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Generate Instant Pear Decks

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  I’ll keep this short as the video explains most of you. Any new educational technology can be complicated to dig into from scratch as you attempt to align it to learning outcomes.  Well, a new feature that Pear Deck has introduced has taken a giant leap forward to help educators do just that.  Before we jump into the new features, if you are unfamiliar with Pear Deck and why my students and I consider it the #1 EdTech tool that helps their learning, check out the video in the previous blog post.   But if you are more concerned with why you should even dive into Pear Deck or learn about this new AI generation of Pear Deck sessions to a learning target, check out the video below. Like I said, I’m keeping it short so you have time to watch the video. If you have questions, please contact me at mohammam@elmbrookschools.org or the Pear Deck Learning team at support@deck.peardeck.com . Also, check out the amazing Stacey Roshan's video on this update. 
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A Place for Augmented Reality in the Classroom

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There were two different components I want students to report out on at the end of their personal learning project.  I want students to be able to provide information as it related to their question or goal.  The other report I wanted was a reflective piece on the process itself.  
I could see this being very doable as a “poster presentation” where students stood by a poster and reported out to a public audience.  I like this idea but wanted to change it up for a couple of reasons.  Due to the tight time frame in which I laid out this project, I wasn’t able to advertise and get enough of a public presence to attend.  Without that audience, I would need to rely on students as the audience.  I wanted all of my student to be able to experience the projects.  So, I decided to find a way to make this poster presentation a little more virtual using augmented reality.
Not familiar with augmented reality?  Take a look at this clip from the film Minority Report and the future of advertising:


Augmented reality is something I was introduced to a couple of year ago at an EdCamp. 
 The specific apps I was introduced to were Chromville and Aurasma.  Chromville is more of an elementary school level app which generated 3D animated images from 2D pieces of paper.


It turns a 2D image like this:
Into a 3D interactive model like this:
There are different uses for the app.  Chromville is more of a general situation app that can be used to help in storytelling and idea development.  
The Chromville Science app is more specific to teaching students elementary science concepts. There are explorations of areas in physical, life, and earth sciences such as
Planet Earth



The Human Body


Laboratory


Another augmented reality app is Aurasma.  It allows users to use a image in the real world as a trigger to overlay a multimedia file.  The example below is of a file, called an Aura, triggered by the back of the $1 bill. Below, you'll see video I captured when viewing a $1 using the Aurasma app on my phone.



So how do you create an Aura? This video starts after you’ve logged into Aurasma.com. There is a little bit of time taken when uploading the overlay in this video clip.


Here's what the aura looks like when I tested it.




So, how will I use this in my classroom as a part of the “poster presentation”?
There are two final components of our personal learning project.  The first is a short video (2 minutes or less) in which students communicate the answer to their research question or how well they were able to meet their personal goal.  The second deliverable is a document communicating the process of the project.  Students will create a physical copy of the process sheet.  It will be the size of a standard piece of printer paper.  This sheet will then be used as a trigger for their video which they will tie as an overlay using Aurasma.  This will allow students to view experience the results of their project while being free to explore other projects at the same time.  It still requires students to use oral communication skills just in a multimedia mode.

Below, you will find the rubrics for the project.  I look forward to sharing the results next week.


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