Augmented Reality

Edinburg Consolidated ISD Deploys Augmented Reality Reading Curriculum

• By Leila Meyer
• 05/26/16

Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District (ECISD) in Texas has implemented a supplemental reading curriculum for more than 100 of its early elementary classrooms to support reading instruction, particularly for at-risk students, English language learners and students with special needs.

The supplemental reading curriculum is Letters Alive from Alive Studios. The district originally purchased the program for 50 of its classrooms and has since expanded the program to more than 100 classrooms. Letters Alive uses augmented reality technology to display three-dimensional images without glasses in an effort to increase student engagement. The program's alphabet cards feature 3D animals that correspond to each letter of the alphabet and respond dynamically as students use the cards to build sentences.

The district took advantage of the free day of onsite professional development included with Letters Alive, so teachers and staff could learn best practices for implementing the program. The district also received a year's worth of digital progress assessments to use in participating classrooms.

Letters Alive is a full-year supplemental reading curriculum, and according to information from the company, it is designed to engage students through the kinesthetic, visual and auditory learning modalities. It is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for kindergarten.

Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District is located in Edinburg, TX and serves approximately 30,000 students at 27 elementary schools, 5 middle schools, 3 high schools and one alternative campus.