Virtual Hajj: The development of virtual environment for learning about Hajj and Umrah

Abstract

Performing Hajj is the fifth pillar in Islam. Every Muslims who has sufficient conditions (ability) must performing this Ibadah once in their lifetime. Before performing Hajj and Umrah, all Malaysian are compulsory to attend a special course organized by Malaysian government like Tabung Haji and non-government organization (NGO). This course is held to increase participants' understanding about the Ibadah. Despite using conventional method, lesson, and practices about Hajj and Umrah can be done by using technology like Virtual Reality. This technology has been found can help enhance the outcome of the courses, as this course is quite complicated and difficult to understand. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a virtual environment that provide learning materials on how to perform Hajj. This study used constructive design of successful technology to attract user interest in using Virtual Hajj as a learning tool. ADDIE Model which consists of five phases (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation) has been used for the development purposes. Meanwhile, for evaluating Virtual Hajj, a set of questionnaires has been distributed to 16 respondents. Based on the evaluation, it has been found that user still need to adapt with the new learning environment. Despite that, the finding also showed that the positive feedback from the participants and overall activity had a positive effect on them.