Innovation in education

Table of contents

1.0 Innovation Title ........................................................................................................... 2

2.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 3

3.0 Rationale .................................................................................................................... 3

4.0 Problem Statement ..................................................................................................... 4

5.0 Objectives .................................................................................................................. 4

6.0 Scope and limitations ................................................................................................. 5

7.0 Significance and Impacts ............................................................................................ 5

8.0 Cost............................................................................................................................ 6

9.0 Literature review ......................................................................................................... 6

10.0 Methodology ............................................................................................................... 7

10.1 How to use the innovation ....................................................................................... 7

10.2 Marking system....................................................................................................... 8

10.3 Expansion to other scope or topic ........................................................................... 8

11.0 Plan and implementation ............................................................................................ 9

12.0 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 10

13.0 References ............................................................................................................... 11

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Innovation in education

1.0 Innovation Title

City of English
Built in the Survivalcraft v2.0

Developed by;
Russel Junior Julius

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Innovation in education

2.0 Introduction

Malaysia in this day and age has been very keen in encouraging digital innovation with the
hope that in the near future, Malaysia will finally produce products suitable to the fourth
industrial innovation (MITI, 2018). This can be further seen in the Malaysian Educational
Blueprint where it was stated that on the seventh shift, where the Malaysian Ministry of
Education (KPM) has encouraged schools to leverage ICT to scale up the quality learning
across Malaysia (KPM, Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia, 2013). This in return has
motivated teachers to innovate teaching aids or materials that compliments digital media and
help the pupils to enhance their Information and Communication Technology Skills (ICT). This
include the use of multimedia resources such as TV documentaries and the Internet, as well
as the use of computer-related activities such as e-mailing, networking and interacting with
electronic courseware. (KPM, Dokumen Standard Kurikulum dan Pentaksiran, 2015).
Rationale
In learning English as a second language, one of the most important aspect that one need
to understand and if possible, master is their vocabulary size. Vocabulary is the building a
famous block for learning language this is because as mentioned by a famous linguist named
David A. Wilkins, where he has stated that without grammar, very little can be conveyed,
without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed. One’s vocabulary consists of the words,
phrases and sentences that one has learned and acquired throughout their schooling years
(Rie & Yo, 2013) and one of the main word class that makes up a vocabulary is the adjectives.
Adjectives are words used to describe a subject or an object. Thus, it is clear as day that
adjectives plays a vital role in the process of learning a language. This is because, without
ample knowledge of an adjective, one would struggle to convey meaning and/or describe an
object or place (Hatzivassiloglou & Wiebe, 2004). Moreover, according to the Malaysian
Document Standard Curriculum and Assessment DSKP, by the end of the 6-year schooling,
pupils should have mastered some high frequency words that has been listed in the DSKP
itself.
Due to this, in this paper, I have planned to make learning fun again and tackle a lot of
problems and issues that are preventing pupils from being able to learn vocabulary both
practically and efficiently. The way I will tackle this problem is by applying gamification in
education as a way to encourage pupils to learn vocabulary. More specifically, I will be using
a ready-made open world, block-based game called Survivalcraft, build my own world in the
game and exploiting the game mechanics to create my own mini game inside of the world that
I have created. The game would be based on the treasure hunt game but instead of doing the
hunting outside, I will be doing it inside of a virtual world which I will name The City of English.
The game I have created will include stations and inter-stations with varying levels. Each levels

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of the game will include adjectives recommended by the DSKP. In this case, I will be focusing
on the primary four level, where the recommended adjective for them to learn are colors, size
and sizes. The players of this game must find and answer the clues correctly or else they will
end up not knowing where the next clue will be and, in the end, fail to complete the game
within the provided time frame. The main goal of this game is for the players to find as many
stations and inter-stations as possible, complete the missions for each of the stations and get
a diamond.
The rationale of this idea of using a game to play treasure hunt is simply because
nowadays, pupils enjoys video games more that ever. This is because, to them, video games
are a form of entertainment and not learning. The mindset of young learners where anything
associated with education are boring are deeply rooted inside of the mind that it is hard to
change the mindset (Cruise, 2014). In order for me to overcome the problem, I would need
something that is as fun as the conventional video game but at the same time, educational in
nature. This is where I have come up with the idea of this game to combine the best of both
worlds. The City of English minimizes the number of input but at the same time maximizing
the intake of information by the pupils. This way, me as a teacher will be able to make sure
that my pupils are having fun and at the same time still learning new things by playing the
game.

3.0 Problem Statement

Pupils are not learning adjectives as intended especially those whom are easily bored by the
activities presented during the class. This has led to the pupils to not be able to master the
adjective that has been taught during the teaching and learning session. Moreover, one activity
that are very interesting to the pupils, which is treasure hunt takes a lot of time and space to
configure and run. This includes setting up stations without pupils ever realizing it and after
that making sure that the stations will not cause any form of harm to the pupils. Speaking of
which, the conventional treasure hunt game also requires huge area in order for it to be as
practical and fun. This then leads to many other issues and problems includes the pupil’s
safety and whereabouts, the lack of facilitators and so on. Moreover, the treasure hunt game
is also unsuitable for those pupils who have health problems such as asthma, eyesight
problems and so on (Jost, 2016).

