Workshops and Classes

Table of Contents

Educators in VR offers a wide range of workshops, classes, training, and special educational events, including producing conferences and paid workshops. These are available for free at an introductory level, and paid for private and intermediate to advanced versions. They are available on any social or educational virtual and VR platform. For more information, please contact us or join us on our Educators in VR Discord.

Free Weekly Workshops

Speaker on the history toward 5G communication Educators in VR WorkshopEducators in VR offers free weekly workshops in AltspaceVR on Tuesdays and on Thursdays in ENGAGE VR with special guest speakers covering a wide range of topics on immersive technology. Recent guests include Tom Furness of the Virtual World Society, Doug Hohulin, Solution Architect for Nokia speaking on impact of 5G and 6G on VR/AR/XR, and RiVR photorealistic virtual reality environments experts on designing immersive training and educational experiences for fire fighters, emergency workers, and beyond.

The weekly workshops also features our most popular workshops on immersive classrooms, VR education basics, developing and hosting virtual events and conferences, and more. Educators also meets on the first Tuesday of the month in AltspaceVR for a social networking gathering.

ENGAGE VR workshop with RiVR on building simulations for fire fighters.

Educators in VR 101

Immersive Classroom tour of the sun in Star Park by Alan Chao.As more and more educators, learners, coaches, and trainers come to understand the impact and uses of virtual reality in education, Educators in VR has been at the forefront in providing training and instruction on the fundamentals including recommendations for various age and educational levels, exploring VR through interactive field trips, developing VR Labs, choosing the right VR equipment for your students, and how to use virtual worlds for teaching and homework assignments. The Educators in VR 101 is the first in a series of workshops that introduce the newcomer to the potential of using immersive technologies in the classroom.

On AltspaceVR, Educators in VR 101 is set in a unique virtual world that explores the potential of using the platform and VR in education. It demonstrates several presentation techniques, small group breakout sessions, and using virtual worlds as educational spaces.

Educators in VR 101. 201, and 301 workshops are designed to be modularized, allowing for easy customization to the needs of a teacher, school, association, or business to learn how to teach and present educational events in VR. Please contact us or join us on our Educators in VR Discord to discuss consulting and training sessions for you.

Sailing the seas in AltspaceVR.

The Immersive Classroom

Exploring immersive educational worlds in AltspaceVREducators in VR promotes the use of VR as a virtual classroom for teachers as well as for students using it for homework projects and research. The Immersive Classroom workshop introduces educators and learners to the potential for teaching in VR and using the virtual world building tools, like the AltspaceVR world editor and Unity, to teach, express ideas, demonstrate research, work in collaborative and interactive environments, and be an extension of the classroom.

Immersive Education tour of Food Waste project world in AltspaceVR.Learning by book and lecture provides one learning modality and experience. Imagine teaching your students about the history of the Middle East by walking through the Ancient Pyramids or sailing down the Nile. Teach language skills with a visual and contextual escape room adventure. Dealing with young children or even adults struggling with the anxieties associated with the coronavirus? Why not have them walk around on it and explore a scientific 3D model of the viruses? The possibilities are endless and Educators in VR’s Immersive Classroom workshop opens up your imagination to those possibilities.

Speaker 101

Speaker at Educators in VR workshop with monitorThis unique presentation and training session offers tips, techniques, and demonstrations on how to present in virtual reality.

Teaching in VR is similar to teaching and presenting in the real world, but there are significant difference. The voice becomes even more important as research has shown that it conveys emotions and body language faster than facial and physical clues. As voice is the key ingredient in presenting in VR, understanding how to use it, as well as the physicality of the avatars through an understanding of presence and embodiment, improves the presentation quality dramatically.

The workshop covers audience interaction, the psychological needs of the presenter and the audience in VR, presentation styles, and other tips and techniques for event, class, and workshop timing, moderation, crowd control and interaction, visual voting, slides, and more. Learning to present in VR ups your presentation game in the real world.

This workshop, and the extended program including slides, video, and custom event world building training, are available for your group, school, or business. Please contact us or join us on our Educators in VR Discord to book consulting and training sessions.

VR Labs and Classroom Integration

Discussing VR Labs and Borderless Classroom Network in ENGAGE.Educators in VR hosts workshops, training, and open discussion sessions on building and developing VR labs and classrooms, and the acquisition and distribution of VR equipment in schools. We customize these workshops for teachers, schools, and businesses as well as offering general sessions to the public.

The workshops may cover device decision-making, safety, liability policies, care and feeding including sanitation, classroom management apps, educational apps and platforms, and dealing with administrative obstacles and funding.

These events are often held in AltspaceVR and ENGAGE VR, and maybe brought to your school or business for private consultation. Let us know how we can help bring this workshop to your business or school.

How to Produce a Virtual Conference, Workshop, or Class

Panel discussion with hearts AltspaceVRAs experts in producing virtual events, Educators in VR offers a 60-90 minute session on how to provide virtual events for everything from meetups to multiple day conferences in virtual reality and virtual platforms. What’s the difference?

A virtual conference is one hosted with online conferencing or worlds accessible mostly by 2D/desktop computers not VR devices. A VR event may support 2D/Desktop access, but it is specially designed for VR device access.

This session explores VR events specifically, providing information on choosing platforms, designing (or not) custom virtual worlds for events, scheduling across time zone and with social engagement in mind, and the complexities associated with taking a real world conference virtual.

High School Debate with Oculus Education produced by Educators in VR.This session is available as an introduction or as a paid workshop, diving deeper into the complexities and theories behind a successful virtual/VR event. Attendees have gone on to host the Microsoft Developer Days, Students in VR conference, iLRN2020 conference, HTC virtual events and conferences, school graduations, university conferences, school events, and many other workshops, VR events, and conferences in AltspaceVR, ENGAGE VR, VirBELA, and other social, event, and educational platforms.

In addition to this event, and included in the paid private workshops, Educators in VR offers training sessions on the use of slides, video, and event world building to prepare educators, trainers, and event hosts and producers how to produce and manage virtual events.

Cyberbullying

This workshop was developed as part of the Diversity Team Project in Educators in VR for US National Bullying Month in November 2019, and continues to be a welcome repeated event. Bullying may begin in the real world, but it continues online and in VR. This workshop is designed to address the issues associated with cyberbullying, specifically in VR, and offer solutions from the perspective of the one being bullied, educators, schools, and bystanders.

The VR community is a highly social one, which increases opportunities for victimization. The workshop discusses code of conduct, community standards, and terms of services that influence the attitude and response to bullying in immersive platforms and spaces, how to take action, and the expectation of a response by the platform administration.

This workshop session is a available for free and paid private groups, offering an open and safe discussion on cyberbullying and action steps to prepare yourself as well as your class, school, or community to respond and support all involved. It also includes tools and apps for sensitivity and empathy training to introduce this subject further to students and employees. Please contact us or join us on our Educators in VR Discord to bring an Educators in VR Cyberbullying workshop to your group or school.

Cheering audience in presentation at Educators in VR.

Other Workshops and Trainings

Educators in VR produces many customized trainings and educational sessions that explore the use of VR, AR, and XR in education. We also have a robust speaker’s director for recommendation of speakers expert in immersive technology.

Our Educators in VR Team Projects also offer a wide range of speakers and special events easily customized and available for your school, company, or association, complete with interactive and collaborative experiences.

Let us know how we can help you cross the bridge from the real world and online conferencing to virtual engagement. Contact us or join us on our Educators in VR Discord and ask.