Enhancing Children’s Learning Experience as a Sustainable Approach through Gamified Application Design

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic altered how education was formerly conducted, with a rapid shift from face-to-face to online learning. This situation resulted in a significant lack of student-teacher interaction, which affected particularly lower grade students. However, the pandemic provided an opportunity to develop a more sustainable way of learning due to the increasing use of technologies. This research seeks to improve children’s online learning experience through application design in response to online learning conditions. To identify the problem, initial interviews with parents, guardians, and teachers were conducted. Afterward, individual in-depth interviews with primary school teachers were carried out to gain insights on the needs of both students and teachers during online learning. The final app design incorporates gamification elements for both target users. Students follow lessons through interactive narratives based on the standardized curriculum. Teachers can adjust lessons more independently and conveniently using the gamified customization features, such as customizing texts, characters, and media. The effectiveness of the app design was then determined through direct observations with target audiences. The findings show that the application design has the potential to revolutionize and promote sustainability in Indonesian primary school education.