Ecosystem Education with Augmented Reality: A Flexible Tool for In-Field Learning

Field-based learning is central to education in the biogeosciences, but COVID-19 and perennial challenges of large classes, short class times, and crowded schedules make exploration of alternative tools for field education more urgent than ever. Augmented reality (AR) is one candidate, allowing students to visit sites on their own time using a mobile app that guides them through a field trip via geolocationally triggered audio, images, and other media. Research into AR’s pedagogical effectiveness is in its infancy, seldom directly comparing delivery of the same field learning activity via AR versus in person, or investigating AR’s pedagogical value beyond the cognitive domain. To address this gap, we developed an AR version of an existing forest ecology field trip to a Douglas fir forest remnant in Vancouver, British Columbia, in a large undergraduate biogeoscience course, and compared student experiences of both versions. The study showed that AR can overcome obstacles to effective field education in large courses and deliver significant pedagogical benefits compared to conventional field trips, including engagement, enjoyment, flexibility, accessibility, and learning supports. With effective instructions and technological contingency planning, AR can be an effective tool for geoscientific field education and help address some larger pedagogical issues facing higher education.