ARETE

The project „Augmented Reality Interactive Educational System“ (ARETE) was a European project funded by the European Commission in the Horizon2020 program. ARETE started in November 2019 and ran until April 2023.

In the project ARETE, Augmented Reality [AR] technologies for educational contexts were developed, implemented, evaluated, and disseminated. For this purpose, European partners from research and industry worked together for the development, testing and dissemination of innovative and interactive AR technologies.

In the ARETE project, four pilot studies were conducted to test the application of interactive AR technologies at schools in several European countries. In this context, it was the main task of the team of School Pedagogy to lead on and conduct the evaluation of the pilot phases.

Further information and project outcomes can be found at http://www.areteproject.eu/.

If you have further questions, please contact Jennifer Tiede.

Prof. Dr. Silke Grafe

Chair of School Pedagogy
Oswald-Külpe-Weg 82

97074 Würzburg

Building: 82

Room: 03.014

Phone: +49 931 31-81535

Email: silke.grafe@uni-wuerzburg.de

Office Hours: by appointment

[Translate to Englisch:] Prof.in Dr. Silke Grafe

ARETE. (2023). Report on Evaluations for Pilot 4. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7704282
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Tiede, J., Förster, K., Grafe, S., & Mangina, E. (2023). Augmented Reality in Primary Education: Teachers’ Perspectives on Potential and Barriers. Proceedings of 17th International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED 2023), 1283-1292. https://doi.org/10.21125/inted.2023.0369
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Research findings suggest that Augmented Reality (AR) can be a beneficial tool for teaching and learning practices but brings about certain challenges at the same time. Teachers are central stakeholders in the educational use of AR; given their daily classroom practice, they are also experts in the evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of respective innovative educational technologies. Yet, few studies systematically analysed teachers’ opinions and experiences about the advantages and problems in the educational use of AR technologies so far. In response to this desideratum, the following paper presents results from a systematic and category-based qualitative content analysis based on an interview study. The input was collected from a heterogeneous and international convenience sample of n=11 teachers after they had piloted one out of three AR-enhanced learning apps in their daily classroom practice. The results confirm that increased student motivation and classroom engagement and advanced learning achievements are considered the predominant advantages and that issues with software and technology were perceived as the biggest problems in the pilot study. Furthermore, dimensions of motivation and classroom engagement are considered in detail to achieve an in-depth analysis and to bring forward important recommendations for further developments and for teachers’ future educational use of AR technologies.
ARETE. (2023). D6.5 Pilots Performance Analysis. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7940994
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Tiede, J., Grafe, S., & Mangina, E. (2023). Student Motivation in Augmented Reality-Enhanced Gamified STEM Learning Settings. 2023 IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media Conference (GEM), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1109/GEM59776.2023.10390444
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Against the background of the research-based assumption that student motivation is a key factor for successful teaching and learning processes, the following paper presents results from a study evaluating the role of student motivation in Augmented Reality (AR)-enhanced gamified STEM learning settings. In the study, an international sample of 1988 primary school students and 91 teachers used an AR-enhanced gamified STEM learning app (intervention group) or traditional teaching and learning approaches (control group). Student motivation and performance were assessed in a pre and post test design and teachers’ opinions were recorded using online surveys. The results indicate that students and teachers in the intervention group considered the motivational impact of the AR-enhanced gamified app significantly higher, compared to the ratings for alternative media in the control group. The product-moment correlation between motivation and further variables, such as student attitudes and self-efficacy, showed significant, medium strong results which are comparably high in intervention and control group. Only in the intervention group, motivation and learning achievement were correlated. Students and teachers in the intervention group tended to agree on the motivational impact of the study phase while a correlation between the opinions of teachers and students in the control group could not be confirmed. Overall, the study provides evidence of the pedagogical usefulness of AR-enhanced gamified STEM learning applications in terms of supporting student motivation, based on findings from a large international sample.
Tiede, J., Treacy, R., Grafe, S., & Mangina, E. (2022). Fostering Learning Motivation of Students with Reading and Spelling Difficulties by an AR-Enhanced Gamified Educational App for Literacy Learning. Proceedings of IEEE GEM Conference 2022, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1109/GEM56474.2022.10017825
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Students with special educational needs benefit from carefully designed learning approaches that consider both their individual learning requirements and the advances in teaching and learning methods and tools. This paper presents the initial exploratory results from a pilot study on the advancement of literacy skills through an innovative Augmented Reality (AR)-enhanced gamified educational app for students diagnosed with reading / spelling difficulties or dyslexia. A sample of 5 teachers and 23 students worked with the AR app for the duration of a school term and filled in standardized scales on student motivation upon completion of the pilot study. The analysis of the results indicates that both groups of teachers and students found the AR app motivating to a certain degree. However, there were challenges within the pilot implementation that impeded the successful app use and potentially delimited the perceived motivational effects. Conclusions and outlooks of research perspectives for further development highlight the necessity for further research in this important field
Tiede, J., Grafe, S., & Mangina, E. (2022). Teachers’ Attitudes and Technology Acceptance towards AR Apps for Teaching and Learning. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.23919/iLRN55037.2022.9815918

