Bulletin of Electrical Engineering and Informatics

Vol. 11, No. 4, August 2022, pp. 2253~2261

ISSN: 2302-9285, DOI: 10.11591/eei.v11i4.3860  2253

Mobile development: learn du’a for early childhood learners

Mohamed Imran Mohamed Ariff1, Natasha Irina Khairul Annuar1, Ahmad Farid Najmuddin1,
Ireen Munira Ibrahim2, Noreen Izza Arshad3, Samsiah Ahmad1, Khairulliza Ahmad Salleh1
1
Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Tapah Campus,
Malaysia
2
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Tapah Campus, Malaysia
3
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Faculty of Science and Information Technology, Universiti Teknologi Petronas,
Seri Iskandar, Malaysia

Article Info ABSTRACT

Article history: This project stands by acknowledging the use of mobile technology is
progressively popular among early childhood learners in recent years. But,
Received Mar 29, 2022 an extensive systematic literature search on educational mobile technology
Revised May 9, 2022 and touchscreen indicated that most of the applications are not suitable for
Accepted Jun 14, 2022 early childhood learners as it lacks several multimedia features. Therefore,
this project designates the development procedure of an educational mobile
application for early childhood learners, who are very receptive to new
Keywords: knowledge and information. As a proof of concept, the development of this
application utilizes the learning of the Islamic du’a recitation. This
ADDIE application was designed using the android studio and the flutter software
Early childhood education combined with the java programming language. Upon the development of
Mobile application this application, several testings were done and analyzed. The result shows
Mobile learning that users were satisfied with the applications as most of the testing scores
Touchscreen were highly rated. Based on these results, the usage of this newly mobile
application can be suggested to be adopted by early childhood learners.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license.

Corresponding Author:
Mohamed Imran Mohamed Ariff
Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences
Universiti Teknologi MARA
Tapah Campus, Perak Branch, Malaysia
Email: moham588@uitm.edu.my

1. INTRODUCTION
The concept of early childhood learning has been suggested to be the foundation aids of learning for
children [1]. Furthermore, it is here during the early formative years, a child has great opportunity and
prospect to learn and use their five senses so that their brains will fully develop according to their best
potential. It is also during these formative years, the quality of the early childhood learning is vital as to
educate children as early as possible, thus children grow up to develop stronger intellectual, emotional, and
spiritual thinking skills [2], [3]. Studies have suggested that quality of an early childhood learning needs to be
addressed as an effort to stimulate and guide a child’s thinking ability and skills [4]. Furthermore, it is said
that the standards of an early childhood learning can be enhanced using modern technology [5], [6]. The
usage of technology in an early childhood learning process may result in creating an explosive thirst for
knowledge [7], and increase a child’s focus on understanding concepts [8], [9]. Among the advances in
technological development, the touchscreen technology has gained vast popularity in the early childhood
learning research domain [10], [11].
The touchscreen technology helps promotes an reciprocal experience that closely resembles a child's
natural constructivist learning [12]. Furthermore, the use of mobile devices (e.g., touchscreens) in early

Journal homepage: http://beei.org

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childhood learning has been accepted as an innovative approach to support the traditional learning and
teaching practices [13]. Thus, by combining traditional teaching methods and the use of technology helps
create a more fun and interactive learning experience for a child, thus fostering a child’s creativity and
imagination, and problem-solving skills [14].