4.0 Objectives

The following are the objectives of The City of English

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Innovation in education

1. To help pupils to gain interest in learning new adjectives by playing The City of English
game.
2. To eliminate the risk of safety issues among pupils when they are playing treasure
hunt.
3. To help pupils understand adjectives more by creating a virtual world where the pupils
can actually learn about the application of certain adjectives.
4. To provide a fun and stress-free learning environment for the pupils.

5.0 Scope and limitations

The City of English game are focused on the primary four level with no specific level of
proficiency. This innovation is very suitable for year 4 pupils generally because of the content
of the quiz and the difficulty level of the quizzes and clues that has been preset in the game.
Moreover, the instructions and the language used in the game are suitable for those who are
studying in the primary four level. In addition to that, this game will also help to supplement
the pupils with necessary assessment after the presentation stage of the lesson. This is where
the teachers can determine whether or not the pupils have managed to understand adjectives
during the presentation stage or not.
However, the are some limitation to this innovation this first of which is it depends
heavily on the school’s facilities namely the laptops and computers used in the schools. This
game will only run on systems that are based on the Windows 10 operating system. Moreover,
this game is quite demanding in terms of system resource, thus, it will require a more capable
machine in order for the game to run smoothly. Another limitation includes that only one player
can play the game at one time on one machine. Due to this, if the teacher will have to have
multiple players play at the same time, the teacher will have to provide extra computers for
the other game to run on and played by different players.

6.0 Significance and Impacts

One of the main significances of the innovation is that it’s alignment with the Malaysian
educational policy where it is very learner centered. This is because the pupils have full control
of their learning including their pace, and also their way of interpreting things (Kee-Cheok, Hill,
& Yin-Ching, 2016). Moreover, this innovation also emphasizes the concept of gamification in
education and at the same time. This gives a very positive impact towards the pupils in terms
of their interest in learning (Wendy & Soman, 2013). The impact of gamification in education
towards the level of interest shown by the pupils are very positive.
Other significance of this innovation also comes along in a form of cost and the ability
of the software to be ran even without an internet connection. This also means, that the game

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does not require the players or users to connect to the internet if they want to either play or
edit the game to their likings. Other significance of this game is that it exists on any famous
operating system such as a smartphone running Android and IOS as well as a windows 10
laptop. This means the world created by the teacher In one game can be exported from a
phone and imported to a laptop running Survivalcraft or vice versa. This innovation is also very
cost effective as during the time of writing this paper, the cost of a software install is only
RM16. Other significance of this innovation also includes the fact that the innovation is a fun
learning innovation. This innovation is also effective and attractive in a way that pupils don’t
even see it as a mean of learning but instead see it as a proper video game that they will
enjoy.

7.0 Cost

On an Android smartphone, the software need only to be paid for once. After that, users can
use APKExtractor application to share the app with another Android users. The software costs
RM26 and it is a one-time payment.

8.0 Literature review

Gamification of education is one of the most effective ways of providing education towards
the pupils. This is because, gamification in education gives the pupils a chance to have fun
without removing the “learning” part from the equation (Caponetto, Earp, & Ott, 2014). By
utilizing gamification, teachers can also prevent pupils from feeling bored during the teaching
and learning session. this is because, for the pupils, playing video games is never a boring
event for them. So, in order to exploit this, I have created a video game for learning, based on
the concept of treasure hunt. This will ensure that the pupils will never get bored during the
teaching and learning session (Mann & Robinson, 2013).
Other that, the launching of this innovation will trigger the school’s Research in the
development of digital equipment in education team so that in the future, they will be able to
lead the school in terms of digital education, especially those who are involved in gamification
in education (Cordell, 2017). Lastly, this innovation also encourages pupils and teachers to
welcome digital equipment and digital innovation in their teaching and learning process so that
in the future, where most probably almost everything will be digitalized, both the teacher and
the pupils will be able to cater to and adapt to the changes, suitable to the fourth industrial
revolution (Alem, 2018).

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Innovation in education

9.0 Methodology

The main component of this innovation consists of the game itself, which is called
Survivalcraft. This game can be installed to an Android phone from the Play Store, to an Apple
iPhone from the AppStore and to a windows 10 laptop or desktop from the Microsoft store.
The next component of the innovation includes a pre-made map with all the quiz templates
ready to be run. Other components include the device on which the game will be played on.

