The impact of instructional support via generative learning strategies on the perception of visual authenticity, learning outcomes, and satisfaction in AR-based learning

Augmented reality (AR) presents significant opportunities for creating authentic learning environments by accurately mirroring real-world objects, contexts, and tasks. The visual fidelity of AR content, seamlessly integrated into the real world, contributes to its perceived authenticity. Despite acknowledging AR’s positive impact on learning, scant research explores specific learning strategies within an AR context, and there’s a lack of studies linking perceived visual authenticity to these strategies. This study addresses these gaps by surveying learners using AR technology to study the human cardiovascular system, exploring perceived visual authenticity, learning outcomes, and satisfaction. Learners used either (1) AR with the self-explanation learning strategy, (2) AR with the drawing learning strategy, or (3) AR only. Analysis of variance and correlation was used for data analysis. Results indicated no significant differences in perceived visual authenticity and satisfaction among the learning strategy groups. However, groups employing learning strategies showed superior learning outcomes compared to the AR-only group. Crucially, the self-explanation learning strategy significantly enhanced knowledge gain compared to drawing and AR-only groups, indicating that self-explanation, together with the visual input from the AR-learning environment, fosters a more coherent mental representation. This increased learning efficacy was achieved while maintaining a consistent perception of visual authenticity and satisfaction with the learning material. These findings expand the current landscape of AR research by moving beyond media comparison studies.