Weekly Workshop: Creating Educational Events in AltspaceVR

July 13, 2019 / Daniel Dyboski-Bryant / Leave a comment

The next Educators in VR Weekly Workshop is Tuesday, July 16, 2019, in AltspaceVR, and will feature Lorelle VanFossen presenting “Creating Educational Events in AltspaceVR.”

Imagine teaching students from around the world in a single virtual space. Or bringing your students to a virtual world where they can explore climate change, Notre Dame, or museums and galleries. Take this a step further and consider the possibilities of encouraging your students to build their own museum, gallery, or homework project in a virtual space. The possibilities are endless, but we are going to start simple and introduce you to step one in creating an educational event in AltspaceVR, a similar process to other social VR platforms, to help prepare for the possibilities. And if you are looking for an easy-to-use platform for educational programs and events, be it high school classes or corporate training, AltspaceVR is an excellent choice. It offers a vibrant community to support public events, and an excellent and professional events team to work with to help you make your event a success.

The hour-long workshop will cover the logistics of creating an educational event in AltspaceVR, event location, layout, structure, and how to integrate video and slides. While she will be touching on some aspects of world building and interactivity in Altspace, stay tuned for a workshop this fall that covers this complex area.

When it comes to credentials for tips and techniques on education and events in Altspace, few come more qualified. Lorelle spent the last year teaching and presenting an average of 3 events a week in AltspaceVR, evaluating it as an educational and social platform. Normally she travels 5-7 months a year presenting keynotes, workshops, and trainings on web publishing and digital storytelling across the planet, traveling more through virtual space than physical this year. Pushing AltspaceVR to its limits, she presents topics rarely found with the virtual experience, creative writing, genealogy and family history. She also hosts and moderates social and meetup events along with community service training and world building. She is the co-host for the News & Updates in AltspaceVR every Saturday. Lorelle helped produce several highly successful collaborative projects, including the Halloween VR Maze events that attracted over 3,000 users. She works with the AltspaceVR events and community teams to teach, promote, and encourage training, mentoring, and collaborative projects within the AltspaceVR community as part of the Community Helper program.

Educators in VR presents weekly workshops as part of our mission to train and prepare educators and learns for the future of technology with virtual and augmented realities. We offer workshops on the basics of VR with Educators in VR 101, on teaching within an immersive classroom, and workshops with special guest speakers covering the diverse topics of education in spatial technologies. We also have a monthly meetup to discuss the educational industry and network, usually the third week of the month. Coming soon are special event programs like Educators in VR on the Road, journeying to other social and educational platforms, and the Educators in VR Showcase, highlighting products and services in the virtual education industry.

Please note that we will take a break in August, but already have exciting workshops and meetups planned for September.

Join our Educators in VR Discord group, Facebook, and follow up on Twitter for information on meetups and how to become more involved. Consider subscribing to our Educators in VR event subscription channel to receive regular reminders of upcoming events there. We publish member brags and news you can use about virtual reality in education across the entire spectrum of usage from childhood education to health and science to corporate.

Educators in VR Meetup in AltspaceVR

We meet in AltspaceVR, a free virtual reality social app and community. You may RSVP on our events page and AltspaceVR will send you a reminder an hour before the event.

You may attend as a guest or member using the free AltspaceVR mobile app or 2D version. AltspaceVR is available for Samsung Gear, Steam Store for HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, and the Oculus Store for Rift, Go, and Quest (sideloaded) users. If you do not have a VR device, you may also install the 2D version for use on your Windows desktop computer version. A headset and microphone (quality earbuds acceptable) is required to participate. Otherwise please stay muted during the event as the background noise and echoes can be disruptive. For more information on accessing and installing AltspaceVR, check out their download web page.

Educators in VR Featured on AltspaceVR Community Spotlight

May 25, 2019May 28, 2019 / Lorelle VanFossen / Leave a comment

Daniel Dyboshi-Bryant and Lorelle VanFossen, founders of Educators in VR, were featured in a recent article on the AltspaceVR blog, “Community Spotlight: Educators in VR.” The emailed interview introduces the two educators and describes their vested interest in both Educators in VR and AltspaceVR as a virtual social platform and educational space, and discusses their passion for Educators in VR.

Daniel: The idea behind the monthly events is to bring together a community of educators, trainers, researchers, organizations, and startups who meet, share, and learn — in VR — so that we are “walking the talk.”

