Impact of Spatial Interface Traversal on Learning

As augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies become more mainstream, educational technologies will increase use of AR/VR capabilities. User Experience (UX) designers will need to understand the extent that these capabilities can impact a virtual learning environment. The proposed experiment in this paper seeks to isolate the interface components of traversal fidelity that are unique to AR/VR technologies and offer insight into their impact to user learning, performance, and usability preferences. AR/VR technologies have the unique feature of a spatial interface, which is a system interface that is embedded into the virtual environment in 3D around the user. This enables a level of realism to computer system interfaces that can emulate physical interactions with a higher fidelity than 2D user interfaces on computer monitors. Understanding the benefits that spatial interfaces can bring to user learning and performance, and help user experience (UX) designers develop better virtual learning environments using AR/VR technologies.