Presence in Augmented Learning: An Empirical Study Leading to a New Questionnaire Proposal

Abstract

Presence is an important concept in Extended Reality (XR) learning environments. Although there are clear definitions and several tools for measuring presence in Virtual Reality, there is no clear definition of presence in Augmented Reality (AR) and limited tools for its measurement. The aim of this pilot study was to propose a new tool for measuring Presence in AR called “Presence in Augmented Reality Questionnaire” (PARQ) and test its content validity and internal reliability by means of a sample of undergraduate students (N=145) that interacted with an AR application on two different devices: Magic Leap 1 AR Glasses and a smartphone. A secondary aim was to compare the presence levels of each device. The initial version of PARQ consisted of four factors: realness, interactivity, non-mediation, and engagement with a total of 15 items. The content validity of PARQ was assessed by 10 experts in the field of XR in education and was found adequate. Nevertheless, to enhance the internal reliability of the factors, five items were removed, resulting in a revised version comprising three factors: realness, interactivity and engagement. The results from the revised tool showed that AR glasses generated a greater sense of presence compared to the smartphone. Additionally, the majority of students favored AR glasses over the smartphone. Overall, this was an initial attempt to develop and evaluate a new tool for measuring presence in AR, which requires further refinement and more comprehensive empirical evaluation.