Each month we choose a topic relevant to VR in education and invite a speaker or panel of speakers to share their insights, experiences, and resources with the community. So far we have covered VR Education research projects from Australian and German universities, presented some start-ups in the field from Finland and the US, hosted a speaker from Australia who is managing and scaling provision of immersive technologies at an organization with 500,000 learners, and heard an expert speak about harassment in VR. Next week, we have a panel of speakers discussing diversity and inclusion in VR and education.

Lorelle: Our goal is to connect the dots between administration, faculty, teachers, and students through our shared experiences and expertise. Grad students connect with educators experimenting with VR training in everything from surgery to automotive mechanics.

Attendees range from trainers to doctorates, and every educator level in between, who specialize in topics such as digital storytelling, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, automotive repair and maintenance, medical research and education, aviation… The ways virtual reality is being used in education is stunning and impressive.

Check out the rest of the article on the AltspaceVR blog.

Educators in VR Meetup on Diversity and Inclusion May 2, 2019

May 1, 2019 / Lorelle VanFossen / Leave a comment

The next meeting of Educators in VR in AltspaceVR is May 2nd, 2019. We have a fascinating panel of speakers for this meetup on the topic of diversity and inclusion in virtual reality and education and training, representing a diverse group of educators and passionate VR enthusiasts.

Brennan Gregory Halton is the co-founder of Equal Reality, a virtual reality developer and internationally recognized immersive technologies expert. Listed on the 2019 Forbes 30/30 Social Entrepreneurs, Brennan has over a decade of experience building augmented and virtual worlds. He helped grow Meta AR Glasses to a valuation of over $300M USD as employee #7. His company, Equal Reality, helps him focus on supporting equality, diversity, and inclusion through virtual reality, putting people in the perspective of minorities to experience discrimination. He is also talented in community building, teaching, and digital content creation.

Alan Chao is a user experience designer, virtual reality enthusiast, and Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) advocate. Alan works in technology as a User Experience (UX) designer and is the founder of the popular AltUX, the User Experience Meetup in AltspaceVR. He has also built some of the most popular interactive, and social worlds in AltspaceVR, including the beautiful meditation and yoga space for EvolVR classes.

Asha Easton is currently the KTN manager for Immerse UK. She is responsible for helping to grow the immersive tech ecosystem for the country. Asha is also a VR producer and an active member of several VR groups including: the London chapter of Women in Immersive Tech (WiiT) (Facebook), that helps to support women in the industry, and the VR Diversity Initiative (VRDI), where she has taught workshops to up-skill underrepresented groups in media and technology.

Dr. Peter Bloom is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of People and Organisations at the Open University and Co-Founder of the research group REEF (Research into Employment, Empowerment, and Futures). His research focuses on critically reimagining contemporary power, politics and economic – specifically related to themes of democracy, capitalism, and technology.

We are very excited for this panel on diversity and inclusion, and welcome you to join us.

We meet in AltspaceVR, a free virtual reality social app and community. You may RSVP on our events page and AltspaceVR will send you a reminder an hour before the event. Alan has also built several worlds in AltspaceVR that attract a wide range of visitors, developing innovative virtual entertainment and meeting spaces.

You may attend as a guest or member using the free AltspaceVR mobile app or 2D version. AltspaceVR is found in the Google Store for DayDream, Samsung Gear, in the Steam Store for HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, and the Oculus Store for Rift, Go, and Quest users. If you do not have a VR device, you may also install the mobile version for use on your Android phone or tablet, or the desktop computer version for 2D access. A headset and microphone (quality earbuds acceptable) is required to participate. Otherwise please stay muted during the event as the background noise and echoes can be disruptive. For more information on accessing and installing AltspaceVR, check out their download web page.

May 2019 Meeting of Educators in VR

April 13, 2019April 20, 2019 / Lorelle VanFossen / 1 Comment

Educators in VR Meetup 2018 in Altspace - emojis to celebrate the first event.

The next meeting of Educators in VR is May 2nd, 2019. We are finalizing our topic, so stay tuned, but make sure you get us on your calendar. Check the AltspaceVR events calendar for the time for your time zone and to RSVP.

We meet in AltspaceVR, a free virtual reality social app and community. You may RSVP on our events page and AltspaceVR will send you a reminder an hour before the event.