Launching today, July 19, the groundbreaking Virtual Reality Courtroom Game, first of its kind in Africa, is integrating virtual reality into legal studies.
The VR courtroom game was conceptualised by the University’s Faculty of Law, in partnership with the Johannesburg Business School (JBS) Innovation Lab, in order to address the challenge of making legal content relevant and impactful by immersing law students in complex legal scenarios that reflect real-life situations.
The team of experts involved in the creation of the VR courtroom game tested and validated the game to ensure its accuracy and effectiveness in portraying authentic real-life scenarios that cover different areas of law and ensured that it is inclusive for students at different levels of legal knowledge and experience.
Project lead, Professor Michele van Eck highlighted that the development team was driven by the major contemporary challenges they recognise in legal education.
“Specifically in demonstrating the relevance of legal content and its constitutional impact on daily life, particularly in a nation still shaped by apartheid's legacy,” Van Eck said.
Professor Abejide Ade-Ibijola, the VR Courtroom's technical lead developer, also adds that the VR Courtroom Game is intended to make legal education enjoyable and exciting by leveraging modern technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence (AI), enhanced with a teaching method that is game-based.
The VR Courtroom Project also includes experts from the UJ’s Faculty of Law, Professor Puseletso Letete, Natasha Naidoo, Elton Hart, Felicia Zuba, Louis Koen, Dr Werner Nel, Dr Yvette Joubert, and Dr Whitney Rosenberg, who developed the storyline, content, and scenarios for the game, as well as undergraduate students at the JBS Innovation Lab.
IOL