Resumen de Framework for the design and development of motivational augmented reality learning experiences in vocational education and training
Jorge Bacca
The concept of AR (Augmented Reality) was coined in contexts of training and maintenance when the first Head-mounted display was designed to assist maintenance operations of aircrafts. Since that moment, there has been an increasing interest in using AR in a wide variety of fields such as marketing, architecture and construction, entertainment, medical and military applications, tourism, and education among others. In the field of education, AR has been applied to create learning experiences in almost every educational level from early childhood education to higher education.
Consequently, research on AR in education has reported that one of the most important advantages of AR in education is that AR applications increase student motivation. Hence, if AR applications increase motivation, AR applications have been designed with components or modules that create a learning experience that positively affect student motivation. However, from a systematic literature review that we conducted we identified that current research on AR in education falls short in clearly reporting which are the components or modules of AR applications that may increase student motivation. The identification of these components or modules of AR applications that increase student motivation may help to identify the predictors of student motivation in AR learning experiences. Moreover, we identified that current research fall short in providing guidelines to inform the design and development of AR learning experiences that increase motivation or what we call motivational AR learning experiences in the context of the Vocational Education and Training level of education. Finally, we identified that little has been done in the identification of the possibilities for using AR in the VET level of education. Consequently, in this thesis we focused on these open issues and the research questions that drive this thesis are: 1) Which are the components that should be considered in a framework to inform the design and development of motivational AR learning experiences in the VET level of education? 2) Can the design and development of motivational AR learning experiences based on the framework positively impact student motivation?.
Aligned with these research questions, we hypothesize that the identification of the modules or components of AR applications that increase motivation and the subsequent identification of the predictors of student motivation in AR learning experiences may help to identify the components that should be considered in a framework for the design and development of motivational AR learning experiences for the VET level of education. We also hypothesize that the provision of guidelines in a framework to inform the design and development of motivational AR learning experiences may help to create learning experiences with AR for the VET level of education that effectively support student motivation.
To address these research questions and as a major contribution of this thesis, we defined a framework for the design and development of motivational AR learning experiences for the VET level of education. This framework provides guidelines for the design and development of AR applications to effectively support student motivation. The framework is based on three theoretical underpinnings: motivational design, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Co-creation.
To define the framework, first we conducted two exploratory studies in which we designed and developed a mobile AR application called Paint-cAR that was co-created with teachers and tested in the VET programme of Car’s Maintenance. From these exploratory studies we gained insights into the impact that an AR application may have on student motivation and we ensured that the application effectively sustained student motivation. Then, we identified the predictors of student motivation with data gathered in the second exploratory study from two sources: the interaction of students with the modules of the Paint-cAR application and the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS). The five predictors of student motivation that we identified are: Use of scaffolding, Degree of success, Real-time feedback, Time on-task and Watching videos. We also identified the relationships between these five predictors and the four dimensions of the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction) model of motivation. Thus, the predictors of student motivation were one of the inputs for defining the framework together with findings in the literature and our experience in the development of the Paint-cAR application. The framework was validated in the VET programme of Laboratory Operations in the context of the Chemistry learning domain. The results showed that the framework is a decoupled framework and demonstrated that the framework allows creating motivational AR learning experiences.
Consequently, this thesis contributes to the knowledge in the field of AR in VET education in the following aspects: 1) We identified the predictors of student motivation in AR learning experiences in the VET level of education, some variables associated to an AR learning experience in VET were identified and we described the implications of these predictors for the design and development of AR learning experiences.
2) We defined a framework to inform the design and development of motivational AR learning experiences for the VET level of education.
3) We confirmed that AR positively impact on student motivation in VET.
4) We defined a methodology for the co-creation of AR applications and we showed how we applied the methodology for creating two AR applications in the VET level of education.
