A 3D classroom enables principles of engineering with practices from daily life and industrial examples to be shown vividly using on-screen 3D models right in the classroom.
MAM College of Engineering in Tiruchi has made teaching-learning process interesting both for teachers and students by introducing the concept of ‘3DM Classroom’, an educational product developed by Engg For U.
The product, by making available technical education in the 3D format, brings in diversity through the multimedia and interactive nature of subject presentation, involving active participation of both the teacher and the taught.
The idea, according to college principal M.A. Maluk Mohamed, is not to eliminate classroom teaching by the teacher, but to aid the teacher in making students understand the concepts more easily through 3D visualisation. The interactive multimedia product in a modular format allows professors to expose students in any desired sequential manner or to move to different topics (non-linear teaching), reviewing a topic several times where necessary and skipping others.
The futuristic technology in education that paves the way for teaching the entire syllabus for engineering subjects in a 3D format will be implemented in a staggered manner to cover 30 engineering subjects across various disciplines, especially in the first and second year courses over the next one year, according to the principal.
A Memorandum of Understanding was recently signed by the Governing Council chairman of the MAM Group of Institutions, S. Sathick, and M. Nabi, Director, Adroitec Engg For U. According to Dr. Sathick, former vice-chancellor, University of Madras, implementation of innovative methods of teaching will enhance the teaching ability of the teaching community, make learning more entertaining to the students, and serve the purpose of moulding creative engineers.
Said Prof. Nabi: “3DM will revolutionalise classroom teaching and will be a path-breaking teaching aid for the faculty in engineering colleges and other technical institutions.”
Explaining the intricacies of a topic using an image or a sketch on the blackboard is not always effective since the ability to visualise differs according to individual capacities of the students from varied educational and social backgrounds.
3DM Classroom is a pre-programmed content displayed using a projector. It enables principles of engineering with practices from daily life and industrial examples to be shown vividly using on-screen 3D models right in the classroom.
A classroom with such 3D visualisation will save the time taken by teachers for preparing lessons and also the time and effort in communicating the concepts, he explained.
3DM Classroom was officially launched in Chennai last year by M. Ananda Krishnan, chairman, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in the presence of the vice-chancellor of Anna University, Chennai, P. Mannar Jawahar.
(Philip Lelyveld comment: it isn’t clear if they are discussing stereoscopic 3D or 3D rendering)
Original post here: http://www.hindu.com/edu/2011/02/07/stories/2011020750140700.htm