Subscribe
  • Home
  • /
  • Computing
  • /
  • Sangari Education targets schools with VR solutions

Sangari Education targets schools with VR solutions

Regina Pazvakavambwa
By Regina Pazvakavambwa, ITWeb portals journalist.
Johannesburg, 13 Jul 2018
VR encourages students to become active learners rather than passive recipients, says Sangari Education.
VR encourages students to become active learners rather than passive recipients, says Sangari Education.

Local education solutions provider, Sangari Education will distribute Singapore start-up Veative's educational virtual reality (VR) solutions in South Africa.

Veative provides education technology and learning simulations to schools and industries, using immersive technologies such as 3D, virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality. The company aims to bring about significant educational transformation by introducing immersive and interactive modules into classrooms.

Veative currently offers more than 500 content modules in biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics.

Sangari Education plans to engage directly with schools and the government as its go-to-market strategy to spread awareness of Veative's solutions.

In 2017, Veative introduced an awareness drive for virtual reality in education, covering Africa, India, the Middle East, the US and the UK. The initiative aimed to spread awareness about VR learning experiences. The company visited various schools and conducted awareness workshops for teachers and students.

"This technology encourages students to become active learners rather than passive recipients of information. With the varied immersive experiences it offers, virtual reality has huge potential to transform both teaching and learning processes. It is the ultimate medium for delivering what is known as experiential learning," says Sangari Education CEO, Bez Sangari.

"Virtual reality also enhances teachers' capabilities. It makes the job of teaching easier. Within VR simulations, teachers can track student understanding of the topics being taught with analytics and data reporting. As VR encourages active participation, it becomes easy for the teachers to identify possible gaps in students' understanding and attend to those issues timeously."

Mixed views on adoption rates

Adi Stephan, head of learning HP at management consulting firm IQbusiness, estimates VR will be common in SA schools by 2025.

In May, IQbusiness partnered with Facebook-owned Oculus Rift to bring a virtual reality school curriculum to South Africa, notes Stephan.

"Virtual reality has taken a huge step forward, thanks to cheaper hardware (goggles). SA's schools and corporates are now in a race to be the first to get their hands on it."

Previously, the cost of the technology was too high and it did not make economic sense to deploy it in organisations or schools, says Stephan.

"But now the cost of the technology has come down dramatically and headsets are available from $199 (around R6 500 for the Oculus Go)."

However, Moira de Roche, independent learning specialist and director of the Institute of IT Professionals SA, says most South African schools will not be adopting VR solutions anytime soon since it has taken so long to bring technology to schools.

She adds: "Cost is a factor although the cost of devices is coming down. One can use low-cost solutions such as Google Glass but a smartphone is still required. There are not a lot of use cases for school level, so I think it might be difficult to find innovative solutions."

One of the major challenges affecting the adoption of VR is lack of awareness and therefore lack of demand, says an IQbusiness report. Content providers are reluctant to invest resources in developing content without having an established consumer base, it adds.

Share