Media Grid News

K-12 Group Announced by Immersive Education Initiative

K12.TWG chartered to define, develop and support a range of immersive learning experiences, best practices, guides, tutorials, and communities of support for K-12 (primary and secondary) education

BOSTON, MA - February 10, 2011 - The Immersive Education Initiative today announced that it will officially launch its K-12 Technology Working Group (K12.TWG) on February 24th. The K-12 group will launch with live events in Colorado and Kansas, followed by virtual launch events on The Education Grid in early March. The Initiative's K-12 Technology Working Group is chartered to define, evolve and maintain a range of immersive learning experiences (virtual worlds, learning games, simulators and mixed/augmented learning experiences), best practices, guides, tutorials and communities of support for primary and secondary education.

Educators are invited to attend the full-day launch event at South Park Elementary school in Pueblo, Colorado, or the iED Kansas (Kansas Chapter of Immersive Education) launch event in Kansas City. Both events are free of charge and open to the global academic community.

The open house at South Park will provide educators with an in-depth overview of the immersive teaching and learning tools and technologies that the school is using to rebuild elementary school education.

Attendees of the South Park event will receive hands-on experience with a wide range of Immersive Education solutions designed specifically for K-12 teachers and students, including:

• The Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum's new virtual watershed initiative, for which South
  Park Elementary and the SEED School of Maryland are pilot schools. .:: see a video preview of the virtual watershed now ::.
• Cost- and space-efficient immersive CAVEs (iED CAVEs), including a unique "corner cave" that was recently installed in a vacant South Park classroom by the Immersive Education Initiative's Mixed Reality Technology Working Group (MXR.TWG). .:: watch the "Sneak Peek" video now ::.
• Rocket World, a comprehensive immersive learning framework and core immersive STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) curricula designed to inspire and educate a new generation of scientists, engineers and researchers through the novel application of next-generation learning technology. .:: learn more about Rocket World here ::.
• Mixed and augmented reality, including a new mixed reality storytelling project that is designed to improve children's psychological development, extend their concentration in reading, and foster the learning process. .:: watch the "Sneak Peek" video now ::.
• Virtual Worlds, a specialized and highly adaptable form of computer simulation technology, through which students and teachers can interact directly with one another in pre-created 3D immersive learning environments or create them from scratch in experiential and constructionism-based learning experiences. .:: learn more about Virtual Worlds here ::.
• Quest Atlantis, an immersive education environment that allows students to travel to virtual locations to perform engaging curricular tasks, educational activities, talk with other students and mentors, and build virtual personae. Students participate in simulated and real-world activities that are socially and academically meaningful, such as environmental studies, researching other cultures, interviewing community members, and developing action plans. .:: learn more here ::.
• Laptop checkout program, which enables a small number (30) of low-cost but powerful Immersive Education laptops to be used by a large number of students during and after school.

To attend all or part of this event educators are invited to contact South Park Elementary school.

Educators are also invited to attend the iED Kansas (Kansas Chapter of Immersive Education) launch event on February 24th, which features both K-12 and higher education sessions. A full schedule of sessions and activities is available through the iED Kansas Community Group (KAN.CG).

Related iED Member Discussions

Following are notable iED member discussions related to this event. Click on a discussion link below to jump directly into that particular discussion, or visit http://members.ImmersiveEducation.org/forums to see all forums:

K-12 Technology Working Group (K12.TWG) DRAFT CHARTER

Location of iED Kansas launch event

Rocket World modules and discusions

New Rocket World modules - Math, Keyboarding (typing), Solar System Spy, and Spacestation game

iED Mixed Reality Prototypes - Installation and Usage Instructions

MORE: http://members.ImmersiveEducation.org/forums

Thousands of Members Worldwide

The Immersive Education Initiative is a non-profit 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. Thousands of faculty, teachers, researchers, staff, administrators and students are members of the Immersive Education Initiative.

About Immersive Education
Immersive Education (ImmersiveEducation.org) combines interactive 3D graphics, commercial game and simulation technology, virtual reality, voice chat (Voice over IP/VoIP), Web cameras (webcams) and rich digital media with collaborative online course environments and classrooms. Immersive Education gives participants a sense of "being there" even when attending a class or training session in person isn't possible, practical, or desirable, which in turn provides educators and students with the ability to connect and communicate in a way that greatly enhances the learning experience. Unlike traditional computer-based learning systems, Immersive Education is designed to immerse and engage students in the same way that today's best video games grab and keep the attention of players. Immersive Education supports self-directed learning as well as collaborative group-based learning environments that can be delivered over the Internet or using fixed-media such as CD-ROM and DVD. Shorter mini-games and interactive lessons can be injected into larger bodies of course material to further heighten and enrich the Immersive Education experience.

About the Media Grid
The Media Grid is a public utility for digital media. Based on new and emerging distributed computational grid technologies, the Media Grid builds upon existing Internet and Web standards to create a unique network optimized for digital media delivery, storage, and processing. As an on-demand public computing utility, a range of software programs and Web sites can use the Media Grid for delivery and storage of rich media content, media processing, and computing power. The Media Grid is an open and extensible platform that enables a wide range of applications not possible with the traditional Internet alone, including: Massive Media on Demand (MMoD); Interactive digital cinema on demand; Immersive Education and distance learning; Truly immersive multiplayer games and Virtual Reality (VR); Hollywood movie and film rendering, special effects, and composition; Real-time rendering of high resolution graphics; Real-time visualization of complex weather patterns; Real-time protein modeling and drug design; Telepresence, telemedicine, and telesurgery; Vehicle and aircraft design and simulation; Visualization of scientific and medical data.

The Grid Institute leads the design and development of the global Media Grid through the MediaGrid.org open standards organization in collaboration with industry, academia, and governments from around the world.

To learn more about the Media Grid, Immersive Education or the Education Grid visit:
MediaGrid.org, ImmersiveEducation.org and TheEducationGrid.org