Student testing in local schools
Doha, Qatar: A Northwestern Qatar professor has developed an innovative educational technology solution to make history lessons more immersive by letting students live the ancient events in virtual reality.
‘Plague of Athens VR’ — developed at Northwestern University in Qatar with support from Qatar Research, Development and Innovation (QRDI) and Qatar Foundation — has launched internationally on major virtual reality platforms, marking a significant milestone for Qatar’s growing edtech sector.
Spencer Striker, who teaches digital media design at Northwestern Qatar, started working on the project during the pandemic as a solution for distance learning and making the education process more engaging for students. He received two grants from QRDI and it took him around three years to finish the virtual reality edtech innovation, which is now available on platforms such as Meta Quest, Steam VR, and Pico VR.
Striker has worked on a number of edtech projects but this is his first VR project. It transforms historical education by immersing users in the world’s first recorded pandemic in 429 BCE.
Spencer Striker, who teaches digital media design at Northwestern Qatar
The experience demonstrates Qatar’s emerging leadership in edtech, combining cutting-edge VR development with historical research to create engaging learning experiences that are now accessible to audiences worldwide.
The project has already received international recognition, having been nominated for a QS Reimagine Education Award. This success showcases how Qatar’s investment in research and innovation is producing tangible results with global impact.
In an exclusive interview with The Peninsula, Striker said he was inspired to find an innovative edtech solution as schools shut globally during the Covid pandemic and education moved online. Living through a pandemic, he chose to teach the history of pandemics through VR, and chose the Plague of Athens as the world’s first recorded major epidemic.
The project has been tested in classrooms at several schools including Doha College, Qatar Academy, and the Lebanese School of Qatar. “It has had very positive impact and received excellent feedback. Teachers have told me that it makes history come to life in their classrooms. It makes them have an emotional resonance with history. [Students] are excited to put on the headset and go into the world. Feedback on its use in the classroom is very, very positive,” Striker said.
Talking about the evolution, potential and challenges of education technology, Striker said, “Edtech has never been more relevant. The tech space was pushed forward by the requirements of the pandemic, and now we are living through yet another revolution, which is generative AI.
“VR is very different than learning from a textbook. It creates a sense of context, a sense of authenticity to the experience. VR has tremendous potential to make learning not boring, and make it relevant and authentic, something you can touch and feel and hear.
“Context is very important. People learn much better when there’s relevancy and context as opposed to trying to memorise dates, facts and names in traditional textbooks.”
Discussing how tech is aiding teaching, the associate professor said good teaching is very much like good game design. “Game design does exactly the same thing. To get someone to progress in a game, they have to feel that their ability, their competency, is always growing. But the challenge is growing in proportion to their competency, and they’re always on the verge of the next level and so on. So there’s a natural connection between good teaching and good game design. Game-based learning is merging the two and that’s a big part of what I’m trying to do as well.”
Striker said projects like his have helped put Qatar on the map as an innovator in the education technology space.
“If you look around, even internationally, you’re not going to find that many really advanced VR educational solutions, not at the level of polish that we put into this game that took us almost three years and we worked with incredibly skilled professional teams in 3D animation and in game engineering.
“It’s a rare achievement. It’s important for Qatar’s education technology space. It’s an achievement for QRDI and for Northwestern Qatar. You will have a hard time finding other VR learning solutions that are built at such a level of polish and scale.”
Striker said VR has its own limitations and challenges. “This technology is incredibly exciting. I think it’s about five years out. That’s why I’m exploring multiple platforms for educational innovation. I think for now the go-to platforms for me are Android mobile, web apps, iOS mobile, and then iPad, Android tablet, and VR, in terms of accessibility, ROI, and impact.”
