BOSTON, MA - May 07, 2010 - The Immersive Education Initiative today posted outcomes of the 2010 Boston Summit that convened April 23-25 at Boston College through special arrangement with the Woods College of Advancing Studies. Organized specifically for educators, researchers, and administrators, the three-day conference consisted of presentations, panel discussions, break-out sessions and workshops to provide attendees with an in-depth overview of immersive learning platforms and technologies. Following are summaries of the explicit outcomes from the 2010 Boston Summit, with details for each available online at the official outcomes posting page:
- Boston College's Woods College of Advancing Studies announced that the college's undergraduate courses will be offered as fully immersive distance learning classes. .::more::.
- Technology Working Group (TWG) presentations, progress and deliverables include:
- Open Simulator ("OpenSim") was announced as an official Immersive Education Initiative platform, expanding the Platform Ecosystem first announced at the 2008 Boston Summit to a total of 4 open source virtual worlds platforms. .::more::.
- Citing concerns over rights and liabilities the Initiative issued an open call for expert legal opinions on content ownership, terms of service, and potential legal liabilities for teaching in the virtual world of Second Life. .::more::.
- All software and virtual worlds that comprise Rocket World are available free of charge. .::more::.
- The Initiative will establish a new model for conducting collaborative research. .::more::.
- The Initiative will issue a call for formal collaborations between researchers and Colorado's South Park Elementary to study the impact of immersive education on K-5 (elementary school) learners.
- Mixed (augmented) reality kits will be made available to all Summit attendees .::more::.
- Summit attendees are now claiming their $2,500 of free permanent virtual world land. .::more::.
- The Boston Summit will become an annual event featuring the "best of" sessions, panels and workshops that debut at themed Summits around the world. Summits in Japan, Europe, India, California and Colorado are now in the planning stages. .::more::.
- The Initiative will continue to sponsor and support Immersive Education "Days" (iED Days), special one and two day community outreach events. .::more::.
- The Initiative will support the formation of local, regional, and student chapters that consist of members who share common interests and geographical proximity. .::more::.
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.
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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
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