Abstract:

Recent studies in Malaysian graduate employment showed that many Malaysian graduates are still lacking in communication, problem-solving and teamwork skills, which are integral in today’s workplace. With the call for the Malaysian education system to improve the quality of education via 10 shifts in educational frameworks, Malaysian educators are seeking more innovative and technologically sound teaching and learning environments to better imbue students with these skills to meet the demands of Malaysian and international IT industries. Research has suggested that students would learn better through constructivist learning environments which are meaningful and relevant, in order to increase their engagement and motivation levels. Herrington, Reeves and Oliver (2010) have presented 9 Authentic Learning Principles that suggest that content be designed to be as authentic as possible by incorporating content and activities to reflect the way the knowledge is used in real life situations. The learning activities would call for students to become active participants in their own learning processes, learn to solve problems and work collaboratively, and imbue themselves with skills such as active learning, critical and creative thinking skills, and teamwork. In addition, authentic learning activities can be implemented using emerging technologies as enablers, and help them analyze, synthesize and organize their knowledge and comprehension, resulting in impact on their cognitive, social and affective behaviors. Augmented Reality (AR) has been shown to be effective in supporting students in their learning process due to their immersive nature, providing students with richer learning experiences as they are able to visualize difficult concepts and improve their understanding of complex content through their mobile devices.

This research investigates the impact of an Augmented Reality (AR)-based authentic learning environment, and focuses on the educational Shift #1 of the Malaysian Blueprint for Higher Education (2015-2025), that concentrates on producing holistic and balanced graduates through enhanced student learning experiences. In particular, the Authentic Learning AR Environment (ALARE) framework was developed where AR technologies were integrated and mapped to the 9 authentic learning principles within a project-based classroom.

The framework was designed to enable learning in 3 ways:
1) increased engagement through immersive AR-based activities,
2) improved understanding through authentic, meaningful and relevant content, and
3) enhanced problem-solving and collaborative efforts within the AR learning environment.

A mixed method research design was employed in the study, and data was collected and triangulated from a survey, open-ended questions, and students’ online journals. Students were undergraduate design students in the Faculty of Creative Multimedia. Findings from the study showed that students were very positive and satisfied with their project outcomes, reporting:
1) increased engagement and motivation,
2) improved collaboration and problem-solving skills, and
3) real-world relevance and enjoyment of the immersive learning experiences within the AR learning environment.

This provides strong encouragement and support for the ALARE framework as an effective instructional strategy to redesign immersive, AR-based classrooms that adopt authentic, relevant learning approaches and enable more immersive student learning experiences.

Keywords:

Authentic Learning, Augmented Reality, Malaysia, Real-World, Technology.