For the 2023/2024 school year, the first Bulgarian textbooks with augmented reality, approved by the Ministry of
Education and Science (MES), are in mathematics and geography for the fifth and sixth grades. The textbooks are from “Anubis” and “Bulvest 2000”, and the augmented reality functionality is called “KlettAR” and was developed for the “Klett Bulgaria” publishing house. The virtual content was prepared by a Bulgarian startup company called “Pop!Ed”, created by the three young entrepreneurs: Viktor Nedelchev, Ognyan Trayanov and Dimitar Kostadinov. By scanning the material in the textbook with a phone or other device with a camera, through the “KlettAR” application, a 3D visualization of an object is opened, through which the learning content can be taught and perceived more easily. “This technology predisposes students to show more interest in learning. We believe that the introduction of digital elements to paper textbooks is a step forward to the future and will make both learning and teaching more effective,” says Vladimir Kolev, manager of “Klet Bulgaria” publishing house.
Augmented Reality (AR) extends our physical world by adding digital information to it. It is superimposed on our real surroundings, thus combining the digital (3D models, sounds, videos, animations, images) and the real world. The main difference between augmented and virtual reality is that while augmented reality overlays digital images and sound on top of the real world, virtual reality consists of an entirely computer-generated virtual world.
“We believe that technology is able to hold the attention of younger audiences to textbooks through hands-on learning. Our software allows education to take advantage of augmented reality by layering interactive 3D models, animations and games on top of existing textbooks,” says Ognyan Trayanov, co-founder of the company “Pop!Ed”…