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
With the rise of digital technology in the field of education, the use of mobile application (i.e., touch
screen) has gained positive feedback especially in the early childhood stage. Among the positive feedback
using the mobile application in early childhood has are: i) improving the child’s memorization,
ii) simplifying the child’s learning process, and iii) improving child’s speech skills [15], [16]. Furthermore,
the mix of certain multimedia interactive features in the mobile application, especially in early childhood
learning process will result in attracting children: i) to obtain knowledge effectively, ii) by providing a
conducive learning atmosphere, and iii) by providing visualized dynamic information [16]. A systematic
literature review conducted revealed, early childhood learning using mobile application has seen a steady
increase in the number of users [6], [17], [18]. These applications use unique multimedia features to better
promote the knowledge delivery for children. However, a closer look at the development of these mobile
application revealed several limitations between the adapting of technology and children’s education, among
which are: i) these mobile application merely conveys knowledge material, and does not facilitate children’s
to be independent learners, ii) the lack of sound and music to help promote better understanding among the
children’s, and iii) the lack of knowledge reinforcing interest thus making the children feel frustrated
[19]-[21]. Previous studies also highlight, the success of adapting technology and education (especially in the
kindergarten children) mainly depends on the quality of the educational content. If appropriate educational
content is not well created, this then creates more negative benefits in a child’s learning process [22], [23].
Based on the paragraphs, the adaptation of digital technology in the education field (especially in
early childhood learning) seems to have both positive and negative impacts on children's learning process.
However, one can notice that the adoption of technology has become popular in the early childhood
education system [14]. The development in technology (i.e., multimedia) promises great potential in
changing: i) the way children learn, ii) the means to obtain information, and iii) the customization of a child’s
information [24]. Furthermore, the use of multimedia technology also provides various opportunities for
teachers to apply various teaching techniques combined with the use of multimedia teaching aids which can
draw children attention and interest. Therefore, this research project intents to design and develop a mobile
application that combines multimedia features with the hope of being able to provide a more profound
learning experience in the early childhood education. The development of the mobile application in this
project will focus on helping children in du’a recitation. The learning of du’a recitation was chosen as a
proof of concept, in this mobile application combined with several multimedia features. There are three main
objectives for this project: i) to develop a well practical mobile application focusingon early childhood
learners (i.e., kindergarten kids), ii) to provide a robust point of reference for kindergarten kids towards a
better and more comprehensive early childhood learning activity, and iii) to provide appropriate feedbacks
for the early childhood educators using this mobile application.

3. METHOD
The main goal of this research project is to develop a mobile application for early childhood learners. Based
on the literature, the analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate (ADDIE) research design was adopted as it
widely used in multimedia mobile application development. Each step of the ADDIE process is illustrated in Figure 1
as shown in. Each of the phases in the ADDIE research design will be explained in the following subsections.

3.1. Analysis phase

In this research project, the relevant multimedia features must be present for it to be appealing to the
users (i.e., early childhood learners). Therefore, prior to developing the mobile application, a methodical and
through literature review was conducted. The findings from this systematic review revealed several basic
multimedia features and information which was very much needed which was then used during the
development of this research project.

3.2. Design phase

During this phase, a flow chart which describes the specific flows in the mobile application is
created. Next, a structural module design of this research project is also designed. The structural module is
the system architecture of a mobile application. Following that, to further illustrate the flow chart, a basic

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storyboard was also designed. A storyboarding is an essential part of any multimedia research project. The
storyboard helps the developers to fully understand the flow of the application from one module to another.
The flow chart, system architecture and storyboard in shown in Figures 2-4, respectively.

Figure 1. ADDIE research design

Figure 2. Flowchart

Mobile development: learn du’a for early childhood learners (Mohamed Imran Mohamed Ariff)
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Figure 3. System architecture

Figure 4. Storyboard

3.3. Development phase

In this phase, the mobile application is developed. This mobile application is developed using the
android studio and flutter combined with Java programming. The animated video in this mobile application is
developed using the adobe animate character. In this mobile application, each multimedia feature is developed
based the requirement functionality. Due to the nature of the mobile application development process, the
mobile application was revised often and updated according to the functional element of this research project.

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3.4. Implementation phase

In this phase, the mobile application goes through a strict project examination. This is to ensure that
there are no errors in the application. If there are any errors, the mobile application will be fixed and retested
until no more errors are detected. The project will be modified on a regular basis to attain maximum
efficiency and a favorable outcome.

