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Naledi 3D completes groundbreaking study for UNESCO
Students at Ndjedje Secondary School, 40 km north of Kampala, Uganda.
St Henry’s School, 120 km west of Kampala, Uganda.
Virtual reality education models
Basic Hygiene in Nakaseke, Uganda.
Low cost plastic moulding machine, an example of a simulation product used in surveys.
Moraka Dam in Soweto, South Africa, after rehabilitation.
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A recent UNESCO commissioned study on virtual reality (VR) as a teaching method concluded that ". there is only one Information Communications Technology (ICT) application that is able to create environments combining all required aspects (for successful learning) and that application is a fully interactive, simulated, virtual 3D environment, in other words VR".
Virtual reality is a powerful and effective learning tool because it is not only visual but also content rich. It can overcome major language and cultural barriers, which makes the learning experience that much more relevant.
The Naledi 3D Factory, a company participating in the business incubator at The Innovation Hub, conducted the study. CEO Dave Lockwood said that UNESCO is one of the organisations that they have been working with on virtual reality projects over the past three years. However, there has never been any research supporting the application of virtual reality in the developing world.
"UNESCO asked us to evaluate modern research into how the human brain actually learns, and also to evaluate the comparative advantages of multimedia and interactive 3D tools to the learning environment," he said. Naledi 3D outsourced some of the work to other local ICT and learning experts, including Dr Bob Day, a specialist in ICT's for development; J Hugo, a HCI expert as well as Dr Rita Kizito, Learning Developer at UNISA.
"We are very excited about the findings. It shows beyond doubt how real-time simulation stimulates the brain and how virtual reality can be used in the learning process. In particular, the importance of having African virtual reality learning material in local African languages cannot be over emphasised," according to Dave.
The study started with an in-depth look at modern research into how the human brain learns was the point of departure. This was followed up by an appraisal of the practices and approaches to the use of multi-media and interactive 3D tools as learning aids, and finally an on-site evaluation programme was conducted in both South Africa and Uganda, covering a number of schools and community telecentres.
Dr Day pointed out that the recent emergence of neuroscience, an exciting interdisciplinary approach to non-invasive brain research, is providing major insights that are challenging many educational beliefs entrenched in current education models.
"New knowledge on how the brain works, attests to the fact that the interaction between vision, touch and sound enables humans to understand and learn about the universe around them, their society and themselves. In a nutshell, these senses, particularly those of vision and audition, help to build working memory. A person's working memory creates mental pictures of the world, which becomes the engine that drives this person's thinking. These 'pictures in the mind' represent the brain's most powerful ability to analyse, comprehend and visualise.
"From the field of neuroscience, it has become clear that 'learning' is boosted significantly through the acquisition of cognitive skills, namely thinking, learning and reasoning, rather than memorising facts. Virtual reality can play a powerful role in learning because it is based on images, and because it can exploit the characteristics of the most powerful components of the brain," he said.
Besides being a cost-effective tool, virtual reality has various other benefits. It allows the user to interact with learning material in a more natural way. Its 'look-see-do' mode of learning allows a learner to build a comprehensive and natural mental model of the subject matter. It is a powerful visualisation and motivational tool that allows the learner to explore and also helps to overcome those literacy barriers that can so often restrict learning.
Dave points out although the potential for using virtual reality in African learning is now clear, there are still a number of challenges.. These issues tend to deal with equity and access to ICT infrastructure, as well as the cost of developing content for the African learning environment. The former is being addressed by many organisations around the world. The latter can be addressed through the sharing of developed content.
For more information contact Dave Lockwood at the Naledi 3D Factory.
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