Beyond Zoom: XR For Teaching And Research In The COVID-19 Era

Brief Abstract

XR—a catchall term that includes augmented and virtual reality and spatial and pervasive computing—holds potential and challenges for educational use under pandemic conditions. On August 7, Dartmouth College and the University of Pennsylvania held a conference to explore this potential and the challenges. This session is a short compilation of selected presentations from that conference, including "From the Chaos of COVID-19 to Immersive Initiative Opportunities" by Bill Egan, "Project Komodo: Catalyzing Browser-Based VR Instruction" presented by Brandon Dang, and "Multi-user VR for Remote Teaching – Initial Results" by Matthew McGinty. The full set of presentations from this conference are available at https://dartgo.org/covid-xr-conf.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: John Bell, Dartmouth College

John P. Bell is a software developer and artist at Dartmouth College. His work there includes acting as Director of the Data Experiences and Visualizations Studio, Associate Director of the Media Ecology Project, Manager of Dartmouth Research Computing‘s Digital Humanities Program, and teaching as a Lecturer in Film and Media Studies. In addition to his work at Dartmouth, he is also an Assistant Professor of Digital Curation at the University of Maine and Senior Researcher at the Still Water Lab.

Extended Abstract

National Sponsors

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Strada Education Network

Strada Education Network is a national social impact network whose mission is to improve lives by forging clearer and more purposeful pathways between education and employment. We engage partners across education, nonprofits, business and government to focus relentlessly on students’ success throughout all phases of their working lives. At a time when education and skills are more important than ever for economic advancement, we promote learning opportunities that help prepare Americans for better jobs. We do this through:

Research that yields new insights into how postsecondary education can adapt to best meet the needs of learners.
Philanthropy and investments that seed promising, evidence-based strategies, especially for helping low-income Americans.
A network of affiliate organizations developing on-the-ground solutions for the needs of learners and educational institutions.

Strada is headquartered in Indianapolis, and boasts nearly 1,000 employees nationwide, including its Washington, D.C. office and affiliate locations.

Additional Research and Resources for Online Learning: