=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1450/paper7
|storemode=property
|title=Use of Augmented Reality in Terms of Creativity in School Learning
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1450/paper7.pdf
|volume=Vol-1450
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/iwec/KaramanoliT15
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==Use of Augmented Reality in Terms of Creativity in School Learning==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1450/paper7.pdf
Use of Augmented Reality in terms of creativity in School
learning
Karamanoli Persefoni and Avgoustos Tsinakos
Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology
(EMATTECH)
Agios Loukas, Kavala, Greece
{persa , tsinakos}@teiemt.gr
Abstract. Education provides a plethora of tools that can be used (alone or com-
bined) for achieving better results. One of the most recent technological advances
that can be used as an educational tool is Augmented Reality, a technology that
can combine virtual and physical objects in order to enhance the real world. How-
ever, little is known about this technology and its possible applications in primary
and secondary education. This paper consists a literature review focused on AR
and its current and future incorporation in modern education via various context
aware technologies (e.g. tablets, smartphones) which can provide opportunities
for more interactive and joyful educational experiences. Also, it is described the
possibility of implementing AR in Open Course Project situations, such as the
one which is available at the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technol-
ogy. Its purpose is to inform “creators” and stimulate “users” so that the benefits
of this promising technology may be diffused throughout the educational process.
1 Introduction
Education of the 21st century can provide a wide variety of tools that lead towards
the achievement of better results. Traditional teaching methods, such as face-to-face
instructions, along with some socio-cultural beliefs jointly shape an educational proce-
dure where everything is controlled by the teacher (Nincarean, Alia, Halim, & Rahman,
2013). These educational systems are often described as monotonous, since they do not
offer many possibilities for enhancing students’ creativity (Tomi & Rambli, 2013).
One of the most recent technological advances that could be used as creativity pro-
moting educational tool is Augmented Reality (AR), a technology that enables users to
see and experience the real world mixed with various virtual objects, without losing the
sense of reality (Cuendet, Bonnard & Dillenbourg, 2013; Fonseca, Martí, Redondo, &
Sánchez, 2014). AR can accord a great potential for engaging, motivating and support-
ing the creativity of students in a restricted school environment, in ways that otherwise
it could not be possible (Kerawalla, Luckin, & Woolard, 2006).
This transformation of learning with technology as a cognitive tool, according to
researchers can increase the level of participation, understanding and learning, three
Copyright © 2015 for the individual papers by the papers' authors. Copying permitted only for private and academic purposes.
This volume is published and copyrighted by its editors.
Make2Learn 2015 workshop at ICEC’15, September 29, 2015, Trondheim, Norway.
45
key elements of all educational systems’ targets (Nincarean et al., 2013). Provided that
the Information Technology (IT) tools have already been implemented in school class,
the incorporation of AR in education is something that can be accomplished easier, as
students are familiar with handling IT devices (Chiu & DeJaegher, 2015).
In this paper we present the basic characteristics of AR, the most used AR technol-
ogies and AR’s incorporation, current and possibilities for future, in education. Also
there is an example of AR’s educational application that our team constructed. Finally,
it must be mentioned that AR, as an educational tool, is being approached under the
belief that learning has a strong social nature and the inclusion into human activity of a
tool that affects this activity by transforming it, should be treated as something that
influences both teams and individuals (Kerawalla et al., 2006).
2 Augmented Reality
The first and basic step for someone in order to follow any science path is the de-
termination of the object under study. Many definitions may be given for Augmented
Reality (AR), but the current study will use the following as the more representative
(Cuendet et al., 2013):
“Augmented reality refers to technologies that project digital materials onto real world
objects. This definition suits a large spectrum of technologies that range from a pure
virtual environment to the real environment.”
It must be mentioned though that AR applications and systems should have most or
all of the above properties (Roesner, Denning, Newell, Kohno, & Calo, 2014):
Sense properties about the real world.
Process in real time.
Output information to the user, including via visual, audio, and haptic means,
often overlaid on the user’s perception of the real world.
Provide contextual information.
Recognize and track real-world objects.
Be mobile or wearable.
