Emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), have the potential to radically transform education by making invisible phenomena to become visible and accessible to novice learners. This talk discusses research projects at the intersection of makerspaces, physics education, and immersive technologies, which are pursued at the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Learning, Innovation and Technology (LIT) Lab.

The LIT builds AR holographic systems and tools that allow collaborators to learn about objects such as circuits, robots and audio speakers, by visualizing and interacting with their underlying invisible phenomena (ex: flow of electricity, magnetic fields, audio waves).

The LIT's research shows that educational AR representations are beneficial for learning specific knowledge, modifying group dynamics, and increasing participants’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards physics, but also indicate that AR may be limiting students' ability to engage with specific content, and may create misconceptions of students' own learning. I discuss the benefits and detriments of implementing augmented reality for unstructured learning activities in makerspaces.

Click here for more information on the Digital Futures Discovery Series, a monthly presentation series on digital innovations in research and teaching presented by Cabot Library and the DSSG.

About the Presenter

Iulian Radu is a developer and researcher of emerging educational technologies. He is currently a dual postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. In his work at the HGSE LIT Lab, his research explores augmented reality experiences for physics education in digital fabrication labs. His work at the HGSE Immersion Lab explores how Virtual Reality can reveal biases and generate empathy in teachers, parents and caretakers. Iulian holds a PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology focused on designing immersive experiences for K-12 education, and has worked on a variety of technologies including educational simulations, satellites, digital fabrication, IoT, AI, machine learning, robotics, distributed agents. He is the founder of the IEEE Virtual Reality conference yearly workshop on K-12+ Embodied Learning through Virtual and Augmented Reality.

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