Discussing Blended & Mastery Learning With the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Justin Bruno, Research Associate at the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute for an episode of their Virtual Viewpoints podcast.  In the episode we discussed blended and mastery learning strategies as well as our transition to a competency-based learning system.

If interested in our discussion, you can listen to the episode on iTunes or Soundcloud.  The episode is also embedded below to listen to it directly from this site.

Students Bring War Letters to Life with Daqri's Augmented Reality App

Last week, I discussed our new World War II RAFT performance assessment and the degree of voice and choice it gave students throughout the project. We also experimented with the use of augmented reality to create more engaging displays for the gallery walk displaying the student projects.

We used Daqri to create the following AR experiences. The app brings the war letters to life by layering the student voice-over as well as providing a brief description of their role, audience, and topic.

To view the experiences, simply download the Daqri app on any iOS device, open the app, and point your device at the pictures below.  If all goes well, a colored box with the project info should appear at the top of the letter and the student voice-over should automatically begin.  Give it a shot!

This was basically a "test run" for using Daqri in the classroom. There is so much more that you can do with the app, this is just the tip of the iceberg regarding this technology's potential.  I hope to collaborate with others (such as AR guru Stewart Parker) to create engaging AR experiences throughout the next school year.