The Naledi3d Factory and UNESCO recently embarked on a collaborative project to take the Interactive3d Learning Object concept, which entails virtual reality (VR)-based applications in an African learning context, to a more integrated level to suit and address local needs. The Naledi3d Factory is a tenant at The Innovation Hub, and a graduate from its business incubation programme.
The VR-based Interactive-3d Learning Object is a learning tool created by the Naledi3d Factory to convey a specific item of knowledge that can be reused in different learning contexts. Users can change language elements (text or audio), making the material appropriate and acceptable to end-user communities. An example is a VR learning object on building pit latrines that has already been translated into French, Portuguese, Shona and Shangaan for application in communities in Senegal, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
According to MD Dave Lockwood: "An interactive 3D simulation creates an experience that is as close to reality as one can currently get because of its intensely visual, interactive and engaging nature. It engages with the highly visual nature of the human brain, which significantly enhances learning. This is exactly what we try to achieve in communities where the biggest gaps between the so-called information-poor and the information-rich exist, and especially where literacy and language issues pose serious barriers to effective communication".
The collaborative venture with UNESCO has grown out of earlier projects where, for example, members of the RINAF Virtual Multimedia Academy (VMA) - comprised of Ethiopia, Senegal, Sudan, South Africa and Mozambique - participated in the development of water-themed CD-ROMS. A Country network group consisting of VMA members, now also including members from Zimbabwe and Uganda has been formed to facilitate the localisation and dissemination of Interactive3d Learning Objects through community multimedia centres and schools, among others.
Some of the intended outcomes of the latest Naledi3d-UNESCO Interactive-3d Learning Object initiative includes a local Web-based repository for these learning tools, interaction and communication between the Country network members and an evaluation of their expectations and achievements before and after the project. The network group will also look at the modification of previously developed VR-based learning material, such as basic hygiene, while a full proposal on Interactive3d Learning Objects and a future strategy for VMA as a driver of the development of multimedia-based learning material across Africa is being prepared.
This will include the integration of Interactive3d Learning Objects and other new approaches into a broader VMA "virtual space". As one of the early activities in this project, the Interactive3d Learning Object concept and Country network were presented at the eLearning in Africa Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in May this year. An exciting development has been keen interest from Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania, as well as the Solomon Islands to join the Country network.
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