Educational
Incorporating the use of Augmented Reality (AR), within an educational lesson, creates a rich and vivid hybrid learning environment. The interactive features provided by AR technology evoke a magical feeling and high degree of surprise as well as curiosity during the learning process. As such, AR-enhanced learning materials have the potential to extend children’s knowledge and cognitive development as they read, explore, and interact with content in a wide variety of ways. Research shows that AR enhances teaching materials and improves learning and absorption of concepts.
Dairy Excellence Foundation is a national organization that promotes awareness and education of dairy farming practices. Echo helped develop and launch an immersive education app that leverages augmented reality features. Through the app, users can learn about the impact of dairy farming in their lives and the community. The AR experience helps students become more connected and engaged, and are encouraged to "adopt-a-cow" by way of an interactive virtual calf avatar named Clover.
Tampa Bay Watch is an environmental nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering a healthy Tampa Bay watershed. One of their programs aims to teach kids about biology as well as the impact nonnative species have on native fish and the environment. As part of the programs, students dissected and explored the anatomy of lionfish. Through an immersive virtual experience developed by Echo, the app substitutes live dissection and allows users to learn about biology through digital, virtual interaction and augmented reality. It is also now a tool for both remote as well as in-person learning at their Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.
AR technology used in training and education can improve the following:
Engagement and interest
Memory
Sensory development
Cost-effectiveness
Learning environment
Content understanding
Collaboration
