Santiago Criollo-C, Andrea Guerrero-Arias, Javier Guaña-Moya, Soha Rawas, Agariadne Dwinggo Samala, Sergio Luján-Mora
The use of emerging technologies such as mobile augmented reality (MAR) in education has gained relevance, especially in technical areas such as PC hardware learning. However, a persistent problem is the cognitive load that these applications may impose on students, which could affect learning effectiveness and acceptance. This issue is crucial, as a high mental workload can lead to disengagement and lower knowledge retention. Previous studies have explored technological solutions for education but in many cases failed to optimize cognitive load or generate a satisfactory learning environment. This study proposes a MAR application called Build_PC, designed for hands-on teaching of PC hardware. The NASA-TLX tool was used to evaluate the mental workload in 60 students, analyzing dimensions such as mental, physical, temporal, performance, effort, and frustration level. The results show a low mental workload among students, suggesting that Build_PC achieves a balance between task complexity and interface usability. These findings have significant implications: The use of Build_PC in education enables effective, autonomous learning in a technologically advanced environment without imposing excessive mental workload. This supports MAR’s potential as an effective and sustainable learning tool, particularly in contexts where access to physical laboratories is limited. Copyright © 2026 Santiago Criollo-C et al. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador; Jezreel International Christian Academy, Quito, Ecuador; Facultad de Ingeniería, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador; Faculty of Science, Beirut Arab University, Beirut, Lebanon; Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, Indonesia; Department of Software and Computing Systems, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
