Workshop to Answer Questions about 3D in the Classroom

Insight Media University (www.imuniversity.info) has put together a one-day workshop that is designed to address key questions around the use of stereoscopic 3D in K-12 and University classrooms.  If you are a teacher, technology evaluator, or key decision maker in determining if your school should consider a 3D trial program, then this workshop is for you.  Key questions addressed include:

§  How does the 3D technology work?

§  How easy is it to set up and use?

§  How are electronic 3D images different from images we see with our eyes?

§  What can cause eyestrain and queasiness when watching 3D?

§  What 3D content is available for classroom?

§  How teacher and student friendly are these modules?

§  What do you need to know to set up a trial 3D program?

§  How do you deal with student 3D vision issues?

§  Is 3D viewing good or bad for your health?

§  How can 3D instruction improve student learning and retention?

§  Does 3D instruction improve classroom behavior?

§  Who are the key players to provide hardware and software solutions?

§  What data exists to show the benefits of 3D in the classroom?

This one-day workshop, offered as an interactive event with actual 3D demonstrations of concepts, teaching modules and more, can be delivered onsite at your location.  Data from two major pilot 3D programs will be fully discussed and the results evaluated.  The workshop consists of four modules:

Stereo Vision and 3D Human Factors:

The most important aspect of the 3D experience

This course provides the fundamentals to understanding all aspects of 3D content creation, display and enjoyment.  3D displays don’t perfectly replicate the way we see in real life.  The consequence is the creation of inconsistent visual cues that lead to fatigue, eyestrain and nausea.  This course will describe the 3D human factor effects, how they can be created in the content capture or display process, and why they are so critical to understand.   These are issues that the 2D content creation community has never had to deal with and there are many ways that subtle human factors issues can quickly combine to create a poor 3D experience.  Everyone wants to avoid this, so having a good grounding in the fundamentals of stereovision and 3D human factors is critical baseline knowledge.

Trends, issues and status of stereoscopic 3D hardware solutions for the classroom

The mainstream approach for stereoscopic 3D display solutions in the classroom today is a DLP projector with active shutter glasses.  In this course, we will explain how this hardware works, how to set it up and configure for a classroom, performance levels, Pros and Cons and issues with various implementations.  3D demos will help illustrate concepts.  In addition, stereoscopic 3D can be displayed on large-screen LCDs, PDPs and multi-projector whiteboards.  These products will be reviewed to illustrate differences with the DLP-shutter glass solution, Pros/Cons and prospects for use.   New devices like 3D document cameras and user-generated content will come into the classroom, so what opportunity or threat does this represent?  Finally, handheld devices like tablets will soon have glasses-free 3D displays.  How will that impact the 3D learning experience?  The objective is to provide a comprehensive overview of the solutions, trends and issues for classroom-based 3D solutions today and in the near future.

3D curriculum for the classroom

There is a small, but emerging number of vendors supplying and supporting 3D content for the classroom.  These offerings are in many stages of usefulness for integration into the classroom.  In this course, we will review major offerings from the key suppliers, offer 3D demos of their products as available, and provide comments on feedback from students and teachers on utility and effectiveness as teaching tools.  In summary, we will point to activities and attitudes at major content creation companies toward the development of stereoscopic 3D courseware and offer prospects for the future.

Lessons learned from 3D trials in

U.S. & European schools

This course will review lessons learned in trials just completed in the Boulder Valley schools district and across multiple school districts in Europe.  We will present issues with implementation, teacher training, vision problem identification and remediation, plus statistics on teaching effectiveness, retention and other key metrics.   In addition, a review of guidelines for implementation of 3D in the classroom, developed in cooperation with the American Optometric Association, will be reviewed.  The objective of the course is to provide a comprehensive overview of the status of validation of the efficacy of 3D in the classroom.

To get more details on how we can bring this workshop to your facility, please contact:  Chris Chinnock, Insight Media, 203-831-8404, chris@insightmedia.info .