Investigating the Necessity of Meaningful Context Anchoring in AR Smart Glasses Interaction for Everyday Learning

The wearable nature of smart glasses opens up many possibilities for these devices to support informal and everyday learning. A key question arises: is physical contextualization necessary for smart glasses to support learning? We ran a within-subjects study comparing the use of meaningful anchoring (MA) and arbitrary anchoring (AA) in smart glasses in a simulated learning scenario. Results showed AA performed better on learning scores and task performance, but AR immersion and system usability were better for MA. The necessity varies depending on usage scenarios. MA is more suitable for UX-oriented scenarios, while AA is preferred for efficiency-driven scenarios.