Pokemon Go in action!

Pokemon Go, an Augmented Reality (AR) game, became a craze this past summer. In July, 2016, this app became the most popular downloaded game in mobile history according to Survey Monkey Intelligence.

20 million users of Pokemon Go Accessed at:http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/07/surveymonkey_intelligence_says_pokemon_go_is_now_the_biggest_mobile_game_in_us_history

Similarweb's July 10, 2016 tweet, "Who needs a date when you can just play Pokémon?" brought mass media attention to this augmented reality game, confirming that more people installed Pokemon Go on their Android devices during the week of its release, July 5, 2016, than installed the dating app Tinder. (https://twitter.com/SimilarWeb/status/752184487983902720/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

"Augmented reality", also known as AR, "refers to the addition of a computer-assisted contextual layer of information over the real world, creating a reality that is enhanced or augmented" (Johnson et al., 2011, p. 16). For example, Pokemon Go users attempt to catch digital characters that are virtually located in real places such as parks, zoos, museums, art galleries, and post offices, just to name a few. While AR was being researched in the 1960s and 1970s, it wasn't until the 1990s when Tom Caudell, former Boeing engineer, coined the term "augmented reality" (Johnson et al., 2010). AR made its big debut for the general public on September 27,1998 in a football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals when ESPN used Sportsvision's "1st & Ten" graphics to add a yellow first-down line on the screen. Here is a dramatic example from 2013:

Sept 9, 2013 game between Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints. Found on http://troythibodeaux.blogspot.com/2013/09/football-rant-bad-calls-in-saints-v.html

There are currently two types of AR: markerless-based and marker-based. The latter require a booklet or card containing marker information, a gripper to acquire and convert information from the booklet, and an object to augment information into 3D-rendered information. The Octagon Studio Animal 4D+ app offers students the ability to interact with animals from A-Z.

 Medical education is using AR more extensively.

Published on Mar 20, 2014, this YouTube video, which has been viewed almost 8 million times, demonstrates the marketing use of marker-based AR.

Markerless-based AR uses a mobile device's image capturing and positional data from its GPS or compass. These AR applications pinpoint where the mobile’s camera is pointing and overlay  information at appropriate spots on the screen. Markerless-based AR will most likely be more widely applied than marker-based as it can function anywhere. Commercial applications are evolving, particularly in furniture retail, so customers can "see" how furnishings would actually look in their homes.

"Augmented reality has strong potential to provide both powerful contextual, in situ learning experiences and serendipitous exploration and discovery of the connected nature of information in the real world" (Johnson et al., 2010, p. 22). AR has the potential to blur the line between formal and informal learning. However, as this technology is in its nascent stage, there has not been much research published about AR's features, advantanges and limitations in educational settings. The positive side of this is that Bacca et al. (2014) found that the number of published studies about AR in education has increased year by year especially from 2010-2014. The negative side is that "there are many evaluation mechanisms that have not been explored because the technology is not enough mature, so there is a gap between the affordances of AR, its advantages, uses, research methodologies and the evaluation mechanisms applied" (Bacca et al., p. 141).

Other findings from the review by Bacca et al suggest that the subject of AR in science has been researched most (40% of reviewed literature dealt with AR/Science), whereas AR in the humanities/arts was researched in 22% of the reviewed journal articles. Specific areas of the humanities/arts that were most represented were language learning and painting appreciation. The following video provides an example of interacting with art at the Grady Alexis Gallery in New York City.

According to Bacca et al, studies revealed that the principal uses of AR were to explain a topic (43.7%) and to augment information (40.6%). Educational gaming and lab experiments were also represented in the study (19% and 12% respectively). Primary educational advantages included learning gains and student motivation, interaction and collaboration. AR was deemed effective at improving learning performance, motivating learning and engaging students. Almost 70% of the studies did not include limitations of AR in an education setting. The studies that did enumerate deficiencies cited "difficulties maintaining superimposed information" and "paying too much attention to virtual information," which indicates that the technology must be improved and that the "wow" factor of AR needs to wear off. Other negative comments included intrusive technology such as a bulky headset and a teacher's inability to create content. Accessibility and usability, two important factors in technology adoption, were not considered by the majority of studies reviewed by Bacca et al. Marker-based AR was used in the majority of these educational settings (59%) most likely because presently markers make the technology more stable.

Is Pokemon coming to a classroom near you? All signs lead to an affirmative response. With the advancement of AR technology, mobile devices offering enhanced capabilities that can link with AR apps, the general public's increasing interaction with Augmented Reality, and education's goal of motivating and engaging students to learn, AR will become ever more present in classes around the world.

References:

Bacca, J., Baldiris, S., Fabregat, R., Graf, S., and Kinshuk. (2014). Augmented Reality Trends in Education: A Systematic Review of Research and Applications.  Educational Technology & Society, 17 (4), 133–149.

Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R., & Stone, S. (2010). Simple augmented reality. The 2010 Horizon Report, 21-24. Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium.

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K. (2011). Augmented Reality. The 2011 Horizon Report, 16-19. Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium.

Lee, Kangdon. (2012). The Future of Learning and Training in Augmented Reality. Insight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, Vol 7, pp. 31-42.