OpenSimulator Community Conference 2018

Challenged to set a vision for technology usage and to create a community within 100% online graduate programs at SUNY/Empire State College, several faculty members began working in 2006 within the college’s Second Life islands. In 2013, the college instituted the Master of Arts in Learning and Emerging Technology (MALET) program, however, the institutional support for the Second Life islands was dwindling. Fortunately, the cost-effectiveness and rapidity of development of open-simulator virtual-reality (VR) environments, came to the rescue. Chronicling the growing use of VR environments, we will highlight how these environments have served for meetings, shared experiences, learning development, and community building. We also created an elective course on VR development and over 30 students have created their own immersive VR learning environments; several students will note their work. This semester, the MALET program piloted its first immersive residency on our own VR islands focusing on the topics of augmented and virtual realities, reinforced by the immersive nature of the very conference itself. Furthermore, since spring 2018, we have initiated a progressive, ongoing think-tank about the vision and the challenges facing the integration of true emerging technologies into learning environments, countering the often narrowly focused educational technology programs.