A Framework of Student's Learning Motivation in Virtual Reality in the History of Animation

Virtual reality (VR) is a virtual environment that might be identical to or opposed to the actual world that has a variety of applications, including entertainment (video games), business (virtual meetings) and education (including medical and military training). In an educational context, VR has been used in various subjects but VR has not been applied in learning the “history of animation”. Besides the student's motivation to learn this subject has yet to be explored. This paper presents the preliminary model of VR application in learning the history of animation incorporating the Self-Determination Theory that focuses on two main components, autonomy and relatedness, to achieve the satisfaction of basic learning needs. To verify the preliminary framework, a pilot test that focuses on a qualitative approach included eight students who had learned the history of animation participated in a focus group discussion. They were asked about their motivation for the satisfaction of basic learning needs according to the context of autonomy and relatedness. The discussion session has been transcribed and analysed into four themes, i) excitement ii) self-confidence iii) socially immersive, and iv) practical access. The qualitative findings have given the credibility to be further studied for its reliability and validity through a quantitative approach to implementing VR in learning the “history of animation” in the next phase of this study.