Another important fact related to AR is its origin, as it is considered to be the evo-
lution of Virtual Reality (VR). It could be pointed that the basic difference between VR
and AR is the fact that VR does not use at all the camera field, something that AR is
based on (Sood, 2012). It would be really useful for the reader the presentation of a
schematic classification from Real Environment (RE) to Virtual Environment (VE) in
order for him to see the exact position of AR at the Reality-Virtuality Continuum
(Salmi, Kaasinen, & Kallunki, 2012). As it can be seen, AR is in the middle of the two
edges, which means that it combines the RE with the VE, but it is closer to reality.
46
Fig. 1. Figure 1: The Reality-Virtuality Continuum (Salmi et al., 2012).
2.1 Technologies for Augmented Reality
Like every technology, AR needs some devices (hardware technologies) for its ap-
plication. These devices usually are displays, computes, tracking and input devices.
Two of the most common AR systems are: Head Mounted Displays (HMD) and
Handheld Displays (Kesim & Ozarslan, 2012).
Head Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMDs are displays that are applied on users’ heads and their structure can be
compared to this of a helmet. A typical HMD is comprised of one or two small displays
that are bonded on a helmet or eyeglasses. They can display computer generated images
or a combination of the real world enhanced with these images. They are usually ap-
plied in military, engineering and gaming situations. Due to their high cost they are not
preferred for educational purposes (Kesim & Ozarslan, 2012; Rolland & Fuchs, 2000).
Some basic examples are the Google cardboard, Google glass, Microsoft Hololens etc.
Handheld Displays
Handheld displays are small devices with computer software that a user can handle
them with his hands. They can overlay graphical context onto an image from the real
world. The most common and easy to use handheld displays are smartphones and tab-
lets. Their greatest advantage is their portability, their significant low cost and their
ease of operation. On the other hand users have to constantly hold them in front of them
in order to have access to AR content. A handheld device, in order to be suitable for
AR applications should have a camera, GPS, digital compass and marker systems. Their
advantages render them as the most popular devices for educational applications
(Kesim & Ozarslan, 2012; Wagner & Schmalstieg, 2006).
3 Augmented Reality in Education
Since AR is considered to be a relatively new technology, its incorporation in edu-
cation is in a quite embryonic stage. It was only until 2000 when the first thoughts of
applying such a technology started to make their appearance. Sheldon and Hedley ex-
plored AR’s application in undergraduate education and concluded that it was useful
especially for teaching courses that students could not fully understand and experience
due to the limitations of the real world (Kerawalla et al., 2006). After this, the way for
47
further more experimentation on incorporating AR in education was opened. Soon pri-
mary, secondary education and higher education institutions started applying experi-
mentally AR in order to conclude whether it is really going to help students.
3.1 Current situation
Augmented Reality is available for educators in two different forms, location-
aware and vision-based AR. With the location-aware type AR users, via a GPS sup-
porting device, are able to have access to digital media as they move around to the
physical world. On the other hand with vision-based type AR a device with a build-in
camera can be used for presenting AR content, but only after user has pointed the device
at an object that has been linked with digital material. These two forms of AR have
been proven a significant helpful tool for educators in their effort to create a more stim-
ulating and creative environment for students (Dunleavy & Dede, 2014). The above
mentioned have led to the hesitant but increasing use of AR from educators all around
the world and also the ever growing number of researches related to its extensive use
in future years. In the next paragraphs, some research examples of AR in different
stages of education will be presented.
In 2005 a team of researchers conducted a study in London, UK, for the potential
of AR for teaching primary school science in ten year old children. Teachers and chil-
dren were provided with an animated virtual representation of a spinning earth and a
sun that they could rotate to aid understanding of the relationship between sunlight and
night and day. Results showed that children taught with this system were less engaged
than others that were taught with the traditional methods, teachers that used AR were
more likely to ask children to watch an AR animation and describe it and finally teach-
ers recognized the potential of AR technology but they would like it to be more flexible
and controllable (Kerawalla et al., 2006).
Also, in 2011 A. Di Serion, M.B. Ibáñez and C.D. Kloos studied the effects of AR
on the motivation of students on a visual art course at a middle school in Madrid, Spain.
The presented material was relevant to the Italian Renaissance Art and it consisted of
images and information of this period’s paintings. The experiment included two situa-
tions, one with traditional teaching material (e.g. slides) and one with AR material.
Results led to the conclusions that though AR is not mature enough for broad applica-
tion in education the acceptance and enthusiasm of the participants showed that it can
be an extremely helpful tool in the next few years (Di Serio, Ibáñez, & Kloos, 2013).
