Page 2 - MAVR Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 1 (November 2017)

end,​ ​we​ ​want​ ​to​ ​hear​ ​your​ ​ideas​ ​about​ ​projects,​ ​activities,​ ​and​ ​events​ ​you​ ​think​ ​we
should​ ​do​ ​or​ ​get​ ​involved​ ​in.​ ​And​ ​above​ ​all​ ​else,​ ​let’s​ ​support​ ​each​ ​other​ ​in​ ​our​ ​passion!

Best​ ​wishes,
The​ ​MAVR​ ​Team

1.​​ ​​ ​​ ​​AR​ ​App​ ​for​ ​Cool​ ​TeachARs
by​ ​Parisa​ ​and​ ​Mehrasa

BlippAR

BlippAR​,​ ​an​ ​AR​ ​mobile​ ​app,​ ​brings​ ​images​ ​to​ ​life​ ​through​ ​the​ ​magic​ ​of​ ​augmented
reality​ ​and​ ​image​ ​recognition.

BlippAR​ ​in​ ​Act!on

Our​ ​doctoral​ ​dissertation​ ​focuses​ ​on​ ​designing,​ ​developing,​ ​implementing,​ ​and
evaluating​ ​a​ ​blended​ ​course,​ ​titled​ ​Osaka​ ​University​ ​Global​ ​English​ ​Online​ ​(OUGEO),
for​ ​teaching​ ​general​ ​academic​ ​English​ ​to​ ​Japanese​ ​undergraduate​ ​students​ ​at​ ​Osaka

University.​ ​​Following​ ​one​ ​of​ ​the​ ​basic​ ​tenets​ ​of​ ​edutainment,​ ​which​ ​is​ ​to​ ​entertain
students​ ​and​ ​to​ ​also​ ​engage​ ​them​ ​in​ ​the​ ​learning​ ​process,​ ​we​ ​asked​ ​the​ ​students
enrolled​ ​in​ ​our​ ​blended​ ​English​ ​course​ ​to​ ​augment​ ​their​ ​posters​ ​using​ ​BlippAR.​ ​In​ ​order
to​ ​assure​ ​that​ ​all​ ​the​ ​students​ ​would​ ​be​ ​able​ ​to​ ​participate​ ​in​ ​this​ ​mobile-app-based
activity,​ ​at​ ​the​ ​beginning​ ​of​ ​the​ ​semester,​ ​we​ ​asked​ ​them​ ​about​ ​their​ ​ownership​ ​of
smartphones,​ ​and​ ​fortunately​ ​all​ ​of​ ​them​ ​reported​ ​that​ ​they​ ​owned​ ​one.​ ​Following​ ​that,
we​ ​held​ ​a​ ​face-to-face​ ​training​ ​session​ ​during​ ​which​ ​we​ ​told​ ​the​ ​students​ ​about​ ​the
basics​ ​of​ ​poster​ ​presentation​ ​and​ ​how​ ​to​ ​use​ ​BlippAR​ ​to​ ​create​ ​Blipps​ ​for​ ​their​ ​posters
(you​ ​can​ ​find​ ​the​ ​slides​​ ​​here​​ ​and​​ ​​here​).

The​ ​students​ ​then​ ​got​ ​into​ ​14​ ​groups​ ​of​ ​5​ ​to​ ​6​ ​people​ ​each,​ ​and​ ​the​ ​groups​ ​were
assigned​ ​to​ ​either​ ​of​ ​the​ ​two​ ​specified​ ​poster​ ​presentation​ ​days.​ ​For​ ​random
assignment​ ​of​ ​groups​ ​to​ ​the​ ​two​ ​presentation​ ​days,​ ​we​ ​used​ ​the​ ​​Spinning​ ​Wheel
created​ ​by​ ​technologic,​ ​which​ ​was​ ​not​ ​only​ ​fun​ ​but​ ​also​ ​made​ ​the​ ​assignment

procedure​ ​fair.​ ​To​ ​prepare​ ​for​ ​this​ ​activity,​ ​the​ ​groups​ ​were​ ​required​ ​to​ ​select​ ​a​ ​global
theme​ ​for​ ​their​ ​posters,​ ​with​ ​the​ ​purpose​ ​of​ ​practicing​ ​poster​ ​presentation​ ​in​ ​English
while​ ​raising​ ​students’​ ​awareness​ ​of​ ​current​ ​global​ ​issues.​ ​The​ ​following​ ​poster​ ​is​ ​a
sample​ ​created​ ​by​ ​one​ ​of​ ​the​ ​groups​ ​(also​ ​known​ ​as​ ​learnAR-generated​ ​AR​ ​content)
with​ ​a​ ​video​ ​overlayed​ ​on​ ​the​ ​top​ ​left​ ​image.