Dedan Kimathi University of Technology students invent app to help digitize CBC, make learning more interactive

Two Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DEKUT) students have developed an application that helps learners study using virtual reality experience.

Dorothy Orina and Eric Mwenda are the brains behind the innovation dubbed ‘AR Edu’ which not only makes learning simpler but also interesting for the students.

They were driven towards coming up with the innovation after they realised that students in primary school failed their national exams because of low-quality teaching processes.

“UNICEF identifies poor quality content and poor quality teaching processes as some of the most significant barriers to education in developing countries,” Orina, a fifth-year student taking Bachelor’s degree of Science in Mechanical Engineering said.

Adding that, “A more-educated workforce would make poverty eradication and economic growth easier to achieve and for something that important, it would only make sense if it were done right.”

Mwenda clarified that their application is designed to support the new education curriculum adopted in the country.

“Not only are we making education practical, but we are also making it fun and enjoyable through virtual interaction with digital elements,” the Computer Science finalist said.

He added: “Our application is meant to complement the newly introduced Competency-Based Curriculum by virtually availing learning resources to students who may not easily get access to some materials.”

They advocate for gamification in the education sector to make it even more enjoyable and interesting for the young students who are exposed to video games during their free time away from school.

AR Edu presents the learners with an interactive learning platform where 3D models of learning materials in their curriculum are projected in their environment through a smartphone or tablet. The learners are then able to zoom, rotate and bisect the models to have different views. They can also enable labels to study the names of the different parts.

It has a virtual lab feature as well, which enable students to conduct lab experiments and get the same results as they would in a physical lab.

They can continue to perform the same experiment repetitively as opposed to a physical lab which would limit the frequency owing to the inadequacy of resources.

Orina says the major challenge is trying to convince stakeholders on the need to adopt virtual reality in the education sector.