ARTICLE IN PRESS JID: CAEE [m3Gsc;September 1, 2017;4:31] Computers and Electrical Engineering 000 (2017) 1–11 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers and Electrical Engineering journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compeleceng Augmented reality mobile app development for all  José Miguel Mota a,* , Iván Ruiz-Rube a , Juan Manuel Dodero a , Inmaculada Arnedillo-Sánchez b a Department of Computer Engineering, University of Cádiz, Puerto Real (Cádiz), Spain b School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 7 March 2017 Revised 23 August 2017 Accepted 23 August 2017 Available online xxx Keywords: Learning activities Augmented reality Visual language Mobile learning Programming skills a b s t r a c t Lack of programming skills is a barrier to the engagement of teachers in the development and customisation of their own applications. Visual Environment for Designing Interac- tive Learning Scenarios (VEDILS), a visual tool for designing, customising and deploying learning technologies, provides teachers with a development environment with a low entry threshold. Current mobile devices are equipped with sensors and have sufficient process- ing power to use augmented reality technologies. Despite the heavy use of mobile devices in students’ lives, the use of augmented reality mobile applications as learning tools is not widespread among teachers. The current work presents a framework comprising the de- velopment tool and a method for designing and deploying learning activities. It focuses on the augmented reality components of the authoring tools, which allow users to create their own mobile augmented reality learning apps. It also present the results of the evaluation of the framework with 47 third-level educators, and two case studies of classroom imple- mentations of mobile augmented reality apps developed by these educators. The results illustrate the suitability of the framework and authoring tool for supporting users without programming skills in developing their own apps. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) research, ubiquitous and mobile technologies and serious games, Augmented Reality (AR) and Learning Analytics (LA) provide a means of improving users’ experiences and satisfaction in enriched, mul- timodal learning environments [1]. While TEL research takes advantage of technological innovations in mobile hardware and software, significant developments in user modelling and penalisation techniques have placed students at the center of the learning process [2], and AR has had the effect of increasing the motivation of students [3]. AR technology refers to the inclusion of virtual elements in views of actual physical environments, in order to create a mixed reality in real time. It supplements and enhances the perceptions humans gain through their senses in the real world. AR provides various degrees of immersion and interaction, which can help to engage students in e-learning activities. For instance, in AR learning environments, motivational factors related to attention and satisfaction are rated more highly than for slide-based environments [3].  Reviews processed and recommended for publication to the Editor-in-Chief by Associate Editor Dr. R. Varatharajan. * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: josemiguel.mota@uca.es (J.M. Mota), ivan.ruiz@uca.es (I. Ruiz-Rube), juanma.dodero@uca.es (J.M. Dodero), macu.arnedillo@scss.tcd.ie (I. Arnedillo-Sánchez). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compeleceng.2017.08.025 0045-7906/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Please cite this article as: J.M. Mota et al., Augmented reality mobile app development for all, Computers and Electrical Engineering (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compeleceng.2017.08.025