I believe this project is the answer to the question: how can teachers make “The Canterbury Tales” more exciting to students? And I agree, wholeheartedly. Attaching an aura to a character in a story could motivate students by having a familiar technological tool (iPhone) intertwined with their studies of ancient texts (the Tales). In order to create an aura for the Shipman character from “The Canterbury Tales,” I used the Aurasma Studio website. Once on the site, under the assets tab, I found the image of the Shipman.
From there, I clicked “Create New Aura,” “Next,” then “Click to upload overlay.”
Inside the overlay, I uploaded the image of the medieval boats (the picture that opened with the blog post) from my computer. I chose that image to be the link between the Shipman and an informational website because I though it represented the character and the information on medieval times well. After uploading the image, I selected “Add Actions.”
This screen allowed me to control how my image would be presented under VR and how my connected link would surface for viewers. The website I ended up attaching to the image is a WordPress blog about medieval pilgrimage, with an article focusing on the realities Shipman faced during the time period. After this step, I clicked “next” and this screen showed me one of my final products.
By taking my phone out and logging into the HP Reveal app, I was able to see my aura come to life and the image popped up immediately, fading into the linked WordPress blog on medieval shipmen. It was exciting to see that, when done correctly, this aura not only worked on my computer but also on paper. The leap from technology being online to the physical reality of my sheet of paper was amazing, and I realized quickly, the augmented reality we’ve been discussing in class.
These tools, if utilized in classrooms, could (by bringing in the familiar element of iPhones and augmented reality to younger students who are growing up in the digital age) essentially ignite a new found interest in the canon texts they are “forced” to read in school. Instead of yawning over a Shakespeare play, students could be understanding it using augmented reality tools and engaging with the text – maybe even having some fun, while they’re at it.
-Sarah DeLena