With its capacity to support student-centered learning through digital transformation and shared experience, augmented reality (AR) has received increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners as an emerging technology to achieve innovative and sustainable education. Therefore, this study systematically reviewed the literature on the application of augmented reality in K–12 education settings between 2000 and 2020. After two stages of screening, 129 articles were selected, and the key research results were analyzed and integrated by adopting a coding scheme including basic information, instruction contexts, technical features, instructional design, and research results. The results revealed interesting findings regarding the augmented reality literature in terms of publication patterns, application fields, technological affordances, instructional designs, and methods. Furthermore, a meta-analysis was conducted to examine the effectiveness of augmented reality-based instruction, and the results showed a large overall effect size (g = 0.919) with three significant moderators. Finally, the practical significance of AR-based instruction and a future research agenda are discussed.

Augmented reality (AR) has been widely used in higher education because of its unique characteristics that combine virtuality and reality. This study systematically reviewed the literature on the application of AR in higher education between 2000 and 2023. A total of 237 articles were selected, and the key research findings were analyzed and synthesized based on the coding manual from five aspects: basic information, disciplines, technology features, instructional design, and research results. The results revealed interesting findings regarding AR literature in terms of publication trends and applied disciplines, technical features and affordances, instructional design, and learning outcomes and measurement methods. Furthermore, a meta-analysis was conducted on 60 experimental studies selected from the literature to examine the overall effectiveness of AR-based instructions. The results indicate that AR applications in higher education tend to have a large overall effect size (g = 0.896, 95% confidence interval = [0.685–1.107], p = 0.000), with two significant moderators: instructional function and learning outcomes. Additional sensitivity and publication bias analyses confirmed the robustness of the meta-analytic findings. Based on these results, four implications for educational practice and research investigating AR-supported higher education were proposed and discussed.

With its ability to afford immersive and interactive learning experiences, virtual reality has been widely used to support experiential learning, of which the learning effectiveness is promoted by the instructional component of debriefing. The current literature on debriefing mainly focuses on the traditional learning contexts while little is known on its effectiveness in immersive virtual reality (IVR) learning environments. Based on the theories of experiential learning and debriefing, this study designed a debriefing strategy based on simulated learning experience and investigated its effectiveness on knowledge and behavioral learning in an IVR learning program, using a randomized controlled trial with 77 elementary students from Hubei province in China. The study results support the efficacy of IVR on improving knowledge acquisition and behavioral performance, and reveal a significant moderating effect of debriefing on the effectiveness of IVR learning environments. The study confirms the critical role of debriefing in IVR-based instruction and provides theoretical and practical implications for the design and implementation of effective IVR learning environments.

This study explored the relationship between technology acceptance and learning satisfaction within a virtual learning environment (VLE) with cognitive presence, cognitive engagement, social presence, and emotional engagement as mediators. A total of 237 university students participated and completed a questionnaire after studying in the Virbela VLE. The results revealed direct and indirect links between technology acceptance and virtual learning satisfaction. The mediation analysis showed the critical mediating roles of cognitive presence and emotional engagement in fostering satisfaction. There also appeared to be a sequential mediating pathway from technology acceptance to learning satisfaction through social presence and emotional engagement. Notably, cognitive engagement and social presence did not have a significant mediating effect on satisfaction. These results provide a supplementary perspective on how technological, cognitive, and emotional factors can enhance student satisfaction in VLEs. The study concludes with several implications for future research and practice of VLEs in higher education.