Some geography teachers teach students using Google Earth as the free desktop mapping software is packed with lots of useful and interesting features. On the other hand, my English teacher who a Briton (quarantined for a week because of H1N1) loves using BBC’s English learning service as an educational tool to help us brush up on our writing and grammar skills. Well, for History, I’ll not hesitate to introduce my History teacher about Vizerra. Dubbed as a “portal filled with treasure chest”, Vizerra is a free educational software that allows students or even adults to view 3D virtual models of world heritage sites.
A handful of you guys might say that what’s the purpose of learning about the past when it’s already over? However, in my own opinion, the past has value to our society and it helps us learn about what worked well and what did not. If something worked really well in the past, then we are likely to repeat the same action.
Based in Moscow, Russia, Vizerra is the world’s first 3D educational portal which enables users to “travel” to a historic place be such as Old Town Square, Macchu Picchu and Angkor Vat without even leaving home. Although both virtual and physical experiences may have several differences, but the free software is pretty useful to those curious but cash-strap or lazy people who don’t want to waste money travel to a particular tourist attraction. Besides offering high quality 3D copies of these sites, it also provides audio guides with detailed description made by reputable publishers and museums. Each model comes with a comprehensive encyclopaedic piece (just like Wikipedia) that provides users more information such as the history, culture and many more.
According to the folks at Vizerra, they said that by the end of this year, over 30 different destinations will be included, with about 3 new locations per month. Rather than making it an education tool, they have planned to add several features that makes it a more social and entertaining portal. For example, people can travel, meet and communicate on a virtual 3D world. Sounds cool right?