Manuscript received February 17, 2023; revised April 3, 2023; accepted May 4, 2023.
Abstract—As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, education
has undergone a transformation in the learning methods it has
carried out so far, from face-to-face to virtual face-to-face or
better known as distance learning. Distance learning is a way of
independent learning using technology. Usually, this learning
method is considered less effective in developing critical
thinking skills. Therefore, this study aims to measure the
effectiveness of one of the technologies used for distance learning,
namely smartphone-based Augmented Reality (AR) in
improving critical thinking skills. The subjects involved in this
study were second grade vocational high school students in
Surakarta with a total sample of 120 students. Furthermore, the
true experiment design research method of the Pretest-Posttest
Control Group Design was used and the data were collected by
studying the observation syntax, while data analysis techniques
were conducted by using One-Way ANOVA statistical test. As
for the results of this study, namely Surakarta State Vocational
School X obtained an average test result in a class that used
augmented reality media which was 71.4 points, higher than the
class that did not use AR learning media, namely 51.03. The
same results were also shown at Surakarta State Vocational
School Y, where the class that used augmented reality (AR)
media obtained an average test score of 69.47, which was greater
than the class that did not use it, that was only 45.67. These
results indicate that the use of smartphone-based augmented
reality technology is quite effective in developing students’
critical thinking skills in distance learning.
Index Terms—Augmented Reality (AR), distance learning,
vocational students, smartphone
Nurul Lailatul Badriyah is with Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta,
Central Java, Indonesia.
Munawir Yusuf and Agus Efendi are with Educational Technology
Master Study Program, Faculty of Teaching and Education, Sebelas Maret
University, Indonesia.
*Correspondence: lailanurul04@gmail.com (N.L.B.)
Cite: Nurul Lailatul Badriyah*, Munawir Yusuf, and Agus Efendi, "Augmented Reality as a Media for Distance Learning in the Digital Era: Contribution in Improving Critical Thinking Skills," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 13, no. 11, pp. 1769-1775, 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).