The main objective of the project is to produce a new generation of EG archeologists capable of performing efficiently in the field of cultural heritage. This is achieved by improving the teaching quality of relevant courses, integrating new IT technologies, introducing advanced graduate courses building on new IT-based system and eliminating the shortcomings of the current teaching methodologies. Integrating 3D virtual reality and IT technology in the teaching of cultural heritage courses is expected to yield these objectives. 3D stereoscopic virtual reality models for the cultural heritage sites shall be developed and embedded in the courses, such that students shall be able to virtually explore and be immersed in all heritage sites in EG, which are virtually linked to global database. In-class virtual reality lecture halls as well as online virtual campus shall be the host of the developed/modernized curricula. The virtual campus shall build on the 3D models being developed for the EG heritage sites, allowing for a larger number of students as well as general audience to learn the subject on different levels satisfying their actual needs. This way, IT and virtual reality technologies are put in service of the cultural heritage education in addition to improving the ties between the EG academic universities, and those between EG and EU universities representing a major leap forward in the teaching methodology and database banks in global cultural heritage.
Target Groups: The project targets primarily undergraduate and graduate students of cultural heritage education at the EG universities, current archeologists and Egyptologists working in the field and the general audience interested in acquiring knowledge and raise their awareness of the subject via the online virtual campus.
Methodology: The main outcomes during the first year of the project are to survey teaching methodologies in EG-EU, identifying the exact set of target courses and the virtual reality needs to add to, exploring the heritage sites suitable for 3D modeling and adequacy to the target courses and the availability and usability of the digital media that can be converted to 3D stereoscopic form. Modeling schedules and locations shall be defined and preparations for the online campus hosting shall be start.
Starting from the second year developments of the 3D digital form of the previously defined heritage sites shall start.
The sites shall be divided into 4 chronological eras: Ancient Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic in addition to underwater heritage. Two sites shall be targeted in the first 4 eras, while one site shall be targeted for underwater heritage, summing up to 9 major heritage sites. Development of the courses shall be carried out building on the developed 3D models for the sites, where digital and e-form of the courses are prepared with interfaces to external libraries.
In the third year, the online virtual campus shall be completed and newly developed courses shall start before the project ends to make sure there is no problem in applying the new methodology.