Personalized Wearable Guides or Audio Guides: An Evaluation of Personalized Museum Guides for Improving Learning Achievement and Cognitive Load

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of incorporating personalized learning based on students' learning styles (visual or verbal) into wearable or audio museum guides. Personalized learning is achieved by matching participants' learning styles with either a wearable or an audio guide. The participants in this study consisted of 79 university students divided into four groups: audio guide-visual, audio guide-verbal, wearable guide-visual, and wearable guide-verbal. The students' cognitive load (intrinsic, extraneous, and germane) and learning achievement (remembering, understanding, and analyzing) were assessed and compared. In this study, it was found that personalized learning helps to reduce students' intrinsic cognitive load and extraneous cognitive load, while increasing their germane cognitive load and improving their ability to memorize. It is suggested that museum educators refer to our classification of learning styles, provide visitors with personalized devices, and incorporate wearable guide devices into their museums' learning processes, in order to improve visitors' learning achievement.