What is Activating Principle

Mixed reality (MR) applications are widely considered to be effective educational tools. However, the use of MR alone cannot ensure learning, and studies even suggest that the affordances of this technology could decrease the mental processes required for the acquisition of new knowledge. Like any other technological innovation, the educational possibilities of MR are closely related to the design of its contents. Despite this, there are no design recommendations for MR focused on learning. Educational psychology presents a range of empirically proven design guidelines for multimedia learning environments. This chapter reviews existing guidelines and categorizes them into principles related to the perception of information and the related essential information processing (design principles) and principles aiming at promoting generative learning (activating principles). These principles are translated to MR-learning environments.