Designing culturally-informed activities for interactive learning in Southeast Asia: A pilot study

Southeast Asia (SEA) countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand, have explored the use of Information Communication Tools (ICT) in schools to provide quality and accessible education. ICT plays a vital role in SEA for education: schools now heavily rely on mobile and internet technologies in and out of the classroom. However , the adoption of ICT in SEA could have been faster, especially in countries surrounding Singapore, and this would have led to a more efficient and effective use of ICT with better learning outcomes and better learning experiences for students. Despite government initiatives to promote the use of ICT in schools, a previous comprehensive survey of ICT uses in Southeast Asia showed that the uptake of e-learning technology in SEA countries was less than optimal, and teachers and students have shown significant resistance to using ICT. SEA cultural values and practices are believed to be factors in this response. The authors have developed and proposed new cultural metaphors to improve the suitability of ICT design for SEA. A survey of key cultural metaphors dating back 5000 years of history has allowed new symbiotic metaphors to be discovered. Drawing on a pilot study conducted in Brunei and Indonesia (n = 133; n = 76), we examine how a culturally embedded digital game—based on the traditional gasing activity—affects students’ learning experiences and outcomes. The findings suggest that cultural metaphors may foster emotional resonance and engagement, although further controlled studies are needed to establish causal relationships.