A user experience survey of an augmented reality android application for learning Coulomb’s law

In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated social distancing measures, prompting a greater interest in augmented reality (AR) as a means to facilitate accessible physics experiments for students. Recognizing this, we have recently developed an Android mobile application that harnesses AR technology. The application named CoulombsLawAR allows users to investigate how electrical charges and their distance influence the electrical force between them. The primary objective of our study was to assess students’ experiences while using this AR application. To achieve this, we engaged 156 undergraduate students from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology from University of Zagreb in the evaluation process. They were requested to utilize our AR application to complete a task specifically designed to enhance their understanding of Coulomb’s law. Subsequently, the participants were given a series of questionnaires, comprising five open-ended questions and 30 close-ended questions. These questionnaires included the System Usability Scale, User Experience, and Handheld Augmented Reality Usability Scale. In-depth analysis of the students’ feedback provided valuable insights. The majority of the participants found the application to be user-friendly, consistent in its performance, self-explanatory, and enjoyable to use. Additionally, students provided constructive feedback regarding potential enhancements that could be made to the application. Overall, the study findings indicate that the AR application we developed was well-received by undergraduate students, highlighting its potential as an effective tool for teaching and learning physics concepts.