Digital Culture & AudioVisual Challenges

   The realm of augmented reality (AR) technology is experiencing rapid expansion and is among the swiftly advancing sectors, with museums emerging as one of its most widely embraced application domains and revolutionize the way we see, approach and comprehend the exposed exhibits, alongside with more traditional interpretation and communication methods. The Experiential Learning Cycle stands as a significant theory in experiential learning, garnering recognition across various fields including education, management, psychology, and computer and information science. Research has highlighted the effectiveness of digital technologies, especially mobile technologies, in enhancing experiential learning opportunities for children. The integration of digital tools in museum-based learning has been observed to stimulate children's critical thinking in historical contexts, sparking curiosity, fostering memorable moments, encouraging discussions, and promoting explorations across various types of museums. Thus, nowadays, many museums around the world are realizing the potential benefits of AR. In this end, several projects, prototypes and demonstrators have emerged nearly twenty years. However, the effectiveness of augmented reality as a learning medium for museums remains a research field.

   In this paper, a case study is conducted at the Philatelic and Postal Museum of Greece to investigate whether an AR application affects students' learning experience. To achieve this goal we asked students-visitors of the museum to participate in a pilot experiment and use AR technology through a mobile app, the "Philatelic and Postal Journey", designed for Android and IOS smart handheld devices, which plays the role of a tour guide. According to the experiment, nine participants (8-10 years old) were required at the beginning and at end of their visit to respond to the same 20 multiple-choice questions in order to assess their learning level degree. During the experiment, students had to explore the two museum rooms and utilizing the AR app for scanning markers next to some exhibits after providing them with fundamental instructions regarding the functionalities of the AR app. Participants were allowed to use the app for as long as they desired, with the option to access additional exhibit information in the second section of the application.

   Experiment results show that by using the AR app the students were able to increase their knowledge level, although the sample which was used was relatively small. The overall findings indicated positive learning outcomes for all knowledge questions with no significant differences observed at each question. Especially for 10-year-old students, it appears that knowledge needs to be explicit and not implicit, since it is not always easy for them to understand unseen elements, embedded in the AR app. Consequently, the study indicates that the use of AR Apps in cultural heritage spaces and especially in museums garnered widespread acceptance from both children and their leaders. Children perceived these apps as an engaging means to partake in activities beyond the ordinary. Additionally, when these apps are followed by lesson plans or tour guides, the educational advantages will be optimized. An additional observation is that games tend to heighten students' motivation to thoroughly read instructions and grasp the information displayed on screens before the game commences. It's worth noting that while reading additional information about exhibits (section 2) was not mandatory for the children, the results indicate that most of them eventually chose to explore the extra information.

   Despite these insights, it is acknowledged that there has been a shift toward a more systematic approach in describing and developing AR apps for cultural heritage. However, there still remains potential for enhancement, encompassing both technological advancements and improvements in educational design. In this particular research, the next step involves the evaluation of the AR app across a broader range of subjects spanning various age groups. For this purpose, we plan to  create appropriate questionnaires. Moreover, we will formulate lesson plans that could be used in a classroom that incorporate the use of the AR app. These lessons plans could prepare children not only for a physical visit to the museum, but also for using the AR app in preparation for other lessons, such as ancient art, history, etc. The lesson plans will aim to integrate the AR app into a more general educational context, since in the literature it appears that this approach optimizes their educational effectiveness. Apart from the lessons plans, tour guides for children that integrate the use of this AR app will be designed in cooperation with museologists in order to the enhance the children's experience in situ. Furthermore, the visit intentions could be measured and reported.