AugmentedWorld: Facilitating the creation of location-based questions

Abstract

This paper presents AugmentedWorld, an open and adaptive location-based platform, designed to facilitate the creation of multimedia-rich questions while connecting scientific topics to relevant locations, real-world applications, and learners' daily life. Prior to its implementation in schools, we conducted a study among 98 prospective science teachers to examine the quality of location-based questions and participants' epistemic views. Data were collected through encoding of questions' quality, participants' grades, and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated medium results for the quality of location-based questions, with multimedia design as the weakest feature. The participants' early experience in exam-writing and gender were found as significant predictors of the quality of questions. In addition, the data indicated a significant relationship between the questions' quality and participants' technological and pedagogical knowledge. Four competencies were identified with reference to the educational importance of location-based questions: contextualization, creativity, critical thinking, and information and communication technology (ICT) literacy. The current study underlines the importance of location-based questions as a form of learning and alternative assessment.