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Article
Publication date: 29 March 2023

Mirza Rayana Sanzana, Mostafa Osama Mostafa Abdulrazic, Jing Ying Wong, Jaya Kumar Karunagharan and Jason Chia

This paper presents two educational gamified virtual labs and investigates different methods of including gamified elements in virtual labs used for teaching. The purpose of this…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper presents two educational gamified virtual labs and investigates different methods of including gamified elements in virtual labs used for teaching. The purpose of this study is to investigate if immersive gamified virtual labs can be used as effective pedagogical tools by properly incorporating them into higher education curricula to assist low-risk active learning and student engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

This research design comprises two gamified virtual labs including nine essential experiments of biology and chemistry integrated into the higher education curriculum of the Foundation of Science at an international University. Students filled in a survey after participating in the lab to shed light on appropriate ways of using gamification approaches in virtual labs.

Findings

From the predominant findings of the study, gamified virtual labs increase student involvement thereby enhancing knowledge development with active learning and may be a potentially suitable pedagogical tool for low-risk interactive learning.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations of the study include findings based on gamified virtual labs but not comparing the gamified virtual labs to simple virtual simulations to further investigate the pedagogical approach and understand the student perceptions in a simple virtual simulation and a gamified virtual lab.

Practical implications

The findings of this study will provide evidence that gamified virtual labs integrated into higher education curricula as supplementary tools for laboratory experimentation improve the educational delivery process.

Originality/value

This research highlights an appropriate way of integrating 3D virtual labs into practical curricula while discussing the benefits.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. 16 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2021

Mirza Rayana Sanzana, Mostafa Osama Mostafa Abdulrazic, Jing Ying Wong, Kher Hui Ng and Shams Ghazy

This paper presents an educational virtual reality (VR) game and experiments with different methods of including it into the teaching process. The purpose of this research study…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper presents an educational virtual reality (VR) game and experiments with different methods of including it into the teaching process. The purpose of this research study is to discover if immersive VR games can be used as an effective pedagogical tool if blended with traditional lectures by assisting learning gain, memory and knowledge retention while increasing edutainment value.

Design/methodology/approach

This research design comprises three different methods of learning: lecture-based involving lecture slides, infographics, and a video, game-based involving an immersive VR game of oil rig exploration, and the combination of lecture and game-based. Participants of each method filled up a questionnaire before and after participation to measure the learning gain, memory, and knowledge retention.

Findings

From the predominant findings of the study, the combined method demonstrated a significant increase in learning gain, memory, and knowledge retention and maybe a potentially suitable pedagogical tool.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations of the study include findings based on one VR game with a specific educational topic, additionally, it is suspected that having different participants for each of the three methods may have slightly affected the results, albeit to a limited extent.

Practical implications

Findings of this study will provide evidence that VR games can be used alongside traditional lectures to aid in the learning process. Educators can choose to include VR games into their curriculums to improve the educational delivery process.

Originality/value

This research contributes to ways of incorporating VR games into educational curriculums through findings of this study highlighting the combination of VR games with lectures.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

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