Learning procedural knowledge using augmented reality applications on smart glasses - Requirements and conceptual design

Abstract

Highly skilled employees who are able to apply their procedural knowledge at the workplace are important for many enterprises as the number of knowledge and technology intensive activities increases. Thus, many enterprises undertake efforts to train their employees properly: For instance, in many industrial enterprises newly hired employees need to train practical tasks – like operating or repairing a production machine – as part of their incorporation into the job. Such learning scenarios usually take place directly at the workplace in a situational learning context (e.g. in the production hall) and hence the learning content is directly linked to the learners’ location. This has the advantage that learners are able to extend their knowledge at their current location when they require it. One emerging technology which is able to support such situational learning scenarios is augmented reality. As augmented reality allows linking real world objects (like machines) with learning content, it is suited for imparting procedural knowledge. This is especially true if augmented reality is provided by smart glasses, i.e. small computers which are worn on the user’s head. These head-mounted wearable computers are suited for situated learning on-the-job as these devices are able to present learning content to learners on a head-mounted display while they are executing practical tasks. In this way, smart glasses are able to guide learners step-by-step through tasks within working processes. In contrast to other technologies like smartphones or tablets, smart glasses have the advantage that they can be used simultaneously while learners perform tasks. Even though prior research on using augmented reality on smart glasses for learning procedural tasks is limited, experts anticipate that the technology can enhance learning processes in enterprises massively. Thus, the main goal of our paper is to analyze how augmented reality learning applications for smart glasses are able to support learners while practicing procedural tasks. Therefore, we conducted qualitative, explorative interviews with 21 domain experts from industrial enterprises and analyzed existing literature. Based on this, we derived requirements in order to describe which functionalities need to be provided by augmented reality learning applications and how learning content should look like in order to support learners effectively. Furthermore, we present a conceptual design including mockups to outline how an application should be implemented. The results of our study – the identified requirements which describe functionalities and the structure of learning content as well as the conceptual design – can be used by both, practitioners and researchers: Practitioners get insights about advantages and potential learning scenarios of using augmented reality applications on smart glasses for imparting procedural knowledge. Researchers can use the identified requirements and the conceptual design as a basis for developing augmented reality learning applications.