Towards developing an effective virtual reality instructional tool for secondary students learning English as a foreign language in Saudi Arabia
Creators: name: Alzahrani, Mona
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 470102
subject: Communication technology and digital media studies

description: A key area of interest in new media and communication studies is the design of Virtual reality (VR) applications for educational settings. While Virtual reality applications constitute one of the most current and emerging technologies used in the gaming world, the design of Virtual reality applications for instructional purposes has become an area of significant research investigation. Many authors consider Virtual reality a fundamental tool for educational purposes and propose integrating the technology into classrooms (Frazier et al., 2020; Lee et al., 2021; Markowitz et al., 2018; Wu &amp; Li, 2022), particularly those teaching English as a Foreign language (Lin &amp; Lan, 2015; Morrison, 2016; Yang et al., 2020). In addition to the potential benefits of Virtual reality technological tools, researchers have highlighted the need for theoretical guidelines or instructional principles that assist teachers and instructors in effectively designing and utilising these technologies in different learning environments. As such, the purpose of this study is to address the gap in the literature related to instructional design by exploring the design of appropriate content and the resolution of current educational problems from an instructional designer's perspective. This study thus aims to contribute to the field by providing insights into effective instructional design practices that can address the challenges faced in education today.

The need to design and integrate technological tools in education, according to sound instructional principles and as an essential means of meeting students’ learning needs, is recognised by the Saudi Arabian government. At this point in writing, Saudi Arabia is in the midst of a large modernisation project, called Saudi Vision 2030, which targets various governmental sectors such as healthcare, infrastructure, recreation, tourism and industry. One of the main foci of this project is educational development, whereby, the incorporation of the latest understandings in education, including the design and use of technology for instructional purposes, is high on the educational reform agenda.
 
This thesis aims to contribute to the Saudi Arabia educational agenda specifically and the field of instructional design more generally by exploring insights from the most widely commended instructional design model Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation (ADDIE) in order to discuss the preparation, design and material development stages of a potential Virtual reality application, I call Kona Keda, which aims to teach English as a foreign language to Saudi secondary students aged 15-16. The potential implementation of Kona Keda can form another important contribution of this thesis for the Saudi Ministry of Education: The Virtual reality application can help increase the number of English-speaking teachers and students in Saudi schools. In turn, this would help ensure that students are exposed to better immersion in the English language and allow them to practice their language skills in a more natural setting. To achieve this thesis aim, I situate my research in the context of instructional design and learning theories, information and communication technology (ICT), human-computer interaction (HCI), extended reality (XR), and the Saudi Arabia educational system. My exploration of sound instructional design models and learning theories then leads me to focus on the ADDIE model of instructional design. Using ADDIE as an analytical tool for discussing the structure and features of an existing Virtual reality instructional game, I then conduct a case study of the commercial Mondly VR application. Using a case study methodology (Creswell, 2007; Farquhar, 2014; Noori, 2021; Yin, 2013) allows me to conduct an intensive and in-depth investigation of Mondly VR and sheds light on additional useful instructional design techniques. In other words, the case study analysis provides me with understanding as to which instructional and learning theory principles and techniques might work in existing applications and can be incorporated in my own project (the creation of design documents for the potential Kona Keda VR).

Based on insights derived from both the case study analysis and the ADDIE model of instructional design, I use the Analysis, Design and Material Development principles of the ADDIE model towards providing my own game design documents for Kona Keda—a potential Virtual reality application which aims to teach English as a Foreign language to Saudi secondary students. In this part of the research, I use reflective practice (Grushka et al., 2005; Hargreaves &amp; Page, 2013; Thompson &amp; Pascal, 2012) to describe the design process I undertook in the creation of these speculative game design documents. The outcomes of this reflective practice research into instructional design suggest that the ADDIE model provides extremely useful instructional design principles that help identifying appropriate methods and tools to integrate new forms of educational media in classrooms. My reflections also highlight the usefulness of the ADDIE model, constructivist theory, and Mondly VR additional techniques in providing flexible processes for designing instructional technological tools.

Additionally, my reflective practice insights emphasise that designers of Virtual reality tools for the classroom need to consider a range of theoretical and practical considerations. Such considerations include the role played by the theory of constructivism which informs the design as well as methods of information and communication technology (ICT) and human-computer interaction (HCI). In other words, in the process I undertook in creating and reflecting on new media (Kona Keda VR) for the Saudi English language secondary classroom, I found that each of the ADDIE instructional design model, learning theories, information and communication technology and human-computer interaction fields complement each other in the design of technological tools for educational purposes.
 
To summarise, the findings of this research suggest that the ADDIE model may be useful to Saudi educators in identifying appropriate methods and tools to integrate new forms of educational media, such as Virtual reality applications, in the Saudi classroom. The ADDIE model also helps to not only identify but also address design shortcomings, and therefore aligns well with the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030 reform agenda for education. Its findings also suggest that the ADDIE instructional design model, learning theories, and the human-computer interaction and information and communication technology fields complement each other when designing technological tools for educational purposes. More generally, this thesis contributes to the emerging field of creating and using Virtual reality applications as an instructional medium for educational settings for language learning.