JAPAN - November 14, 2008 - The Immersive Education Initiative today announced that it will launch its series of Immersive Education: ASIA events in Japan this month. Immersive Education Japan (iED Japan) begins with "Immersive Education Days at University of Aizu", which features two days of Immersive Education presentations, lectures, workshops and related events presented by faculty, teachers and researchers from around the world who are participating in the event in person and remotely using virtual worlds technology. During the event, which spans November 18th through the 20th, Immersive Education Initiative members from Boston College, University of Aizu, National University of Singapore, Keio University, Smithsonian Institution, Montana State University, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center at Greenbush, University of Essex and Sun Microsystems will give a series of presentations and demonstrations to provide attendees with an in-depth overview of Immersive Education, the Education Grid and related technologies. [see schedule below]

"We welcome the Immersive Education Initiative to Japan and the University of Aizu. In our explorations of distance learning and groupware we are compellingly drawn to Immersive Education technologies for our research on stereography, stereotelephony, mixed/virtual environments, SIP-based narrowcasting, mobile telephony, and panoramic imaging. The core technologies that power Immersive Education are quite impressive and modern, well-conceived and well-developed, and we anticipate learning about current best-practices in Immersive Education in addition to having a solid platform from which to launch our own research projects," said Dr. Michael Cohen, Professor and Director, Spatial Media Group, University of Aizu, Japan.

During the event Japan's first "node" (virtual world and collaboration server) on the Education Grid will be announced. Hosted by the University of Aizu and sponsored by Sun Microsystems, Japan's Education Grid node will enable cultural and technological exchange with educators and students around the world through virtual learning worlds and collaboration environments. Related Immersive Education Initiative announcements and activities scheduled for iED Japan include: the launch of three new Project Wonderland Community Groups (CGs); progress report by the Open File Formats Technology Group (OFF.TWG); formation of the Library Technology Working Group (LIB.TWG); formation of the Psychology of Immersive Environments Technology Working Group (PSY.TWG); formation of the Assessment, Evaluation and Grading Technology Working Group (AEG.TWG); preview of Second Life, realXtend, and OpenSim nodes on the Education Grid; and the official launch of the Initiative's "Own the Node" program that provides educators with steep discounts on a range of servers and workstations certified for use with Immersive Education technologies. [see schedule below]

"As a fully-compliant and accepted technology provider to the Education Grid and Immersive Education Initiative, Sun is committed to bringing the power of immersive 3-D learning to scholarly institutions worldwide with our Project Wonderland open source technology for virtual worlds powered by SunFire servers certified for the Immersive Education 'Own the Node' program", noted Kevin Roebuck, Community Manager, Immersive Technologies, Global Education and Research Group, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Outcomes of iED Japan will be presented at the 11th International Conference on Humans and Computers in Nagaoka, Japan, on November 20th.

A related series of Immersive Education: South America events launched in August, with Immersive Education: Europe scheduled for 2009. Universities, colleges, and research institutes interested in participating in these or other Immersive Education events are encouraged to contact the Immersive Education Initiative for details.

Immersive Education is developed by the Immersive Education Initiative, 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 worlds, simulators and game-based learning and training systems. Immersive Education combines interactive 3D graphics, video game and simulation technology, virtual reality, voice chat, Web cameras 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.

iED JAPAN Schedule of Events

Tuesday, November 18, 2008:

10:40-11:15 am KEYNOTE [Keynote Room: Room 314, Administration Bldg]
Enabling the Age of Immersive Education
Aaron E. Walsh
Director, Immersive Education Initiative
Faculty, Woods College of Advancing Studies, Boston College

KEYNOTE ABSTRACT: This Distinguished Lecture Series keynote will provide attendees with an in-depth overview of Immersive Education past, present, and future. Specifically, Walsh will show early examples of Immersive Education from 2001 and also a variety of examples of Immersive Education today. Walsh will also provide attendees an advance preview of new features and capabilities now under development for the next generation of Immersive Education. Walsh will also discuss the Immersive Education "platform ecosystem" for virtual worlds, which presently consists of Wonderland, Second Life (and descendants such as realXtend and OpenSim), and Croquet/Cobalt. In the context of Immersive Education the term platform refers to any virtual world, simulator or 3D environment that may be used for teaching or training purposes. The Immersive Education platform has evolved considerably over the past decade and the 3rd generation ("next generation") is now under development. Whereas the previous two generations were based on specific client-side platforms tied to proprietary server-side infrastructures, the future of Immersive Education revolves around multiple client-side platforms working in unison through the server-side Education Grid. The Platform Ecosystem and Education Grid provide educators with a comprehensive end-to-end infrastructure for a new generation of learning environments, learning games, and simulations. Walsh will conclude with a summary of Immersive Education Technology Working Groups (TWGs) through which educators, researchers, and graduate students can participate directly in the ongoing design and development of Immersive Education technologies and standards.

