“Immersive Education” Submerges Students in Online Worlds Made for Learning

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a free access article detailing the work of educators in building immersive 3D educational spaces:

‘Immersive Education’ Submerges Students in Online Worlds Made for Learning

Aaron E. Walsh heads up the Immersive Education Initiative. The mission of this initiative is:

“The Immersive Education Initiative is an international collaboration of universities, colleges, research institutes, consortia and companies that are working together to define and develop open standards, best practices, platforms, and communities of support for virtual reality and game-based learning and training systems.”

This initiative has gathered an impressive group of supporters:

“Some critics have complained that promoting video games in schools and colleges dumbs down education. Yet Immersive Education has gathered an impressive roster of backers. In addition to Boston College and Harvard University, its supporters include Amherst College, Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology, Japan’s University of Aizu, the Israeli Association of Grid Technologies, NASA, Sun Microsystems, the City of Boston, and the New Media Consortium, a higher-education technology group.”

Follow the link above to get more details from this excellent article on this initiative, and the use of virtual worlds in educational settings.