Teachers perception on digital game: a preliminary investigation towards educational game application for Islamic religious primary schools

Abstract

Game is seen as a catalyst to improve learning for students especially after school hours. Nevertheless, the available games in the market are much more designed and tailored for entertainment compared to educational purposes. Thus, this paper will discuss the teacher’s perception on digital game as one of the learning methods in religious Islamic primary schools. This is to determine the perception of utilising digital game as a learning method for students, with a focus on Islamic History Education (Sirah. An investigation on teachers from three KAFA primary schools in the area of Selangor will be conducted. The method of the interview session is a prominent fact-finding technique which can be use to investigate the students’ learning scenario and achievements in their class. There are nine teachers who are willing to participate in the interview session, where recording is used to capture the session. The interview structure will be divided into 4 segments, they are, (1) Student’s achievement in Sirah education, (2) Existing teaching and learning problem, (3) Student’s learning behavior towards Sirah education, and (4) Teacher’s perceptions of digital game application in learning Sirah. Using a qualitative method, an analysis on the transcribed interview, and on identified positive responses in introducing digital educational game in religious Islamic learning, is carried out. The findings of this research will be an input to design educational digital game. A guideline is also needed so that the digital game can be use by Muslim students, and accordingly to adhere to the sensitivity of publishing within the Islamic education game content. It can be concluded that further investigation on students’ game preferences need to be done, and the involvement of both the teacher and the student in designing the digital game is vital to ensure the guideline discussed earlier will be achieved.