UNAIR NEWS – The distanced learning process often makes students lazy to study and attend classes due to the unsupportive home environment. These problems prompted five students of Faculty of Psychology (FPsi) Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) to create a Happy Patch game for elementary school (SD) students. This innovation made them win second place in the national intervention design competition, Psychedelic, Udayana University.
The team itself consists of Devina Octa, Amithya Nafisah, Septa Ayu, Shania Albar, and Ersa Pawitrasari. In an interview with UNAIR News, Devina as the team leader revealed that initially they only wanted to fill their spare time in the midst of a pandemic with something useful.
“The idea of the game arose due to the phenomenon of psychological problems such as boredom, and limited socialization of elementary school students which resulted in decreased productivity and enthusiasm,” said Devina.
So Happy Patch was created in the form of a game that can be played with family. Not only for entertainment, but the main purpose of the game is also to increase students’ interest in learning because the game contains learning materials.
Happy Patch itself is inspired by the game of snakes and ladders which consists of a set of game boards, guidebooks, counters, evaluation boards, and challenge cards. Those who get the challenge card must answer questions related to the lesson. This game also provides an evaluation mechanism that is able to assess how successful an intervention has been.
“The goal is to increase learning engagement of school children, and of course, improve communication and socialization with opponents or family,” said Amithya, one of the team members.
In the process, Devina and the team faced several challenges, especially in the technical aspects of the competition and the process of creating intervention designs. The Psychedelic Competition which was held on Sunday, November 15, 2020, was held online both during the selection process and the final presentation. Devina and the team also experienced interference during the final presentation due to the wi-fi signal problem.
“Apart from that, we come from four different cities. To make the game mockup we had to meet and work on it together in Surabaya. So preparations are a bit complicated and tight, especially in the midst of a pandemic situation, ” she added.
However, through hard work and guidance from UNAIR Psychology lecturer Rudi Cahyono, M.Psi, Psychologist, they managed to win 2nd place beating other national participants. They hope that students will be able to keep working and innovating even in a pandemic situation.
“Don’t make this situation a limitation. But make it an opportunity to continue working, ” she concluded.
Author: Intang Arifia
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
