A Conceptual Model to Investigate the Role of Mobile Game Applications in Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ahmed Al Mulhem,Mohammed Almaiah

doi:10.3390/electronics10172106

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, educational mobile games may play a significant role to facilitate students’ learning. Several studies have indicated that these games using mobile phones may improve students’ learning motivation and effectiveness when they are equipped with appropriate learning strategies. However, investigating the impact of learning strategies in students’ utilization of educational mobile games has received little scholarly attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, this research proposed two learning games scenarios to fill this gap. In the first scenario, students were offered an educational mobile game with a learning strategy called ‘scaffolding strategy’; while in the second scenario, the same game was offered without the strategy. To achieve this objective, an experimental design with a research model was developed to examine the role of scaffolding learning strategy in students’ use of educational mobile games. In this experimental study, 43 students from two classes participated in the two learning scenarios. The results indicate that educational mobile gaming with the scaffolding learning strategy significantly influenced students’ utilization of the mobile game. In addition, the adoption of the learning strategy significantly affected students’ perceived enjoyment, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and behavioural intention to use, compared with the same game without the learning strategy. The results also indicate that the introduction of the scaffolding learning strategy into the educational mobile game will increase students’ learning effectiveness and motivation.

Highlights

The study findings indicated that students’ intention to use mobile games was positively affected by perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. [35] employed the technology acceptance model (TAM) model to explore the main factors that affect students’ usage of computer games
The participants in the experimental group played the educational mobile game supported by a scaffold strategy to learn a vocabulary of fruits, while those in the control group played the same game without the assistance of the scaffolding strategy
The results showed that the effect of perceived ease of use on perceived enjoyment, perceived usefulness, and behavioural intention to use the mobile game varied in the two groups

Summary

Introduction

Educational mobile games have been increasingly regarded as a powerful tool to enhance students’ learning motivation They offer a learning environment in which students acquire knowledge from playing by using their mobile devices [2,3]. They enable students to play an active role in learning, which is why they are regarded as more effective than educational computer games in terms of improving students’ learning motivation [4] This kind of game requires students to accomplish a challenging task by which students can develop their problem-solving capability [5], or acquire knowledge in particular subject through the drill-and-practice process [6]. Educational mobile games have attracted many researchers’ attention and have been introduced into many disciplines

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion