Abstract
Teachers and learners in all sectors of education continue to have access to a growing number of mobile augmented reality (AR) applications for the creation and implementation of mobile AR experiences and learning objects (LOs). In this study, affordances of mobile AR and LOs for higher education are investigated through the mobile AR platform HP Reveal. Digital trace data from publicly shared and published AR users’ LOs were examined to investigate affordances of AR technology in educational organisations and institutions and their potential implications in areas of higher education. For this purpose, a quantitative comparative analysis of system data and content from 632 AR LOs was conducted at two instances over a 2-year interval period. Each LO was thematically coded to determine multimodal functionalities and characteristics. Further thematic coding and categorisation revealed four emergent categories for affordances in higher education: learner interaction, collaboration, cultural exploration and digital storytelling. Results also revealed increases over time in the use of recorded and online video content and the use of three-dimensional (3D) characters for educational purposes. An examination of the affordances offered by the AR platform revealed opportunities for educators to explore further interactive and collaborative uses of AR with their learners for pedagogical purposes in higher education. This paper is part of the special collection Mobile Mixed Reality Enhanced Learning, edited by ThomCochrane, Fiona Smart, Helen Farley and Vickel Narayan. More papers from this collection can befound here.
Highlights
Mobile learning technologies have become ubiquitous, accessible tools for many teachers and learners in educational contexts across the globe; the uptake of emerging, innovative mobile applications may not always be reflected in their implementation in classrooms in higher education
Upon research of various augmented reality (AR) technologies to examine for this research, to determine the extent to which the AR HP Reveal platform has a presence in the field of higher education, a search for public accounts and learning objects (LOs) from users identified from the 2018 top-20 ranked universities (Times Higher Education Supplement, World University Ranking, 2018) was conducted within the AR platform
Mixed reality (MR) and AR creation platforms like HP Reveal are becoming more accessible for educators and learners in higher education around the world. Through this analysis of publicly available AR LOs online using digital trace data, results show that AR experiences can be created using rich and varied, simple or complex multimedia content for diverse pedagogical purposes and affordances within higher education
Summary
Digital trace data from publicly shared and published AR users’ LOs were examined to investigate affordances of AR technology in educational organisations and institutions and their potential implications in areas of higher education. For this purpose, a quantitative comparative analysis of system data and content from 632 AR LOs was conducted at two instances over a 2-year interval period. This paper is part of the special collection Mobile Mixed Reality Enhanced Learning, edited by Thom Cochrane, Fiona Smart, Helen Farley and Vickel Narayan.
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