Licia Olivetti is a History and Business teacher for 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th grade students at Carbondale Area High School.
Tell me about your battle lines project.
I created an augmented reality (AR) project of the battle lines at the Battle of Gettysburg. I had the students think they were military generals, and they used the information taught in class to determine where the Union and Confederate lines should be drawn. Once they completed their lines, we use an AR overlay to see how accurate their depictions were.
Tell me about your WW2 timeline project. How do students interact with it?
It’s a continuous project. The timeline allows students to scan images of people, places and battles of World War 2 to learn more about each one as we talk about them in class. The timeline helps with having to cover so much material in such a short period of time, especially considering the pandemic messed with our regular class schedule.
During the school year I have to cover the Civil War Reconstruction to present, touching the most important topics in between. “There’s so much more that I love that I can’t get into. My junior thesis was on the Western Theater of the Civil War and the Battle on the Mississippi but we don’t get to spend too much time on it. The time line helps us cover more material in a cool way.”
How has AR Launchpad helped you enhance your classroom material?
The students at Carbondale are currently using a hybrid school schedule. I have one group of students in class on Monday and Tuesday and another group on Thursday and Friday, on Wednesday all students are virtual. AR Launchpad has helped engage the ones in class and extend the classroom boundaries for the students who aren’t physically in class. I put the images on Google Meets so the students at home can still participate in the activities.
Why do you think it is important to incorporate various technologies into your classroom material?
“AR makes the material fancy-smanchy to students, so they stay engaged for longer.” They enjoy being able to come in and pull out their phones to scan the various images. I get to feel like the cool teacher for letting them bring out their phones to learn, too!
Do you think AR Launchpad was easy to use?
The battle lines project really helped to build up my confidence in the platform. I like being able to use programs I already use like Microsoft Publisher to create the experiences and targets.
The more confidence I gain, the more I realize I can do with it. The possibilities are endless!
How do you plan on incorporating AR Launchpad into your classes in the future?
In the future, I plan on using it in my business and accounting classes. I am going to use it to break down various accounting problems. I’m hoping if I can incorporate myself explaining the problems using AR, they’re have a better understanding of the problem.
I remember when I was learning accounting and struggling with certain topics. I know which topics they’re going to struggle with because I’ve been through it. AR will be ideal when I can’t be there in person to help walk them through problems.