Comparison and evaluation of augmented reality technologies for designing interactive materials

Although there has been a growing interest in the use and adoption of augmented reality (AR) technology in educational institutions recently, there is limited research dwelling on pre-service teachers' technical and pedagogical preparation for AR technology. This study investigated teacher candidates' perceptions concerning their learning and immersive experiences of different AR tools and compared these tools on seven dimensions, i.e., intention to use, multimedia, satisfaction, usefulness, self-efficacy, effectiveness, and system quality. A mixed method approach was adopted to analyze qualitative and quantitative data gathered from 55 pre-service teachers who attended a five-day online seminar program about AR tools. The findings showed that teachers developed positive views for all AR tools but some tools like CoSpaces, Fectar, and Blippar were found to be significantly superior in all dimensions to Wikitude, UniteAR, and Unity & Vuforia. The findings also revealed that AR tools presented both affordances and challenges for instructional learning environments. While affordances included materializing and visualizing the abstract concepts, providing permanent learning, and catching interest, challenges consisted of unaffordable applications, limited educational content, internet connectivity issues, and limited access to devices. Overall, the findings of the current study have offered significant implications for designing and preparing AR-enhanced interactive course materials.

Automated summary

Although there is growing interest in using augmented reality (AR) technology in education, limited research has focused on pre-service teachers' preparation for AR technology. This study investigated how teacher candidates perceived and experienced different AR tools. The findings showed that teachers had positive views of all AR tools, with CoSpaces, Fectar, and Blippar performing significantly better than Wikitude, UniteAR, and Unity & Vuforia. The study also identified affordances and challenges of AR tools in instructional learning environments. The results have significant implications for designing AR-enhanced course materials.