International Journal of Technology Management and Information System (IJTMIS) eISSN: 2710-6268 [Vol. 4 No. 3 September 2022]
Journal website: http://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijtmis
GAMIFICATION IN LEARNING ARCHITECTURE DESIGN WITH AUGMENTED REALITY
Nadia Zaini1*, Sharon Ting Yew Jia2, Nurfauza Jali3, Mustafa Payandenick4 and Suriati Khartini Jali5
1 Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, MALAYSIA
2 3 4 5 Faculty Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan,
MALAYSIA
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Article Information:
Article history:
Received date : 3 September 2022 Revised date : 24 September 2022 Accepted date : 27 September 2022 Published date : 28 September 2022
To cite this document:
Zaini, N., Ting, S. Y. J., Jali, N., Payandenick, M., & Jali, S. K. (2022).
GAMIFICATION IN LEARNING ARCHITECTURE DESIGN WITH AUGMENTED REALITY.
International Journal of Technology Management and Information System, 4(3), 1-16.
Abstract: Nowadays, gamification has been widely used in the educational environment. It is because gamification of education is a great approach for increasing learners’
engagement by incorporating game-like elements or games into the learning process. The main aims to sustain gamification in education are to optimise learners' experience in their learning process, enrich their skills, and enhance motivation in studies. In addition, most of the learning materials are provided to learners through images, videos, and textbooks in the classroom. These learning materials will convey detailed theoretical knowledge of lessons to learners. Nevertheless, such a teaching method does not consider learners’
interpretation of the existing materials in the real environment, causing learners to lack diversity in studies.
Moreover, there is another major problem in the current education system: instructors are more focused on providing traditional teaching methods that support learners reciting and memorising the syllabus, thus lacking emphasis on learners’ critical thinking. As a result, it can cause learners to become lack interest in studies and lead to a decline in academic performance. To solve the problem of less interest and lack of concentration in studies, various types of learning method and learning
motivation. Furthermore, Augmented Reality (AR) technology will also be applied to this proposed mobile application to encourage learners' engagement in studies.
Keywords: Gamification, Augmented Reality, 3D models, learning method.
1. Introduction
In this advanced technology era, digital technology has made everything convenient in our daily activities. It has been successfully applied in all fields of society, such as business, tourism, marketing, agriculture, industry, and so on. It also plays an essential role in education, which people attach great importance. In the education field, the development of information technology and the internet has brought a variety of digital resources that supports students to understand the teaching contents easily. Some examples include using game mechanics in the classroom and using an electronic grading system for reports and grade books, as well as utilising the school's website, e-books, online tutorial materials, virtual learning, and more.
Interest is a strong motivational process that optimises learning, enhances curiosity, improves motivation, and is key to academic success. Students pay more attention, become engaged, to attend class when they are interested in an academic topic. According to Silva (2019), students lack interest in studies when their interest has turned into other things. This shows that people have a remarkable ability to concentrate on things that they are interested in. So, if students are interested in studies, absorbed knowledge is directly proportional to curiosity. In addition, curiosity is a desire for unknown knowledge, which may enhance learning new information. Researchers have found that curiosity peaks when people can guess the answer but are unsure; the brain shows higher activation after incorrect guesses than after making a correct guess (Kang et al., 2009). At the same time, it shows the highest motivation and is the best learning time.
The most pertinent point is that gamification in education is useful to stimulate people’s curiosity about knowledge. Based on Dichev and Dicheva's (2017) article, gamification of education is a strategy that can be used to increase students’ motivation and enhance their engagement in studies by incorporating learning games in educational environments. This demonstrates that gamification ushers a change in the fundamental structure of teaching methods. Besides that, to stimulate students' curiosity, incorporating gamification and Augmented Reality (AR) into curricula can increase student engagement. Not only that, in this Covid-19 pandemic, AR enables educators to show virtual examples of the material. It helps students who are required to learn from home to access and be more aware of the learning materials.
2. Literature Review
This chapter focuses on the literature reviews of three existing mobile apps, which involve gamification, AR, or both. Besides that, a comparison among three similar existing apps was made to discuss their functionalities, game-like elements, and advantages. In contrast, these three apps' main function was analysed to develop the proposed mobile application.
Artedomus AR
Artedomus AR is a mobile application that Artedomus (AUST) PTY developed.LTD from Australia on 8 July 2019. Artedomus AR is a mobile application that allows users to set and see the wall, floor tiles, and furniture in their homes via Augmented Reality (AR). This application is a free download mobile application that users can install this application from Apple App Store.
