Meta-analysis of the impact of Augmented Reality on students’ learning gains

• Published in: Educational research review Vol. 27; pp. 244 - 260
• Main Authors: Garzón, Juan, Acevedo, Juan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2019
• Subjects: Augmented reality; Education; Literature review; Meta-analysis; Literature review; Education; Augmented reality; Meta-analysis
• ISSN: 1747-938X; 1878-0385
• DOI: 10.1016/j.edurev.2019.04.001

Existing literature reflects the multiple benefits of the integration of Augmented Reality (AR) technologies in educational settings. Many studies have been conducted to establish the tendencies, affordances, and challenges of this technology for education. However, most of these studies are qualitative studies that do not measure the extent of the impact of this technology on education. This study conducted a meta-analysis of 64 quantitative research papers (N = 4705) published between 2010 and 2018 in major journals. The main purpose of the study was to analyze the impact of AR on students’ learning gains. Furthermore, the study analyzed the influence of moderating variables such as control treatment, learning environment, learner type, and domain subject on the learning gains. The results identified that AR has a medium effect on the learning gains of students (d=.68,p<.001). Additionally, the study discusses the effect of AR on the moderating variables and establishes some possible routes of investigation for future work. •We conducted a meta-analysis on the impact of Augmented Reality in education.•Sixty-four quantitative published journal papers written from 2010 to 2018 were coded and analyzed.•Augmented Reality has a medium effect on students' learning gains.•Bachelor students are the students who benefit most from Augmented Reality systems.•Engineering is the field of education that most benefits from Augmented Reality systems.