users have to pay a high amount as, maintaining cost too. But in AR implemented classrooms, It is less expensive as there is no need to invest in physical learning materials and no need for maintaining costs. The AR application installed smartphone is enough for learning. Students can purchase and save the materials, and this reduces the cost of rebuying the materials.
6. Improved memory
AR learning models are very informative and they cover a wide range of all the topics. Students access informative websites from augmented reality application. These style of learning improves the process of learning and helps students to gain knowledge within a specified time. This increases imagination which results in improved and increased memory.

Some Augmented reality Apps for students

1.Corinth Micro Anatomy
Corinth Microanatomy is an application accessible on windows phone which is used to display the functioning of internal organs. It helps to understand human anatomy better, as augmented reality provides interaction with reality. Internal organs can be well demonstrated using the same. It helps medical students to create medical models of organs.
2.AugThat
AugThat is one of the first augmented reality platforms in education, created by an educator in 2013. This both android and ios compatible application is mainly used in classrooms for improving the interaction of students. AugThat helps to display  360°  virtual photographs and 3D representations in devices and hence improve student engagement in the classroom.
3.Elements 4D
The interactive block application is created by DAQRI studio is basically chemistry learning application, is available on both android and ios. Elements 4D is an application showing 6 wooden blocks having the symbol of elements written on them. Each block is representing different elements. students can put 2 blocks together to learn how they react.
4.Anatomy 4D
Anatomy 4D is created targetting medical learners, is used to display the human body as a 3D model. It also allows users to interact with the displayed model, thus students can learn about each organ easily. This application is available on both android and ios.
5.Aurasma
This application helps to blends digital contents in the form of 3D models, animations, videos to the real world. It also helps to share the generated AR experience and your own with friends too. It is based on image recognition technology and is available on both android and ios.