We will be at the ShapingEDU Winter Games this week – it’s a free, virtual event for an international community of changemakers (educator leaders, smart city experts, students, faculty, and technologists). We’ll be doing two sessions on learning in XR:
- Lunch Hour Discussion, Wednesday, January 6 at 12:30 PM MST. An update on the Humersive Learning Project.
- Break Out Session, Thursday, January 7 at 10:45 AM MST. Learning with Embodied Avatars in the Future
ShapingEDU Winter Games Sessions
The Humersive Learning Project
Join us for an update on Wednesday, January 6th at the lunch session, “Creatively Yours” Project/Action Fast Track – 12:30-1:00 PM MST.
The Humersive Learning project responds to several of the themes from the 2019 ShapingEDU Unconference. The Project will consider human and student experience in the context of emerging technologies and the convergence of extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI). We will explore how virtual environments and immersive technologies could profoundly reshape learning and social interactions. The Project will share research on the efficacy of XR learning experiences, identify critical socio-cognitive needs for XR in education, and explore the possibilities for peer-review of content. A guiding question will be how to humanize these technologies while simultaneously fostering innovation that will bring disruptive change to education.
Humersive blends two terms – Humanize + Immersive. It’s to inspire us to think about how human experience will be shaped by the convergence of #XR and #AI.
During the first phase, the Project will focus on asking critical questions to develop guiding principles for Humanizing Learning (the framework) with interested members of the community. In the second phase, we invite the broader community to contribute to building exemplars in an immersive environment. The final document will be released following the conference incorporating contributions from the community.
Get Involved! Join the Project Team! Sign up for email notifications, event invitations, and information about opportunities to contribute! Don’t worry, we won’t spam you!
Learning with Embodied Avatars in the Future
Join us for a Breakout Session at the ShapingEDU Winter Games on Thursday, January 7th, 10:45 AM MST.
Session Description:
Are you ready for a thrilling double black diamond run? Is your avatar ready? Let’s explore how learning is transformed when we begin to replace ourselves with digital representations in virtual environments. Our identities impact our online behavior, but studies have shown that the reverse is also true – our online personas impact real-life behavior.
We’ll examine cutting-edge research and examples of avatars to understand the ethical challenges of multi-user virtual environments and the provocative questions they raise. Let’s explore the use and psychology of avatars to ensure that virtual learning is based on equity, diversity, and inclusion. Join us as we co-create a future that doesn’t confine itself to a promise of technology but instead fulfills what it means to be human.
Join Us at ShapingEDU Winter Games
Here are the links for the ShapingEDU Winter Games conference schedule and our session on January 7th (be sure to register for free before joining!).
Hope to see you there!
Maya Georgieva is an EdTech and XR strategist, futurist and speaker with more than 15 years of experience in higher education and global education policy. Her most recent work focuses on innovation, VR/AR and Immersive storytelling, design and digital strategy. Maya actively writes and speaks on the topics of innovation, immersive storytelling and the future of education and consults organizations and startups in this space.