Wearable Technologies: A Passing Trend or Added Value for Education?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore existing research on wearable technologies in education, identify research gaps, and formulate proposals for future research. The results of the literature review, although encouraging in terms of the use of wearable technologies, are nonetheless insufficient in order to reach solid conclusions concerning their impact on learning. The majority of the research discussing both the design and development of the applications, as well as their impact, lacks a pedagogical framework and has numerous limitations from a methodological standpoint. Future research must, among other things, direct its attention to issues relating to the pedagogical framework in which wearable technologies are used in formal and informal learning settings, the design, development, and evaluation of educational applications, the training of educators, as well as the development of new tools to measure the experiences and opportunities that devices offer.