This past week, I was lucky enough to attend the E-LEARN 2011 Conference at the Sheraton. It was a terrific opportunity to get a pulse on the latest and greatest in the e-learning world. One of the many highlights of the conference was Craig Kapp's keynote on Augmented Reality (AR). My brain began racing on the endless possibilities of using AR in education. One of the biggest misconceptions in Earth Science is the moon phases. Many people think Earth's shadow is what causes the different phases of the moon. By being able to manipulate markers representing the sun, earth, and moon, you can use AR to get a better understanding of the moon phases. You might be thinking... what about some real world practical applications. Have you ever wanted ship a package to a friend, but wasn't sure if you would be able to fit the contents in a flat-rate box? Instead of making the trek down the post office, you can use the USPS Virtual Simulator to find out if your contents fit. Imagine the possibilities... The Sixth Sense gives you a flavor of what the future holds with Augmented Reality. What applications of Augmented Reality can you think of in your life?
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A couple of weeks ago, I posted on a Virtual Climate Conference that was held in Second Life. I know you've been all awaiting with bated breath on the results. There were 30-50 participants (mostly educators) that participated from throughout the country. The virtual conference (held entirely in Second Life) was put on by NOAA with technical support from Raytheon from Sept 26-28th (2 hours each day). The conference was intended to be an experiment to see if this format is something NOAA should look at moving forward with online conferences (vs. standard WebEX, etc). It introduced participants to the NOAA Island in Second Life, common climate misconceptions, a national view of climate education efforts, various climate related interactive visualizations, and concluded with a treasure hunt. This was my first experience attending (and presenting) at a conference in Second Life so there was a bit of time spent orienting myself to the space (learning how to move, fly, adjust camera angles) and learning how to use the various presenter tools (virtual whiteboard, web viewer). I shared the NOAA Global Science Investigator (a 3D virtual globe) and had participants stand up and move their avatar on a virtual map (see below) as I posed various climate related questions. For example, I asked them them to stand where they thought major carbon dioxide sources would be before revealing the answer. All in all, I thought it was a good experience and allowed me to think a bit outside the box (i.e. how to encourage avatars to participate by moving through space). It did require quite a bit of technical assistance and there was a significant amount of time invested in getting both the presenters and participants up to speed on learning all of the tools in Second Life. The bottom line: For a long conference (spread out over several days) that uses assets in a 3-D world, Second Life may be a good alternative (i.e. saving costs and reducing carbon footprint) to meeting in person. If the conference or meetings last a day or two, it may be best to choose a synchronous tool like Blackboard Collaborate instead given the large initial time investment in Second Life. |
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