Seeing the potential danger and lack of resources for students to fully engage in hands-on learning, a university professor in Brunei Darussalam came up with a fun solution.
It has become widely recognized that schools may not be where students get the bulk of their real-world, hands-on experiences. One reason may be the limitation of available equipment, resulting in students being unable to put their knowledge into practice when faced with real-life scenarios.
Sarinah Ziziumiza, a university professor at the Institute of Brunei Technical Education, has contended with this challenge since her first semester as a teacher seven years ago.
“Most of them [students] have a strong grasp of the theory,” shared Sarinah, “but to improve competency skills, more practice is needed.”
Teaching mechanical engineering, Sarinah needed students to assemble and disassemble machines such as air conditioning units and braze pipes. Not only do such lessons require equipment, they also come with a level of risk, as hands-on activities have a high tendency for student error resulting in damage and, ultimately, the need to replace broken tools. The cost of this reality limited the number of times a student could practice their skill.
For students looking to study more complex equipment such as chillers, books and videos were the only option, with actual pieces being too expensive to tamper with for educational purposes.
using Virtual Reality (VR) for the first time
Wanting to overcome this challenge, Sarinah began studying other possibilities in 2018. Through her research, she found the potential of using immersive technology, namely Augmented, Virtual, and Extra Reality, to aid students.
With her background in engineering, alongside her sister, Nursheila Ziziumiza’s knowledge of 3D graphics, Sarinah was able to program simple educational games.
One of their early iterations involved assembling water pumps and engines, allowing students to get the hang of the practice before handling real-life equipment.
Students who tried out the games shared their enjoyment, saying that they now had unlimited time to practice before working in the industry and, more importantly, could do so safely.
While the initial plan was to create a tool to enhance student learning, society at large took more interest in its potential and began requesting Sarinah and her sister to design specific learning programs.
From their developments, Sarinah and her sister have been presented with numerous awards, including BICTA (Brunei Info-Communication Technology Award), an award given to those in Brunei who are able to offer remarkable innovation and creativity to their ICT industry and win regional awards such as the Digital Content Category of the ASEAN ICT Awards (AICTA) in 2021 and the APEC Digital Prosperity Award in 2022.
Starting off as a non-business endeavor, now three years later, Sarinah and Nursheila’s company has continued expanding. Ensuring copyright protection, the two sisters registered their brand ‘Rumine Corporation’ to ensure that the effort they invested into their learning tool for the public would be well protected. The safeguard has even allowed them to utilize their immersive technology in a broader range of fields and to ensure its accessibility to those who need it.