Integrating EDIPT Instructional Design and the UTAUT2 Model in Virtual Simulation-Based Storyboard Learning: A Systematic Literature Review and Conceptual Framework for Higher Education

Abstract

The significance of virtual simulation technologies as a way to enhance storyboard design is under-theorized in the higher education literature, despite the fact that storyboard design is essential to the animation and multimedia curriculum. This article presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) conducted using the PRISMA reporting protocol and structured in accordance with the PICOC framework, with the goal of synthesizing forty-three empirical studies published between 2018 and 2025 on virtual simulation-based learning, creativity development, narrative quality, and technology acceptance. Based on thematic analysis, four interrelated domains were identified: (i) virtual simulation and instructional design integration, (ii) creativity development in digital and animation-based learning, (iii) narrative quality in visual storytelling, and (iv) technology acceptance as measured by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2). The review then develops an Integrated EDIPT-UTAUT2 Conceptual Framework, which uses the Empathize-Define-Ideate-Prototype-Test (EDIPT) design-thinking cycle to serve as the instructional architecture in a virtual simulation-based storyboard system, and UTAUT2, which includes creativity development and narrative quality, to explain students' behavioural intention and use behaviour. A synthesis method is utilized to create the nine hypotheses that will guide the following empirical validation using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The review proposes a theoretically triangulated, empirically traceable model that bridges the gap between instructional design science, technology acceptance theory, and creativity scholarship, while also emphasizing the importance of primary research on the issues identified, such as the lack of research on the use of storyboard-specific simulation environments in Malaysian higher education systems.