Enhancing the pedagogic impact of Augmented Reality experiences: storyboarding as a human centred design approach

Augmented Reality (AR) has come a long way from a science-fiction dream to a science-based reality. AR brings and enhanced view of the real, physical world with the help of computer-generated elements. These elements may range from sound to video, to graphics to GPS overlays and many more. The development of AR applications has evolved and now requires collaborative teamwork. AR has quickly found its way into commercial applications for different sectors such as advertising, education, healthcare, and entertainment, showing potential for engaging with new generations of users.
Higher education institutions have raised some concerns on the difficulty of teaching and learning abstract and complex topics (i.e., design and engineering). There is growing evidence that simulations/animations along with AR can improve learners’ engagement, competence, and skills; especially when compared to traditional didactic methods. However, the overall teaching and learning experience happens within a complex system that dictates the requirements needed for an AR application to cover user expectations and in consequence to be fully embraced in such complex systems. The challenge is to develop new and appropriate T&L tools and methods that can be used in a
complex system where lecturers, students and other stakeholders involved in the learning process need to meet the demands of both academia and industry.
This work will not address the limitations or effectiveness of AR in education; instead, it expands on the use of storyboarding to increase the pedagogical impact of AR in complex teaching systems, in particular for design and engineering topics. This work explores the use of this tool (storyboarding), to bring a practical and human-centred approach at early stages of the development and testing of AR applications, when little changes may have a larger impact down the line.