Innovative use of TiBook in Virtual reality

[Les Posen]

>
>
> Students Travel the World Using Digital Tech Frontier's Virtual
> Reality Educational Tools
>
>
> Virtual Reality Lab Takes Students on Adventures While Teaching
> Them How to Learn
>
> PHOENIX, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Leveraging its expertise in
> creating immersive virtual reality environments for major
> corporate clients including IBM, AT&T and Disney, Digital Tech
> Frontier has developed the Virtual Reality Development Lab
> (VRDL), an educational tool that allows students to create
> virtual reality environments that teach them subject matter, as
> well as how to learn, plan and work in a group.  VRDL can be
> integrated into any curriculum that encourages exploratory
> research and active learning, and will be available at more than
> 215 schools nationwide in the coming year.
>
> "Kids today don't respond well to traditional, static, lecture-
> style teaching.  By incorporating elements of gaming and 'cool'
> technology into VRDL, we were able to create cutting-edge, high-
> tech educational tools that are fun to use and provide skills
> for lifelong learning," states DTF's CEO and Creative Director
> Scott Jochim.  "We also ensure that all our programs meet or
> exceed the U.S. Department of Education's National Educational
> Technology Plan goal of better educating and preparing students
> to meet the demands of our increasingly high-tech society."
>
> VRDL provides students with the hardware, software and
> instruction manuals they need to produce their own virtual tours
> from brainstorming through planning to completion of the
> project. The teacher serves as the project manager, helping
> students develop subject guidelines, realistic goals and
> timelines and enforcing their implementation.  Students plan the
> project, research information, gather media and material,
> photograph the key location for the panoramic environment and
> create a virtual tour that incorporates what they've learned.
>
> VRDL and its companion program, Educational Reality System
> (ERS), are currently being used at schools throughout Arkansas
> under a grant from the Arkansas Department of Education.
> Describing the impact of these programs on students and
> teachers, Wallie Shaw, consortium project director, explains
> that, "Not only were we able to better convey critical
> information to students in an interactive and dynamic
> environment, but we are now doing it in a manner that is more
> pedagogically sound and entertaining for our students.
> Preliminary results of attitudinal surveys administered to both
> students and teachers reflected overwhelming support for use of
> the new technology that DTF pioneered."
>
> VRDL projects can be customized to meet the instructional
> objectives of a school's social studies, science, math, language
> arts, history, humanities and technology curriculum, as well to
> foster community involvement among students.
>
> Because VRDL is user-friendly and portable, students can shoot
> photographs and assemble a tour anywhere.  The complete lab
> weighs only 30 pounds and comes in a waterproof, custom-fit, 30"
> x 24" x 20" sturdy, easy-to-carry travel case.  The VRDL
> incorporates all the equipment needed to capture 360 degree
> ceiling to floor, wall-to-wall environmental realities -- a high-
> resolution digital camera, a 360 degree rotator assembly, a
> tripod, a leveling pod, a spherical lens and a flash media card.
> The ready-to-use lab also includes a simple, straightforward
> instruction manual that even a technology novice can follow and
> an Apple PowerBook G4 loaded with all the software required to
> produce and edit 360 degree environments, edit 360 degree
> movies, create three-dimensional objects and incorporate virtual
> reality head-tracking capability.  To provide a fully immersive,
> virtual reality experience, the VRDL also contains a wide screen
> head-mounted display, a head tracker and a gyro mouse and
> wireless receiver.  Virtual tours can be viewed (in the virtual
> reality format) on PCs, Macs, large screens and the web,
> enabling teachers to incorporate the learning experience into
> any type of classroom setting.
>
> As classrooms across the country and even around the world begin
> to use VRDL, students and teachers will be able to use the
> Internet to share their virtual tours with each other and open a
> window on their world.  For example, a group of students in
> rural Kansas could experience Kwanzaa and students across the
> country could follow the building of a New York City skyscraper
> and could learn about Native American rituals and culture.  What
> seems ordinary to a Future Farmer of America -- the birth of a
> lamb or pig or the harvesting of a crop -- would be a totally
> new experience to a child in Chicago.  Someday, a virtual tour
> could help a Palestinian child and an Israeli child learn about
> each other's lives.
>
> "Like Nelson Mandela, I believe that, 'Education is the most
> powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,'" says
> Jochim.  We developed VRDL to give students and teachers an
> educational tool that provides more than facts and figures; it
> engages their minds, stimulates their creativity and teaches
> them skills that will help them succeed throughout their lives."
>
>
> About Digital Tech Frontier
>
> Phoenix-based Digital Tech Frontier (DTF) is an industry leader
> and pioneer in the custom design, development and delivery of
> virtual reality systems and simulators for the entertainment,
> training, medical and education markets.  DTF has created
> immersive virtual reality environments for numerous national
> corporate customers including:  Disney, AT&T, Honeywell, Hyatt
> Regency, 21st Century Fox, Nokia Communications, ServiceMaster,
> Exxon, Budweiser, Thompson Newspapers, Allstate Insurance, Chase
> Bank and IBM. Founded in 1996, DTF's innovative technologies
> have been featured in Business Week, Popular Science, Time and
> Wired magazine.  Visit us at http://www.dtf.net .
>
> For further information, please contact Leigh Nyveen of CPRi
> Communications, +1-480-657-9966, ext. 16, lnyveen at cpronline.com,
> for Digital Tech Frontier.
>
>
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St.Kilda South					       Virtual Reality Therapy
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