Abstract:

A growing concern in Malaysian education today is that the aborigine (Orang Asli) students are skipping classes and eventually dropping out of school. The importance of education is absent in the Orang Asli culture, as most of the aborigine parents will teach their children traditional skills to earn a living. However, the Orang Asli younger generation in the urban area are tech-savvy and are used to using mobile phones and tablets. Thus there is a need for this Orang Asli younger generation to be given a fair opportunity and wider exposure to life through education, otherwise they would continue to become a marginalized people in the long run. The Malaysian Government’s Ministry of Education (MoE) developed the Malaysian Blueprint for Education with a specific focus on improving education for these indigenous people, and to call for more research in designing technology-supported learning environments that would cater to their educational needs. In addition, Malaysia is aiming to realize the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) of Quality Education by 2030, which is to provide equity in education, especially for the marginalized community to acquire knowledge and skill.

Currently in education, emerging technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), are becoming prevalent in the classrooms. This tremendous growth of utilizing technology as the tools to aid learning is noticeable in this digital era. In particular, the awareness of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies is rising in Malaysia. Studies have shown that VR experiences are likely to captivate learners’ interest and that VR visual graphics are realistic and relatable to learners for real-life experiences, where its digital storytelling method presents a valid approach learning framework for indigenous people. However, there are still wide research gaps in the context of ASEAN developing countries on the impact of advanced technologies in education. As such this research investigates the implications of using Virtual Reality (VR) technology, within a mobile learning environment, as a viable learning strategy to enhance the learning engagement among younger Orang Asli learners in urban areas. In this study, the learning strategy and activities were mapped with Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycles (Kolb’s ELC), and a mixed method research design was employed. Orang Asli teens were given a VR mobile application designed and customized to their learning materials. The learners were then given a questionnaire followed by a semi-structured interview, to gauge their VR user experiences, such as motivation, learning and engagement. Descriptive and thematic analyses were conducted on the data collected. Results showed that there was positive evidence that Orang Asli learners perceived VR as an effective tool that motivated them to learn, which provides strong encouragement to using VR as an instructional strategy to improve learning among Orang Asli teens.

Keywords:

Orang Asli, Virtual Reality, SDG 4, Quality Education, Kolb.