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The event on the “localization” of Interactive-3d Learning Objects, was attended by delegates from institutions in Ethiopia, Mozambique Senegal, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Over recent years it is becoming increasingly obvious that text-based communication poses significant stumbling blocks to unambiguous communication. More so when language and literacy still pose serious treats to training in Africa. Over the last five years, Virtual Reality (VR) has made strong inroads in the transfer of information and knowledge – through the concept of the “Interactive-3d Learning Object”, recently developed by the Naledi3d Factory.

The UNESCO-funded workshop, held during the week of 28 November at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria, looked at the background to the creation of VR based applications in the African learning environment and especially focused on the localization of these objects to suit and address local needs.

The participants have previously either been involved in the implementation of VR-based learning material, through the RINAF Virtual Multimedia Academy (VMA) or other parallel initiatives – such as for example WorldLinks in Zimbabwe (who have previously implemented material on bee-keeping for emerging farmers, supported by the Kellogg Foundation.

The Interactive-3d Learning Object is a VR-based learning object that conveys a specific item of knowledge and can be reused in different learning contexts. They are also built in such a way that end-users can change the language elements (text, video and audio) without the need for the original VR authoring tool. In this way, these objects can be easily modified to suit local needs, making the material more understandable and acceptable by intended end-user communities.

Main outcomes of this exciting week’s events were not only the principles covered, but also the camaraderie, as well as most significantly, the start of a new, Pan-African network that over time will be able to translate hundreds of Interactive-3d Learning Objects into many local languages – material that can also be disseminated through this new, informal network to local schools and community multimedia centres etc.

At first, it may appear hard to see the relevance of VR-based learning to community development, but it is in fact, “Because of its intensely visual, interactive and engaging nature”, says Dave Lockwood of the Naledi3d Factory “an interactive 3D simulation creates an experience that is as close to reality as one can currently get. It engages with the highly visual nature of the human brain and this enhances the learning process by a significant order of magnitude, which ironically is exactly what we try to achieve in communities where the biggest gaps between the so-called information-poor and the information-rich exist”.