Besides that, this application was designed to increase retail experience via AR and 3D models.
Users can design wall and floor tiles using AR technology on their mobile devices. Furthermore, users are also allowed to resize, rotate, adjust the orientation, change the colour of products, and move the position of tiles to match their wall to see the result. Moreover, Artedomus AR was developed to reduce the hesitation of customers through AR when they are not sure if an item of furniture or wall will match their home.
Sololearn
Sololearn, founded by Yeva Hyusyan and David Kocharyan from Armenia in 2014. This is an application that offers free lessons to users to learn how to do coding with different programming languages. Sololearn is available across Android, IOS, and Windows platforms. Sololearn is an application using gamification mechanisms around various learning courses. This application gamifies the programming acquisition process, which can help to increase engagement and improve learners' willingness in studies. Furthermore, Sololearn is a suitable application for people who are beginners in programming. Sololearn offers users various courses and questions designed by professors and experts. It helps users learn step-by-step through the courses and gradually advance their programming skills with practice. This application also provides some quizzes after each lesson to help users strengthen their basic skills.
360ed
360ed is an application that uses developments in Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and other emerging technologies to redesign the learning process for learners in Myanmar. The information was expressed in a meaningful and exciting way. Furthermore, this application provides video clips, self-test, labelling, drawing, and detailed chapter explanation to users to help them easily study Biology for the exam. Users can learn with this application's colourful graphics, tables, and questions and answers. It can help in increasing users’ motivation in learning. After that, a test is given to practice and check users’ proficiency. The feedback and solution with a clear explanation were given after the test.
Table 1: Comparison of the Existing System and the Proposed Project
Artedomus AR Sololearn 360ed Look Around
(proposed apps)
Platform iOS Android, iOS,
Windows
Android, iOS Android
Language English English English English
Gamification No Yes No Yes
AR Yes No Yes Yes
User authentication No Yes No Yes
XP No Yes No Yes
Level system No Yes No Yes
Badges No Yes No Yes
Leader board No Yes No Yes
Lesson No Yes Yes Yes
Q&A No Yes Yes Yes
Table 2: Comparison of Strengthens and Weaknesses of Existing Systems
Artedomus AR Sololearn Dat Thin Pone Biology
Advantages • Empower users to visualise tiles and furniture in their homes.
• Incorporate Augmented Reality which can help to improve purchase confidence.
• Reduce hesitation and accelerate the sales process.
• Gamify the programming acquisition process which can help to increase engagement and improve the willingness of learners in studies.
• Suitable for beginners in programming.
• Offer courses and questions designed by professors.
• Incorporate AR to visualise a 3D model.
• Offer full lesson of Biology.
• Provide Q&A after a lesson.
• Provide a solution with a clear explanation.
Disadvantages • Unstable visualisation of 3D solutions.
• Courses to create a completed functional system were not provided.
• Products are only available in Myanmar.
• Boring learning method.
2.1 Problem Statement
Lack of concentration is one of the reasons that students lack interest in studies. Concentration difficulties in studies can be caused by the mental, educational environment, mismatched learning method, lack of motivation, and online games. Silva (2019) highlighted that child’s other aspects of life might be affected by their obsession if their interest has turned into something. Addiction to a game without being able to utilise it will worsen students’ learning ability and poor academic performance. Hence, it is worth to think how to gamify education which can help to improve students’ knowledge.
According to Warren (2021), when teaching is infused with the creativity and fun of games, even the most discouraged learner will also become interested in learning. Nonetheless, traditional teaching methods are still more widely used than modern teaching methods. In traditional teaching methods, students learn something through recitation, homework, and memorisation, which prevents them from developing their problem-solving skills and cultivating critical thinking. It also leads students to lack interest in studies and be reluctant to participate in them. Therefore, arousing students' interest in learning has become one of the topics frequently discussed today.
2.2 Objective
The main aim of this project is to improve students’ engagement, enhance their specific skills, and optimise their learning. The objectives of this project are:
a. To analyse a method that can offer a rich perceptual experience to increase the students’
understanding of learning materials in their respective programs.
b. To design a mobile app that helps them be more aware of their learning materials and enhance their motivation in studies.
c. To test the usability and functionality of the gamification application.