 

11:15-11:45 am [Keynote Room: Room 314, Administration Bldg]
Web3D Books: Web-based digital books for Immersive Education experiences
H. Nicholas Nagel
Board member and co-chair, Immersive Education Initiative
Faculty, Woods College of Advancing Studies, Boston College

11:45-12:00 pm [Keynote Room: Room 314, Administration Bldg]
Areas of Engagement: Immersive Education Community Groups (CGs) and Technology Working Groups (TWGs)
Aaron E. Walsh
Director, Immersive Education Initiative
Faculty, Woods College of Advancing Studies, Boston College

12:00-1:00 pm LUNCH [University Cafeteria]

1:00-2:00 pm [UBIC 3D Theater]
Spatial Media Demonstrations: Stereographic, Panoramic, Spatial Sound, and Mobile Display and Control
Michael Cohen, Professor and Director, Spatial Media Group, University of Aizu, Japan

2:30-3:00 pm [Wonderland and Alice Cluster: Exercise Room 2]
Project Wonderland in the Age of Immersive Education
Kevin Roebuck, Community Manager, Immersive Technologies, Global Education and Research at Sun Microsystems

3:00-4:00 pm [Second Life Cluster: UBIC Seminar Room]
Hands-on Workshop: Discovering Second Life and Blender
H. Nicholas Nagel, Immersive Education Initiative board member and Boston College faculty

4:00-5:00 pm [Wonderland and Alice Cluster: Exercise Room 2]
Hands-on Workshop: Discovering Wonderland
H. Nicholas Nagel, Immersive Education Initiative board member and Boston College faculty

5:00-5:30 pm [Wonderland and Alice Cluster: Exercise Room 2]
Building and Delivering Mixed-reality Lectures with Wonderland
Michael Gardner, Director of the Digital Lifestyles Centre, University of Essex, United Kingdom

5:30-6:15 pm [Wonderland and Alice Cluster: Exercise Room 2]
Discovering Alice 3D
Luke Nagel, Immersive Education Initiative, and Norbert Györbíró, University of Aizu

6:30-8:00 pm [Restaurant Keyaki]
BUFFET DINNER RECEPTION SPONSORED BY SUN MICROSYSTEMS

Wednesday, November 19, 2008:

9:00-9:30 am [Wonderland and Alice Cluster: Exercise Room 2]
Wonderland on the Education Grid
Warren Sheaffer, Chair, Department of Computer Science, Saint Paul College

9:30-10:00 am [Wonderland and Alice Cluster: Exercise Room 2]
Own the Node: Installing Wonderland, OpenSim, and realXtend Server Software
Chris Perkins, Education Grid administrator, Immersive Education Initiative

10:00-10:30 am [Wonderland and Alice Cluster: Exercise Room 2]
The Education Grid: Delivering Content, Collaboration and Education Services to Immersive Education platforms
Aaron E. Walsh
Director, Immersive Education Initiative
Faculty, Woods College of Advancing Studies, Boston College

 

10:40-12:10 pm KEYNOTE [Keynote Room: Room 314, Administration Bldg]
Embodied Media and Mixed Reality for Social and Physical Interactive Communication
Adrian Cheok
Professor, Keio University, Graduate School of Media Design
Director, Mixed Reality Lab, National University of Singapore
Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore

KEYNOTE ABSTRACT: This Distinguished Lecture Series keynote outlines new facilities within human media spaces supporting embodied interaction between humans, animals, and computation both socially and physically, with the aim of novel interactive communication and entertainment. Cheok will discuss how this work is focused on developing new types of human communications and entertainment environments which can increase support for multi-person multi-modal interaction and remote presence. In this talk, Cheok will present an alternative ubiquitous computing environment based on an integrated design of real and virtual worlds. Cheok will discuss some different research prototype systems for interactive communication and play. The functional capabilities implemented in these systems include mixed reality, tangible interaction, and ubiquitous human media spaces.

 

12:15-12:45 pm [M10 - Room 105]
The Smithsonian Institution Latino Center: Enabling Cultural Exchange on the Education Grid
Melissa Carrillo, Director, Virtual Museum/Web Programs, Smithsonian Institution

12:45-1:15 pm [M10 - Room 105]
Second Life, OpenSim, and realXtend on the Education Grid
Rich White, Immersive Education Initiative Liaison, Greenbush Educational Services

1:15-1:45 pm [M10 - Room 105]
Montana: Building a National Model for Immersive Education and the Education Grid
Terry A. Beaubois, Director, Creative Research Lab, Montana State University

1:45-2:45 pm LUNCH DEMONSTRATIONS [328-E&F]
Spatial Media Group Demonstrations
Spatial Media Group, University of Aizu

3:00-4:00 pm [Second Life Cluster: UBIC Seminar Room]
Hands-on Second Life: Open lab time for hands-on exploration of Second Life

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