Abstract
The advancement of technology has influenced our educational settings and students' learning immensely in recent decades. Augmented reality (AR) is one of them. The focus of this study was to investigate schoolteachers' perspectives of AR in classroom teaching. A qualitative method with a case study design was adopted for the study. Nineteen participants who were schoolteachers in southwest United States were solicited for interviews. The following research questions guided the study: (1) How do schoolteachers perceive the advantages of AR in teaching? (2) How do schoolteachers perceive the disadvantages of AR in teaching? (3) How do schoolteachers plan to integrate AR in classroom teaching? (4) How do schoolteachers foresee the support from the school districts in regards to the use of AR in teaching? (5) What suggestions do schoolteachers have for implementing AR in teaching? The findings showed 50 general themes and 14 significant themes. Suggestions for future research were recommended.
TopBackground (Literature Review)
Technology has brought innovation to education settings in the past 50 years. Billinghurst (2021, p.1) noted that, Ivan Sutherland imagined a future computer interface “that blurred the separation between the digital and physical worlds” in 1965, and has created a see-through head mounted display (HMD) for users “to see virtual images superimposed over the real world” in 1968. Augmented reality (AR) is emerging in the classroom teaching over the years, and has become research interest in recent decades. The focus of this study was on teachers’ application of AR in classroom teaching.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Cloud Party: An early-stage startup that offers 3D browsers where users can upload models, create worlds, customize their avatars, and share them on the web. Cloud Party was founded by Jered Windsheimer, Jimb Esser, Conor Dickinson, and Sam Thompson in June 2011 and is based in San Francisco, California.
Virtual Reality: The computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment.
Augmented Reality: The real-time use of information in the form of text, graphics, audio, and other virtual enhancements integrated with objects in real-world environment.
MARAM: Mobile Augmented Reality Acceptance Model. In MARAM, eight variables (i.e., intention, attitude, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived relative advantage, facilitating conditions, perceived enjoyment, and mobile self-efficacy) were used to determine the factors influencing teachers’ intention to use AR in their classrooms.
Metaverse: A virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.
Mixed Reality: The merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualizations, where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time.
Facebook Horizon Worlds: A free virtual reality, online video game with an integrated game creation system developed and published by Meta Platforms for Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest 2 which was released in the U.S. and Canada to people 18 years or older on December 9, 2021.
Second Life: An online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and have a second life in an online virtual world.
Microsoft Mesh: A collaboration and communications platform developed by Microsoft, which is a unifying holographic virtual collaboration across multiple devices, such as VR headsets, AR, laptops or smartphones.