Saturday 23 April 2016

ONCE UPON A TIME... AN AUGMENTED REALITY

Hi there!
As you know, on April 23th it is celebrated the World Book Day and our ICT class wanted to create something special. For that reason, our new challenge consisted on talking about what type of reader are we, our favourite book, why we recommend it… using the tool Aurasma.
From the beginning, I really liked the idea of preparing a different challenge for this day, because in my home city, Zaragoza, the April 23th is a special day since we celebrate San Jorge together with the Book Day. We prepared many activities related to books and reading. This is why this activity was an opportunity for me to maintain that beautiful custom.
Returning to the challenge, I didn’t have much difficulty deciding on what I wanted to explain, because I really  love reading. Here, in Madrid, I do not always have the time I would like to read this is why I take advantage of every moment I can. I usually use my e-book to read because it is lightweight and I can bring it with me during my trips and travels. Besides, e-books are cheaper than the originals and this is a positive point for people who devour books, like me. However, I should admit that I prefer books on paper support since the feeling is completely different, in fact, in my room there are a crazy number of books on the shelves and I love it.
As you will see in my final outcome, during the video I comment that I love mystery and detective stories and I choose Harry Potter as my favourite book. I didn’t select my special book only for the content or story, but also because I still remember the emotion experienced when I read it, a feeling that none other book makes me feel. Definitely I thought that this would be a good reason to choose it. Moreover, as I see it, that Harry Potter’s saga teach beautiful values, such as friendship, courage, justice… and so on.
An online tool to edit videos
To record the video, I used two different programs. First of all, I used QuizTime Player, my own computer program, to record what I wanted to say. I spent many time in this point of the challenge because I wasn't satisfied with the result, but after many attempts, I did it. 
Then I edited the video using Kizoa, an online tool. The tool is easy to manage and many resources are available such as transitions, effects, gifts… moreover, you have the option of uploading your own pictures and gifs so as to use them in your creation. Other option that I really liked was that you can make “clips” of your video, which means that you can use specific parts of the whole record. I used all these possibilities in my creation by added some gifts related to my favorite book to make it more engaging and eye-catching. The only drawback that I would highlight is that you can not download your creation unless you have a premium account but you can upload it to YouTube, Blogger, Facebook and other social networks. Here I leave you both: the link to the video and the video uploaded to YouTube:



The second step of the challenge was to create a cover related to the book we had chosen. I took into account that the cover was going to be the "face" of the project, so I worked hard so as to make it as meaningful as possible. For that purpose, I used Piktochart, a tool that I utilized to create an Infographic in the previous challenge. Piktochart, gives you the opportunity to choose plenty resources, sized, pictures, templates, backgrounds, and so on without the need of having a premium account. Finally, I decided to combine different images related to my favorite genres and books as a tribute to the World Book Day.  Here I leave you the cover:



So the last step was to link all this materials in the same tool, Aurasma. I have never used it before this challenge. It isn’t difficult to manage but I recommend you to watch the following video in order to know how it works easily: 



But the video that really facilitated my work was the one recorded by some of my peers, their explanation about how Aurasma works is really clear and visual. You can watch it by following the following link
But what is Aurasma? I wondered the same at the beginning because I couldn't imagine its functioning. Well, Aurasma is a tool that allows you to create an augmented reality by linking a picture and a video, in other words, when you scan the cover of the Aurasma (called trigger image) through your mobile or tablet app, you can watch an augmented reality of the video that is inside. But, I should admit that the best way to understand how it works is checking it.
As teachers, I think that it is an engaging tool for students and adults who can watch a video in a different way. However, it has some drawbacks too, for example the fact that you need a mobile phone and a computer if you want to see others' work. This requirement makes the tool quite uncomfortable. Besides, I had some technical problems uploading the video since the format wasn’t compatible with the one I used and in other attempts I couldn't hear the video’s voice. I overcame that problem by recording again the video in a format that was compatible with the tool.

So, with out further ado, here I show you my final work using Aurasma, if you have the tool in your mobile phone you can follow my channel: anafuertecano and watch it by scanning the trigger image below:




Finally I want to share with you my peers' fantastic work. We have created a board on Pinterest called A Wall of Books in which all of us have "pined" our final outcome. In my opinion, it is a way of growing together while creating meaningful learning. I like very much the idea of sharing our opinions and recommendations about books, in fact I have already bought the book recommended by Elena, one of my peers.

This is all for now, I hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I did facing the challenging. I would like to say good bye with a significant sentence about stories.

"The stories we love best, live in us forever"

J.K. Rowling

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