HistoRace: Enhancing Distant Students' Collaboration and History Knowledge about Japanese Occupation in Sarawak through Technology and Gamified Learning

Abstract

As the lack of exposure to Sarawak history to the current generation is acknowledged, the dearth of access to tactile evidence further deters students' motivation to learn about the local history and the dry, static pedagogical methods instructors use to teach History in school. The exclusion of History subjects in examinations at the pre-university level further reduces the interest and engagement towards the subject, given the exam-oriented learning behaviour practised by Malaysian students. This study has been designed to incorporate computer-supporting and collaborative learning ideas in teaching and learning History. The literature review reinforces the benefit of collaborative learning in improving students' critical thinking and understanding. Technology in education should be used as an engager and facilitator for learners to communicate their ideas and provide student autonomy collaboratively. The study aims to motivate pre-university students in Sarawak to learn important yet lesser-known local history while learning about the technological tools available, all by incorporating frugality. In this project, these advantages have been optimized by implementing collaborative activities over the Internet, involving sixteen participants from two institutions selected by convenience sampling. Expert reviews were sought to polish the research design before conducting the project. Data was collected via observation and online questionnaires. Computer-supported collaborative learning to learn history by incorporating physical and virtual platforms, as well as real-time communication, has been successfully done through this study, based on the participants' product accomplishment, positive questionnaire feedback, and field observation. Future work could focus on expanding the digital collaboration tools and opportunities that may enhance the History learning experience.