World's First Quarry In Cyberspace
10 July 2009
The work is a testament to the skills of the University's Centre for Educational Development and Media (CEDM) Team who are developing a growing reputation across the higher education sector for delivering effective e-learning solutions for tomorrow.
”Jack Berridge, IQ Executive Director
The quarry team. Pictured (l to r): Glenn McGarry, Julian Smallshaw, Greg Sutton, Ian Hallsworth (both seated), Pete Radcliff, Nisha Patel, Stephen Hodson
A 62,000 sq m quarry is being developed at the heart of the University of Derby's main campus to help prepare industry trainees of the future.
But there is no physical rock face or stockpiles of material in sight - because this quarry is being developed within the virtual reality platform Second Life!
It's the first quarry to be developed in Second Life and the unique £20,000 project is an exciting collaboration between the University and the Institute of Quarrying (IQ) - the international professional body for quarrying, construction materials and the related extractive and processing industries.
While the project is currently in development, the mastery of the digital technology being harnessed by Derby's IT experts is making the quarry look remarkably life-like. No attention to detail is being missed, with photos of real rock faces being used to help create the graphics as an example.
The project is set to be officially launched at the University in October when guests at the event will have the chance to see the software in action at the University's Computer Games Development Suite, at its Kedleston Road site.
The initial work began on the project in July 2008 and while the site is still being developed, it is expected that a full programme of training options will be offered. These include assessing students' ability to manage a range of different tasks such as quarry blasts and assessing the stability of rock faces.
The unique advantage of the virtual reality quarry is that students can test their knowledge and skills in a realistic but entirely risk free environment so that mistakes may lead to lost marks but not to accidents!
IQ Executive Director Jack Berridge said: "We need to make use of every practical and technological facility available to help us further enhance levels of education, training and competence within the industry."
The work is a testament to the skills of the University's Centre for Educational Development and Media (CEDM) Team who are developing a growing reputation across the higher education sector for delivering effective e-learning solutions for tomorrow.
E-learning Development Manager Peter Radcliff, who oversaw CEDM's work on the Virtual Quarry said: "Over the next few years we anticipate increasing use of virtual world technology to allow student interactions with environments that would be too costly, dangerous or even impossible to achieve in real life.
"We believe that in this way, the virtual quarry is one of the most ambitious uses so far of the virtual world technology Second Life."
Over the next few months in the run up to the launch the University's business arm, University of Derby Corporate, will be looking to garner interest within the sector for the new equipment and is also looking to see which other industries could benefit.
Its Head of Sales Paul Wilkinson said: "This is an excellent example of how the University can work with industry to produce a valuable training tool to help develop levels of competence in a cost effective way."
The Second Life project is the latest development in an increasingly productive and exciting partnership between the University, the industry and the Institute of Quarrying.
The first cohorts of students who studied on new industry diplomas in quarry and asphalt technology collected their awards in January 2009, which had backing from the respective national institutes. Current students are set to use the new Second Life software equipment as part of their studies from September.
The pioneering education partnership, which offers the first formal academic qualifications for the £6bn industry has drawn national praise from the CBI and Universities UK in its Stepping Higher report as setting a blueprint for other industry qualifications to follow.
A total of 13 different projects were highlighted for best practice nationally. In the report, Richard Lambert, Director General of the CBI, wrote: "Building effective partnerships between universities and the industry for workforce development really can be a win for all concerned."
The University of Derby's courses have the backing of major international operators in the industry such as Tarmac (Anglo-American), Lafarge, Hanson (Heidelberg Cement Group), Cemex and Aggregate Industries (Holcim) who each sponsor some of their staff to take their place among around 250 students on both diploma courses every year.
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For more information about this news release, contact Deputy Head of Corporate Relations Simon Redfern on 01332 591942 or 07748 920038.
