Naledi3D expands its African connections
True to its motto of "Virtual Reality in Africa for Africa by Africa" and following its success with projects in Africa, the Naledi3D Factory is expanding its links into Africa.
The company, one of The Innovation Hub's first start-up companies, has met with great success with its first UNESCO-supported initiative in Uganda to promote the use and development of 3D interactive virtual reality content for education in developing communities, which started in early 2001.
It is currently working on a virtual reality Aids awareness project in Ethiopia supported by the International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA), as well as an education project, with the Alexsan Kopano Educational Trust in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. In Europe, the company has already produced three successful models for a Dutch company and has also held discussions with Dutch, German, British and Swedish companies who develop and sell similar products.
The Managing Director of Naledi3D Factory, Dave Lockwood, recently returned from Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, where he addressed ministerial delegates at the Senior Executive Seminar for African Ministers of Education, organised by IICBA and UNESCO. Representatives hailed from countries including Eritrea, Rwanda, Niger, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Burundi and Guinea Bissau, amongst others. The seminar provided an important platform for promoting the benefits of virtual reality in support of technology-enhanced learning (TEL).
As part of the theme Cost-effective Utilisation of Information and Communications Technologies for Education, Dave demonstrated virtual reality as a powerful teaching tool in showing how things work while also overcoming language barriers. Interacting with a virtual world increases retention of learned information and stimulates the desire to continue with the learning process. According to Dave, virtual reality can also be used to recreate historic worlds, which is important as part of our African heritage.
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