Immersive Learning Initiative

Q: How can we make activities that bring people together around knowledge and the exchange of ideas more engaging? How might we also remove or lessen barriers of time, distance, and culture?
A: The Immersive Learning Initiative. Under the umbrella of this initiative, the NMC conducts and sponsors research and projects focusing on how virtual spaces can increase engagement of both students and faculty around learning, on the nature of virtual interactions, and on activities that stimulate the use of and experimentation with these technologies.

Examples include the NMC Campus Project, a large-scale experiment in the design of virtual learning experiences and spaces that involves nearly 150 colleges, universities, and schools; traditional and experimental meetings, symposia and conferences on real-world topics; and experimental and proof-of-concept events hosted in the virtual world of Second Life.

NMC Virtual Worlds provides a suite of development and provisioning services that support the development of educational uses for virtual worlds. The NMC’s latest effort under the NMC Virtual Worlds umbrella is the Hakone Project, which uses the Second Life Server platform to create highly secure and private spaces for projects, teaching, and collaboration.

see more examples of the Immersive Learning Initiative...