Implementation of a participatory design process in designing an educational mobile game for primary school students: a case study in Malaysia

Abstract

Over the years, the technology integration has been increasingly evident in the higher education institutions. Nevertheless, traditional teaching and learning methods are still largely implemented in the primary schools of the developing countries. Despite the teachers and the students being technology savvy, passive learning is still being practiced in the primary schools of Malaysia. The digital educational game is one of the alternative assessment options capable of enhancing the learning experience of the students. The educational game design is crucial in attracting the attention of the students while fulfilling their learning needs. This research, therefore, aimed to identify an optimal participatory design (PD) process with a suitable mobile game design framework. This research is now at its third phase. All the inputs have been conceived from the previous phase into this phase. Purposive sampling and interview have been done in the first phase and the input for the following phase of the game workshop setting has been delivered. In the third phase, the participants will design an educational game based on the input from the second phase, where the data were qualitatively collected using observation, picture and field notes. Finally, to map the findings from the third phase to the final stage, it was suggested that a game design document (GDD) should be incorporated in the future research works as the final input to complement the game prototype phase.