Tough competition between participating teams in the "Augmented Reality Challenge in Education" program held by Saudi Electronic University

Saudi Electronic University concluded the program "Augmented Reality Challenge in Education" with a closing ceremony at the University's headquarters, on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. The program is the first of its kind in the Kingdom; To stimulate students' innovation to build innovative applications using augmented reality techniques in education. It is one of the qualitative programs supervised and implemented by the University's e-learning innovation center.

The closing ceremony was sponsored by H.E. the President of the University, Dr. Lilac Ahmed Al Safadi, and attended by the CEO of the Tatweer Educational Technologies Company "TETCO", Engineer Abdullah Al Tamimi. The ceremony included an exhibition of participating innovative projects, during which new applications using augmented reality technology for education and training were reviewed.

During the ceremony, all participating students were honored with certificates of appreciation in recognition of their commitment to project development and reaching the final evaluation stage. A selection of expert judges evaluated the participating projects to nominate for the Challenge Awards for a total of 20,000 Riyal.

The judges have seen tough competition between the candidate teams, with projects exceeding the committees' expectations; For their quality and readiness to be put on the market.

The President of Saudi Electronic University praised the quality of the teams participating in her speech at the closing ceremony. And noted that the area of augmented reality was one of the most essential pillars of the future economy and one of the latest ways of learning and presenting information interactively.

The President expressed her pride in all teams that participated in this challenge, as well as all winners whose work exceeded the evaluation criteria, which were designed to enhance the effectiveness and creativity of applicants, and focused on qualitative and unique creativity to stimulate innovation in the field of augmented reality and come up with innovative applications that enhance the learning experience.

In conclusion, Her Excellency invited the teams to support their projects so that they could be leading companies moving from local to global, with the generous support of our wise leadership.

The ceremony concluded with the announcement of the winners, where “Tabayan” application won first place and a 10,000 Riyal award, the application based on augmented reality techniques, aimed at raising the diagnostic skills of medical learners by identifying tissue and radiation segments using machine learning algorithms. Tabayan exploits persuasive technical concepts to stimulate learning by presenting educational content and linking slides to an interactive library of local samples.

The application was developed by the students of King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, who are: Nasser Ahmed Al Harbi, Bader Ali Al Amari and Emad Fahad Al Boliwi.

Haitham won third place and a prize of 3,000 Riyal, and the application provides educational complexes with sophisticated technical tools, allowing them to effectively teach mathematics, visually and interactively. The application uses augmented reality techniques that will open up to math students a world of interaction with mathematical models, where Haitham offers a real understanding of various mathematical issues in their applied forms in the way of experimental interaction in real reality which contributes to their assimilation.

The application was developed by the students of AlYamamah University, who are: Safi Abdullah Al Safi and Zaid Riyad Edress.

The program was launched on March 1, 2022, and has witnessed a turnout of more than 200 students, representing 14 educational entities. The program’s activities included virtual workshops by selected experts and specialists (local and international) in spatial computing science, virtual and augmented reality techniques and the development of UNTY engine applications. During the workshops, participants implemented applied projects and answered assignments for the content provided. A group of participants was therefore nominated to continue with the program for practical training at the University's headquarters to prepare for the challenge.

Specialists defined augmented reality as the projection of virtual objects and information in the real user environment through upgraded applications that technically link augmented reality devices to real user reality. The "Augmented Reality Challenge in Education" program comes from the leadership of Saudi e-University as a provider of the latest education technologies in the Kingdom and in line with the objectives of Vision 2030.

For more information about the program, please contact with the University's e-learning innovation center: elic@seu.edu.sa