Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 AI & SOCIETY https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-019-00881-3 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Augmented learning, smart glasses and knowing how Wulf Loh 1  · Catrin Misselhorn 2 Received: 5 September 2018 / Accepted: 18 February 2019 © Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract While recent studies suggest that augmented learning employing smart glasses (ALSG) increases overall learning perfor- mance, in this paper we are more interested in the question which repercussions ALSG will have on the type of knowledge that is acquired. Drawing from the theoretical discussion within epistemology about the diferences between Knowledge- How and Knowledge-That, we will argue that ALSG furthers understanding as a series of epistemic and non-epistemic Knowing-Hows. Focusing on academic knowledge acquisition, especially with respect to early curriculum experiments in various STEM disciplines as investigated by the BmBF “Be-Greifen” project, we take the Be-Greifen holo.lab setup as an example for showing that ALSG shifts the learning focus from propositional knowledge to epistemic competencies, which can be diferentiated as “grasping”, “wielding”, and “transferring”. Keywords Higher education · Augmented reality · Knowing-How · Smart glasses · Assistive technology · STEM 1 Introduction Recently, a focus in educational theory and psychology has been put on Augmented Reality (AR), as with it comes the “promise of creating direct, automatic, and actionable links between the physical world and electronic informa- tion” (Schmalstieg and Hollerer 2016). It has been argued that AR environments (AREs) create a new paradigmatic form of visualization that enhances temporal and spatial contiguity (Mayer and Moreno 2003; Moreno and Mayer 2007), thereby efectively reducing the student’s cognitive load (Sweller 1988, 2005) and furthering the understanding of the topic at hand (Regt 2014). This is especially true for AREs that employ smart glasses, as this method combines the possibility of hands-free, sensor-based visual augmen- tations with “neareye presented multiple representations” (Kuhn et al. 2016). For this reason, augmented learning employing smart glasses (ALSG) is superior to other AREs in terms of reducing cognitive load and enhancing under- standing (Strzys et al. 2018). In this paper, however, we are not primarily concerned with the question whether ALSG increases overall learning performance (Santos et al. 2014). Rather, we are interested whether employing ALSG might shift the kind of knowl- edge that is acquired and which possible repercussions this may have. 1 While at frst glance, this seems to be an empiri- cal question within the realm of educational psychology (Seel 2003), it can nonetheless proft immensely from the theoretical discussion within epistemology about diferent kinds of knowledge and understanding. The longstanding debate about the diferences between Knowledge-How (KH) and Knowledge-That (KT), which is tied to the distinction between intellectualism and anti-intellectualism (Fantl 2012), not only highlights diferent kinds of knowledge, which are acquired by diferent methods in diferent con- texts. In addition, this diferentiation is perforce also a difer- entiation about knowledge acquisition itself (Neuweg 2004). The epistemological distinction between KH and KT reverts directly back to the paradigm shift in educational theory from a focus on factual knowledge to a focus on competencies (Jones et al. 2001). In this sense, competency- focused teaching and learning in academic contexts does * Wulf Loh wulf.loh@philo.uni-stuttgart.de 1 Int. Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW), University of Tuebingen, Wilhelmstr. 19, 72074 Tuebingen, Germany 2 Department of Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy; Chair of the Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Stuttgart, Seidenstr. 36, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany 1 As we will see later on, this shift is nonetheless accompanied with an increase of “understanding” as an ability—a “knowledge-how”. However, the paper does not focus on this increase, but rather on the shift itself. Author's personal copy