Immersive Education the focus of 2008 Boston Summit (January 12-13 at Boston College)

Happy New Year, everyone. As we enter 2008 I'm happy to announce that the Boston
Digital Media Summit (next weekend) is focused on Immersive Education and will
feature Croquet in several sessions (see the schedule of events below; Julian's
keynote is on Day 1 -- January 12th).

Please join us if you're in the Boston area or would like to make a trip for the
event. The news release is below, and I've attached the PDF version as well.
It's also in HTML format along with related news items at:

    http://ImmersiveEducation.org/#NEWS

The Summit schedule of events has been set, which you can also see at:

    http://mediagrid.org/summit/  (main page)
    http://mediagrid.org/summit/program.html  (schedule of events)

Best regards,
Aaron


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Immersive Education the focus of 2008 Boston Summit
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High quality PDF and Web versions: http://MediaGrid.org/#NEWS
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BOSTON, MA - January 03, 2008 - The 2008 Boston Digital Media Summit will be
held at Boston College on January 12th and 13th. The two-day Summit is focused
entirely on Immersive Education and is sponsored by the Grid Institute, Woods
College of Advancing Studies at Boston College, and Federation of American
Scientists (FAS) with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Educators,
researchers, administrators and students from Boston College, Boston Public
Schools, Amherst College, Federation of American Scientists, MIT Media Lab,
Harvard University, Duke University, United States Department of Education,
Johnson & Wales University, NASA, Sun Microsystems, Synthespian Studios, and
Computerworld will give a series of presentations, panel discussions and
workshops that provide an in-depth overview of Immersive Education and how
virtual worlds and game-based learning technologies are used in and out of the
classroom today. Immersive Education Day at Harvard University was a precursor
to the 2008 Boston Digital Media Summit.

Immersive Education (http://ImmersiveEducation.org) combines interactive 3D
graphics, commercial game and simulation technology, virtual reality, voice
chat, Web cameras (webcams) and rich digital media with collaborative online
course environments and classrooms. Immersive Education gives participants a
sense of "being there" even when attending a class or training session in person
isn't possible, practical, or desirable, which in turn provides educators and
students with the ability to connect and communicate in a way that greatly
enhances the learning experience. Immersive Education is developed by the
Immersive Education Initiative, a non-profit international collaboration of
universities, colleges, research institutes, consortia and companies that are
working together to define and develop open standards, best practices,
platforms, and communities of support for virtual worlds and game-based learning
and training systems.

The two-day Summit is open to the public and concludes with an "Avatar Party"
social event that features a unique mixed-reality magic show. Teachers,
trainers, administrators and students are encouraged to attend both days of the
Summit to participate in open discussion periods that follow the scheduled
presentations, panel discussions, break-out sessions, and roundtables. The
Summit features hands-on workshops and demonstrations of virtual worlds,
interactive learning games, and innovative educational technologies.

Following is a partial list of the presentations, panel discussions and
workshops scheduled for the Summit. Visit http://ImmersiveEducation.org for a
complete schedule of events and to register for the Summit:

* Enabling the Age of Immersive Education
* Virtual Worlds for Insurrection and Revolution in Education
* School 2.0 and Immersive Education
* K-12: Challenges and Rewards of Immersive Education
* Game-changing Immersive Education Paradigms
* Second Life, Croquet and Wonderland as Immersive Education Platforms
* Building the Education Grid: By Educators for Educators
* Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n Roll: Video Games as Learning Tools?!
* HELP!  Communities of Support for Teachers, Students and Families
* From User to Creator: Building as a Tool of Empowerment
* Pedagogy, Assessment, and Learning Outcomes
* Beautiful and Brainy: The Future of Immersive Education
* Eye Candy: State of the Art Virtual Worlds and Video Games
* Learning Games for K-12
* Avatar Party and Mixed-Reality Magic Show




About Immersive Education
Immersive Education (http://ImmersiveEducation.org) combines interactive 3D
graphics, commercial game and simulation technology, virtual reality, voice chat
(Voice over IP/VoIP), Web cameras (webcams) and rich digital media with
collaborative online course environments and classrooms. Immersive Education
gives participants a sense of "being there" even when attending a class or
training session in person isn't possible, practical, or desirable, which in
turn provides educators and students with the ability to connect and communicate
in a way that greatly enhances the learning experience. Unlike traditional
computer-based learning systems, Immersive Education is designed to immerse and
engage students in the same way that today's best video games grab and keep the
attention of players. Immersive Education supports self-directed learning as
well as collaborative group-based learning environments that can be delivered
over the Internet or using fixed-media such as CD-ROM and DVD. Shorter
mini-games and interactive lessons can be injected into larger bodies of course
material to further heighten and enrich the Immersive Education experience.


About the Media Grid
The Media Grid is a public utility for digital media. Based on new and emerging
distributed computational grid technologies, the Media Grid builds upon existing
Internet and Web standards to create a unique network optimized for digital
media delivery, storage, and processing. As an on-demand public computing
utility, a range of software programs and Web sites can use the Media Grid for
delivery and storage of rich media content, media processing, and computing
power. The Media Grid is an open and extensible platform that enables a wide
range of applications not possible with the traditional Internet alone,
including: Massive Media on Demand (MMoD); Interactive digital cinema on demand;
Immersive Education and distance learning; Truly immersive multiplayer games and
Virtual Reality (VR); Hollywood movie and film rendering, special effects, and
composition; Real-time rendering of high resolution graphics; Real-time
visualization of complex weather patterns; Real-time protein modeling and drug
design; Telepresence, telemedicine, and telesurgery; Vehicle and aircraft design
and simulation; Visualization of scientific and medical data.

The Grid Institute leads the design and development of the global Media Grid
through the MediaGrid.org open standards organization in collaboration with
industry, academia, and governments from around the world.


To learn more about the Media Grid and Immersive Education visit
http://MediaGrid.org and http://ImmersiveEducation.org


--
Boston College: http://bc.edu
Media Grid: http://MediaGrid.org
Immersive Education: http://ImmersiveEducation.org
Personal page: http://gridinstitute.com/people/aew/