A Mobile Augmented Reality Learning Platform for Local Culture Course

M-learning systems enable learners to assimilate courses material anywhere in anytime. However, most of the existing M-learning systems only allow learners to passively receive knowledge without considering the temporal and spatial relationship between the learners and the environment. This paper presents a novel approach of context-aware Mobile Augmented Reality(MAR) learning platform, called Historical Time Tunnel(HTT), for the fieldtrip of local culture courses. Local culture courses are the lessons that teach students regarding the historical events of an area. AR-based M-learning systems enable learners to interactively acquire historical knowledge that are related to their current geographical location. Through such direct interaction enabled by AR interface, the knowledge acquisition efficiency can be significantly boosted. The design rationale and architecture of MAR scaffolding platform are fully described in this paper. To validate the effectiveness of MAR scaffolding system, experiments were conducted on the six-grade students. The discussions are then elaborated in the end of this paper. The experiments show that MAR scaffolding system is an effective scaffolding tool for the novice teachers as well as a helpful assistant to the experienced teachers.