ELI Online Event | eXtended Reality (XR): How AR, VR, and MR Are Extending Learning Opportunities

May 22 and 24, 2018 | 12:00 noon – 3:35 p.m. ET

Over the past year, interest in eXtended reality (XR) technologies (such as virtual, augmented, immersive, and mixed reality) has surged. New and more affordable XR technologies, along with voice activation and sophisticated visual display walls, provide promising directions and opportunities to immerse learners in the curriculum, offering deeper and more vivid learning experiences and extending the learning environment. But what's the curricular reality with respect to these technologies? What is hype and what is substance? Specifically:

  • What practical applications do "XR technologies" have for teaching, learning, and research?
  • How are these technologies being applied to engage learners as consumers and creators of XR experiences?
  • What evidence is there to support XR technologies as effective tools in the learning environment?
  • How can these technologies be integrated into learning spaces?
  • What are the ethical questions we should consider as we explore XR?

Join us for this focus session, where we'll explore these and other current issues in XR technologies, collectively seeking ways to best support our institutions, our faculty, and our students.

Is This Event for You?

This online event brought together a gathering of the postsecondary teaching and learning community, with the goal of exploring the application of XR and related technologies in the curriculum. A series of presentations reported on how these technologies are being actively applied in the curriculum. Participants had the opportunity to identify key ideas and consider how these ideas are relevant to their own institutional context. This session will be especially valuable for:

  • Learning technologists and instructional designers
  • Directors and staff of campus teaching and learning centers
  • Faculty members and instructors
  • Senior teaching and learning administrators (e.g., deans, provost office staff)
  • Librarians

You will receive the greatest value from this online session if you attend as a member of a team or host a group event on your campus. Team participation can help your institution advance a current or upcoming project or encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration. Team members also find that active discussion and engagement with each other during focus session activities builds rapport, solidifies plans, and enriches collaboration. By sharing a common focus session experience, participants can reflect on the implications for their institution.

How You Will Prepare

Please review the resources and guided activities provided to help you frame discussions locally and organize team participation around the focus session. We recommend teams consider the ways they can interact both inside the online learning environment and as a team with colleagues at their institution.

Focus Session Components

  • Presentation Sessions: Sessions that report on leading work under way at a variety of institutions, followed by Q&A with the presenter(s).
  • Project Rounds: A series of institutional cases/examples presented in a sequential, fast-paced format exploring a single project, emerging technology, or campus initiative. Project rounds will be followed by an opportunity for separate discussion with each of the presenters.
  • Activities and Digital Badging: Participants will be given an activity workbook to facilitate reflection on both days. The activities are designed to allow participants, either individually or in teams, to identify the key ideas and takeaways and then map them to their own institutional context. Those who submit their activities will be eligible for an EDUCAUSE digital badge.
  • Trivia and Gift Cards!: As is traditional for ELI focus sessions, on each day we'll have some fun with a trivia contest. Gift cards will be awarded to the top three winners on each day.

Online Learning Space

Presentations are delivered live inside an online learning space designed to promote interaction between the presenters and participants and deep exploration of the content. Participants will have ample opportunity to pose questions to experts and their colleagues, review institutional examples, and learn about current practices.

Participating as an Institutional Team

ELI offers single and five-pack focus session registrations. Registrants are encouraged to utilize the focus session's resources to support individual participants or to host a face-to-face institutional team around the online focus session content.