Media Grid standards, technologies and initiatives (such as Immersive Education) are developed by an international collaboration of universities, colleges, research institutes, consortia and companies (see MEMBERS page for details). To join, or for more information, contact the Media Grid standards group director.
The Immersive Education Initiative
 The Immersive Education Initiative is an 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 reality and game-based learning and training systems. Hundreds of faculty, researchers, staff, administrators and students are members of the Immersive Education Initiative, which is growing at the rate of approximately 2 new members every day.
Initiative members have early access to the Education Grid, where they can conduct classes and meetings within a growing collection of virtual worlds. Initiative members can also use the Education Grid to build custom virtual learning worlds, simulations, and learning games.
Immersive Education and the Media Grid were recently recognized with a prestigious national award by Computerworld for being “innovative, promising technologies which hold the potential to significantly affect society in the near future”.
The Immersive Education Initiative is a merit-based, not-for-profit initiative of the Media Grid international standards group. Membership is free (no fee) and open to the public but restricted to organizations and individuals that have experience using virtual worlds, simulations, or game-based learning technologies.
To learn more read the Immersive Education Talking Points document. To join please contact the Media Grid standards group director.
About Immersive Education
Immersive Education, a Media Grid initiative, is an award-winning
learning platform that 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.
Originally available only to university students, the next generation of Immersive Education is focused on a broad spectrum of academic and non-academic users (higher education, K-12, and corporate training).
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.
Immersive Education is freely available through the Immersive Education Initiative. The Immersive Education Initiative is an official activity of the international Media Grid standards group. The Media Grid standards group actively applies open standards to specific problem spaces, such as distance education, digital libraries, and the impact of digital media on culture and society. Media Grid members and Immersive Education Initiative participants include faculty, staff, administrators and students from a range of organizations.
To learn more about Immersive Education and the Initiative read the Immersive Education Talking Points document.
Videos of Immersive Education Platforms
News, Video, Papers and Presentations
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2009-03: Immersive Education Initiative LONDON SUMMIT to Launch Series of European Events. The Immersive Education Initiative today announced that it will launch its series of Immersive Education: Europe events in London this April. On April 23rd and 24th the London School of Economics (LSE) will host the Immersive Education Initiative's London Summit, a special two-day event showcasing new and emerging virtual worlds, learning games, educational simulations, and related tools, techniques, technologies, standards and best practices. Designed specifically for educators, researchers, and administrators, the London Summit consists of presentations, panel discussions, break-out sessions and workshops that provide attendees with an in-depth overview of immersive learning platforms and technologies such as The Education Grid, Project Wonderland, Second Life, Croquet and Cobalt, realXtend, Alice, Open Simulator (OpenSim), augmented and mixed reality, and more.
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2008-11: Immersive Education Initiative Launches Asia Series of Events in Japan. The Immersive Education Initiative today announced that it will launch its series of Immersive Education: ASIA events in Japan this month. Immersive Education Japan (iED Japan) begins with "Immersive Education Days at University of Aizu", which features two days of Immersive Education presentations, lectures, workshops and related events presented by faculty, teachers and researchers from around the world who are participating in the event in person and remotely using virtual worlds technology. During the event, which spans November 18th through the 20th, Immersive Education Initiative members from Boston College, University of Aizu, National University of Singapore, Keio University, Smithsonian Institution, Montana State University, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center at Greenbush, University of Essex and Sun Microsystems will give a series of presentations and demonstrations to provide attendees with an in-depth overview of Immersive Education, the Education Grid and related technologies.
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2008-10: Open File Formats Technology Working Group (OFF.TWG) Launches. The Media Grid Open File Formats Technology Working Group is responsible for defining, evolving and maintaining open, platform-neutral file formats that enable learning objects and experiences to be seamlessly deployed across Immersive Education technology platforms. Today's virtual worlds, simulators and learning games are essentially walled gardens; users are not able to interact with the same objects or experiences from different platforms, nor are users of one platform able to interact with users residing in another platform. The Open File Formats Technology Working Group is actively standardizing cross-platform content interchange by adopting and promoting open, platform neutral 3D/VR file formats that enable the promise of "create once, experience everywhere."
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2008-08: Immersive Education Initiative Launches South America Series of Events. The Immersive Education Initiative today launched its series of Immersive Education: South America events. Today's "Immersive Education Day at Fundación Universitaria Sanitas" event connects over 200 delegates attending the conference in Bogota, Colombia, with faculty, teachers and researchers from around the world who are participating in the event remotely using virtual worlds technology. During the event Immersive Education Initiative members from Boston College, Cornell University, Montana State University, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center at Greenbush, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Media Communications Technology High School, and Sun Microsystems will give a series of presentations and demonstrations to provide attendees with an in-depth overview of Immersive Education.
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2008-06: Immersive Education Initiative Launches The Education Grid. The Immersive Education Initiative today launched the Education Grid with an early preview of Sun Microsystems Laboratory's Project Wonderland virtual world servers ("nodes") hosted by Essex University (United Kingdom), University of Oregon, St. Paul College, New Media Consortium (NMC), Common Need, and Sun Microsystems. The Education Grid is a free public utility provided by the Immersive Education Initiative and its members. Starting today initiative members have early access to the Education Grid, where they can conduct classes and meetings within a growing collection of virtual worlds. Initiative members can also use the Education Grid to build custom virtual learning worlds, simulations, and learning games.
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2008-06: Immersive Education Initiative Celebrates 1st Birthday in the Virtual World, Expands in the Real World. The Immersive Education Initiative, in celebration of its first anniversary and a number of recent accomplishments, will throw a virtual 1st birthday party tonight for its members and the public as it looks forward to the year ahead. Immersive Education was conceived in 2005 as an application of the Media Grid. The corresponding initiative was officially launched one year ago today, with an open call to educators, students, and professionals who had experience using virtual learning environments or video game technologies. In the year since the initiative was started it has grown to more than 200 members from around the world.
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2008-03: Immersive Education Initiative receives $1.2 Million STEM donation from the John C. Ford Program. [PDF format] The Ford Program donates 67 STEM programs and associated learning materials and technologies to the Immersive Education Initiative under an Open Educational Resources (OER) Creative Commons license. The donation, valued at $1.2 Million USD, was developed with funding by the United States Department of Commerce, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Dallas Foundation, COMP USA, EDS Foundation, Bank of America Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, Chase Bank and private investors. The donation provides the Immersive Education Initiative with a solid base of STEM programs from which a range of next-generation applied engineering immersive learning experiences will be developed.
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2008-02: eWEEK article: Sun Explains New Strategy for Education. Sun Microsystems has seen the future of education, and it can be viewed right there on a desktop monitor. Scott McNealy, Sun's chairman of the board, explained his take on this topic Feb. 28 at Sun's annual education summit here at the Westin St. Francis. Some 1,000 school district, K-12, college and university IT administrators were on hand at the Worldwide Education and Research Conference to hear about the latest in technology for the classroom. McNealy described an intriguing initiative with which Sun has become involved, called immersive education.
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Immersive Education Initiative announces Education Grid and Platform Ecosystem at Boston Summit [PDF format] During the 2008 Boston Digital Media Summit last week the Immersive Education Initiative announced the Education Grid and corresponding Platform Ecosystem. Based upon open source technologies and open standards, the Education Grid and Platform Ecosystem will provide educators with a comprehensive end-to-end infrastructure for a new generation of virtual world learning environments, interactive learning games, and simulations.
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Daily Hampshire Gazette front page article: Educators Find Engaging Tool in Virtual 'Immersive' Learning. It's one thing to read about the International Space Station;
it's another to dock a spaceship in its port. Immersive Education, a new and free library of online educational games and 3-D programs, wants to give students the opportunity to experience what they learn in school - virtually. Fly a spaceship, play the role of Israel's prime minister, walk through an Egyptian tomb, hangout in a Paris cafe and order a baguette in French - it's all achievable through Immersive Education.
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Immersive Education the focus of 2008 Boston Summit [PDF format] On January 12th and 13th 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, New Media Consortium (NMC), 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.
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Chronicle of Higher Education article: Immersive Education Submerges Students in Online Worlds Made for Learning. Students at Boston College stumbled across a jackal in the underground chambers of an ancient Egyptian tomb in early December. One student explained that the animal was the god Anubis, who helped transport dead bodies to the underworld. In reality, the students never left the Boston area. Their trip was showcased at a conference at Harvard University this month devoted to Immersive Education, a multimillion-dollar project to build virtual-reality software exclusively for education within commercial and nonprofit fantasy spaces like Second Life.