9.1 How to use the innovation

i. The teacher can begin using the innovation by first setting up a device of which the
game will be played on beforehand. This process includes the process of installing the
game itself and loading the pre-made map in the game, and later setting the map to
adventure mode.
ii. The teacher will then split the class into groups of fours. After that, the teacher will then
appoint roles to the pupils.
iii. The roles that would be appointed to the pupils will be either the way-finder, the
navigator, the cabin crew and the runner. Each of the roles has to carry out different
responsibilities during the game. The way finder is tasked to get hold of the area map
and help the navigator move within the game, the cabin crew will need to discuss and
decide the answer to the quizzes within the game. The runner will play the same role
as the cabin crew with the exception where they are the only ones who can interact
with other groups and the teacher.
iv. Teacher will give a 20-minute run time for the groups to play the game and get as many
diamonds as they can.
v. To prevent jealousy among the peers because only one person can drive, the teacher
will have the role of the navigator switched with the other group members after each
quiz station is found and completed. The switching process goes as follows; after the
first station has been completed, the role of the navigator will be inherited by the way
finder, the previous navigator will then take the role as the runner, the previous runner
will become the cabin crew and the previous cabin crew will become the way finder.
This process will repeat after every station is completed.
vi. After the time is up, the teacher will then count how many diamonds has they get from
the game. The group with the most diamonds wins and will get a special treat from the
teacher.

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Innovation in education

9.2 Marking system

The game will be marked using the diamonds that the pupils have got from answering quizzes
correctly. One diamond cost one mark.

9.3 Expansion to other scope or topic

The teacher can extend this innovation to suite any other topics and subjects by simply
changing the quizzes asked and also the difficulty level of the quiz questions.

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Innovation in education

10.0 Plan and implementation

1st week

Februar

Februar

Februar

Februar
week of

week of

week of

week of

week of

week of

week of

week of

week of

week of

week of
March

March

March

March
Date

April

April

April

April
Task/

4th
2nd

2nd

2nd
3rd

3rd

3rd
4th

4th
1st

1st
of

y
method
Problem analysis

Proposal writing

Proposal
submission

Data collection

Literature review

Data analysis and

interpretation

Draft Finalisation

Proof reading

Report
finalisation
Report
submission

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Innovation in education

11.0 Conclusion

With focus on gamification in education, the City of English, are tailored towards the primary
four class with no specific performance level in mind. This innovation was made feasible due
to the industrial push made by the fourth industrial revolution. Moreover, this innovation also
plays a very important role in helping target students to reach a certain level set by the DSKP.
This is because, by applying a fun way of learning, pupils can better learn and understand the
content while at the same time have fun and prevent boredom from being an obstacle towards
learning. Lastly, with support from various scholars, this innovation is also a very good choice
for teacher to pre-expose themselves and their pupils to the march towards the digital age.

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12.0 References

Alem, L. (2018). Bridges to the future of education : policy recommendations for the digital
age. Argentina: Fundación Santillana.
Caponetto, I., Earp, J., & Ott, M. (2014). Gamification and Education: A literature review.
Journal of Ott, 50-55.
Cordell, D. (2017). Where's hte R&D in education? Random Thoughts, 1-8.
Cruise, C. (12 September, 2014). Study: Playing video games good for children. Retrieved
from VOA News Learnign English: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/study-says-
playing-video-games-is-good-for-children/2444159.html
Hatzivassiloglou, V., & Wiebe, J. M. (2004). Effects of Adjectives Orientation and Gradability
on Sentence Subjectivity. National Science Foundation, 1-7.
Jost, R. J. (7 June, 2016). The pros and cons of scavenger hunt. Retrieved from Odyssey:
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/pros-cons-scavenger-hunts
Kee-Cheok, C., Hill, C., & Yin-Ching, L. (2016). Malaysia's education policies and the law of
unintended consequences. Journal of Internatinal and COmparative Education, 5(2),
73-85. doi:10.14425/jice.2016.5.2.73
KPM. (2013). Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia. Putrajaya: Kementerian Pendidikan
Malaysia.
KPM. (2015). Dokumen Standard Kurikulum dan Pentaksiran. Putrajaya: Kementerian
Pendidikan Malaysia.
Madhubala, B. H., Kavitha, B., Sareen Kaur Bhar, & Krishnaveni, L. (16 August, 2015).
Vocabulary levels and size of Malaysian undergraduates. English Language Teaching,
8, 1-12. doi:10.5539/elt.v8n9p119
Mann, S., & Robinson, A. (2 January, 2013). Boredom in hte lecture theatre: An investigation
into the contributors, moderators and outcomes of boredom amongst university
students. British Education Research Journal, 35(2), 25.
doi:doi.org/10.1080/01411920802042911
MITI. (2018). Industry4WRD. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Ministry of International Trade and
Industry.
Rie, K., & Yo, I. (2013). Vocabulary knowledge and speaking proficiency among second
language learners from novice to intermediate levels. Journal of Language Teaching
and Research, 4, 900-913. doi:10.4304/jltr.4.5.900-913
Wendy, H.-Y. H., & Soman, D. (2013). A practitioner guide to gamification of education.
Toronto: Rotman School of Management.

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