Abstract:

Museums act as a means to collect, preserve and demonstrate historical, cultural and scientific heritage to citizens. In addition, they have an educational role by offering non-formal education programs as a complement to the formal education path set in schools and universities. In this context, museums have been incorporating new and modern technologies in the way information and education are offered to their visitors. Current research has shown that Augmented Reality (AR) has emerged as a potential technology to support and enhance experience of end users in different communities, especially in digital heritage. As the field of museum education with the use of AR is ever maturing, this paper attempts to systematically review the literature relevant to this topic. Three researchers collaborated to apply a qualitative method, coding and synthesizing the results using multiple criteria. Their main objective was to study the impact of Augmented Reality in museum education by detecting and discussing research trends and gaps.

The research, which was conducted between September and November 2019, used Google Scholar and ProQuest data bases. The reviewed papers were selected with prior chosen keywords: Augmented Reality, Museum and Education. The keywords were combined while operating the Boolean operator “AND”. The selected papers were published in peer-reviewed journals, in English, between 2012 and 2019. The selection process consisted of four phases: identification round, first round of exclusion, second round of exclusion, and final inclusion round. This process was carried out separately for each database. The identified articles were collected in a shared RefWorks project.

Following the objective of the research, two main groups of articles were identified:
a) proof of concept of AR technology in a museum context and
b) insights on AR technology in a museum context.

In the first group, all articles followed an experimental or usability approach and the AR technologies mapped were: wearable technology, AR software combined with mobile technology, hybrid AR environments, including simulations an immersive experiences, visual AR technology, and map-based AR. In the second group, there were articles with both experimental and non-experimental approaches. Among these articles the authors found: general appreciations of AR technologies in a museum context; comparison of AR technologies within museums, in contrast with traditional technologies in museums; comparisons of different AR technologies, and comparison of museum experience cases adopting AR technology.

As a final step, the authors consolidated evidence for the benefit of academics and practitioners in the field of museum education interested in the efficient use of AR to promote active learning. Such evidence also provided potential options and pathways for future research.

Keywords:

Augmented reality, museum education, modern technologies, AR.