Abstract:

Motivation, the driving force in education, is fostered by an innate desire to learn triggered by individual interest, and a sense of competition. A prevalent concern seen in almost every classroom today is the increasing demotivation for learning observed among some students. Reasons for demotivation vary, but a consistent factor lies in the fact that some academic content might not entice the student's interest. While teachers make significant efforts to address each student’s needs by incorporating blended learning technologies during classroom lessons, the pace by which each student learns and the preferred learning style varies for each student. Given that each student has an individual approach to learning, educational content must be personalised according to the proficiency of each student for fairer, optimal instruction. An interesting factor among students is their daily engagement in social media applications for a prolonged period. It becomes apparent that social media applications provide a heightened sense of interest and sufficient alienation to become particularly ‘sticky’ to users.

Our research objectives are focused on identifying captivating digital features (also referred to as sticky features) found on social media applications and integrating those features into an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) educational mobile platform. Social media applications entice the interest of different pupils giving users the option to choose content based on individual interests. These features are vital in the design of successful learning platforms. Furthermore, based on recent research, students with specific conditions like visual impairment might benefit from features like text-to-speech, and augmented content, helping them in achieving a better understanding of the subject. Speech-to-text is a feature broadly used in conferences for presentations because it aids in the understanding of the delivered content. Children are engaged by applications that keep them interested with augmented reality features and gamified tools which incorporate various visual graphics and sounds. Gamified tools provide a reward system that leverages the user's self-esteem and engagement, creating an essential component for motivation in the process. Furthermore, collaboration with peers is a sought-after feature because it entices users' competitive nature, whilst offering a sense of belonging, making it a valuable tool to incorporate into educational platforms. Considering the short attention span of most students, frequent application of fresh educational content is a must to keep students' interests alive during lessons.

These mentioned features when integrated into an intelligent mobile system may foster a heightened sense of motivation for learning. The incorporation of varied sticky features with artificial intelligence (AI) may have the solution to the ongoing problem of varied learning styles and specific needs found in each classroom. This revolutionary learning approach contributes to a heightened level of interest, providing the required learning aids to enrich users' experience whilst fostering student engagement and motivation for learning on all levels. Furthermore, teachers benefit from intelligent systems that incorporate extensive use of sticky features as they enrich the teaching and learning experience by maximizing the content delivery on learning outcomes.

Keywords:

Sticky features, blended learning, educational content, learning aids, educational mobile platform, artificial intelligence, learning motivation.