Promoting education in developing communities with Virtual Reality
One of the start-up companies in the pilot Business Incubator at The Innovation Hub has met with huge success in its efforts to promote education in developing communities through the use of three-dimensional interactive (virtual reality) models.
The Naledi3d Factory has trained two Ugandans to develop virtual reality models for educational use, which has led to the establishment of an active Virtual Reality Development Facility in Kampala, Uganda. The Naledi3d Factory now plans to extend the initiative to other African countries.
We remember:
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what hear and see
70% of what we say
90% of what we see, say and do
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Educational materials based on visual media enhance the transfer of knowledge, according to company founder Dave Lockwood. Visualisation is a more natural form of information processing for the human brain, while virtual reality provides the ability to learn through "looking, seeing and doing", thus overcoming the learning barriers brought about by the "tyranny of text". It allows pupils and students to interact with the material, to identify elements of interest and to learn in a more natural and fun way, he said.
Lawrence Ssenkubuge |
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When Ugandan teacher Lawrence Ssenkubuge returned home after being trained by The Nadeli3d Factory, he developed a physics virtual reality model and tested it on his class of 40 at King's College Budo in Kampala.
Pupils were enthusiastic about his virtual reality model, saying it made them want to learn more about the subject. It also allowed them to learn at their own pace, because they could witness the process as many times as they liked. "It makes me understand the stuff," said one of the pupils.
Tebogo Pelo of The Naledi3d Factory building an interactive Virtual Reality model.
Lockwood has also been involved in a health-training programme, funded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), at a village in Uganda. The Naledi3D Factory used a virtual reality model of the village to emphasise to the villagers the importance of good hygienic practices.
For example, If they failed to cover the drop toilets in the virtual village, the flies would fly out and infect the food. If the people urinated for defecated in the village's virtual river, other people downstream would be infected and get sick.
Lockwood believes that virtual reality has a powerful role to play in the future development of Africa, especially in training and education, by showing people, as well as letting them "do". It can be used to visualise something as complicated as an industrial process or a scientific or engineering principle, for testing or for the showing of the idea, he says. It can also be used to recreate historic or cultural digital worlds, another area that also has great potential in the African context.
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