We present the gamified AR learning environment ARES. During the gameplay, learners guide the little dragon called “Ares” through dungeons. Using AR, ARES three-dimensionally integrates the dungeons in the real-world. Each dungeon represents a coordinate system with obstacles that ultimately create mathematical exercises, e.g. rotating a door to let the dragon fly through it. Overcoming such a challenge requires a learner to spatially analyze the exercise and apply the fundamental mathematical principles. ARES displays a debriefing screen at the end of a dungeon to further support the learning process. In a preliminary qualitative user study, pre-service and in-service teachers saw great potential in ARES for providing further practical and motivating exercises to deepen the knowledge in the classroom and at home.

Teacher attitudes and technology acceptance towards Augmented Reality (AR) are important constructs because their development has an impact on the teachers’ use of AR applications in classroom practice. The present study focusses on these two constructs and analyses them from a theoretical and empirical perspective. In this context, results from a pre-test from the European H2020 project ARETE are introduced. In this study, n=129 teachers from 13 countries responded to an online survey which included questions on demographic data as well as two scales to measure teacher attitudes towards AR and teacher technology acceptance towards AR. The results show a mostly highly motivated sample and very positive attitudes towards AR among the participating teachers. An analysis of correlations and predictors was performed by calculating the Pearson Correlation coefficient and a regression analysis, which indicated that teacher attitudes and technology acceptance towards AR are highly correlated. Additionally, the teachers’ previous experience with AR and, in case of technology acceptance, the self-assessed expertise in using digital media for teaching and learning are significant predictors for the two constructs in question.

Augmented Reality (AR) is a powerful tool for supporting students' learning processes, but sound research findings regarding the systematic evaluation of AR-enhanced teaching and learning processes are scarce especially with regards to literacy attainment. Hence, against the background of a systematic literature review the evaluation approach in the European H2020 ARETE project is introduced. The effects of Augmented Reality (AR) on fourth to sixth grade primary school students' literacy skills acquisition are assessed. The evaluation approach has been designed systematically to respond to important research desiderata such as the development of multimethod and multi-perspective evaluation approaches combining different target groups and measurements. The aim of this paper is the design clarification and the provision of the research desideratum of evaluation design and metrics that are suitable for systematically assessing students' literacy attainment when utilising AR.

The integration of Augmented Reality (AR) in teaching concepts allows for the visualization of complex learning contents and can simultaneously enhance the learning motivation. By providing Tangible Augmented Reality (TAR), an AR learning environment receives a haptic aspect and allows for a direct manipulation of augmented learning materials. However, manipulating tangible objects while using handheld AR might reduce the intuitive use and hence user experience. Users need to simultaneously control the application and manipulate the tangible object. Therefore, we compare the differences in intuitive use and user experience evoked by varied technologies of knowledge presentation in an educational context. In particular, we compare a TAR learning environment targeting the learning of the anatomy of vertebrates to its smartphone-only and AR-only versions. The three versions of the learning environment only differ in their method of knowledge presentation. The three versions show a similar perceived intuitive use. The TAR version, however, yielded a significantly higher attractiveness and stimulation than AR-only and smartphone-only. This suggests a positive effect of TAR learning environments on the overall learning experience.

This paper compares teacher training in Virtual Reality (VR) to traditional approaches based on videos analysis and reflections. Our VR-assisted teacher training targets classroom management (CM) skills, using a low cost collaborative immersive VR platform. First results reveal a significant improvement using the VR approach.

This article presents a fully immersive portable low-cost Virtual Reality system to train classroom management skills. An instructor controls the simulation of a virtual classroom populated with 24 semi-autonomous virtual agents via a desktop-based graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI provides behavior control and trainee evaluation widgets alongside a non-immersive view of the class and the trainee. The trainee's interface uses an Head-Mounted Display (HMD) and earphones for output. A depth camera and the HMD's built-in motion sensors are used for tracking the trainee and for avatar animation. An initial evaluation of both interfaces confirms the system's usefulness, specifically its capability to successfully simulate critical aspects of classroom management.