One of the most fruitful years of researches related to the incorporation of AR in
education was 2013. A. B. Tomi and D. R. A. Rambli presented the development of a
mobile AR application for preschool children related to the teaching of numbers with
the use of an old story, The Thirsty Crow. The classic book was enhanced by augment-
ing virtual object like 3D images and sounds, via the use of a mobile device. The ex-
periment showed that the use of AR content turned the whole procedure into a more
joyful, creative and interactive learning experience and they unreservedly support the
use of such technology in the educational procedure (Tomi & Rambli, 2013). Another
AR tool that has been tested, in 2013, was related to teaching chemistry at a junior high
48
school in Shenzhen of China. Students were able to control, combine and interact with
a 3D model of micro-particles with the use of markers and also they were able to con-
duct a series of inquiry-based experiments. Researchers concluded that the AR tool had
a significant supplemental learning effect as a computer-assisted learning tool, the AR
tool was more effective for low-achieving students, students presented positive atti-
tudes towards AR and that these attitudes were linked to their evaluation of the soft-
ware.
Finally, a team from Spain studied the possibility of teaching human history with
AR in 2014. The whole approach was called REENACT and is based on the exploita-
tion of AR for improving the understanding of several historical events. Results were
evaluated as “extremely good” since the participants were able to recall and most im-
portant understand more aspects of events like the Battle of Thermopylae. AR provided
new experiences that could be generalized in all school courses (Blanco-Fernández et
al., 2014).
Above from researches, several AR platforms have been developed in order to fa-
cilitate the creation of AR applications. One of the most popular platform is ARlearn.
ARlearn was created from the Open University of Netherlands as an AR tool for edu-
cators and learners. It supports mobile serious games and can be used for many projects,
e.g. organization of a school trip or for the creation of a simple logic game for mobile
phones. It is open and free but can only be used from Android devices. Also, with the
use of the web based authoring tool someone is enabled to create his own games. As a
platform, ARlearn, can support two types of games, games with messages in a list view
and view map games. It provides four types of media objects (video, sound, narrative
and multiple choice questions), map based positioning of media objects, a notification
framework and the ability to download games to PC in order to be reused
(Classroomaid, 2013; Open_University_of_Netherlands). Several projects have been
made where ARlearn was used as an education tool. Some of these projects are: The
ELENA project and “Elena goes shopping” mobile game for e-learning of languages
from young children (4-6 years old) and the “Emurgency” program for decision and
behavior training for cardiac arrest. (Classroomaid, 2013)
3.2 Future incorporation
Based on the results of researchers related to AR in education and on the fact that
most of them agree that when using AR there are significant benefits for students, there
are some actions that could be taken for incorporating AR into the modern educational
systems (Steve Chi-Yin Yuen, Gallayanee Yaoyuneyong, & Johnson, 2011). These
actions can result to the maximum augmentation of both learning and teaching envi-
ronments, something that has great effects over children’s creativity and future aca-
demic career (Billinghurst, 2002).
Use of AR books
AR books can be used even from the primary level of education. They can provide
a really good way of combining the physical with the digital world, since they can
present interesting digital material (e.g. 3D images and sounds) as an enhancement
49
of the traditional book. Users can create connections with books that may encour-
age their imagination, creativity and occupation with reading. They are also a
cheap way of presenting AR in classroom as there is no need for changes on the
school book. In this way students, with the use of a simple handheld display device,
can experience knowledge in a more interactive and joyful way (Tomi & Rambli,
2013).
Use of AR Gaming
One of the most common teaching approaches in primary and secondary education
is learning via games. Games have the ability to promote children’s collaboration,
creativity and imagination but also provide a great source of acquiring knowledge
(Moschini, 2008). With the use of AR simple games can be transformed into richer
and more appealing for all kind of students. With the use of markers traditional
game board games can come alive via digital content and can be used for all kinds
of courses, e.g. History, Archaeology, Geography and Art. Another approach is
that of virtual environments where students can create their avatars and participate
in online games that may have a link with the physical world (use of GPS and
location-based AR) (Blanco-Fernández et al., 2014; Steve Chi-Yin Yuen et al.,
2011).
