Abstract:

In today’s new normal, post-COVID, education, students’ need to collaborate and engage in social interaction in classroom learning is even more important and necessary to ensure that learning is active and well-supported. In Malaysia, this need is addressed in the government’s Malaysian Blueprint (2015-2025) that proposes 10 shifts in the educational frameworks for institutions of higher learning. However, there is still a research gap in the optimization of the use of technology in Malaysian classrooms, as the lecture-based teaching is still dominant. In addition, collaborative work by students is still lacking as many learning environments are still poorly designed and unsupportive of group work.

Team-Based Learning (TBL) has been growing in popularity as an instructional strategy to cultivate and inculcate collaborative learning and teamwork skills into the student learning process. Employing a flipped classroom approach, TBL takes the students on a learning journey that begins with individual work and gradually leads to deeper collaborative learning, and culminating in the application and implementation of the knowledge gained through teamwork in practice-based activities. However, much research on TBL has focused on incorporating collaborative work within a conventional classroom setting. There is very little research on the implementation of TBL within a technology-based setting. Recent Horizon Reports of 2021 and 2022 have suggested that the use of emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) have been effective in improving students’ understanding of difficult and complex concepts and has the added benefit of providing immersive visualizations needed for them to enhance their learning experiences. With AR technologies, learning is taken to a new level, where students receive rich and meaningful experiences with the content, which then significantly improves their understanding of the learning materials. In addition, Game-Based Learning (GBL) has also been found to be effective in students’ cognitive, affective, socio-cultural and motivational areas. By being able to collaborate with their team, students’ confidence and motivation levels will improve and their ability to solve problems is enhanced, making it a conducive learning environment to cultivate problem-solving, communication and collaborative skills. As such, this research sought to investigate the impact of a game-based and AR supported Team-Based Learning (TBL) environment on student learning experiences. A mixed method research design was conducted on 56 undergraduate university students in a Malaysian university. Students participated in a TBL session that was conducted using game-based learning and AR activities. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analyzed to gauge their perceptions towards this enhanced TBL environment. Results of the study showed that students enjoyed this learning environment, reporting improved and positive learning experiences and increased understanding of the course content. These findings provide positive and strong support for the use of immersive technologies for student learning and a collaborative game-based AR learning framework is presented as a practical guide to educators seeking to use GBL and AR components in their classrooms.

Keywords:

Game-based learning, Augmented Reality, Team-Based Learning (TBL), Malaysia, Student Learning, Collaborative Learning.