Abstract
Although augmented reality (AR) has come to play an increasingly important role in a wide range of areas, its use remains rather limited in the realm of heritage education. This paper sets out to analyze which heritage-related apps can be found in Europe that partly or wholly use AR as a tool to help users learn about different types of heritage. Our study only identified a limited number of such apps and we used this sample both to paint a portrait of the current state of the question and also to highlight certain observable trends. The results showed that most such apps used AR to reconstruct spaces and buildings, and to a lesser extent, objects. Many of these apps used an academic mode of communication to provide a temporal perspective of monumental and (mainly) historical heritage. The paper also outlines future lines of research dedicated to finding more apps that could be used to increase the current sample size. This would allow for a more comprehensive assessment of such apps from an educational point of view. Several case studies are proffered in order to highlight the keys to successful use of AR in heritage apps.
Highlights
At the turn of the century, when information and communication technologies (ICT) had already acquired great importance in most sectors of society, the first proposals for their use in educational and heritage contexts began to appear
This paper sets out to analyze which heritage-related apps can be found in Europe that partly or wholly use augmented reality (AR) as a tool to help users learn about different types of heritage
In the quest to paint the landscape of open-access European heritage apps that use AR, we have conducted an exploratory study that has determined the main features of relevant apps
Summary
At the turn of the century, when information and communication technologies (ICT) had already acquired great importance in most sectors of society, the first proposals for their use in educational and heritage contexts began to appear. The spread of access to the Internet and mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, resulted in these new technologies being democratized This led to the development of tools that provided the general public with previously unprecedented access to information, with mobile applications ( “apps”) being the most widespread manifestation of this trend. Mobile learning and e-learning have made it possible to adapt content to every type of user, by improving pedagogical processes and allowing for a type of learning which is social and collaborative and in which communication is multilateral and horizontal [2] Expanding beyond their original use in industry during the nineteen-nineties [3], more complex elements, such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and variations on these have been taken up more widely for a variety of uses over the past decade. As other authors have pointed out [5], there have been relatively few studies addressing the use of AR in education; there is a widespread lack of theoretical reflection on the issue [6], and a belated application of this new technology in education when compared to its use in other fields [7]
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