Emergency Technologies Symposium: What's Out There and How Can We Use it?
The CTE team, with important contributions from MIT and Johns Hopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), recently staged their first annual - and extremely successful - Emerging Technologies Symposium.
The sub-title of the symposium, "Simulations and the Learners of Tomorrow," really told the story of the event's focus. Technological advances are now making Virtual Reality (VR) and 3D simulations better, more immersive and less expensive. And schools are, of course, looking for ways to prepare their students for the special challenges of the 21st century. So it's no surprise that many educators are very excited about the possibility of using VR and simulation tools to help their students learn. And thanks to the CTE symposium, some educators got the chance to meet with the technology developers and begin to explore just how that might happen.
A key piece of the symposium consisted of extremely cool demonstrations of some of the new VR and 3D technologies, and there were also many opportunities for brainstorming and collaboration among the attendees. In addition, there were presentations and panel discussions on "The Science of 3D Active Learning Environments," "The Educational Potential of Virtual Worlds" and "The Practical Realities of Learning Simulations."
For the CTE team, which has spent a great deal of time researching VR and 3D technologies in preparation for developing its own LG2G simulation, the Emerging Technologies Symposium was a chance to share some of what it's learned and to create new dialogues among people and institutions that share similar goals. And CTE's good work was much appreciated by all concerned. "The CTE folks did a great job of bringing so many different players together," said MPT's Tracy Lau, "and of showing us what's possible now and what will be possible in the very near future. Ultimately, these new technologies will be the basis for some really exciting tools for teachers and students."
You can learn more about the Emerging Technologies Symposium at the event's website.
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