News from virtual world developer ReactionGrid Inc.
Thanks again, Mike, for this great opportunity. It was an honor to be on a panel with such a stellar group of pioneers in virtual worlds and immersive learning.Still deeply entrenched in Gartner’s Trough of Disillusionment, is it time to revisit virtual worlds? Mike Kemmler hosts a virtual panel discussion via Second Life with a distinguished group of virtual world innovators, presenters, consultants, and authors, including Anders Gronstedt, Mark Jankowski, Karl Kapp, and John “Pathfinder” Lester. Panelists address the current state of learning in virtual worlds, explain platforms they see organizations using for immersive learning, and discuss current challenges and future possibilities of using virtual worlds for learning.
Value. Learning. Technology. Librarianship. As with all libraries and organizations, we must constantly demonstrate our value to our stakeholders amidst the changes brought on us at an increasing rate by the technology that we and our students use. Technology shapes our interactions with others, our learning techniques and styles, and our pedagogy; it can affect the way our value is perceived. This year’s conference explores value, community, collaboration, social awareness, and applications that enhance learning. How do we demonstrate the value of the academic library in this changing information environment? How do we reach and teach our students? How is information literacy being transformed? Is it possible to game to learn or learn to game? What is the new librarianship?
John will share his experiences using gaming technology and virtual world platforms to augment education. He will discuss future trends in specific gaming technologies such as Unity3d as well as ReactionGrid's Jibe platform, a multiuser virtual world system that works on the web and with mobile devices. John will also explain common pitfalls when exploring virtual world technologies and highlight the unique affordances of virtual worlds when they are interwoven with existing social media and web-based educational content.Thanks again to Mary-Carol Lindbloom, Executive Director of the South Central Regional Library Council, for kindly inviting me to participate. I'll be at all of the conference sessions, so please drop me a tweet if you're also attending and would like to connect.
Integrated Reality and Next Generation Virtual Worlds: Integrated Reality is the augmentation of our way of communicating and sharing knowledge through the use of all our technological tools in a complementary way. Examples of such tools include virtual worlds, augmented reality, the web and mobile devices. Next Generation virtual worlds will be tightly coupled to many other emerging technologies such as robotics and augmented reality, and will provide platforms for much broader use among teachers and learners. This presentation provides an overview of virtual world platforms, discussing their use as immersive learning environments and future possibilities for both technological and pedagogical innovation. It will include a live tour of ReactionGrid's Jibe platform.
