1 Introduction

Screen interface is a key aspect for enabling online knowledge sharing activities. The designers should think how design an interface to support the online knowledge sharing activities. Students need to support knowledge sharing activities should be emphasized rather than designing the interface based on the interest of the designer or software developer. It will make it easier for students to engage in online knowledge sharing activities. Thus the interface designer should combine their technical knowledge and skills with the best aesthetics that will attract the students to share knowledge.

In recent years, most of the online learning system provides a communication tool (discussion forum) for sharing of knowledge among students and teachers in addition to the development and distribution of learning content. This has resulted in the universities to use a blended learning approach, consisting of face-to-face instruction and the use of e-learning tools to support online learning. The e-learning tool which is proposed as an addition to the face-to-face traditional classroom discussions is the discussion interface [1]. Based on previous study, few shortcomings in the discussion interface design were identified [2]. Thus, the discussion interface should be designed to facilitate online knowledge sharing activities.

2 Conceptual Model for Online Knowledge Sharing

Interface for knowledge sharing is concerned with the ability of the students to use interface for knowledge sharing discussions. The challenge is to determine the criteria of online discussion interface that enables the sharing of knowledge among students’. Various criteria has be taken into account to assess the online discussion interface. Among the evaluation criteria that often been discussed are usability, visual aesthetics and intrinsic motivation design.

The interface design plays an important role in providing an online space for interaction among students. Thus the interface design should be made interesting and to make students feel interested in using it for knowledge sharing. This study shows that the interface design should be given attention to support for knowledge sharing. Issues such as usability, visual aesthetics, sociability and intrinsic motivation design are the most important factors to be assessed. Earlier studies looked at usability and visual aesthetics as one single factor, but they are actually two different factors and it is important to investigate both the factors separately to understand users’ behavior [3]. Usability traditionally was defined as “people who use the product can do so quickly and easily to accomplish their task” [4]. But the traditional usability evaluation is insufficient for e-learning [5]. Thus the user, task and context that taken into account in traditional usability is extended to learning in formal and informal environments [6]. Learning occurs in online discussion interface through the students’ interaction in an informal environment. In this context, usability is concerned with how intuitive and easy it is for students to learn to use and interact with the online discussion interface. The online discussion interface should be designed in a way in which students can interact easily for knowledge sharing activities.

Apart from usability factor, the visual aesthetics factor plays an important role in the evaluation of interface and relatively limited research in other contexts such as online discussion interface [7]. In addition, it also was found that the visual aesthetics of the interface can define user satisfaction and pleasure by using measurement constructs [8]. Therefore, this study makes extension to measure empirically the visual aesthetics of the online discussion interface for knowledge sharing. So looking at the usability and visual aesthetics of the interface alone is not enough. Researchers must also pay attention to the technology that enables social interaction in online discussion interface [9]. Hence, sociability concept was introduced to examine support of social interaction in the online interface. Sociability is concerned with developing the software, policies and practices to support social interaction online. Though practical sociability and usability are closely related, both of these factors have significant differences. Usability is very dependent on how users interact with technology while sociability is related with how users interact with the support of technology. Therefore the online discussion interface need to be evaluated to see how the interface support students’ interaction online.

As the interface combines intrinsic motivation design factor in online discussion interface, intrinsic motivation design factor need to be considered for inclusion in the online discussion interface evaluation. It was found the game elements can motivate the user in the online interface [10]. But the use of game elements in the context of non-game is known as gamification [11]. This gamification was used in intrinsic motivation to predict students’ attitudes toward the use of game elements and the intention to continue using it [12]. The implementation of game elements in online interface can engage users while encouraging their activities for learning [13]. Besides that social media elements also can increase students learning [14]. Thus intrinsic motivation design factor will be assessed using a set of gamification and social media specifications to enhance students’ motivation for engaging them in knowledge sharing activities.

From the result of literature review, a conceptual model was developed. This conceptual model is designed to investigate students’ knowledge sharing ability in online discussion interface using four important factors; usability, sociability, visual aesthetics and intrinsic motivation design.

3 Intrinsic Motivation Design for Online Knowledge Sharing

The motivation theory that mainly behind this study is Self Determination Theory (SDT). SDT is a general theory of human motivation and personality [15], which concerns people’s inherent growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. In this study, three psychological needs that enhances intrinsic motivation: autonomy (self-determination in resolving what to do and how to do it), efficiency (to develop and implement skills for manipulation and control of the environment), and relatedness (in relation to others through pro-social relationships).

Autonomy.

Autonomy refers to the degree of selection that students have to perform academic tasks; and about when and how to perform the task [16]. Ryan and Deci (2000) said that the autonomy occurs when individuals take action on their desire or for personal reasons and not due to be controlled by others [17].

