The post-pandemic education arena continues to evolve and pose many challenges and issues that educators have to grapple with in order to cope with the demands of this “new normal”. These include designing innovative teaching and learning methodologies (online, face-to-face, blended, virtual) and creating opportunities for targeted student digital competences (creative thinking, critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving). The importance of using technology in blended or online classroom teachings is growing and has produced mixed results in their applications. Currently, technological advances and digitally-savvy students have necessitated the use of emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality in the classrooms, and for more interactivity and collaboration among students. However, pedagogical and technological challenges still persist. The 2022 OECD PISA findings show that the impact of the pandemic has significantly affected the learning scores in assessed countries. Studies still show a lack of conviction among educators in the designing of effective technology-backed learning environments as well as a lack in pedagogical support in their designs. In addition, teachers still face challenges in implementing successful collaborative learning activities. This is still prevalent in the Indonesian design education system, where large-scale classes impact the level of education quality and the use of augmented reality technology still warrants further investigation. As such, there is still a need to investigate the impact of technology-backed classrooms on Indonesian students, and its role in developing 21st century digital competencies. In this study, an AR immersive learning environment was developed and incorporated into a design-based classroom in the Universitas Ciputra, Indonesia.

Augmented Reality technology was used to provide students with a more visual and experiential learning environment which would allow them to interact better with the content of the class. The theoretical framework that underpinned the design of this learning environment was Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction, which provided an effective instructional delivery of content while focussing on the conditions for learning. The design of the AR learning environment was mapped to Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction and presented to design students taking a Project Management class over a 14 week period. Students collaborated in groups to solve a design problem within the AR environment. This study utilised a mixed method design approach, with data collected from a 5-point Likert scale survey and open-ended questions.

At the end of the activity, students were given the survey and open-ended questions to complete, which sought to gauge their perceptions of 3 constructs:
1) Collaboration,
2) Use of AR learning, and
3) Engagement and Critical Thinking.

Findings showed that Indonesian students were very positive and receptive to the AR learning environment, and reported high levels of collaboration and teamwork, increased engagement and critical thinking, and enjoyment in using AR in their learning process. These results provide strong support for creating technology-backed classrooms, using extended reality technology such as AR, and for the use of sound pedagogy such as Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction as a framework for Indonesian educators to redesign their classrooms to cultivate 21st century digital competencies in Indonesian design education.

Keywords: Augmented Reality, Indonesia, Design Education, Gagne, Covid 19, Critical Thinking, Collaborative Learning.