Augmented Reality as a Teaching Resource in Higher Education

Abstract

The motivation of the students is an essential component in their good performance and in the assimilation of the contents of the various disciplines they receive during their career. Teachers, in order to awaken the interest of students and as part of their methodological work, constantly seek new didactic resources that enrich the teaching–learning experience. Augmented Reality, as a didactic resource, has contributed to awakening true interest among students. This statement has been corroborated by different international studies that show high levels of satisfaction when students use this technology, in addition to the significant increase in levels of motivation when students are immersed in training activities with it. Along with motivation, it has been shown that the use of Augmented Reality enhances more motivating, collaborative and interactive training scenarios and helps a more open and creative education. Therefore, the objective of this research was to increase the motivation of the students, as well as the training of competences in the Computer Architecture course of the Computer Engineering career through a teaching aid that made use of Augmented Reality. This tool was applied to the second year of the aforementioned degree and after a comparative study of the results obtained by the students during 3 academic years, including the current one, increases in motivation and appropriation of competences were evidenced, expressed in the evaluations of performance obtained.