Enabling the Age of Immersive Education . Keynote presentation delivered to approximately 30 universities at the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) Conference hosted by Boston College. October 13-14 2005.
2005-10: Media Grid Enables the Age of Immersive Education - annoucement
2006-09: Media Grid Immersive Education wins Teaching with New Media (TWIN) Award - award annoucement
We are preparing our federal grant materials for funding the next big update to Immersive Education (iED; 3D/virtual reality) and with funding will both improve the technology (better quality, more options for learning online) and will also have funding to convert more courses at Boston College so that they can be taken online in virtual Reality. Since you have now taken serveral Immersive Education clases (these online Unreal-based class) you are in a unique position to comment on this approach to learning. With this in mind take a moment to write a statement of support we could include in our grant (it's important that the grant reflect the interest of students).
Below is an example quote of support from a virtual student:
"I've never seen anything like this before. For the first time in a long
time I was actually looking forward to each class, and usually entered
the virtual reality classroom early and left late since it was just so
interesting to be a part of. When inside Immersive Education I actually
spent more time participating in each lessons since they were so unique
and engaging. Why aren't more courses available as Immersive Education
classes? Students would learn more, and enjoy the learning process more."
Some pro-iED points that students focus on are listed in the materials you've read already, and also the fact that students don't waste time traveling to classes (time saved for studies and learning) and can get together with other students (for peer support) anytime they'd like in the VR worlds.
Based on your own experience write your own quote for the grant and email it to me at walshag@bc.edu AND also post it to your blog.
The midterm is due by next Saturday at midnight (before Sunday of the coming week). If you have any questions about how to do the midterm consult with your team, and if they can't help post a message to our 3DVR Yahoo Group and ask Alberto for clarification.
Following are are the details for the MAP that you'll submit as your midterm:
1) Full floor of any campus building (upper buildings preferably) build entirely with BSP, incluiding hallways, rooms (classrooms, lounges), door frames and window frames (no actual doors or windows needed).
2) Scale: 1 foot = 16 Unreal Units, measures don't need to be exact but approximate.
3) Custom designed textures that mimic colors of actual building. (Textures should be imported into myLevel package.)
Files should be uploaded to personals MyFiles (all students know it and have an account), file should be made public and the location of the file should be send on an email to me at walshag@bc.edu and CC Alberto on it (do not post to 3DVR group). Also post the link in your blog.
IMPORTANT: The subject of your email, and the blog post, should be "MIDTERM".
Web3D News stories: Also in your MIDTERM email and blog post include links to the Web3DNews.com stories that your team has published so far (link to your online Web3DNews.com stories so that I can read them).
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