3. Methodology
ADDIE methodology was divided into five phases: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. In addition, ADDIE is an acronym, which means each letter stands for “Analysis”, “Design”, “Development”, “Implementation”, and “Evaluation”. Moreover, the ADDIE model has high flexibility for instructional designs. Every phase is flexible and interconnected to create effective educational projects. At first, this model can be completed in sequential order, but also can be modified depending on the result of the evaluation. Furthermore, the ADDIE model ensures clear learning materials, the knowledge that learners need to know, and a functional teaching method before joining the class (Bamrara, 2018).
Figure 1: ADDIE Methodology (ISFET, 2021)
3.1 Analysis
In this phase, the target audience and objectives of the project system are analysed. This phase also aimed to comprehensively analyse the learning topics that learners should know after completing the course. In addition, at the beginning of the project, the instructional problems are gathered and analysed to establish possible solutions to overcome these problems. Next, identify the educational materials and topics learners should know after completing the project system. To investigate, createit is necessary to set up a questionnaire about learning resources, objectives, instructional issues, material design, and learning technique. After that, the plan for this project system will be designed after completing the analysis of the entire questionnaire.
3.2 Design
Describe how the data was collected or generated and, how it was analysed. Clearly state whether there is a population that you would ideally want to generalise to; explain the characteristics of that population.
This phase outlines the detailed educational goals and interface design of the application. In addition, this phase focuses on the learning goals, objectives, content, lesson, user interface, game- like elements, and learning materials used in this application. Moreover, the design phase follows up on the information documented from the previous phase as well as develops and designs the interface and system flow of the application. The interface design is represented by using mid- fidelity wireframes.
3.2.1 Unified Modeling Language (UML)
The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a standard language that is used to visualise the artefacts of the software system (Lucidchart, 2021). It helps to produce a clear and detailed explanation of the system through graphical diagrams. Moreover, the graphic diagram, helps the audience acquire the flow of the entire Look Around system. Furthermore, the UML involves thirteen types of diagrams, and each is divided into two parts: structural diagrams and behavioural diagrams. The following diagrams are used to show the system flow of the application:
i. Activity Diagram (behavioural diagram) ii. Use Case Diagram (behavioural diagram) iii. Sequence Diagram (behavioural diagram) iv. Class diagram (Structural diagram)
Figure 2: Activity of Entering the Main Interface
Figure 3: Use Case Diagram of Look Around
a. Activity Diagram b. Use Case Diagram
C. Sequence Diagram
Figure 4: Sequence Diagram of Play Mission
d. Class Diagram
Figure 5: Class Diagram of Look Around
3.3 Development and Implementation
Firstly, users are required to log in to their registered account before entered to the home page. The registration form will be given to make an account if the user does not have an account. Once the registration is successful, the user will be redirected to the login interface of Look Around. In the login interface, the user can enter their registered email address and password to access the home interface of Look Around. After that, the user can access all functions and features of the Look Around application.
Figure 6: Lesson Module Figure 7: Home Page Module
Figure 8: Profile Page
Figure 9: Target Images Figure 10: Display 3D Model Figure 11: Architectural Legend Symbol Specifications
3.4 Testing and Evaluation
Software testing is an important process throughout the whole project. It helps to identify failures from the previous stages and to confirm the wholeness and functionality of the proposed application before its delivery to the target users. It can help to determine the solutions for these failures when back to the development phase and save the time in development phase. In addition, software testing also helps to enhance the overall quality and fluency of the application, as it ensures all the features are operating well and are user-friendly.
3.4.1 Non-Functional Testing
Non-functional testing is performed after the functional testing. It focused on checking non- functional aspects of the application. For example, the usability, compliance, performance, and efficiency of the proposed application. Moreover, it helps in minimising the application’s production risk.
In order to complete the test, a questionnaire will be used to obtain the students' side of the application. The questionnaire will ask the students some questions in an anonymous way. Among them, fifteen students participated in the survey. Eight of these respondents were not faculty students, and seven were from FBE. They will rate and comment on the user interface design and system functionality. Tables below display the comments and suggestions made by the 15 respondents through the questionnaire.
Table 3: Comments and Suggestions on User Interface from 15 Respondents
Question: Please provide any comment(s) or suggestion(s) on improving the design of user interfaces.
1 I love this user interface! It is so cute and very attractive.
2 Good colour combination. The text is readable with the font size used.
3 The icons used are suitable and attractive. The information on each page is well communicated to me.
4 Good layout. No confusion in the arrangement of pages 5 no suggestion. The info was well delivered.
6 The background colour is simple but it also makes the content clearer
7 I love this design so much. The only suggestion is: maybe you can change the background colour to light grey or beige.
8 The buttons are well designed. Easy to know what the buttons are for 9 Lesson part: it is better if can bold the title
10 Very good 11 No
12 User-friendly.
13 Love your design!
14 Well designed. The colour used is well and suitable.
15 It delivers the message on each page well.
The user interface is primarily concerned with usability. According to Table 3, it can be analysed that the user interface of the Look Around application is well designed. The user-friendly interface provides users with a good usability application because the messages on each page are well delivered to the user.
