BOSTON, MA - April 23, 2010 - During his opening address at the Immersive Education 2010 Summit, James A. Woods, Dean of Boston College's Woods College of Advancing Studies, today announced that the college's undergraduate courses will be offered as fully immersive distance learning classes through the Immersive Education Initiative. Starting with 4 classes this fall, the entire Woods College of Advancing Studies course catalog is expected to become fully immersive over the next five years. Standard Boston College credit is issued for immersive Advancing Studies courses, with no distinction made between the amount or form of credit given for traditional in-person classes. Students enrolled in immersive classes attend entirely within an online immersive learning environment, using open and freely available technologies endorsed by the Initiative, and may therefore reside anywhere in the world.

Following the announcement by Woods, Aaron E. Walsh, Director of the Immersive Education Initiative, invited Summit attendees to review the Advancing Studies undergraduate course catalog and apply to teach courses remotely using immersive education technology. Walsh stated that faculty who teach immersively will be paid a highly competitive professional rate, and will teach in short "blocks" that accommodate their otherwise busy schedules. Immersive faculty can teach part-time (for as little as 6 hours a semester), in the evening or weekends, and from wherever they reside.

During their respective opening remarks at the Summit both Woods and Walsh explained that every member of the Immersive Education Initiative is eligible to teach Advancing Studies courses immersively. Criteria for teaching immersively, and faculty application forms, can be obtained from the Director of the Initiative.

"It is with confidence that the Woods College of Advancing Studies will offer its undergraduate courses as fully immersive distance learning classes through the Immersive Education Initiative. Beginning with five classes this fall, we will work toward all of our courses becoming fully immersive. Academic credit will be given for the immersive courses with no distinction between credit for immersive and traditional in-person classes. Students enrolled in immersive classes attend entirely within an online immersive learning environment, using open and freely available technologies endorsed by the Initiative, and may therefore reside anywhere in the world. I hope that some of you will indicate your intent to become instructors in our effort," commented Woods.

Registration for the following immersive Advancing Studies classes is now open. To register, or to obtain more information about these and other courses, visit http://bc.edu/schools/advstudies

• MT 34101 Web 2.0: New Era of Web Technology
• MT 35801 Video Games and Virtual Reality
• MT 35101 Discovering Computer Graphics
• MT 38101 Building Immersive Education Virtual Worlds

Thousands of Members Worldwide

The Immersive Education Initiative is a non-profit international collaboration of universities, colleges, research institutes, consortia and companies that are working together to define and develop open standards, best practices, platforms, and communities of support for virtual reality and game-based learning and training systems. Thousands of faculty, researchers, staff, administrators and students are members of the Immersive Education Initiative, which is growing at the rate of approximately 100 new members every month.

About Immersive Education
Immersive Education (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.

About the Media Grid
The Media Grid is a public utility for digital media. Based on new and emerging distributed computational grid technologies, the Media Grid builds upon existing Internet and Web standards to create a unique network optimized for digital media delivery, storage, and processing. As an on-demand public computing utility, a range of software programs and Web sites can use the Media Grid for delivery and storage of rich media content, media processing, and computing power. The Media Grid is an open and extensible platform that enables a wide range of applications not possible with the traditional Internet alone, including: Massive Media on Demand (MMoD); Interactive digital cinema on demand; Immersive Education and distance learning; Truly immersive multiplayer games and Virtual Reality (VR); Hollywood movie and film rendering, special effects, and composition; Real-time rendering of high resolution graphics; Real-time visualization of complex weather patterns; Real-time protein modeling and drug design; Telepresence, telemedicine, and telesurgery; Vehicle and aircraft design and simulation; Visualization of scientific and medical data.

The Grid Institute leads the design and development of the global Media Grid through the MediaGrid.org open standards organization in collaboration with industry, academia, and governments from around the world.

To learn more about the Media Grid, Immersive Education or the Education Grid visit:
MediaGrid.org, ImmersiveEducation.org and TheEducationGrid.org