URL Video Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3MRxKHo7qw&ab_channel=ImmersiveLearningResearchNetwork
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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.
Tiede, J., Mangina, E., & Grafe, S. (2021). The Evaluation of Augmented Reality applications in European Primary Schools [Poster Presentation]. In 2nd International Conference on Science and Technology Education. https://web.fe.up.pt/~ste2021/img/Poster%203%20-%20STE21_27%20-%20J%20Tiede.pdf
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Tiede, J., Matin, F., Treacy, R., Grafe, S., & Mangina, E. (2021). Evaluation Design Methodology for an AR App for English Literacy Skills. In D. Economou, A. Peña-Rios, A. Dengel, H. Dodds, M. Mentzelopoulos, A. Klippel, M. J. W. Lee, & J. Richter (Eds.), Proceedings of 2021 7th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) (pp. 14-18). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.23919/iLRN52045.2021.9459392
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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.
Tiede, J., Mangina, E., & Grafe, S. (2021). Evaluation Design Methodology for Piloting Two Educational Augmented Reality STEM Apps in European Elementary Schools. In T. J. Bastiaens (Ed.), Proceedings of EdMedia + Innovate Learning 2021 (pp. 185-190). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/p/219656
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According to research findings, Augmented Reality (AR) can have a positive impact on student STEM learning and knowledge acquisition. However, sound concepts for assessing this impact especially in an international sample are scarce, even though an international comparative perspective opens up important viewpoints and helps understand individual and national conditions of the usefulness within specific concepts. This paper will introduce the research methodology applied in the European H2020 ARETE project to systematically assess and analyze an intervention utilizing AR in STEM classes in elementary education across Europe, compared within the background work of this research area. This methodology allows for a grounded data collection approach in order to bring forward important research results on a European level.
Masneri, S., Dominguez, A., Wild, F., Pronk, J., Heintz, M., Tiede, J., Nistor, A., Chiazzese, G., & Mangina, E. (2020). Work-in-progress-ARETE-An Interactive Educational System using Augmented Reality. In D. Economou, A. Klippel, H. Dodds, A. Pena-Rios, {Mark J. W. Lee, D. Beck, J. Pirker, A. Dengel, {Tiago M. Peres, & J. Richter (Eds.), 2020 6th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) (pp. 283-286). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. https://doi.org/10.23919/iLRN47897.2020.9155186

6th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network, iLRN 2020 ; Conference date: 21-06-2020 Through 25-06-2020
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ARETE (Augmented Reality Interactive Educational System) is a European project, which aims to develop an interactive toolkit for Augmented Reality (AR) content. In this work in progress paper, we describe the system which is currently being developed. The ARETE system follows human-centered interaction design practices and has a strong focus in interactive, multi-user and multi-lingual technologies. On completion, the system will be evaluated across three pilot studies. The three pilots will involve more than 3000 students across ten European countries and they will assess the impact of usage of the ARETE system and the educational value of AR for English literacy skills, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills and in the implementation of Positive Behaviour Support in Schools (PBIS). ARETE will also be involved in the implementation of new standards for the creation of cross platform content and services as well as the creation of learning experience data repositories.

ARETE

Prof. Dr. Silke Grafe

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