Immersive Education Addiction in the Future

This article is an interview with Professor Aaron Walsh by a former student who had taken his classes in the early 2000's. I thought it was interesting how it was mentioned that immersive education can be very beneficial for individuals who may struggle in the real world, or in typical classroom situations can really blossom in virtual education environments. One of the other benefits of immersive education that is mentioned is that it makes educational resources accessible to individuals all over the world who might not be able to make it into classroom settings for whatever reason. This resonated a lot with me, because immersive education allowed me to continue my studies at Boston College despite having to be in Ann Arbor Michigan for the semester.

The interview also covers the variety of virtual worlds that are available for immersive education. Similarly, it touches on the fact that immersive education is now more accessible than ever. In the past, making immersive education available to students would have been very difficult because many students would not have access to the personal computers required to participate in virtual worlds. Furthermore, even less students would have access to computers that have adequate power to display the graphics required for virtual worlds. Now, all relatively new computers are able to handle the graphics in vitual worlds. However now, virtually every student has access to a computer, so immersive education is more accessible than ever. The topic of possible downsides of using virtual worlds is also mentioned. One of the main downsides is the possibility of immersive illness, which we have been studying in our class homework this week.

The interview also covers advantages and challenges of bringing immersive education to other countries. While immersive education has the capability to bring important, and current educational experiences to individuals who might not have access to the same level of quality education, there is also the challenge of insuring that interested institutions have the computing capabilities and resources to support immersive education. Professor Walsh is therefore interested in reducing the cost and and complexity of virtual worlds and immersive education while still providing a high quality educational experience.

Here is the link to the interview with Professor Walsh: http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2007/05/teaching_in_vr_.html

Here are some screenshots of me in one of the virtual worlds we have explored a lot as part of this class, Cloud Party: