Project description
The shortfall of tangible investment afflicting the quality of teaching on the African continent is an impediment to education, especially that of scientific education in which theorical formations are meant to rely on practical exercises in laboratories, with an adaptive equipment, that are either insufficient, obsolete or nonexistent. In order to right this default, a team of young Senegalese entrepreneurs, with Abdou Khadre Diop at its head, student in the École Supérieure Polytechnique (ESP) of Dakar, conceive OwnLabs, a project meant to allow Senegalese pupils and studnents to improve their scientific studies via an innovative solution: use virtual reality to recreate the conditions for a scientific experiment. The purpose is to provide them with an immersive experience trhough practical exercises, while implementing experimental protocols that are part of school curriculums on the application, and coach students throughout the entire experiment. The will allow them to understand, control and transform if needed their environment. For this purpose, the OwnLabs application simulates a scientific laboratory. Simple to use with a smartphone and a virtual reality headset, each student can access any experiment of the class or of another programm for scientific subjects (physics, chemistry, biology), at a very low price and without any danger related to the handling of chemical products. Thanks to this 90% recyclable headset, to a 3D display system, to specific lenses and to a smartphone, OwnLabs immerses us in its physics, chemistry and biology laboratories. It was rewarded with the Social Entrepreneur Orange Prize as well as the Ericsson Innovation Awards both in 2018 for the Africa-Middle East area. Diop hopes for its project to be gradually used in all of the classes of the Senegalese territory.
Tags: MOOC
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Project summary
- Organization Ownlabs
- Location Sénégal
- Creation date 09/05/2019
- Project category E-education
