In the process of exploring what is out and available in the AR and VR world I wanted to bring about attention to some of the greatest innovations coming about with this technology and make some recommendations towards the end of higher education.
AR Apps
One of the most useful AR tools I’m aware of is Google Translate. The app works slightly differently on an iPhone/Android device, but it’s potential usefulness even for the classroom is quite amazing. I’ve been thinking about using it particularly for ESL students using the instant camera translation function which can currently translate 38 languages. It can also be used when traveling, a friend of mine took a delightful photo of a trip in Brazil, where some of Google Translate’s attempts at translating Portuguese was a lost cause, but it was delightful to see this application in real world use, it works quite well in my experience. I can only imagine the help it might give to someone learning Spanish (like me) in translating various words. Maybe it’s time for me to give it a try across the border in Canada.
Another application I would recommend is one called Anatomy 4D which requires what are called “targets”, or print outs to see in 4D, but this app does as their site say “provide an interactive way to learn about the human body through augmented reality”.
VR Apps
In VR some of the amazing innovative work being done is with therapy and Phobias (such as the fear of heights) one of the apps I’ll recommend is focused on just this – but replicates the feeling of giving public presentations.
A video that mentions this technology for reference is below:
Public Speaking VR is an app that does just this, and could help with presentation jitters in students. The age-old adage – practice makes perfect still applies.
Lastly for those looking at how VR can be used in higher education I would highly recommend Google Expeditions which is created curated experiences that are educationally focused.