Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality and the Academic Library

Thursday, 8/6/2020 - Thursday, 9/3/2020
  • 2:00 PM-3:00 PM (Eastern)
  • 1:00 PM-2:00 PM (Central)
  • 12:00 PM-1:00 PM (Mountain)
  • 11:00 AM-12:00 PM (Pacific)

image of two people wearing a virtual reality headset

Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) is a rapidly developing field, with an increasing interest among educators. Its recent popularity requires respective attention to the organization of the introduction, maintenance, and services to the campus constituency.

In this 4-week web course, you'll learn a hands-on approach in guiding through the pragmatics of selecting the tools and organizing the service both novices and intermediate virtual reality users. Dr. Plamen Miltenoff and Mark Gill offer the combined expertise of a librarian with a background in technology services and a director of a development lab for VR with years of experience in developing VR related services for the campus and the library. Throughout the course, you will learn practical information how to evaluate faculty and student requests and assist faculty in developing appropriate curriculum plan to integrate VR technologies.

This is a blended format web course:

Throughout the course, you will have the chance to participate in 4 separate live webinar lectures, one per week. The live events will take place on Thursday, August 6, Thursday, August 13, Thursday, August 27, and Thursday, September 3 at 1:00 pm Central time.(NO class on Thursday, August 20) The webinars will be recorded and distributed through the web course platform for asynchronous participation for those who cannot attend the live events. The web course space will also contain the exercises and discussions for the course.

Learning Outcomes

Learning objectives for this program include:
  • Obtain working knowledge to identify XR tools suitable for their institution.
  • Develop a plan to improve existing XR services for their institution.
  • Obtain working knowledge about the development of XR-suitable content and support faculty and students in their academic use of XR technologies.

Program Outline

I. Introduction to XR
Virtual Reality (VR)
Augmented Reality (AR)
Mixed Reality (MR).
Extended Reality (XR)
II. Explore XR
III. Equipment/Costs
IV. VR lab in the library
V. Buy-in and promotion. Stakeholders
VI. Partnerships, collaboration
VII Impact
a. Students
b. Faculty
VIII. Curriculum development

IX. Assessment Plans -- Picking the right equipment/software 

Considerations: Know your intended audience
Choosing the right software.
Examples of available educational titles.
Picking the right presentation modes
Setting up the space.
Finding a spot with enough room.
Power/Internet
Hidden costs
Time/Personnel --
Hardware support --
Accounts -- Licensing Fees --
Other Support Material --

X. Creating content
360 Videos/Photos
Game Engines (Unity, Unreal, Others)
MN-NICE

Who Should Attend

  • Librarians
  • Information Technology Specialists
  • Teaching Faculty

Presenters

Dr. Plamen Miltenoff

Picture of Plamen Miltenoff

Dr. Plamen Miltenoff is an Information Specialist and Professor at St. Cloud State University. His education includes several graduate degrees in history and library and information science and terminal degrees in education. His professional interests include Web development, institutional use of social media, multimedia, gaming and gamification and and XR (eXtended Reality) of the educational process. Dr. Miltenoff has presented and published with Mark Gill at local, national and international fora  regarding the setup of library services for XR, including online presentations. He is comfortable using any CMS, such as Brightspace (D2L), Canvas or Moodle and any e-conferencing tools, such as Zoom, Adobe Connect, Webex, etc.

Mark Gill

Photo of Mark Gill

Mark Gill is a Visualization Engineer at St. Cloud State University where is in charge of 3D printing, XR projects and CAVE projects. Mark Gill and his team of students developed MN NICE system based on Unity to allow users to collaborate virtually through VR sets.

Registration

Cost

  • LITA Member: $135
  • ALA Member: $195
  • Non-member: $260

Zoom login information will be sent to registrants just prior to the start date.

 

How to Register

Register Online  page arranged by session date (login required)

OR

Mail or fax form to ALA Registration

OR call 1-800-545-2433

OR email registration@ala.org

Can't attend the live event? No problem! Register and you'll receive a link to the recording.

 

Tech Requirements

Live, synchronous lectures require attendee participation via internet audio. Attendees will need a high-speed internet connection (preferably wired) and a headset or speakers. We recommend attendees use headsets connected to their computers during webinars.All attendees are muted but can use the built-in chat function to communicate with presenters. The use of computer speakers with a microphone is not recommended, as this can cause echoes.The recommended browser is Mozilla Firefox, although other current browsers should also work.

Please contact us at lita@ala.org at least 10 days in advance if you require an accommodation.

Contact

For questions about registration, contact ALA Registration:  call 1-800-545-2433, or email registration@ala.org.

For all other questions or comments related to the course, contact LITA.