Design of Customizable Gamified Augmented Reality Apps: Towards Embracing Active Learning

ABSTRACT

Educators worldwide are facing challenges to continue providing quality learning design remotely, digitally and in virtual settings. Although teaching and learning activities are almost relatively easy to be translated to online platforms, education is missing active learning and social presence, both of which can promote effective learning. When digital education ensues, mobile technologies are widely optimized for learning. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission report shows that smartphones have become the most popular devices to access the Internet, reaching a near saturation usage level at 98.7% in 2020, due to the pandemic. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, more education institutions will continue to conduct virtual lessons, and the trend is set to grow exponentially. The XploreRAFE+ mock-up mobile apps was developed with the aim of gamifying learning and foster active learning, framed by the Interest-Driven Creator Theory. In general, people who play games may experience positive activating emotions. Positive activating emotions such as enjoyment and pride are found to be positively correlated with cognitive regulations (Yeo & Frederiks, 2011). This is what XploreRAFE+ aims for its users to achieve - able to internalize the knowledge through game play and therefore, enhance their cognition. As such, this apps was designed to allow instructors who do not have the technological know-how of gamification and Augmented Reality (AR), to be able to embrace both for their learning design. Rather than spending time and effort laboriously on designing a gamified lesson with virtual contents, instructors are now able to save their time and create a gamified lesson by plugging in their content into this apps, choosing AR overlays, selecting game mechanics and eliciting students' learning feedback through ePortfolio. XploreRAFE+ would be able to add value by adding in the affective aspects, virtual extended reality elements, supporting social presence and intimacy, and immediacy of feedback. This study invites further research on the apps' evaluation after its development is fully completed.