Final #6 (Future of Immersive Education)

This is my view of the future of Immersive Education.
Please visit Immersive Education web site: ImmersiveEduction.org 

Immersive Education enables people to take a course from wherever they are in the world provided they have an Internet connection. How I see it, in future students will be able to take classes at any university or college that will join the Immersive Education initiative. Boston College students will be able to attend Penn State University, University of California, Berkeley students may choose some classes from Harvard, and so on. Ultimately, Immersive Education will let students study overseas without leaving their homes. A student from Delhi, India will be able to take classes at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Through Immersive Education students will be able to get the best classes from the best schools over the world without leaving their home. Gradually, elementary and secondary schools will be connected through Immersive Education and pupils and students of all ages will be able to work jointly on projects, share ideas, help each other and compete. 

Chatting with a classmate while we were both doing the homework in Rocket World EMMS.

 

 Tutoring a classmate - we communicated through Yahoo chat and Whiteborad voice.

That leads me to the second important aspect of Immersive Education: students are able to get help from other classmates as they communicate and interact through various platforms. During Immersive Education classes at Boston College we could hear and talk with one another. I am sure that in the nearby future video element will be added and students will see one another as well, esp. that video capabilities already exist. Through Immersive Education classmates can exchange ideas, give each other feedback or work collaboratively on a project. The best feature for me was that the classes were live and I felt like I was attending the real class even though I did not leave home. 

Collaborating with classmates on a group project.

As technology progresses very fast, new platforms and applications will be added to Immersive Education. We already created avatars that had our face features. I am convinced that in future Immersive Education students will be communicating using their own Avatars and other applications expressing each student’s individuality. 

Gaming and multi-media consoles let you interact with your friends and I believe that as you can use your entire body to control the game, in future Immersive Education you will be able to participate in virtual classes using the movements of entire body.

Last but not least, Immersive Education will make a lot of classes much more interesting. Students will be able to explore Amazon Jungle or Sahara Desert during geography classes or go on an African Safari. And I can only imagine how exciting it will be to see a 3D model of human genome, a chemical compound or a molecular formula in a biology or chemistry class or see in 3D what a bridge or a building will look like when you study architecture or engineering.

 Astronomy class, anybody?

'Rocket World 'Earth, Moon, Mars, Stars'

It is a final exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc