The Future of Education

Yes it is. I’ve long envisioned taking a class into a 3D environment that has been set up as a medieval village, or manor, or monastery, or city, or church, or battle, or wherever our class needed to go that day. Students wouldn’t just hear about the middle ages (or any age), but they would experience something of the lives of people who lived during that time.

I’ve also long been a computer and 3D world enthusiast. I guess you could say I’m almost a (whisper) techie geek. But not geek enough because I don’t know very much code. I do know that I see a lot of potential in the type of technology that is coming into use these days for play, PC gaming, and Massive Multiplayer Online environments (MMO’s)

We’ve had a website up for the Studios for quite a number of years. I’ve tried to keep the software updated and keep the look fresher than it actually did. I could even use to update this skin, but it will have to do for now since the Dissertation has to come first. But….. since I’ve joined the Croquet Consortium and the Immersive Education Initiative, I’ve suddenly seen a wedding between Marty’s art and Dauna’s academics. Now there is something for me to talk about. Whoot!

I’ve begun building the 3D Gallery in an MMO called Kaneva. It isn’t the highest quality, and it isn’t a place I would suggest to my colleagues, but it does provide building materials (shapes, objects) and most importantly, it allows me to place them and position them wherever I need to place them. People can actually go in there and look at Marty’s paintings and drawings on the walls. The sculptures are a bit more challenging, since I can only wrap the digital image around objects of a specific shape and size. But hey, that’s what all those creative gray cells are for, right?

It is still in the rough stages, but you can see a little of my progress in these pics:

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This is the ground floor, where the pub is. It is a great place to gather, get a bit to eat, or listen to music, poetry, or a talk on art.

You can see some of Marty’s work along the wall.

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Click on the pictures to see them full size.

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The Drawing and Painting Gallery above the Pub.

Behind the camera is the balcony where visitors can sit and look out over the street

To the right is a flat-screen TV, where I have music going.

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This is the 3D Gallery, where the Raku and Stoneware pieces are shown.

The masks and ensembles you see are being added. There’s not much on the shelves yet, but at least I did manage to get shelves in there…

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Now I know the post title is about education. I’m getting to that. Probably in the next post, since this one is getting so long. Be patient — it has been a while in the making, just like our marriage, Marty’s success as an artist, or my PhD Degree. So, like them, it is worth waiting for.