Augmented Reality Computer-aided Design Education (ARCADE) Tool to Improve Student Motivation, Engagement, and Spatial Cognition

Abstract

Immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have become the worldwide huge technological innovations impacting on human life significantly. While the VR is an enclosed environment separated completely from the real world, AR allows users to merge the digital and physical worlds and enable the interaction between them. The wide usage of AR has led researchers to investigate its potential capability in several areas including STEM-related fields. Previous research shows that an AR assisted courses tend to enhance students' learning, spatial cognition, increase the students' motivation and engagement in learning process. In this study, the researchers have developed an AR application, named ARCADE to assist students with spatial cognition and remote course engagement independently. The ARCADE tool enables students to not only visualize the isometric product from its orthogonal views, but it also provides short tutorial clips how a specific feature was developed and what tools were' used. The students can perform basic modifications on the 3D part in the ARCADE such as section views, details views, scale, rotate and explode the assembly views. Although this project is a work in progress, the preliminary pretest and posttest results show there is a significant improvement in students' spatial cognition when the proposed tool is used to assist the course.