A meta-analysis of wearables research in educational settings published 2016–2019

The integration of wearables in education environments to enhance teaching and learning is an emerging area of research. However, many studies lack the rigor of formal research designs and results are inconclusive. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the overall effect of wearable use on learning and motivation outcomes and describe the characteristics of the studies that comprise the body of quantitative wearables research. Searches for wearables research were conducted in three databases resulting in 144 results with duplicates removed. Coding based on specific inclusion criteria resulted in 12 studies with 20 effect sizes published between January 2016 and August 2019. The overall weighted mean effect size for 20 learning and motivation outcomes was .6373 (SE = .1622). It should be noted that while this result was statistically significant (z = 3.9292, p = .0001) with 95% CI [.3194, 9552], the heterogeneity was also statistically significant. Additional weighted mean effect sizes relating to study characteristics were significant while meeting the assumption of homogeneity. A discussion of the findings, implications, and limitations are provided.