Advanced Teaching Technologies: Brave New World
- By Joseph C. Panettieri
- 12/28/06
After several false starts, 3D systems and next-generation teaching technologies are set to redefine education.
MOST EDUCATORS WORK in brick buildings and the physical world,
but Ed Dieterle prefers a virtual alternative. Dieterle is an advanced doctoral
candidate and researcher at Harvard University (MA). His current
focus is the River City Project, a
multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) that’s similar in look and feel to
The Sims, a popular online simulation game from Electronic Arts. If you were to “visit” River City, you’d discover that it is an interactive
computer simulation of a river town, based in the late 1800s. But it’s
more than that: The system combines digitalized Smithsonian artifacts
with an inquiry-centered curriculum—all to engage middle and high
school students. “The idea is that you ‘step through’ a computer screen and
move into a virtual space,” says Dieterle. “You control an avatar. You’re
participating and collaborating with other people. And you’re communicating
with peers.”
Sound exciting? It is—and River City isn’t the only system of its kind.
Across the globe, progressive universities are embracing any number of
MUVEs, 3D environments, and “immersive” virtual reality tools. And
within the next few months, several universities are expected to test socalled
“telepresence” videoconferencing systems from Cisco Systems and other leading technology companies. By and large,
these solutions promise to eliminate (or at least narrow) the digital
divide, erase international borders, improve distance learning, enhance
collaboration among administrators, and stimulate students’ imaginations.
Tall order. The question is: Can they deliver?
How New Is New?
HIGH-TECH G'ES 19TH-CENTURY:
The River City Project combines digitized
Smithsonian artifacts with an engaging
multi-user virtual environment.
Though MUVEs and the like sound
pretty cutting-edge, the fact of the matter
is that virtual environments and 3D systems
have been a work in progress since
at least the early 1960s. Some historians
believe the first computer game, programmed
in 1962, paved the way for
interactive learning (see “Technology
Rewind: A Timeline,” page 33 of our magazine). Other
pundits credit the New York Institute of
Technology with blazing a trail to 3D
computer animation tools: In 1974, the
college launched its famed Computer
Graphics Lab (NYIT CGL), after which
the research group pioneered digital animation
tools for more than a decade.
NYIT CGL’s founders then went on to
launch Pixar Animation Studios, creators of the first fully
computer-animated movies.
Like most technologies, however, 3D
systems, virtual reality, and immersive
environments have suffered their share
of setbacks. In the 1990s, many Silicon
Valley entrepreneurs evangelized the
power of virtual reality (VR). But most
VR systems from that era were either
too limited or too expensive for widespread
deployment. Limitations in computer
storage and bandwidth further
impeded VR’s popularity at the time.
Even basic computer interfaces suffered
throughout the 1990s. Bill Gates,
for one, spoke frequently about “social
interfaces,” wherein users would interact
with characters on a computer screen
in order to navigate basic applications,
like memo writing or e-mail. But
Microsoft’s first
social interface, dubbed Microsoft Bob,
was one of the worst-received products
in the company’s history. Vocal critics
claimed Bob consumed too much PC
memory and power users considered it a
“dumbed-down” user interface.