Number of activities under the concept of autonomy as proposed in the discussion interface to improve students’ motivation to meet their autonomy needs:

  1. A1:

    Allow the students to choose appropriate avatar to represent them in the online knowledge sharing activities.

  2. A2:

    Allow the students to choose the way to receive feedback immediately about their online knowledge sharing activities

  3. A3:

    Allow the students to choose the types of media that wants to be shared in online knowledge sharing activities.

Competence.

Competence is the ability of students to complete a task assigned to the successful and efficient in continuous interaction with the social environment. For the students to build their own competence, it is suggested to support the perceived extend of learners’ own behaviors [18]. The feeling of competence is enhanced by (1) unexpected, direct and positive feedback, (2) an optimal challenge and (3) freedom of demeaning evaluations [15]. For example, early studies shows that positive feedback can improve the performance of intrinsic motivation, whereas negative performance feedback reducing intrinsic motivation [19]. In addition, feelings of competence also can be enhanced by displaying the progress of students in the interface [20]. When displaying the progress of students to other students, it can also stimulate the relatedness needs [21].

So knowledge sharing activities should be designed interestingly to enable online knowledge sharing activities. Below are some of the suggested activities to help increase student motivation with fulfilling the basic psychological needs for competence.

  1. C1:

    Provide the student unexpected response when they achieve required performance in online knowledge sharing activities.

  2. C2:

    Provide the student direct response about their position in online knowledge sharing activities.

  3. C3:

    Provide the student positive feedback for their effort in online knowledge sharing activities

  4. C4:

    Provide the student view of their progression in online knowledge haring activities.

Relatedness.

Relatedness is the last requirement for intrinsic motivation. It refers to the need to belong to or dependent on a particular group. Therefore, the feeling of relatedness is connected, belonging and interaction with others in the discussion interface. Feeling a sense of connection not only to share knowledge but also to compete in the leaderboard [20]. Relatedness support social interaction with other students with various elements such as tagging, ratings, commenting and visualization of social status and reputation [18]. Number of activities to enhance the feeling of relatedness among students for online knowledge sharing is proposed:

  1. R1:

    Allow students with similar interest to be connected.

  2. R2:

    Allow the students to visualize their social status, reputation and contribution in online knowledge sharing activities.

Allow the students to show appreciation to other students’ contribution.

4 Gamification Strategies in Intrinsic Motivation Design

This section presents the gamification features introduced into the discussion interface based on the proposed activities in intrinsic motivation design.

Avatar Selection.

The discussion interface allow the students to choose appropriate avatar to represent them in online knowledge sharing activities (see Fig. 1). This feature was designed based on the suggestion A1 from the activities.

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Avatar selection

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Immediate Feedback.

The discussion interface allow the students to choose the way the feedback about the online knowledge sharing activities given immediately. For instance, the student can choose the option to send the feedback straight to their email. So that they can read immediately the feedback about their discussion directly using their smart phone without login to discussion interface. This feature was designed based on the suggestion A2.

Media Selection.

Customization of type of media used for the online knowledge sharing activities can be determine by the students themselves. By this students feel more autonomous. This feature was design based on the suggestion A3.

Unexpected Response.

The discussion interface provides unexpected responses when the student fulfill some requirement needed in the online knowledge sharing activities. For instance, award in the form of badge will be given if the total count of comments a user has ever made meets or exceeds the target criteria. Badges are visual representations of students’ achievements in online knowledge sharing activities, which can be collected within the discussion environment [22]. When the badges are awarded unexpectedly, it will keep up students’ interest levels [23]. The badges are advertised on students profile so other students’ can see the online knowledge sharing level. These features were designed based on suggestion C1 and R2.

Direct Response.

The discussion interface will rank the students success in online knowledge sharing activities. For instance, students’ can view their position in knowledge sharing activities directly in the discussion interface (see Fig. 2). This view can be shared with all the students in the discussion interface. For students at the top ranking, feelings of competence can arise. Besides that, the students’ ranking can create competition among the students to be at the top ranking. These features were designed based on the suggestion C2 and R2.

Fig. 2.
figure 2

Direct response on students’ online knowledge sharing activities

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Positive Feedback.

The discussion interface allows the student provides positive feedback to other students’ contribution in online knowledge sharing activities. This allows the student to show appreciation to other students’ contribution. For instance, students’ can use the discussion interface to show “kudos” and encourages the students’ to involve more in online knowledge sharing activities. These features were designed based on suggestion C3 and R3.

View Student Progression.

