The effectiveness of an augmented reality app in online civil engineering learning

ABSTRACT

In this study, an AR-based mobile learning application is proposed to assist online civil engineering course learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. A quasi-experiment has been conducted, and feedback from both the teacher and students has been analysed to examine the effectiveness of the proposed approach in terms of learning achievements. The subjects were 46 sophomores who majored in civil engineering in one class taught by one instructor in a southern U.S. state university. The quasi-experimental results showed that the proposed approach could not significantly improve the students’ online learning achievements. However, the feedbacks brought some explanation to this non-significant result. They indicated that students found this mobile AR app to be an interesting, helpful, practical, and effective approach in their online learning that helped them gain more in-depth knowledge than traditional teacher-centred classroom instruction.

KEYWORDS:

• Augmented reality
• civil engineering
• quasi-experiment
• online learning
• mobile application

Funding

This work was supported by The National Science Foundation (NSF) in the United States, Grant ID: HRD 1818672.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yin Huang

Yin Huang is a teacher in Nantong Vocational University in China, now studying educational administration at Jackson State University as a PhD candidate. He can be reached via email at [email protected].

Farshad Amini

Dr. Farshad Amini, PE, is a Professor of Civil Engineering and Chair in the Department of Civil Engineering at Jackson State University. He can be reached via email at [email protected].

Chao Jiang

Chao Jiang is currently a PhD student in Computer Engineering at Jackson State University. He can be reached via email at [email protected].

Jianjun Yin

Dr. Jianjun Yin is a Professor of Education in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Jackson State University. He can be reached via email at [email protected]