Journal of Advanced Research in Applied Sciences and Engineering Technology 31, Issue 3 (2023) 290-298 290 Journal of Advanced Research in Applied Sciences and Engineering Technology Journal homepage: https://semarakilmu.com.my/journals/index.php/applied_sciences_eng_tech/index ISSN: 2462-1943 Erudite Survivor: Usability Testing of a Gamification-based Mobile App for Disaster Awareness Among Children Zulfadli Hazim Zul Azlan 1 , Syahrul Nizam Junaini 1,* 1 Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received 28 April 2023 Received in revised form 28 July 2023 Accepted 4 August 2023 Available online 16 August 2023 Numerous peer-reviewed studies describe designs for a mobile application for children based on gamification and catastrophe awareness. However, few articles give extensive evaluations of their solutions’ usability for end users. The purpose of this study is to present the usability assessment findings of a mobile app aimed at raising children’s catastrophe awareness in Malaysia. The study includes 12 target users to test the usability of the Erudite Survivor mobile app prototype. The test evaluation contains a pre-test, post-task and post-test questionnaire (Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire). The primary sections of this Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire are Overall Satisfaction, System Usefulness, Information Quality, and Interface Quality. The Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire revealed the following mean scores: Overall satisfaction (2.09), System Usefulness (2.03), Information Quality (2.06), and Interface Quality (2.25). Users of the prototype were satisfied with the application because the score was near to 1. This application’s capacity to teach children about disaster awareness might be viewed as the initial step toward a future improvement of gamification-based disaster education among Malaysian children. Keywords: Gamification; mobile application; disaster awareness; children; Malaysian 1. Introduction Gamification involves using game design elements for non-game purposes [1]. It has been successfully applied in various fields like environment, health, employment, commerce, and education [2,3]. In education, gamification has proven to be valuable for enhancing students' motivation, participation, involvement, and interest in learning [4,5]. Serious games have demonstrated considerable potential and advantages in the field of disaster risk reduction [6]. Prior studies, such as those by Arinta et al., [7], Kimura and Kawamoto [8], and Manalang et al., [9], have explored the utilisation of gamification to enhance disaster awareness in Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines, respectively. Arinta et al., [7] developed a mobile application that employs gamification elements to educate rural communities on proper disaster preparedness, focusing on floods. Kimura and Kawamoto [8] integrated gamification into their e-learning system, presenting a disaster safety manual in a visual novel format and assessing users' knowledge * Corresponding author. E-mail address: syahruln@unimas.my https://doi.org/10.37934/araset.31.3.290298