MUSCAT, SEPT 14 - As part of the Shurkum Initiative, the Information Technology Authority (ITA) recently held an open discussion session on the theme, ‘Adopting Virtual and Augmented Reality Applications in Education’, in the presence of Omar Salim al Shanfari, Deputy CEO for Operations.
The session was attended by 90 participants from The Research Council, Ministry of Education, Middle East College, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman Association for Education Technologies and Omantel.
The session focused on a number of topics including opportunities to leverage the applications of virtual reality and augmented reality in educational environments and enhancing awareness of the opportunities and possibilities of adopting VR and AR in education either in schools or colleges. Finally, some suggestions have been put forth for projects and applications utilizing virtual reality and augmented reality technologies that can be implemented to serve education institutions as well as for training objectives for government and private entities.
The discussion panel hosted Dr Mona al Siyabi (Ministry of Education), Moneer al Mahrooqi, (The Military Technology College), Mona al Shidhani (ITA’s Sas.VR) and Shatha al Subhi (SME owner in the VR and AR field).
On the sidelines of the session, an exhibition was organised with the participation of four SMEs operating in the field of virtual reality and augmented reality, in addition to showcasing four projects implemented by the graduates of SAS Centre for Virtual Reality.
The ITA launched the Shurkum initiative in 2014 to reinforce community eParticipation in the projects it carries out. The initiative aims to achieve interaction between ITA and the different segments of the society to take their opinion for more transparency and positive effective participation, thus improving the projects, initiatives and policies of ITA.
The project features open discussion sessions in which ITA’s top management meets face-to-face with the different target groups of the community in order to garner public opinion and suggestions. In addition, the event is broadcast live through ITA’s different social media channels. All suggestions and proposals are gathered to be presented to the management and based on which they take the appropriate decisions. Eight open discussion sessions have been held so far.
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