The Utilization of Augmented Reality Technologies within the Engineering Curricula – Opportunities and Challenges

Augmented Reality (AR) is technology that combines videos, photos, texts, and location data of the real world with computer-generated data. Recently, an increased interest from both academia and industry has grown to study and deploy AR technology. Current literature shows that AR has been successfully integrated into many fields of the industry, like navigation, tourism, engineering, entertainment, and automotive. However, its deployment in education and specifically in high education seems to be limited as more research is required to find ways to overcome the associated implementation barriers. This paper aims to explore the potential use of AR in the engineering education sector by highlighting its importance and evaluating the factors that would enable augmented reality application and identifying the associated challenges accordingly. To achieve this, several previous research papers on the potential use of AR applications within the engineering discipline, including the challenges and barriers facing their integration in this discipline were reviewed. This paper, therefore, reports on the findings of this study, providing key foundations towards establishing better-designed AR systems and applications that will increase the acceptance and implementation potential of AR technology in the education industry.