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Educating Virtual Worlds (podcast). "Maybe there is a chance to get real world value out of virtual worlds" concludes eWEEK Chief Technology Analyst Jim Rapoza. In this Tech Rising podcast, eWEEK Chief Technology Analyst Jim Rapoza talks to Media Grid Director Aaron E. Walsh about virtual worlds and the Media Grid's efforts to build an open platform that uses multiple virtual worlds as a collaborative meeting space, providing what they refer to as immersive education.
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The New Media Consortium (NMC) joins Immersive Education initiative to advance virtual learning (news release). Excerpt: During the NMC Summer Conference today the New Media Consortium (NMC) announced that it has joined the Media Grid’s Immersive Education initiative to participate in the development of best practices and standards for virtual learning and game-based learning platforms. NMC is an international consortium of over 250 learning-focused organizations dedicated to the exploration and use of new media and new technologies. NMC member institutions are found in almost every state in the United States, across Canada, and in Europe, Asia and Australia. Among the consortium’s membership are an elite list of the most highly regarded colleges and universities in the world, innovative museums, research centers, foundations, and forward-thinking companies. The consortium’s collective wealth of experience in building virtual learning environments in Second Life will be applied directly to Immersive Education.
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Enabling the Age of Immersive Education. Keynote presentation delivered to approximately 30 universities at the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) Conference hosted by Boston College. October 13-14 2005. Includes a variety of Immersive Education screenshots.
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Immersive Education Ecosystem (discussion draft). Overview of the Immersive Education faculty-student ecosystem and its potential impact on the future of education and the immediate and long-term impact on faculty, students, and digital media development communities.
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2007 Horizon Report (New Media Consortium and EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative). Excerpts from Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming (pg 25-27): The term “serious games” has been coined to describe games that have an educational purpose and nonentertainment goals. Educators are taking a hard look at one type of serious game, massively multiplayer educational games, and finding strong potential for teaching and learning...Immersive Education, developed at Boston College’s Grid Institute, combines interactive virtual reality and sophisticated digital media with collaborative online course environments and classrooms.
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Virtual reality and higher education: Another perspective (Terra Nova interview). Excerpts: While Second Life has been adopted by Harvard and more than 100 other schools worldwide, it is not the only online virtual reality environment that is used for educational purposes. There are other virtual world/virtual reality technologies that can support instruction and classroom activities, and this week we will get a perspective from someone who is using these alternate technologies to teach...His VR classes are part of a larger effort to develop a standards-based educational platform called Immersive Education.
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New Horizons: The Sea Change Before Us (EDUCAUSE review). Excerpt: Today’s young people, across the globe and with very few exceptions, have grown up in an era in which the Internet is commonplace. For most of them, cell phones are the only phones they have ever known. Years of gameplay have refined their visual pathways, and they are used to making entire classes of decisions at “twitch” speed. Social considerations about the digital divide aside, by the time these students reach college and university campuses, they will expect the network to be fast, invisible, and anywhere they want it.
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Meeting the Second Wave: How Technology, Demographics, and Usage Trends Will Drive the Next Generation of Media Evolution (Essay based on Ian Lamont's 2006 Digital Media Summit presentation). Excerpts: In the second wave of new media evolution, how will the Internet cope, with billions of users simultaneously accessing video, 3D worlds, and sophisticated media applications at peak times? Where will the processing power for these types of applications come from? And, with petabytes of new video and rich media content being uploaded every second, where will the data be stored? ... Distributed computing technologies — Internet-based processing grids and peer-to-peer software — could be the answer, but a great deal of research, testing, and cooperation on a global scale would be required to make it work. The Media Grid and Open Grid Forum are two initiatives that are working on these issues, and such efforts will be key to realizing some of the advanced applications and usage patterns outlined in this essay.
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Media Grid: The Future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) (PowerPoint slides from Jeff Orkin's 2006 Digital Media Summit presentation). Jeff Orkin, MIT Media Lab and co-chair of the Immersive Education standards group, presents a novel framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the Media Grid that can be used to create intelligent Immersive Education characters that use language to communicate in the same way that people do.
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