Investigation of the Relationships between Media Characteristics, Presence, Flow, and Learning Effects in Augmented Reality Based Learning

Abstract

This study’s goal is to examine which factors of augmented reality (AR), the fruit of future technologies, help to improve learning effects, and to reveal the relationships between those factors. To this end, we examined previous studies and selected five factors that can influence learning effects in augmented reality based learning. We discovered the effectiveness structure of media utilization in augmented reality based learning through an investigation of the relationships between those factors. The five factors selected were: sensory immersion, navigation, manipulation, presence, and flow. A questionnaire was formed based on these research questions, and a survey was conducted on 290 fifth-graders at two elementary schools. A total of 272 cases were examined for this study (incomplete and unreliable responses were excluded) and these were analyzed using a structural equation model. The results showed that with the exception of navigation, all factors such as sensory immersion, manipulation, presence, and flow had a meaningful influence on satisfaction, knowledge & understanding, and learning effects of application. In particular, the manipulation factor was proven to have a direct effect on satisfaction and the application aspect of learning effects, indicating that strengthening manipulation through the tangible interface of augmented reality can be an important factor in the areas of learning satisfaction and application. In addition, sensory immersion was proven to have a meaningful influence on immersion in learning and learning effects. In terms of learning effects, the application of augmented reality media was shown to have a greater influence on application factors than on knowledge & understanding.