NMC Campus Observer

Immersive Education Day, Reprise, Media Grid Summit

CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine) : Dec 10, 2007 02:08pm

Over the weekend, there was an important in person event at Harvard University the Immersive Education Day.

We were scrambling last week to try and see if we could bring live video into NMC Campus form this event, but a stream was not available. But better than that, the organizers are offering to bring a recap and followup discussion of this event to us, scheduled now for Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 10:00am PST. Before, and during the event, we will have available for viewing recorded from this recent event, and use the time for open discussion about the future of virtual worlds and education.

This January event is being called a “virtual pre-summit” as it precedes the January 12-13 Digital Media Summit to be hosted again at Harvard.

For those that did not hear about the December 8, 2007 Immersive Education Day, it was described as:

On December 8th 2007 from 2-5pm EST Harvard University’s Interactive Media Group will host a half-day Immersive Education event that is open to the public and free to attend. Educators, researchers and administrators from Harvard University, Boston College, MIT Media Lab, Amherst College and the United States Department of Education will give a series of presentations and demonstrations to provide attendees with an overview of Immersive Education and how virtual world and game-based learning technologies are used in and out of the classroom today. Immersive Education Day at Harvard is a precursor to the Immersive Education event at Boston’s Digital Media Summit in January, 2008 (see http://MediaGrid.org/summit/).

Immersive Education (http://ImmersiveEducation.org) combines interactive 3D graphics, commercial game and simulation technology, virtual reality, voice chat (Voice over IP/VoIP), Web cameras (webcams) and rich digital media with collaborative online course environments and classrooms. Immersive Education gives participants a sense of “being there” even when attending a class or training session in person isn’t possible, practical, or desirable, which in turn provides educators and students with the ability to connect and communicate in a way that greatly enhances the learning experience. Unlike traditional computer-based learning systems, Immersive Education is designed to immerse and engage students in the same way that today’s best video games grab and keep the attention of players. Immersive Education supports self-directed learning as well as collaborative group-based learning environments that can be delivered over the Internet or using fixed-media such as CD-ROM and DVD. Shorter mini-games and interactive lessons can be injected into larger bodies of course material to further heighten and enrich the Immersive Education experience.

For more information see the flier 2007-11_harvard_immersive_education_day.pdf.

Look for more information from the Campus Observer about the January 10 Media Grid Pre-Summit, but pencil it in your calendars for 10:00am PST. This will take place at the NMC Conference Center, and will be free and open to all Sl equipped educators or interested persons.

Story filed under: Teaching and Learning, What's Happening

See all stories by CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine)