Students poised to benefit from global partnership

Media release:

NorthTec students poised to benefit from global partnership between world-leading 3D companies

NorthTec’s exciting collaboration with 3D visualisation company Nextspace is poised to benefit from the recent announcement that the Auckland-based company has been chosen as a global partner for leading visual enterprise solutions company Right Hemisphere.

Right Hemisphere is an information technology supplier to companies such as Boeing and Gulfstream Aerospace and its software is used in applications such as engineering design and manufacturing in industries that include aerospace and defence, automotive and transportation, heavy machinery and industrial equipment and medical devices and consumer goods.

Earlier this month (subs September) Right Hemisphere chose Nextspace as its exclusive worldwide reseller partner for its products and solutions for the education sector.

NorthTec is one of three education sector partners that Nextspace has chosen to work with as part of a Government-supported initiative to develop the potential applications of 3D animation in New Zealand.

“Our collaboration with Nextspace is providing us with the ability to develop greatly enhanced, dynamic 3D learning tools for students,” said NorthTec’s Chief Executive Terry Barnett.

“The announcement that Nextspace has been chosen as a global partner in the education sector by Right Hemisphere opens up a world of exciting possibilities for NorthTec and we look forward to working with Nextspace to explore what this development may mean for us.”

In late 2008 NorthTec signed a memorandum of understanding with Nextspace which gave NorthTec access to software and technical support to develop a range of flexible learning initiatives using 3D imaging.

NorthTec has since run pilot projects with key programme areas including nursing, sport and recreation and architectural drawing to explore the potential applications of Nextspace’s technology.

NorthTec’s flexible learning team and specific course tutors worked together to find ways to better deliver learning outcomes that were difficult to achieve in two dimensions i.e. with notes on a page or two-dimensional images.
“We wanted to use the software we had acquired from Nextspace purposefully to achieve specific learning outcomes for students,” says NorthTec’s Flexible Learning Manager, Vasi Doncheva.

Taking existing two-dimensional teaching resources the NorthTec team worked collaboratively to create specific lessons that use 3D models and animations.
NorthTec also purchased a database of more than 16,000 three-dimensional images.

The next phase of NorthTec’s flexible learning project will be to develop a means for tutors to access that database directly, search it easily, and convert the 3D images they select to PDF files that can then be included in the power point presentations that they use in the classroom.

“Our collaboration with Nextspace allows NorthTec students to both live and learn in a 3D world,” said Ms Doncheva. “This technology is about providing our students with real experiences that help them achieve. 3D learning tools add real value and deliver an enriched learning experience for NorthTec students.”

(N.B. To view a showcase presentation of the Nextspace/NorthTec collaboration go to: http://www.nextspace.co.nz/index.php/education)
NorthTec is the Tai Tokerau (Northland) region's largest provider of tertiary education, with campuses and learning centres in Whangarei, Kerikeri, Rāwene, Dargaville, Kaikohe and Kaitaia. NorthTec also has over 60 community-based delivery points from Coatesville in rural Rodney to Ngataki in the Far North.

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