INTEC inaugurates modern academic Extended Reality laboratory
SANTO DOMINGO. The Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) inaugurated an Extended Reality Laboratory, a pioneer in the country, through which it proposes to generate resources in virtual reality and augmented reality for the training of its students and teachers on issues of climate change and comprehensive disaster risk management.
For the installation, INTEC had support from the Didactic Research Group (GID) of the University of Seville, Spain, whose specialists, Julio Cabero and Óscar Gallego, who are international advisors of the project and technical expert in these emerging technologies, respectively, trained researchers from the local university in the use of technological tools and equipment to design objects and resources in virtual reality, augmented reality and extended reality formats.
The laboratory is part of the research Design, Production and Evaluation of extended reality programs for training in Climate Change and Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management (REFODIGE), which is financed by the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Innovation and Development ( FONDOCYT), of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, and led by INTEC teacher and researcher Jeanette Chaljub.
During the launch of the Laboratory, the rector of INTEC Julio Sánchez Maríñez thanked FONDOCYT for the support for the creation of the innovative space whose main commitment is to “use technical and pedagogical resources in matters of climate change and risk management.”
The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Franklin García Fermín, indicated that it is a high-tech laboratory, or emerging technology that will have a significant impact on higher education in the Dominican Republic. “This technological laboratory will exert a notable force in the training of human resources capable of guiding the comprehensive management of risks linked to disasters and in innovation processes for the training of technicians and experts in various applications aimed at climate change management.” , said.
Meanwhile, Julio Cabero, external advisor of the project, expressed that among the objectives is that students are not only users, but promoters of these technologies. “One of the great advantages that the pandemic has had is that it has accelerated the digitalization process of all universities, and that has allowed different emerging technologies to begin to quickly enter the university sphere,” he explained.
In terms of equipment, the new academic space has technical equipment and software to develop educational resources mediated by augmented reality and virtual reality, in addition to enabling other developments such as 3D resources. The total investment in the laboratory amounts to about RD$11 million, which includes financing from FONDOCYT and the counterpart provided by INTEC for the conditioning of the physical space, connectivity and administrative expenses.
INTEC researchers intend to use the laboratory to create a virtual community of university professors interested in the educational use of extended reality, virtual reality and augmented reality. The software and work methodology will allow any teacher, with basic training, to develop their own resources.
Within the framework of the project, it is proposed to analyze whether there are differences in the academic performance of students when they are exposed to content designed in Extended Reality format and used under the “immersive” and “desktop” modality. Likewise, it is proposed to establish their degree of motivation and level of satisfaction with the new modality.
As Chaljub explained, initially the resources generated as a product of the laboratory's work will be adapted to the careers in the Basic and Environmental Sciences area of INTEC and, in the medium and long term, the methodology and use of extended reality resources will be expanded. to all careers and academic areas of the university, as well as to other interested educational institutions, both at the pre-university and university levels.
The national team of the project includes Josefina Pepín as a co-researcher from the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University (UNPHU) and Pamela Michel, in charge of Risk Management at INTEC, who serves as a research assistant. Also present were Genaro Rodríguez, Vice Minister of Science and Technology of the MESCyT and the Vice Chancellor of Research Projects, Linkage and Internationalization of the UNPHU, Claudia Acra, the members of the INTEC Academic Council and a broad student representation.