VR in Education

Episode 85- A Deep Dive into Avatars and Identity

Hello everyone.  Welcome to another exciting episode of VR in Education.  In today’s episode,  we are exploring how virtual worlds might affect our evolving identity.   We have invited Giovanni Castillo, a senior metaverse designer for aquent.  He is a design thinker, architect and creative technologist that was born for the spatial computing revolution.  I reached out to him based on an insightful article he recently wrote and posted on LinkedIn.  He is here today to help us understand more about his work with understanding how avatars might impact our virtual world experience.  You can contact Giovanni by email at gcastillo@aquent.com 

Episode 84- Lessons from the VR Classroom

Hello everyone.  Welcome to another exciting episode of VR in Education.  In today’s episode, we are talking with teachers who are using vr in the classroom  to make a difference.  They are pushing the boundaries of innovation and blazing a path for other teachers to follow when it comes to the adoption of immersive learning tools.  Terje Pedersen is from Norway and has been teaching there for around 14 years. He has been using oculus quest headsets in his school for various learning engagements.  Kim Aarberg , also from Norway, is  a teacher with interests in gamification and VR and a former google workplace specialist.  You can reach out to them on linkenIn at linkedin.com/in/terje-pedersen-935268175 and linkedin.com/in/kim-aarberg-b22b8169

Episode 83-Teaching and Learning in The Metaverse with Dr. Karl Kapp

Hello everyone.  Welcome to another exciting episode of VR in Education.  In today’s episode, we are talking with Dr. Karl Kapp.  Dr. Kapp  is a professor at Bloomsburg University and co-author of THE book on learning in a metaverse written back in 2010 called Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration. The model described in the book is as relevant today as it was back then. It is a blueprint for designing learning experiences in the metaverse.  He is here today to talk more about this model and how it translates to effective learning design for 3D virtual worlds.  You can learn more about Dr. Kapp's work on Linkedin.  

Episode 82- VR, Participatory Research and Pedagogy with Erica Southgate

Hello everyone.  Welcome to another exciting episode of VR in Education.  In today’s episode, we are talking with Erica Southgate.   Erica is Associate Professor of Emerging Technologies for Education in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia.  She is author of the book “Virtual Reality in Curriculum and Pedagogy for secondary classrooms”.  In her book she shares findings and stories of research related to using immersive virtual reality at a secondary school in Australia.  Additionally, she keeps a robust website https://vrschoolresearch.com/  where she blogs about her research with teachers in real time and provides free research papers and classroom resources. Erica is here today to help us unpack some of her findings.

Episode 81-Tech Adaptika and Immersive Learning

Hello everyone.  Welcome to another exciting episode of VR in Education.  In today’s episode, we are talking with Hosni Zaouali, the CEO of Tech Adaptika.  Hosni knew, even at a young age, that education would be the catalyst to propel him forward and empower him to help others.  He has an impressive formal education background.  Hosni has a B.A ENG in Nuclear Engineering from the Sorbonne in Paris and a MBA in International Development from Laval University.  He was founder of Voilà Learning, a company that offered online French education, mostly for people in Africa, and taught an Online Executive Program for Stanford University.  What an impressive background.  You can reach him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hosninio/ 

Episode 80- Maxwell McGee and the Virtual World Society

Hello everyone.  Welcome to another exciting episode of VR in Education.  In today’s episode, we are focusing on how VR can be the next great communication and learning medium.   We have invited the wonderful and talented Maxwell McGee to our show.  Maxwell is a multi-skilled, award winning communications professional with over 2 decades of experience in the field. He has  a strong passion for both the theory and practice of multimedia, especially VR.  Maxwell also works for the Virtual World Society as an ambassador and hosts their extremely popular podcast called “The NExtant”.  

Episode 79- Haptics in Education and Learning

Hello everyone.  Welcome to another exciting episode of VR in Education.  In today’s episode, we are focusing on how peripheral devices might heighten or enhance the sense of realism inside VR experiences.  Well designed VR scenes already trick the brain into a sense of presence and embodiment just through photorealism.  But, what if we could add other senses to our experiences besides sight and sound?  Some tech enthusiasts believe high quality haptic feedback is the missing link between reality and the metaverse.  Today on the show we have Guido Gioioso and Giovanni Spagnoletti,  the two founders of WEART, a company that is designing high quality haptic devices for the VR and 3D spatial experiences. Check out their website at https://www.weart.it/.

Episode 78-Fresh Perspective on Leading Web 3.0 and Metaverse Initiatives in Schools

Hello everyone.  Welcome to another exciting episode of VR in Education.  In today’s episode, we are focusing on getting perspective from new educators who are looking at adopting 3-d spatial learning environments into their schools and programs.  We often lean on experts who have been tracking this area for several years, but it is refreshing to get insight from late adopters regarding the what and why.  John Kelly is founder, CEO, and proud father of College Ikigai, an innovative k-12 school in Mexico City.   John’s capacity to take risks and be innovative is very high.  John firmly believes that although We cannot choose how many years we will live, we can choose how much life those years will have.  And it is clear innovation is part of making the most of life.  John is here today to talk about how he is using web 3.0 and the metaverse to move his school community forward.  You can reach John on LinkedIn here, linkedin.com/in/john-kelly-98a8133a

Episode 77 -Using the UN SDG’s for a VR Design Competition

Hello everyone.  Welcome to another exciting episode of VR in Education.  In today’s episode, we are focusing on a unique opportunity for students and educators to learn more about an exciting VR Design Competition. Exponential Destiny  was founded in the early 2000’s and the program's objective is to help young people “Future Proof” themselves and arm them to make “Exponential Change” in the way people think and act.  Recently, their group was invited to a UN meeting to introduce and launch their inaugural competition that challenges students to create a VR experience that raises awareness to one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.  These goals have been great stepping stones for many educational projects around the world because they place an emphasis on improving humanity in 17 different areas.  Some of these include :  improving life on land, reducing poverty, and providing quality education.  We are so fortunate to talk with the founder Marcus Shingles and his co-founder Marco Vargas.  You can learn more about the design competition here, https://www.sdgmetaverseprize.org/. 

Episode 76- VR For Equity in The Bahamas

Hello everyone.  Welcome to another exciting episode of VR in Education.  In today’s episode, we are talking about scaling up VR in education.  As more and more schools think about incorporating VR into their programs, there are so many questions to ponder.  Today on the show we have Mr. Jason Beneby.  Jason is Chief Operating Officer at American High School and director of the Bahamas Virtual School.  He will be spearheading the rollout and adoption of metaverse education across the island.  Reach Jason on linkEdin at linkedin.com/in/jason-beneby-3775562 .