Marc Ericson C. Santos

Augmented Reality Learning Experiences: Survey of Prototype Design and Evaluation

Augmented reality (AR) technology is mature for creating learning experiences for K-12 (pre-school, grade school, and high school) educational settings. We reviewed the applications intended to complement traditional curriculum materials for K-12. We found 87 research articles on augmented reality learning experiences (ARLEs) in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library and other learning technology publications. Forty-three of these articles conducted user studies, and seven allowed the computation of an effect size to the performance of students in a test. In our meta-analysis, research show that ARLEs achieved a widely variable effect on student performance from a small negative effect to a large effect, with a mean effect size of 0.56 or moderate effect. To complement this finding, we performed a qualitative analysis on the design aspects for ARLEs: display hardware, software libraries, content authoring solutions, and evaluation techniques. We explain that AR incur three inherent advantages: real world annotation, contextual visualization, and vision-haptic visualization. We illustrate these advantages through the exemplifying prototypes, and ground these advantages to multimedia learning theory, experiential learning theory, and animate vision theory. Insights from this review are aimed to inform the design of future ARLEs.

Augmented reality as multimedia: the case for situated vocabulary learning

Augmented reality (AR) has the potential to create compelling learning experiences. However, there are few research works exploring the design and evaluation of AR for educational settings. In our research, we treat AR as a type of multimedia that is situated in authentic environments and apply multimedia learning theory as a framework for developing our educational applications. We share our experiences in developing a handheld AR system and one specific use case, namely, situated vocabulary learning. Results of our evaluations show that we are able to create AR applications with good system usability. More importantly, our preliminary evaluations show that AR may lead to better retention of words and improve student attention and satisfaction.

A usability scale for handheld augmented reality

Handheld augmented reality (HAR) applications must be carefully designed and improved based on user feedback to sustain commercial use. However, no standard questionnaire considers perceptual and ergonomic issues found in HAR. We address this issue by creating a HAR Usability Scale (HARUS). To create HARUS, we performed a systematic literature review to enumerate user-reported issues in HAR applications. Based on these issues, we created a questionnaire measuring manipulability -- the ease of handling the HAR system, and comprehensibility -- the ease of understanding the information presented by HAR. We then provide evidences of validity and reliability of the HARUS questionnaire by applying it to three experiments. The results show that HARUS consistently correlates with other subjective and objective measures of usability, thereby supporting its concurrent validity. Moreover, HARUS obtained a good Cronbachs alpha in all three experiments, thereby demonstrating internally consistency. HARUS, as well as its decomposition into individual manipulability and comprehensibility scores, are evaluation tools that researchers and professionals can use to analyze their HAR applications. By providing such a tool, they can gain quality feedback from users to improve their HAR applications towards commercial success.

Authoring Augmented Reality Learning Experiences as Learning Objects

Engineers and educators alike have prototyped a variety of augmented reality learning experiences (ARLEs). However, adapting ARLEs in educational practice would require an interdisciplinary approach that considers learning theory, pedagogy and instructional design. To address this requirement, we model ARLEs as learning objects by outlining the necessary components, and we propose a participatory design to demonstrate the authoring process of an augmented reality learning object (ARLO). ARLOs can be made useful in many scenarios if teachers are empowered to edit its context elements, content and instructional activity. Lastly, we point to the research questions entailed in modeling ARLEs as ARLOs.

Exploring legibility of augmented reality X-ray

Virtual objects can be visualized inside real objects using augmented reality (AR). This visualization is called AR X-ray because it gives the impression of seeing through the real object. In standard AR, virtual information is overlaid on top of the real world. To position a virtual object inside an object, AR X-ray requires partially occluding the virtual object with visually important regions of the real object. In effect, the virtual object becomes less legible compared to when it is completely unoccluded. Legibility is an important consideration for various applications of AR X-ray. In this research, we explored legibility in two implementations of AR X-ray, namely, edge-based and saliency-based. In our first experiment, we explored on the tolerable amounts of occlusion to comfortably distinguish small virtual objects. In our second experiment, we compared edge-based and saliency-based AR X-ray methods when visualizing virtual objects inside various real objects. Moreover, we benchmarked the legibility of these two methods against alpha blending. From our experiments, we observed that users have varied preferences for proper amounts of occlusion cues for both methods. The partial occlusions generated by the edge-based and saliency-based methods need to be adjusted depending on the lighting condition and the texture complexity of the occluding object. In most cases, users identify objects faster with saliency-based AR X-ray than with edge-based AR X-ray. Insights from this research can be directly applied to the development of AR X-ray applications.

Development of Handheld Augmented Reality X-Ray for K-12 Settings

Mobile augmented reality is a next-generation interface for seamless ubiquitous learning. It offers many novel interactions that enable the visualization of digital information on real places and objects. These interactions require user-based testing for suitability in educational settings. One important interaction is augmented reality X-ray—providing an illusion to look inside objects. In this chapter, we implement augmented reality X-ray on a tablet computer by modifying the live video feed with computer graphics. Then, we evaluated our prototype based on the students’ perception of depth, legibility, and realism. Results show that augmented reality X-ray hampers legibility. However, it does not have a significant impact on the perception of depth and realism. In our interviews with teachers, we found that augmented reality X-ray is perceived to be useful because it promotes learning by experience. It has the potential to improve both student attention and motivation. However, the teachers require a high-quality lesson plan, and extra training to use augmented reality X-ray in the classroom effectively.

The COMPASS Framework for Digital Entertainment: Discussing Augmented Reality Activities for Scouts

Entertainment is challenging to observe, especially with children, due to limited analytical tools. In response, we present a modified framework for entertainment computing, COMPASS -- COmbined Mental, PhysicAl, Social and Spatial factors, which we use to analyze augmented reality activities for cub scouts.

Towards participatory design for contextual visualization in education using augmented reality x-ray

We propose Augmented Reality (AR) x-ray as an educational tool for contextual visualization--presenting virtual information in the rich context of a real environment. Teachers and students evaluated a state-of-the-art implementation of AR x-ray. Results show that realism, visibility, and perception of depth in AR x-ray are not significantly different from viewing 3D models with no occlusion cues. Moreover, teachers perceive AR x-ray useful.