Irish Primary School building it’s own virtual world

Daynuv has partnered with GiftedKids.ie to pilot a new ICT initiative aimed at supporting a group of exceptionally able students in Gaelscoil Eoghain Uí Thuairisc Carlow. The pilot, overseen and developed in conjuction with Bríd Uí Mhaoluala, Learning Support Teacher with Carlow Gaelscoil is the first of its kind in Ireland to use 3D modelling software and programming tools to teach part of the primary school curriculum in a learning support setting.

Daynuv built a private and secure GiftedKids.ie ‘island’ on their 3D grid. This deserted island was quickly peopled with avatars and architectural structures created by a group of five Gaelscoil students under the guidance of their teacher Brid Uí Mhaoluala. After some initial training the students quickly got to grips with the software and soon built a 3D world based a number of local structures including high crosses such as the Castledermot crosses. The students can access the island both at home and at school and can interact via their avatars with the virtual environment and with each other.

“With expertise in 3D modelling software and programming tools for children, Daynuv has created an engaging and empowering learning environment, particularly for children with exceptional ability and high visual spatial awareness”, said Margaret Keane of Giftedkids.ie.

Giftedkids.ie is a support website for parents and educators of “exceptionally able” and “twice exceptional” (gifted but with learning difficulties) children in Ireland. “We would like to thank Brid Uí Mhaoluala and the staff of Gaelscoil Eoghain Uí Thuairisc in particular for embracing this new technology so readily and recognising its potential use for these often overlooked group of students”.

Brid Uí Mhaoluala has been teaching small groups of exceptionally able children for the past number of years at the school and was interested in using this type of technology to provide enrichment material for her current group of students.

“We worked the Daynuv project for two periods a week in school, but the children continued to work on the project at home. It was great that they could work on what they wanted and on something truly challenging”, said Uí Mhaoluala. “I am not a techno-wizard, I don’t even have an ECDL, so by taking this on, I felt I would be able to say to any teacher that if I could do it, anyone could.”

Daynuv specialises in the development of virtual worlds for immersive education and has received seed funding from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland to develop applications for children with special needs. “From our experience we’ve discovered that 3D learning software allows exceptionally able children to unlock the abilities which can go unnoticed in a traditional learning environment”, said James Corbett of Daynuv. “Partnering with GiftedKids.ie was the ideal way for us to bring this enabling technology to those who need it most”.