January 2020 Events Schedule

January 7, 2020January 9, 2020 / Lorelle VanFossen / Leave a comment

Educators in VR - Daniel Dyboski-Bryant presents a workshop in AltspaceVR. Educators in VR’s weekly workshops continue on Tuesdays in AltspaceVR, educating and inspiring you with creative ways to integrate VR, AR, XR, and MR into education, even though the wheels are turning at a furious pace for our upcoming 2020 Educators in VR International Summit, February 17-22, 20202.

January 8, 2020 – Chris Madsen’s Setting Up a VR Classroom: Chris Madsen will cover some of the basic challenges and how to overcome them to develop VR in the classroom. His innovative research over the past year will help you learn how to handle the concerns of administration and faculty, and how to create a safe and secure environment for the students and teachers. Chris is a lively and fascinating expert, so bring your questions and concerns to the workshop tomorrow. RSVP so you won’t miss it.

January 14, 2020 – Nicolas Barone on Teaching Computer Science in VR: Nicolas spent the last few months developing innovative methodologies for teaching computer science and programming in a VR environment, specifically working with AltspaceVR, testing its limits and pushing boundaries. The founder of Universe, a collaborative online computer science educational company, he will share his experiences, lessons learned, and innovations with us in a week, so make sure you RSVP now to receive a reminder before the event.

January 21, 2020 – Educators in VR 101: The Educators in VR Curriculum Team has been developing this introductory program, Educators in VR 101, over the past year and it continues to develop as new technology and research into methodologies evolve. If you are new to immersive technologies in education and the classroom, this hour workshop introduces you to the basics and offers you the opportunity to get the answers you need to take the next step toward introducing yourself and your classroom or research to this new emerging technology.

January 28, 2020 – Exploring the Immersive Classroom: Teaching in VR’s unique immersion experience brings many challenges and concerns. The Educators in VR Curriculum Team’s workshop on working with immersive classrooms explores the potential of working with virtual worlds and spaces in education, from teaching within them, working with students to create immersive worlds, and encouraging virtual worlds as homework assignments. Each session takes you to two or more worlds that serve as examples.

February 4, 2020 – Educators in VR Social: We offer a social networking meetup regularly to allow us to connect through the magic of VR with other educators, learners, researchers, and enthusiasts from around the world and learn about how they use immersive technologies in education. Come join us for a drink and a virtual snack in our beautiful Educators in VR training facility in AltspaceVR.

February 17-22, 2020 – 2020 Educators in VR International Summit: While the International Summit is still evolving as the deadline for speakers just passed and we are starting to pour through the outstanding submissions and notify speakers, expect 80+ hours of educational programs, workshops, fireside chats, and panels on a wide-sweeping range of topics on immersive and spatial technologies in education. The event will be hosted in AltspaceVR, ENGAGE, and other social and educational virtual platforms. The event will be live streamed from each of the platforms for the main conference track, and other events will be recorded and shared later via our website and Youtube channel.

Consider subscribing to our Educators in VR event subscription channel to receive regular reminders of upcoming events there.

Educators in VR is dedicated to providing educational events, trainings, and workshops for educators and learners to prepare them for the future of spatial technologies in education. We offer weekly workshops in AltspaceVR and other platforms, and a monthly meetup featuring key educators, trainers, and developers in VR, AR, XR, and MR technology and education.

Join our Educators in VR Discord group, Facebook, and follow us on Twitter for information on meetups and how to become more involved.

Some other educational and informative events happening in AltspaceVR that you might not want to miss include:

AltspaceVR 101: AltspaceVR offers regular 30 minute workshops with tips and techniques for learning how to use AltspaceVR and be introduced to the strong and healthy metaverse community. The are held five days a week at various hours for different time zones. The next ones are Wednesday, Saturday early and later in the day, and Sunday.
Tech Tock with Jesse Damiani: Thursdays, the technology reporter from SNHU, Forbes, and The Verge features intimate conversations and open discussions with the leaders in the virtual technology fields from artists and developers to producers and entrepreneurs.
Improv Night with Stevieboy and Shoseki: Every Saturday, AltspaceVR becomes an innovative zone for crazy and good times as users become improvisational actors on the stage working with audience suggestions. Totally unpredictable, it’s a great example of the potential for the same comedy interactivity and collaboration you might bring to your classroom.
CES 2020: VR/AR/XR, Healthcare, AI, Robots, Drones, Sustainability & Climate with Health Systems Chat: Thursdays, Chuck Webster of Health Systems Chat covers a wide ranging topic related to healthcare technologies. This week is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and he will be covering the event. His next event is about the history, recipes, science, and farming of potatoes to honor the international Potato Expo in Las Vegas that week. And on January 30, he tackles the topic of assistive technology and virtual reality.
C# Programming Course: Mohamad offers C# programming courses in AltspaceVR. Sunday, January 19, he begins his next series on intermediate level courses.
Introduction to Unity: Nicolas Barrone and his team are joined by Matt Cook this month to teach world building and VR app and game development using Unity. The free course starts January 22.
Meditating on Morality: Tom Nickels of EvolVR, an expert on mortality and meditation, holds regular sessions in AltspaceVR tackling these serious issues with great insights and experience.
The EvolVR Book Club: Meeting month, the EvolVR Book Club explores spiritual books and teachings. Last month’s book was The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and this month’s book is Ram Dass’ Be Here Now.
Humanism: The Self-Domestication of Humans: An innovative educational exploration on how humans share many of the characteristics of domesticated animals and the evolution of this process, one of many fascinating topics shared by Ron Flannery at the monthly Humanism Meetups.
Poetry Slam: A biweekly event on Mondays with users stepping up to the stage to share their poetry, rap, and short stories, another example of the potential for a classroom experience.
Creative Writing Meetup: Lorelle hosts an innovative workshop Tuesdays for creative writers writing short stories, essays, memoirs, poetry, or those just wishing to expand their creative writing abilities. This is the second year of the meetups and this year more special event workshops, classes, and programs will be featured.

To Attend Educators in VR Events 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 users. If you do not have a VR device, you may also install the 2D version for use on your Windows desktop computer. A headset and microphone (quality earbuds acceptable) is required to participate. Otherwise please stay muted during the event as the background noise and echoes may be disruptive. For more information on accessing and installing AltspaceVR, check out their download web page.

If you would like to present at one of our weekly workshops, please submit your speaker’s proposal to us. Considering joining one of our many team projects. If you have questions or need more information, please contact us or connect with one of our many social media channels.

Educators in VR Events for September 2019

August 23, 2019February 6, 2020 / Lorelle VanFossen / Leave a comment

We have so many things planned for September with Educators in VR, you might need a road map to keep up with us. To get you started, here is a quick summary for you to add to your calendar. We’ve some amazing diverse speakers and presenters to help you consider a wide range of options for integrating virtual reality and augmented reality into your teaching.

Monthly Meetup

Educators in VR meets monthly in AltspaceVR with a special guest speaker and topic. The one-hour meetup is usually the third Thursday of the month.

September 19, 2019 – Matt Cook of the Virtual World Society: Matt Cook is working with a volunteer group to teach students at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School to develop their own STEM-based eductional VR experiences in Seattle. A graduate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington and Project Engineer at RATLab LLC, he is developing virtual reality curriculum and VR content for research projects to push the envelope on VR in education. He is a senior advisor for the Virtual World Society.

October 24, 2019 – Mina Johnson-Glenberg of Embodied Games : Mina Johnson-Glenberg is a cognitive psychologist, game designer, STEM specialist, and research professor at Arizona State University and president of the award-winning learning technology company, Embodied Games, LLC. The Embodied Games lab has been at the forefront of creating “embodied” and kinetically-active games using sensors and motion capture technologies. Dr. Johnson-Glenberg will be speaking about accessing educational quality of VR modules with a newly developed Rubric Alpha Version. She presents nationally and internationally and has published in peer-reviewed journals on VR and STEM education. Her most recent work was on Frontiers in Robotics and AI. You will not want to miss this meetup.

Weekly Workshops

We offer free weekly workshops in AltspaceVR and other virtual social and educational platforms to encourage educators to expand their knowledge and skills in virtual, augmented, and extended reality. These workshops are free and open to the public. See our information on how to attend Educators in VR events.

September 10, 2019 – Immersive Classroom: Climate Change: Lorelle VanFossen will be presenting another immersive classroom experience in AltspaceVR on climate change associated with oceans and glacial melt. These are open discussion events exploring how to build and teach within immersive environments and discuss the various educational topics such world building spaces offer. The event is free and RSVP is recommended.

September 17, 2019 – Educators in VR 101: Daniel Dyboski-Bryant will be presenting the basics of virtual reality for educators and learners in AltspaceVR. We offer this free program for those considering integrating virtual reality in the classroom and those new to the experience, or a refresher course on the basics. We recommend RSVP soon and arrival two minutes before start time as the event often fills quickly.

September 24, 2019 – Immersive Classroom: EvolVR: Jeremy Nickels of EvolvVR (Facebook) is a long-time educator and leader in immersive education leading meditation and yoga programs weekly in AltspaceVR for over 2 years. He’s worked with world builders to develop custom worlds and event spaces, pushing the limits of virtual and guided instruction in VR. He will be sharing his expertise on developing innovative virtual programs that connect mind, spirit, and body in an immersive experience. Continue reading →

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.