Use for modeling of objects
Another innovative way for inserting AR in classroom is modeling objects. This
way allows students to visualize exactly how an item appears and also helps to
overcome the boundaries and limitations of a class. Teachers, via AR, can famil-
iarize their students with unknown situations and help them explore the most re-
mote corners of the universe and the most inaccessible depths of the oceans (Chiu
et al., 2015).
Use for discovery learning
An educational approach of learning that stimulates students is the discovery learn-
ing. Students get to explore the outdoor environment and get in touch with
knowledge at its source. But this way of teaching is not always convenient since it
can be really expensive and time consuming. AR applications that provide virtual
tours of different places are very easily to be found (Chen, 2014). These applica-
tions can be used in class and provide a quick, cheap and easy way to access of
letting students interact with the external environment (Steve Chi-Yin Yuen et al.,
2011).
Use at Open Course Projects
One of the most current trends in education is lifelong learning and especially
through Open Courses, which enable learners to broaden their research scope ac-
cording to their interests. This way of teaching may give to its participants “new
insights into their fields as well as make the teaching process more rewarding”.
Also, it can provide the ability to achieve a better level of engaging students with
the academic process. AR, as an innovative technology, can boost the performance
50
of these courses, since it is an easy, cheap and extremely interactive way of enrich-
ing the curriculum of various Open Course Projects (Dave Cormier & Siemens,
2010).
The Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology (EMATTECH) partic-
ipates to the National Open Academic Courses initiative (GUnet, 2015) by contrib-
uting a large number of subjects taught at the various departments of the institution.
The developed courses are distinguished into three categories (A-, A, A+).
A- Courses: This category provides a description, objectives, keywords, notes
and presentation slides, literature and other educational materials, organized
into topics.
A Courses: They contain materials found in A- Courses and additionally in-
clude podcasts, synchronized with presentation slides.
A+ Courses: They provide what has already been reported in previous course
categories and in addition they include video-lectures.
As all courses of all categories contain learning material in electronic form, the first
step is to acquire this material and upload it to the institutional distance learning
platform. The platform that was selected for this purpose at the Eastern Macedonia
and Thrace Technological Institute is Moodle. The electronic material can be lecture
notes, presentations, exercises or any other material that the lectures wish to be in-
cluded. As soon as the material for a particular course is received, a corresponding
distance learning course is created in Moodle, and the learning material is organized
in sections according to the lecturer's requirements. In addition to educational ma-
terial the electronic form, A+ category also include videos of lectures in high-qual-
ity digital form. Recordings of lectures can take place either during the actual lecture
delivery to students with the use of portable equipment, or at a time of the lecturer’s
choice, using a room equipped with a static camera. As soon as a lecture is com-
pleted, the resulting video is stored on an FTP server, where it can be accessed at a
later time for video editing. When the video lectures are prepared (i.e. processed,
edited and converted to an appropriate format), they have to be uploaded to the
OpenDelos platform (GUnet, 2015).
AR could be used as an educational tool for improving the results of EMATTECH’s
Open Course Project, via open source AR software such as Aurasma, ARToolKit,
Junaio or Wikitude. The addition of AR components in the output of Open Course pro-
ject will result to the enhancement of learning content and of the learning process, as
the learner should be also able to interact with the video and other leaning material
rather than simple download and access it.
The abovementioned ways of incorporating AR in future educational settings pro-
vide easy to apply ways that do not consist a financial burden for a country’s educa-
tional system.
51
4 Conclusions
As Information Technologies are becoming a part of modern educational systems
(European_Commission, 2014; European_Union, 2013) teachers and educators try to
find joyful and efficient ways of incorporating them in their classes. AR is one of the
most promising technologies for educational applications, and this is why researchers
all around the world are experimenting on how its application could reach its full po-
tential on students’ progress. Its capability to combine the real world with virtual con-
tent presents new possibilities for learning and enhances the quality of the provided
education.
AR has the possibility to entirely change the way that people treat education. Stu-
dents can now interact with digital content that empowers their imagination, creativity
and learning. Teachers can incorporate AR via various ways like AR books, AR games,
modeling and discovery learning. It is essential to try and adopt technologies and tech-
niques that will improve educational systems and by extension children’s experiences.
Acknowledgment
The current research paper is implemented through the Operational Program
"Education and Lifelong Learning" and is co-financed by the European Union (European
Social Fund) and Greek national funds.
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