Abstract
PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the usability of the augmented reality-based Evoke Education System (EES) to improve service operations in educational settings. The EES uses an animated character (Moe) to interact with children in a classroom by reproducing their teacher's movements and speech.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a quantitative approach for the system usability evaluation. The ESS was evaluated by 71 children aged 6–8 years old, from two primary schools. After interacting with the EES, they completed a system usability questionnaire and participated in a knowledge acquisition test.FindingsThe knowledge acquisition test undertaken on the initial day showed statistically significant improvements for children taught with the EES, compared to children taught through traditional teaching approaches. However, the retest nine days later was not statistically significant (as only one school participated) due to low power. This study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), resulting in the identification of five essential factors (likeability, interactiveness, retention, effectiveness/attractiveness and satisfaction) that contribute to the EES's usability. The comparison with existing literature shows that these factors are consistent with the definition of system usability provided by the International Organization for Standardization and current academic literature in this field.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings presented in this study are based on the data from only two schools. The research can be extended by involving children from a greater number of schools. Mixed methods and qualitative research approaches can be used for future research in this area to generalise the results.Originality/valueThis study proposes an innovative augmented reality-based education system to help teachers deliver their key messages to the children in a fun way that can potentially increase their knowledge retention.
Highlights
Recent research has described that there is a lack of interest and motivation among students towards traditional teaching approaches due to the increasing gap between teaching practice and the 21st-century technological environments (Perez-Lopez and Contero, 2013)
This study evaluates the impact of using the Evoke Education System (EES) as a teaching and learning tool over a traditional teaching approach
This study aims to address some of these issues by proposing a novel real-time human-controlled augmented reality (AR) application for educating children, called the Evoke Education System (EES)
Summary
Recent research has described that there is a lack of interest and motivation among students towards traditional teaching approaches due to the increasing gap between teaching practice and the 21st-century technological environments (Perez-Lopez and Contero, 2013). This gap has been a significant concern among educational institutions (Di_slen et al, 2013). Teachers must be willing to adapt their current teaching approaches by incorporating continually changing technology to achieve these goals This will increase their students’ interest and motivation and encourage active learning, enhancing their learning outcomes (Gibson, 2001). Student engagement has been associated with the positive student experience, higher grades and fewer dropouts (Connell et al, 1995)
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