3.5. Evaluation phase

In this phase, the user’s feedback was vital to determine if the mobile application had multimedia
features that were appealing to users and how other features (if required) could be included based on
improvements that users suggested. Further, for each feature in the mobile application, users were asked to
rate the feature on a scale of one to nine and note their likes and dislikes. Additionally, users were also asked
to rate the application as a whole and note down any further improvements required.

4. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

In this section, the result of testing phase is presented in figures. The purpose of the testing phase is
to evaluate how the program works in a real operational environment, and it was tested on a few android
devices. Several respondents were selected to test the application and were required to provide feedback
towards the application through the online questionnaire. The mobile application developed in this research
project was subjected: i) functionality testing, ii) usability testing, and iii) efficiency testing. These testing
was performed with the aim of validating the quality of the mobile application [18]. Each of these tests, is
briefly elaborated and shown in the following sub sections.

4.1. Functionality testing

Functional testing is a software testing procedure that is used in application development to ensure
that the application meets all criteria. It is a method of ensuring that application contains all the required
functionality as defined in the functional requirements analysis [25]. Figures 5 and 6 shows the results of the
functional testing survey completed by the respondents. The highest number (5) indicates that they strongly
agree, while the lowest (1) indicates that they strongly disagree. Based on Figure 5, 80% of the respondents
strongly agree that the application buttons and menus are functional to perform the tasks and produce the
desired output while only 10% agrees and another 10% are neutral with their answer. Hereafter, in Figure 5,
80% of respondents strongly agrees that all mobile application screens (i.e., pages) are accessible, and users
can complete the given task and receive the intended outcome.

Figure 5. Functional testing result 1 Figure 6. Functional testing result 2

4.2. Usability testing

The usability testing involves having users to engage with the application and analyzing their
behaviors and reactions. A usability test is a vital step to ensure the intended mobile application design is an
effective, efficient, and delightful experience for the users. Figure 7 shows that 80% of respondents strongly
agree that they prefer to use the application because it aids their child's learning of du’a. 10% of the users

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agree that the application helps their child learn du’a and the remaining 10% are neutral, meaning they do not
agree or disagree. Figure 8 shows 70% of the respondents are extremely pleased with the application. 20% of
the respondents agrees that they are indeed satisfied with this application while another 10% of the
respondents are dissatisfied with the application.

Figure 7. User acceptance result 1 Figure 8. User acceptance result 2

4.2. Efficiency testing

Efficiency testing, commonly referred to as User Experience (UX) testing, is a testing method to
determine how simple and user-friendly is a system or application. Based on the respondents results in
Figures 9 and 10, it shows that this research project was designed well, and all the requirements were met.
Figure 9 shows that 80% of the respondents strongly agree that the application makes it easier for children to
learn du’a and attracts their attention, while 10% agrees and 10% are neutral about how the application
makes it easier for their children to learn du’a. Figure 10 shows that 70% of respondents strongly agree that
the application helps parents see their child's performance, 20% agree, and 10% disagree that the application
helps them see their child's performance.

Figure 9. Efficiency testing result 1 Figure 10. Efficiency testing result 1

5. CONCLUSION
The goal of this research project was to make learning enjoyable and simple for children. Since the
first purpose was to design an interactive multimedia-based mobile application to learn du’a for kindergarten
children, the mobile application was full of appealing images to lure children to explore more, and the
du’a(s) were shown in an animation video with translation. Furthermore, this mobile application has a quiz
module where users can choose whether to take an online quiz or use the application’s built-in quizzes and
the results will be saved in the result module, where parents can view their children's performance. Based on
the results of the questionnaire, the participants were pleased and satisfied with the application. As a result,
the project's objectives were met because it was well-designed and developed. There are many mobile

