A design approach of R.E.A.L mobile-VR (mVR-R.E.A.L) for Malaysian adolescents based on Social Emotional Learning

Headed By Dr. Ely Salwana Binti Mat Surin.

Skim Geran Penyelidikan Transdisiplinari (TRGS)

Virtual Reality (VR) is a powerful digital technology tool that has increasingly been used in various fields including medical and education, in recent years. In education, it focuses on the role of emotions and physiological reactivity, such as for Self-Emotional-Learning (SEL) purposes. SEL is a program to help adolescents cope for the awareness of mental health and the prevention of mental illnesses. However, to develop such a VR application for Malaysia’s adolescent is complex. Consideration needs to be given to the design approach behind the VR development, in order to successfully deal with adolescents who, have difficulties in regulating emotions. Two main approaches in designing VR aiming at emotion regulation, which is relaxing VR and engaging VR can be found in a few studies. However, approach that related to the user-context is not included. Knowledge in relation to SEL, which is used to improve the mental wellbeing of Malaysian adolescents, especially in regulating emotions, is essential and has to be captured explicitly and be represented in a well-defined conceptual design approach as a basis for VR application development. Unfortunately, current VR development does not pay much attention to having a specific design approach explicitly in their methodologies. Therefore, this research aims to construct a design approach of social-emotional-learning-based mobile virtual reality education tool (mVR-R.E.A.L) for Malaysian adolescents through 3 phases; 1) systematic literature review, 2) development of a framework for design approach of mVR-REAL app and, 3) design and apps validation. The mVR-REAL apps designed based on the design approach framework can be used by public and private healthcare centers, and hence can benefit many adolescents in gaining a better understanding about SEL.