Young Omanis develop eight e-learning applications

Muscat: Forty young Omanis completed their 14 week hands-on digital training with Information Technology Authority’s SAS VR and developed eight e-learning applications.
The programme, which is sponsored by BP Oman, aimed at endowing the youth with digital tools, 3D and virtual reality skills.
The eight interactive e-learning projects that they had developed is based on the Ministry of Education’s KG1-12 curriculum which were showcased at their graduation ceremony.
Attended by Dr. Hamoud Khalfan Al Harthi, Undersecretary for Curriculum at the MOE, and Dr. Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA as well as other dignitaries, they witnessed a presentation made by the graduates whom worked to digitally enhance the mode of delivery for teaching Structure of the Earth, Types of Rocks, Road Safety, Arabic Language: Letter Wheel, English Language: How to tell time, Life Skills: Dental Health, Arabic Alphabet and Geography: Earthquake.
Shabib Al Maamari, BP Oman’s Communications and External Affairs Manager said, “Virtual Reality is becoming an important global trend, however, it’s relatively new to Oman and has not been tapped heavily.”
“We are happy that we’re starting to make a difference through training Omanis in the VR field and with the support of MOE. BP is committed to giving Omanis skills that will increase their employability in the future,” he added.
The virtual reality market for software components is expected to flourish at a high rate and dominate the digital market in the next few years, owing to the increasing adoption of VR software platforms and applications across the globe.
To align with this worldwide development and support the emerging industry in Oman, the training program instilled Omanis with VR skills that will enable them to create interactive 3D applications.
The SAS VR team will follow up with the graduated students and assist them to pursue their own careers. Skills acquired through the training programme will empower originality that can lead to new business concepts.
“The ministry welcomes all initiatives that serve education from both public and private sectors, believing that education is everyone’s responsibility. In this spirit, the collaboration between the Directorate General of Curriculum Development, SAS VR and BP Oman was formed to develop educational applications to support school curricula, the content of which have been overseen by specialists from the Department of Humanities Curriculum. They prepared and revised the educational content as well as oversaw the final output in coordination with the Department of Content and E-learning,” said Khalid Mohammed Al Rahbi, Assistant Director of the Department of Humanities Curriculum at the Ministry of Education.
He added, “We hope that these projects will enhance e-learning, resulting in greater gains from this collaboration in the future.”