I know that some of you take issue with my occasional questioning the value of the Accelerated Reader program in a 21st century classroom. As of today, when I write about AR, I’ll be referring to Augmented Reality, not Accelerated Reader.

As a write this post, I’m downloading the cAR Locator app to my iPhone, my first augmented reality app. For $0.99 download fee, cAR Locator will allow me to save a snapshot of where I’ve parked my car, with a car graphic superimposed. I’m looking forward to being able to easily find my car in the Sacramento Airport lots, for instance, totally eliminating my biggest jet-lag issue;-).

I started thinking about classroom possibilities for AR after reading the 2010 Horizon Report’s section on a vision for technology in two to three years down the education road. And now I’m a roll, gathering AR research and resources:

ARISE – Augmented Reality in School Environments – Out of the UK, “The aim is to create an innovative teaching aid, enabling teachers to develop, with a moderate effort, new teaching practices for teaching scientific and cultural content to school classes in an easy to comprehend way.“

HARP – Handheld Augmented Reality Project – Out of the Harvard Grad School of Education.

Augmented Reality Takes Hold in Classroom – From the e-School News folks, this article will be a good starting point for your colleagues.

Layar Augmented Reality 2010 – a little help from YouTube to make the concept and possibilities for AR a bit more visible.

Anything you can add to the AR resources and conversation would be much appreciated! I’ve yet to really come on board with some of the virtual world programs, such as Second Life – but it’s this seamless intersection of the real world with a virtual world that has me excited.  Hey, I’ll be able to find my car in the midst of any parking lot (a “skill” that’s likely to impress family and friends who’ve traveled with me previous to today’s cAR Locator download;-). Just think of the possibililites for AR applications in the classroom!