Table 4: Comments and Suggestions on System Functionality from 15 Respondents Question: Please provide any comment(s) or suggestion(s) on improving the system functionality
1 It is easy to use. All functions are successfully executed.
2 Working well.
3 So far so good.
4 The update of avatar is a bit slow.
5 No
6 All good. but if you add the loading animation will be better
7 When I want to update my avatar, it takes a long time to wait to see the updated avatar.
8 As a student, I like the way you convey the content. It's not about conveying a lot of knowledge at once, but taking a small amount. This way does not make me too easily tired while reading
9 It is easy to start a lesson
10 The user login and registration is easy to use.
11 Every button has a successful operation
12 Slow rendering of avatar.
13 Sometimes the rendering of 3d model is unstable!
14 I'm currently studying QS and I thought this would be a good way to learn about architectural design as an extra. I hope the content of this class will be updated in the future.
15 The navigation bar is working. But the avatar is a bit slow to update.
Based on Table 4, it can be analysed that the system functionality of the Look Around application is working and easy to use. One respondent knows that the application is effective for the learning process. It is because the Look Around application divides the contents of long learning materials into three parts in order to impart the focus of the coursework to students.
3.4.2 Usability Testing
Usability testing is used as a testing method to measure the ease of use and user-friendliness of the proposed application. There are some target end-users which is the amount of fifteen anonymous volunteers, who used the proposed application to determine usability flaws. In addition, usability testing focuses on the user's perception of the application's ease of use, the flexibility of the application's processing controls, and the application's ability to meet its objectives. On the other hand, this helps to identify errors and bugs before the back-end code of the final product is developed. During the usability test, analysing the project performance can help to ensure that objectives are being met.
3.4.2.1 System Functionality of Look Around
Figure 12: Analysis of System Functionality by 15 Respondents
Look Around system functionality collected from 15 respondents. According to the Figure 12, there are 12 respondents rated the “Login and Registration”, “Start Lesson”, “Game-like elements”, and “Game” as very easy. However, two respondents rated the “AR Camera” and
“Game” as average. It can be deduced that the reason is because to the sometimes-erratic rendering of the 3D models. To solve this problem, the 3D models used will be fixed at the centre position (0,0,0). As a result, the 3D models can be rendered completely and consistently. Moreover, the
“Rotate” function can help user to view the 3D models in 360 degrees.
3.4.2.2 User Interface Design of Look Around
Figure 13: Analysis of User Interface by 15 Respondents 0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Login and Registration
Select Lesson
Start Lesson Game-like elements
AR Camera Manage Profile
Game Navigation Bar
Analysis of System Functionality
Very Easy Easy Average Difficult Very Difficult
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Font style Font colour Button Background colour
Image Layout view
Analysis of User Interface
Very Good Good Average Bad Very Bad
Figure 13 displays the summary of the responses given by the 15 respondents about the user interface of the Look Around application. The 15 respondents unanimously gave very good comments on the font style and image. Most respondents gave an approval rating for the user interface design of Look Around. Besides, none of the users rated that the design of the user interface is bad and very bad. The reasons why 2 respondents rated the background color as
“Good” can be analysed as the colour chosen is too simple. The beige or light grey colour is more attractive to this user than using pure white.
4. Conclusion and Future Works
In conclusion, this project aims to create a mobile app that can help enhance their specific skills and optimise their learning. Besides that, gamification in academic topics can allow students to learn something in a relaxed way, and it is easier to absorb knowledge. In addition, incorporating the Augmented Reality (AR) technique into the learning process can help students better understand learning materials in their respective courses.
Some future works are suggested to improve the overall usability and performance of the proposed application. The suggestions are listed as shown below:
a. Able to develop in other mobile platforms such as IOS and Windows operating systems.
b. Able to produce the multi-experience application.
c. Create more levels of the game.
d. Design and model the whole FBE building.
5. Acknowledgement
This project is sponsored by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) under the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grants, SoTL/FAB/2020(1)/008. The authors fully acknowledged UNIMAS for the approved fund, which makes this important research viable and effective.
References
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