Augmented Reality Media Development in Early Childhood Learning System During the Covid 19 Pandemic Era

The phenomenon of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the experience of children in the independent and responsible learning process. The policy of online learning carried out from home has been implemented in Early Childhood Education. The implementation of technological innovation needs to be applied to transform knowledge. The development of learning technology using Augmented Reality (A.R.) is the realization of needs actually by the media in early childhood learning materials. This research method uses a qualitative strand to explore in-depth information related to children's perceptions of initial data. Meanwhile, the quantitative strand data collection was used to measure the results of the widely implemented A.R. learning product trials dominant by strengthening quantitative data. The product development approach with exploratory sequential mix methods is a guideline for researching plural data collection. In developing A.R. learning media, it was found that 78.28% of learning media needs were related to learning motivation to use these technological devices. The development of A.R. media for early childhood leads to the theme of the surrounding environment that was previously designed through a storyboard. Implementation and evaluation of A.R. learning media for early childhood shows that using media is 83.7% from cognitive outcomes that support online learning. Cognitive abilities foster children's imagination in realizing ideas into expressions in exploring behavior in the environment during the learning period at home. Research findings from the application of children's learning technology can connect meaningful contextual sources and respond with enthusiasm. The meaning of learning media for early childhood is an effort to bring children's psychology closer during "Learning to Home" learning which creates situations and conditions with technology and digitalization in education in the era of disruption that can change the existing system order.