Evaluation of an augmented reality tool for university studies of engineering

This paper presents the development and evaluation of an augmented reality (AR) tool for laboratory practices in engineering students. The tool was developed using the Zappar platform and includes AR elements in the teaching material. The evaluation was conducted by comparing the academic results of a group of students who used the tool with those of another group who conducted the practice in a traditional way. For this, robust statistical techniques were used, namely the median and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon tests. The results show that students who used the AR tool obtained significantly higher scores. This suggests that AR can be an effective tool for improving learning in laboratory practices, fostering knowledge acquisition and stimulating student autonomy. The evaluation is referred to engineering students from the 2022-23 academic year, at the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieria de la Universidad de Huelva.