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learning applications for du’a recitation, but none of them teach du’a utilizing animation videos, instead
relying only on static images. In comparison to traditional methods of learning to recite du’a through books,
this application, which combines technology and learning, is hoped to assist children in learning the correct
way to recite the daily du’a(s). This combination has been shown to be effective because today's children are
exposed to technology at such a young age that they are more interested in using technology to learn rather
than traditional methods. Several recommendations are suggested from this research project, namely,
i) although the targeted users for this mobile application is the early childhood children’s group, further study
needs to be conducted to other possible groups (such as primary and secondary) as it may attract a larger
group of learners and ii) incorporating more gamification techniques in the mobile application. This can help
engage more users in using this mobile application for their learning purposes. This research project also
offers several contributions. Firstly, the development of this mobile application is ideal as an additional tool
to support the learning activities for early childhood children’s (i.e., in the kindergarten). This will therefore
contribute towards making the learning experience for kindergarten children more enjoyable. Next, this
research project also contributes to early education research by providing an empirical study of the
technology adoption, which can serve as a guideline for other mobile application programs especially for
early childhood. Finally, this research project has the potential to contribute to the technological education
literature by providing informal learning experiences through the adoption of mobile technology.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computer and
Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Perak Branch, Tapah Campus under the final year
project (FYP) 2021/2022.

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BIOGRAPHIES OF AUTHORS

Mohamed Imran Mohamed Ariff is a senior lecturer with the Department of

Computer Science under the Faculty of Computer & Mathematical Sciences at Universiti
Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Perak Branch, Tapah Campus, Malaysia. He has been with
UiTM for more than 17 years. His research interest includes, and not limited to; i) mobile
applications, ii) internet of things (IoT), iii) transactive memory systems, and
iv) information systems and smart-PLS. He can be contacted at email:
moham588@uitm.edu.my.

Natasha Irina Khairul Annuar is a final year student undergoing her

bachelors degree in computer science, at the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Perak
Branch, Tapah Campus, Malaysia. Natasha’s research interest are: i) designing mobile
applicatios, ii) gamification techniques, and iii) system development. Currently, Natasha
Irina is undergoing her industrial attachment at an online shopping aggregator located in
Kuala Lumpur. She can be contacted at email: tasharina36@gmail.com.

Ahmad Farid Najmuddin is a Computer Science lecturer at the Faculty of

Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Perak
Branch, Tapah Campus. His research interest includes: i) software engineering, ii) system
sciences, and iii) system application development. He can be contacted at email:
ahmad824@uitm.edu.my.

Ireen Munira Binti Ibrahim is a senior Mathematical Science lecturer at

Universiti Teknologi MARA Perak Branch, Tapah Campus, under the department of
mathematics. Her research interest includes operational research, simulation modelling,
and simulation optimization especially in healthcare operations. She can be contacted at
email: ireen607@uitm.edu.my.

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Noreen Izza Arshad is an Associate Professor with the Department of

Computer and Information Sciences (CISD), Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP),
Malaysia. Dr Noreen also heads the Positive Computing Research Cluster under the
directive of the Institute of Autonomous Systems at the same university. Furthermore, Dr
Noreen lectures courses associated to knowledge management and information systems.
Dr Noreen research interest is tailored to understand the ways technology is being used,
adapted and adopted, and how it brings value to the society, business or organizations. She
can be contacted at email: noreenizza@utp.edu.my.

Samsiah Ahmad obtained her first degree in Data Communication and

Networking from the University Teknologi MARA, Malaysia in 2005. She is received a
master’s degree from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in Computer Science, with majoring
in Information Security. Currently, she is a lecturer at the Universiti Teknologi MARA,
Perak Branch, Tapah Campus, Malaysia. Her research interest are cybersecurity, big data
analytics and machine learning. She is also certified computer forensic investigator. She
can be contacted at email: samsi260@uitm.edu.my.

Khairulliza Ahmad Salleh is a senior lecturer with the Department of

Computer Science, under the Faculty of Computer & Mathematical Sciences at Universiti
Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Perak Branch, Tapah Campus, Malaysia. She is also the
current Head of Faculty. Her research interest focuses on: i) technology adoption,
ii) information security management, and iii) IT management. She can be contacted at
email: khair279@uitm.edu.my.

Mobile development: learn du’a for early childhood learners (Mohamed Imran Mohamed Ariff)