Virtual Environments and Augmented Reality Applied to Heritage Education. An Evaluative Study

Technological advancements have provided heritage with new learning environments via the use of virtual and augmented reality, which can foster the accessibility and understanding of culture and propose new ways of interacting with heritage. Therefore, in this study, a systematic evaluation is carried out of n=197 heritage education programs listed in the database of the Observatorio de Educación patrimonial en España (OEPE) (the Spanish Heritage Education Observatory–SHEO) which, in their descriptions, integrate the use of virtual environments and/or augmented reality to promote learning on the part of the user. The objectives of this study are: (1) to analyse the state of the art, (2) to evaluate the quality of their educational designs via the “analysis and assessment sequential method for heritage education programs” (SAEPEP-OEPE) and (3) to identify variables which can be improved or which have a significant influence on the quality of the programs. Highlights of the results include: (a) the increasing implementation of these technologies in heritage education programs, with the greater presence of virtual resources than of learning environments, (b) the low level of the scope of educational quality in their designs, particularly their assessment, and (c) the inclusion of advanced technologies slightly decreases the specificity of the educational design.This research was carried out with the aid of funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and was co-funded by ERDF funds from the European Union for the research projects EDU2015-65716-C2-1-R, EDU2015-65716-C2-2-R, and PGC2018-094491-B-C33. It has also been made possible by funding from the Fundación Séneca of the Region of Murcia for the project 20638/JLI/18 and the Education Department of the Regional Government of the Basque Country (IT1193-19)