RALEIGH, NC - October 03, 2011 - The Immersive Education Initiative (iED) today announced a formal collaboration with the Internet2 K20 Initiative, an activity within the Internet2 advanced networking consortium led by the U.S. research and education community. The collaboration, announced today by iED Director Aaron E. Walsh during the Fall 2011 Internet2 Member Meeting, establishes three initial areas of engagement between the two organizations:
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Membership. Automatic Immersive Education Initiative membership is granted to all Internet2 members and users, making all iED immersive learning and teaching technologies and materials immediately available to the global Internet2 community of more than 65,000 educational organizations.
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Portal. A custom Immersive Education "Internet2 portal" will be opened for members to access and share a wide range of iED virtual worlds, learning games, simulations and immersive learning and teaching systems over the high-speed Internet2 network.
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TWG. The Immersive Education will establish the Internet2 Technology Working Group (i2.TWG), through which members will develop, deliver and maintain technological materials (technical reports, design documents, specifications, reference implementations, software implementations, conformance test suites, and best practices) specifically for Immersive Education on Internet2.
 Formed in 1996, Internet2 is a not-for-profit advanced network consortium led by the U.S. research and higher education community. Its goals are to provide leading-edge network capabilities and to facilitate the development, deployment, and use of revolutionary Internet technologies. Starting with 34 universities, Internet2 has grown to more than 300 members, including more than 221 U.S. universities working in cooperation with 45 leading corporations, 66 government agencies, laboratories, and other research institutions, 35 regional and state research and education networks and more than 100 national research and education networking organizations representing over 50 countries.
The Internet2 consortium launched the Internet2 K20 Initiative in 2001 to extend advanced networking access to K-12 schools, public libraries, baccalaureate colleges and universities, community colleges, and a host of cultural organizations such as museums, science centers, zoos, aquariums, and performing arts centers. Today, more than 65,000 K-20 organizations (K-12 schools, public libraries, etc.) are connected to the Internet2 network across 40 state and regional research and education networks. 
How To Participate
Internet2 members receive automatic Immersive Education membership by simply creating their iED member account and recording both "Interent2" and their organizational affiliation in the contact information area. Please note that an academic or organizational email address is required.
Members may join the Interent2 Technology Working Group (i2.TWG) immediately by filling out the TWG join form. Participants in the iED.TWG will be the first to receive access to the iED "Internet2 portal".
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.
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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.
Immersive learning and immersive teaching ("Immersive Education") are enabled by the Media Grid.
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 (immersive teaching and immesive 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
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