Integrating Design-Based Research and Agile Scrum for Inclusive Educational Technology Design: Best Practices and Challenges from an Accessible Augmented Reality Learning Authoring Tool Project

Designing inclusive multimedia systems requires iterative refinement and close collaboration with end-users, especially when addressing accessibility needs. This paper presents a case study on an accessible Augmented Reality (AR) authoring tool project in which we integrated Design-Based Research (DBR) with Agile Scrum (AS). By blending DBR’s iterative, in-situ design experimentation with Scrum’s adaptive software development cycles, we designed and implemented a multimedia authoring tool for instructors of varying abilities. We document the best practices that emerged from this hybrid approach, such as early stakeholder involvement, the use of accessibility-focused user stories, and aligning research evaluation cycles with sprint reviews. We also detail the challenges encountered, including balancing research and development goals, team role coordination, and sustaining an accessibility focus under tight iterations. We also situate our work relative to prior studies that combined DBR with other methodologies, highlighting how our approach differs by targeting inclusive technology system design rather than pedagogical outcomes. This manuscript offers actionable insights for human–computer interaction (HCI) researchers and practitioners aiming to create accessible multimedia systems and applications by leveraging the complementary strengths of DBR and AS.