Mrs. Jeffries Grade 3 class at St. Angela Merici Catholic School in Bradford West Gwillimbury, was blown away when they were taught how to make augmented reality videos, courtesy of the publisher of Brainspace Magazine, Nicky Middleton.

Brainspace Magazine is an interactive magazine for kids that uses augmented reality and the Blippar app to bring pages of the magazine to life! When students hold the tablet or mobile device over the magazine page, an interactive video appears on their device which explains and compliments the writing on the page.

Students had the opportunity to create their own augmented reality videos in their classroom with their class set of iPads. Working in small groups, students took a photo and a video, uploaded the two onto the online Blippar builder, and printed their photo. Once that was complete, they pointed their iPads at the printed photo, using the Blippar app, and their photo came to life with the video they recorded earlier.

“My mind is just exploding right now, I can not believe it. This is so cool,” one Grade 3 student exclaimed.

“Can you stay here forever? Or, maybe just come back again?” another student asked Nicky.

The Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board is focused on engaging and transforming classrooms across the board, by providing 21st century learning opportunities to students. This experience emphasizes the positive impact technology can have on student learning.