With the advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence, it is now possible to teach with Virtual Reality, which means that teachers will be able to prepare our students for the future workforce where they can be employed by any industry and use any technology.
Category: Higher Education
Helping Adult Students Learn With Virtual Reality
I am so looking forward to co-presenting “Helping Adult Students Live Their Dreams” at the CAEP Summit 2022! Not only is this a virtual event, but I will be introducing Virtual Reality! More to come….
Taking Part in a Podcast Episode inside the Metaverse
I had such a cool experience recently! I joined Dr. Reggie Padin for a tour of his L&D University Meta Campus that he has created in Horizon Worlds. Having built a learning environment myself in the metaverse, I can share with you that Dr Padin’s metacampus is an amazing place to visit – classes in there will be awesome! So much skill and determination has resulted in the development of a fabulous, fun, inspirational, colorful, and friendly learning environment. Dr Padin is bringing his creative vision to life in the virtual world! The early meta environment builders (of which I am one) are learning how to create these places by themselves, by trial and error and they are spending hundreds of hours creating and editing. The early builders are finding each other and forming relationships to learn from each other – reminisce of the experiences I had in the days learning html with those first developers! I foresee great learning environments growing, and I know our learners will come to demand being able to attend them!
During the tour of the campus, Dr Padin walked me by the waterfall, by the central pond, to various pods/classrooms, and then over to his virtual podcast studio. It was there that we talked about the fact that I use to teach Podcasting, and I shared how I thought that this was a great idea to have a virtual podcast studio! The traditional podcast studio is far less attractive, stocked with a computer, microphone, a telephone line or zoom screen, and lots of lonely editing time. What a concept – putting a virtual face to the often times lonely podcast studio! The tour was followed up a few days later by Dr Padin hosting a live virtual podcast with myself, Monica Gragg, Carmen Padin and Ann Meyer from the L&D University Meta Campus Podcasting Studio! It was so cool to meet the panel, all in avatar form, to be able to chat, laugh and question, live, face to face, sort of! Checkout the podcast episode above 🙂
Technology is truly amazing, I feel blessed and honored to be a part of every tech revolution, but this one is particularly special to me. Never have I known so much, have I had so much experience to bring to the table, and never have I had such excitement to truly be able to go to other worlds! I am so enjoying working with the pioneers who endeavor to explore and explain to others. We are all teachers, we are all learners! More to come….
Arriving By Helicopter!
Yes, I am in the helicopter, then out of it, wandering around a campus playing with tools, adding dinosaurs to the area and more! Check it out! Working in this VR world takes lots of practice and you really just need to be there to see for yourself in the 3D view! Have fun!
Hotel in the sky?!
Another great venue, Engage’s Sky Hotel! Helicopters, clouds, coffee shop, and many more fun things to see here, just loving exploring the multiverse and all it has to offer! There are so many opportunities awaiting inside of the multiverse, join me there!
Check out the Lighthouse at night from the Catamaran in VR!
A stunning ocean experience, see the lighthouse, moonlight, and more inside of the VR world using Engage on the beautiful Engage Catamaran. What a great place to hold an event, meeting, or class!
Exploring in VR!
As I continue on my virtual reality journey, exploring the multiverse is so much fun! Checkout this particular trip! Fabulous views and experience inside of the VR world using Engage – arriving on the beautiful Engage Catamaran. What a great place to hold an event, meeting, or class! This visit was during the daytime, be sure to check out my night time visit there too in my next post! Look for Toni Pirtle on the Oculus Quest 2 and join me on the Quest 😉
Privacy & Safety in the Metaverse
When I began teaching social media a decade ago, the issue of online privacy and safety in the social media realm was an important topic to teach in the classroom. I have spent much time talking with students for the past ten years about such things as public profile pictures, geotagging settings, cyberstalking, cyberharassment, and more. I have always stressed in my classrooms and public workshops just how important learning about online privacy and safety is, and have encouraged my students to share what they have learned with others!
It may seem to some reading this that the topics of online privacy and safety are old news, but rest assured, they really are not, in fact, the topics are still very real, and in the news daily! As the technologies we use continue to evolve, it is important to pay attention to them so as to continue securing your online safety and security and that of your friends and family. With that in mind, I want to share with you a few of my own recent experiences while I have been learning how to teleport to different places in the metaverse!
In very public metaverses, people are represented by the avatars that they create. There are many public venues such as areas to see shows, places to hang out, places to visit etc. It is much like walking through a town, you can be there with people you know, and you will encounter people you don’t know too!
I have experienced an adult female avatar with a male voice, who was chatting with a group of other avatars, and who was in the process of admitting to the group that he was a teenage male posing as an adult female. In another area where I was walking through a public museum, a juvenile avatar kept jumping in front of me saying “hi and “hey” and kept repeating it, obviously under no adult supervision in their real environment. It was very irritating!
In another instance, I was heading through a public area toward a planetarium exhibit and was called out to repeatedly by an avatar who kept referring to my avatar name, followed by “hey, old white lady”.
Naturally, I would have preferred not to have experienced any one of those previously mentioned things. I thought the behaviors were rude, but mostly they worried me because while I am adept at managing such situations, I worried for others who are less adept, and possibly vulnerable to harassment and abuse.
Please know that I have had very positive experiences too, I have met many people from around the world, and I have learned a great deal from them. I have learned things from the people I have met that I don’t think I would have ever known if I had not met them! I will save those experiences for another post!
Suffice to say, as I have wandered the metaverse, learning as I go, it resonates with me just how important communication is, and just how important the messages I gave long ago are today! I also recognize that my students today are potentially going to be working in virtual environments for much of their working week while utilizing technologies that may thrust them into public arenas that they need to be prepared for too!
My recent travels in the metaverse have brought to mind the importance of teaching how to communicate effectively in our virtual world of today. I teach Business Communications and my curriculum does not embrace this concept yet, but it will soon! The business landscape is changing and so must we!
Business Education In The Metaverse?
I have no doubt that the methods we use to teach our career tech courses, indeed all courses, will be revolutionized by the metaverse, for many reasons!
I stumbled on this article today, called “Deans Predict Metaverse For Business Education” by Thomas Nugent, published on January 18th this year:
I quote “as new technologies like virtual reality promise a refinement of the hybrid learning model, b-school deans see business education tapping into the metaverse in 2022”. Nugent’s article is worth reading 🙂
If you are an educator and wonder about the future of education and if/how it will cope with the immersive learning students will expect, let’s connect and chat more!
In the Metaverse visiting iTeacher and Britain at War
Check it out! Yes, that is a Spitfire above my head! Here I am teleporting through the Metaverse using the Spatial app, to iTeacher and arriving at Britain at War!
The possibilities are endless in the virtual reality space, and just being there sends my creativity into a spin! In this video, it is awesome to see a Spitfire above me and to be able to walk around the exhibits. What comes to mind during these experiences is just how much education can play a role in the metaverse!
The exhibit I visited here is a prime example of a classroom opportunity! Immersive learning can happen, can capture the imaginations of our learners, and just make learning so much more fun!
Learning is everything, we grow through learning, and I am learning through growing!
More to come….