SMACK: Subjective Measure of Applied Contextual Knowledge

We developed an augmented reality [AR] application in Microsoft’s HoloLens platform to investigate if an AR-based assessment tool better assesses a student’s real-world knowledge and skill compared to a traditional, pen-and-paper-based assessment. The AR-based assessment focused on applying knowledge to contextually subjective problems while the traditional assessment required recalling knowledge in unchanging, deterministic problems.Under our AR-based simulated construction scene, participants, 18 students enrolled in a Construction Management Safety course, were required to visually inspect the scene, correctly identify unsafe conditions, and justify their selections in a multiple-choice setting. After their AR-based assessment, they were required to complete a post-survey and a debrief. Also, they were required to complete the traditional assessment and presurvey before the AR-based assessment. Our study demonstrated that the participants preferred the AR-based assessment over the traditional assessment. However, they had higher performance ratings in the traditional assessment than the AR-based assessment.