Abstract:

Augmented Reality (AR) is an emerging technology allowing the creation of augmented environments, in which computer-generated digital content is seamlessly combined and overlapped into our perceptions of the real world. In this paper we present an Augmented Environment dedicated to learning, capable of hosting and organizing a variety of learning contents. The peculiarity of this Augmented Environment is that it has been built with what we have called "Generator of Augmented Environments" (GAEs), i.e. a software package created with the game engine Unity. Through the GAEs it is possible to produce apps dedicated to learning that run on head mounted devices for AR.

In the first part of the paper we examine the main features of our GAEs. We start by defining an Augmented Environment (AE) as a set of immersive scenes created in AR and linked one another according to a given organization. An immersive experience into a specific AE is the experience of a particular navigation throughout all the augmented scenes that make up that specific AE.

By using selected learning content (for example the material of a course) which has been virtualized (transformed into holograms), thanks to our GAEs it is possible to create a specific AE that allows the immersive navigation throughout the different portions of the selected content. If we select different learning content to use with the GAEs, we will have a different AE and, consequently, a different immersive learning experience.

In the second part of the paper we present a concrete example of use of the GAEs. In particular, we take into account a specific course, an "Introduction to digital culture" (for older adults). We examine the main steps of the process that, thanks to our GAEs, transforms the learning material of the course into an app for head mounted devices, which provides users with an immersive learning experience.

We believe that the Generator of Augmented Environments provides an important contribution to the development of learning augmented environments. The GAEs helps to simplify and speed up the still rather complex process of building Augmented Environments. Indeed, the GAEs allows authors of learning content to focus on the specific content they want to use in one Augmented Environment, rather than on the process of creating the augmented environment that will host that content.

Keywords:

Augmented reality, augmented learning, augmented environments for learning, augmented classroom.