Digital Delights - Avatars, Virtual Worlds, Gamification

Among the many technologies poised to reshape the way we communicate and interact with the world around us, few evoke the same sense of excitement and curiosity as augmented reality. Best known as the technology behind the visual overlays on televised sports games and Google's much-hyped Project Glass, AR seems intriguing and futuristic, if a bit lacking in practical uses for the average consumer. The same holds true in education, where, until recently, its impact on the curriculum of even the most tech-savvy districts has been limited to somewhat primitive efforts like QR codes.

But AR's promise is enormous. In the 2012 K-12 edition of the Horizon Report, which examines a wealth of data to predict which ed tech trends will develop into mainstream successes, the New Media Consortium (NMC) named augmented reality an emerging technology with "significant potential" to transform K-12 education. The report anticipated widespread adoption in four to five years. Yet, for many K-12 educators who are just now exploring how web 2.0 and mobile technologies fit into their classroom, AR isn't a priority, primarily because its application to education still seems theoretical to most teachers.