The discussion able to show student progression in online knowledge sharing activities. Students’ progression represent their ability and level of engagement in online knowledge sharing activities. The more student engage in online knowledge sharing, the higher students’ progression will be. The students’ progression level can be seen by other students in their profile (see Fig. 3). These features were designed based on suggestion C4 and R3.

Fig. 3.
figure 3

Student progression level

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5 Social Media Strategies in Intrinsic Motivation Design

This section presents the social media features introduced into the discussion inter-face based on the proposed activities in intrinsic motivation design.

Connected with Their Peers.

Students feel more connected with peers when they participate in social media [24]. The hashtag is an important element of social media strategies. Thus to keep students’ connected in similar interest topics, tagging is used. The tagging allow students to group key words and discussions so they are easily searchable (see Fig. 4). The purpose of using tagging in the discussion interface is to allow the students to easily connect on discussion topics, sharing their thoughts and opinions. This feature was designed based on suggestion R1.

Fig. 4.
figure 4

Tagging the key words

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6 Method

6.1 Participants

The participants for this study are panel of experts. The selection panel of experts depends on the required amount of expert, desired level of experts, experience of experts, qualifications of the experts and experts’ diversity of knowledge [1, 2]. The panel of expert panel may consist of content or lay experts. Content experts are professional with research and working experience in the study area while lay experts are potential research subjects [3]. The aim using the subject from the target group as one of the panel of expert is to ensure that the population which the instrument developed is represented. Additionally lay experts can also give opinions on items that are less clear and item that are important in the study. The purpose sample from actual population is used as lay expert because they know the research construct through direct personal experience [2].

The recommended amount of experts is between three to ten experts for each group (content expert and lay expert) in the content validity test [3, 4]. Although using larger number of experts provide more information about the measures but the possibility to reach agreement on the items used in instruments would decrease [5]. After determining the panel of experts for content validity test, the views of a panel of experts on the items in quantitative and qualitative manner researchers was collected and analyzed. For this study four panels of experts were selected (3 senior lecturer with Doctorate and 1 Phd student).

6.2 Instrument

A response form with the developed items were created as instrument for this study. Five criteria’s were used to evaluate the items in the response form: (1) relevance, (2) clarity and (3) necessity. Each item were rated on a scale of 1–4 for relevance and clarity; and scale of 1–3 for necessity. In literature it is recommended for dichotomizing the ordinal scale during the process of content analysis. Finally an empty space is given bottom of each items for the experts to add any comments. The suggested format of response form was adapted from [3]. Addition to it, a brief demographic questions can be included at the top of response form to gather some information about the experts. Thus the response form can be divided in three section: (1) brief demographic questions, (2) instructions to the experts, (3) construct theoretical definition, scales and list of factors or sub factors for the measures with its definition and lastly (4) items that need to be accessed.

6.3 Procedure

Once the panel of expert have been identified, email or call should be given to the selected experts requesting their interest in the content validity test. Duration about one week was be given to the experts to respond to the request. As soon as the experts accepted the invitation to involve in content validity test, a cover letter and response form sent to the panel of experts. Cover letter included the purpose of study and description of the response form. Duration one week was given to the panels of experts to provide constructive feedback on the study items.

7 Data Analysis

There are three types of analysis that can be performed on data collected for the content validity test: (1) content validity ratio (CVR), (2) content validity index (CVI) and (3) reliability or inter-rater agreement (IRA) [3, 6]. The elimination of item is done by using two commonly used method for content analysis; the content validity ratio (CVR) [6] and content validity index (CVI) [4]. While the reliability of the expert’s rating was seen from the value of IRA.

8 Finding

Once all the panel of judges completed the response form, data was analyzed for CVI, CVR and IRA. The detail analysis of content validity is extended to another research paper. Out of the 53 items assessed, 20 were considered to have insufficient content validity. The final items included the initial online knowledge sharing model were displayed in Table 1.

Table 1. Online knowledge sharing model
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9 Conclusion

This study demonstrates quantitative feedback was received from the experts for identification of initial online knowledge sharing measurement. Four factors were identified to measure the online knowledge sharing. They are usability, visual aesthetics, sociability and intrinsic motivation design. Panels of experts were requested to give constructive feedback on the identified measures from literature. Then content analysis were conducted and items were judged for explaining the construct of study (online knowledge sharing). Then items were removed and modified based on the feedback obtained from the panel of experts. Once the content validity study completed, further pilot study can be conducted to identify any problems with the instrument before final testing is done. For future work, we will validate the items using a statistical procedure. To conclude, gamification and social media strategies can be used to design intrinsic motivation in an interface. To keep student to share knowledge online we proposed usability, visual aesthetics, and sociability and intrinsic motivation rooted in self-determination theory using gamification and social media strategies.