Well it has been a while since I posted a entry about PD so I thought I would get on the wagon again and despite the masses of PD I have completed in the span since my last post, this is the stuff that excites me.
We have started a Teacher Inquiry Group (TIG) in my department which is poking into the structures, workflow and benefits of Aurasma in the Art exhibition/general exhibition format. We have had a couple of meetings and in that time I have become increasingly excited about the outcome of this investigation. The students have come on board and we have built into the programming for the nuts ahead the requirement for students to complete a “aura” as part of the exhibition submission. They, themselves, are excited. Much of the response about the process is that it is just a glorified QR code which has the ability to read a real picture as a trigger anther than some obtuse black and white graphic which is illegible to anyone except the device you are using.
In the context of our TIG we are building on a already excellent exhibition experience and much of the content can be or is already digitised for upload to Aurasma Studio, the desktop web based version of the app. The App is cross platform on the Apple and Android operating systems so it can easily be covering most visitors to the student exhibition. What begins to really excite me as a art and digital media teacher is the use of other peoples devices to build more into the art exhibition experience without having to have random black and white boxes slabbed all over the gallery experience. The audience just points their phone/ipad/iphone/etc at the artwork and this triggers a artist statement or a insight of some sort to the artist. I really like the fact that it could also be in another language for the multilingual amongst us.
Here is a quick An Introduction to the Aurasma App
We hope to build many new option for the experience of the through the use of the new augmented Reality option. These include the extension of the banners to have overlays when triggers are attached to them. The invitation to act as a trigger for a slideshow and video advert for the exhibition. The perpetuation of the student works into the school magazine by inclusion of aura triggers on the pages, the potential for the student videos to be seen in the corridors by parents with their phones so we don’t have to worry about showing them on TV’s or digital tablets, etc.
Aurasma help has been really quick to respond to our questions which is really reassuring as it is pretty much new territory for us and to know they are supporting new ventures is a solace.
In the first discussion about the interest in the AR process of the TIG we looked at the benefits of what the TIG was and what it would offer to us as a department to use it professional structure in our planning. We used the SOAR model to map out our thoughts.
SOAR
Strength
What are your greats assets? – human and physical resources.
- Comfort with group dynamics already as we have run for a few years as a group.
- The exhibition of content will happen anyway, but this is opportunity to use TIG time.
- The tools are primarily visual and lend themselves to the display on information in a new way.
- Our department has a digital strength and familiarity.
- Many students have to documents process so they are already developing.
- Time based formats are used on individual devices.
- Kids are working with mobile device
- Strong knowledge of content through a contemporary delivery model.
- Initiative within the school as a laptop/wifi system
- Timely for the school direction.
- Expanding the nature of students work.
Opportunities
What can you improve? Think about innovation
- Deliver of the exhibition experience
- Understanding of design cycle in art
- Opportunities that students can develop as a result of the process.
- Student driven content development
- Displays online content
- Links to bigger knowledge base
- Students have to document practice and present this as a virtual Visual Arts Process Diary (VAPD).
- Opens up this to Elementary School (ES) students.
- Gives students a voice about their art perhaps through video captured on their device.
- Parents and students have mobile devices already. They can work for us.
Aspirations
What is your preferred outcome/future? Think big picture?
- Students develop artworks/displays which have presentation in mind that uses virtual layers.
- Students document arts practice and present this as a virtual VAPD. Opens up this dimension to ES students.
- We see opportunities in content deliver where we haven’t looked before through the SMAR model.
- AIS Visual Arts are a global leader (or at minimum best practice) in innovative display and communication and community engagement of student works.
- Research of methodology develops a first hand understanding on contemporary exhibition models.
- Department practice influences school approach to display and student lead conferences
- Student devices are used much better in developing visually stimulating present of their work
Results
How will we know it when we see it? Think measurable results?
- Comfort with engagement in the new display systems so Teaching Assistants (TA’s) and students know how to use it and make informed choices about most appropriate location for resources.
- Student’s engagement with process and devices and content is authentic and knowledge becomes a vehicle for devices.
- AR models become common practice in the school and wider community
- Aurasma channel is populated with student content
- SMAR Model is familiar to staff and higher end choices are made naturally.
- Reframes where Art sits in the curriculum and the importance and opportunity it provides for value adding.
What we discovered through this was a bit of big sky thinking was needed as we where going somewhere we haven’t been so could imagine the best possible situation.
Ideas and applications
- Invitations have an embedded video attached to the logo or act as a link to phot gallery online after showing a video.
- Books and in the school magazine have videos still active for video content.
- Video component of the Secondary exhibition is actually driven by still frames.
- Artworks can have slide shows embedded if you want to see more work from this student.
- Second level applications after the single tap of the Aura. – Google Doc’s links after a demo.
- Art banners in the school can have larger images attached.
- Student videos in the corridor after exhibition by including a still frame trigger.
- Artist choice award through Google forms or Survey Monkey on second click applications.
- Extension dimension of virtual images into 2-d artwork. Aspect of the work can venture, grow, and extend outside of the frame.
- Artist statements of their work when a mobile device is pointed at their name tag or the
Here are some more resources we found quickly on the subject mater which we will use with the students to inspire, educate and lead the process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHIxYpBW7sc
Great resources
http://thrasymakos.wordpress.com/?s=aurasma
Well, I might leave it at that. Plenty more to do.
nickcoulter 