Virtual meeting spaces have now become integral to modern education and have the potential to make education more accessible, engaging, collaborative and relevant in our rapidly changing world. In this OER we explore how virtual meeting spaces have evolved over the past few decades with an emphasis on the critical role of interfaces in shaping the virtual meeting experience. We investigate what future virtual meeting spaces may look like and attempt to reimagine a future where standards in education are maintained and virtual environments are responsive to learners, society and environmental needs. 

Under the Erasmus+ programme, the project CRANE 4.0 has been developed. A partnership of 6 European organizations has been working on this innovative project.
CRANE 4.0 aims to up-skill and re-skill the European construction labour force with new skills in order to meet the demand of the labour market for new digital competencies. Applying Virtual Reality (VR) in vocational training and in on-the-job situations involving complex tasks facilitates the visualisation of the activities to be performed, even the riskiest ones, and the transmission of knowledge-intensive skills leading to increased training quality.
The gap between conventional teaching methods and the everyday work life of trainees, which is shaped by information technologies, is growing and vocational training needs to cope with the pace of digital advancements.CRANE 4.0 develops innovative training paths and methods for teaching, learning, and assessing the learning outcomes, through the use of Virtual Reality thus supporting educators and learners in using digital technologies in creative, collaborative, and efficient ways.
The project aims to improve work-based and initial/continuous learning of crane operators to adapt their skills to the Industry 4.0 requirements. It has done so through the development of a Virtual Reality (VR) application downloadable from partners’ websites, from the project website, and from the main platforms for application download. The innovative use of VR in the training of crane operators is an added value for all those public and private VET providers who want to offer upskilling pathways to their educators and training.
CRANE 4.0 has developed three main outputs:
• Curriculum Handbook - Transnational job analysis and report, Course Plan and Didactic Manual for Crane Ope-rations 4.0.
• Virtual Reality Application development - VR app, Users’ Technical Guide, Manual for assessing the quality of the VR app and learning outcomes.
• Blended pilot testing - 55 crane operators trained and a Procedural Manual for the implementation of the VR-Labs.

Transmedia storytelling is the practice of designing, sharing, and participating in a cohesive story experience across multiple traditional and digital delivery platforms - for entertainment, advertising and marketing, or social change.

This course will help you to design a strategy for developing and telling your own transmedia story. You will learn about what it takes to:
• Shape your ideas into compelling and well structured narratives and complex story worlds
• Identify, understand, and engage different audiences in your stories
• Create cohesive user experiences across different platforms
• Evaluate existing and emerging technologies to share your story with the world, and help your audience participate in the larger storyworld you create

The course provides you with a unique, authentic, and industry relevant learning opportunity. You will have access to current theory, industry examples and advice and undertake learning activities that will equip you with the tools you need to start developing your own ideas.

A virtual field trip from the course in Humanitarian Action, University of Copenhagen

Book Three: Senses of Place and Space

Short Description:
Today, as the increasing accessibility, prevalence, and affordability of VR technology grows, so does a need to revisit theories of virtual space. Virtual Interiorities brings together scholars from the allied fields of built environment, humanities, art, and media. This collection of essays catalogs the moments of collision and collusion between parallel universes of spatio-visual media as they shift into and extend one another.

Long Description:
Contemporary virtual reality is often discussed in terms of popular consumer hardware. Yet the virtual we increasingly experience comes in many forms and is often more complex than wearable signifiers. This three-volume collection of essays examines the virtual beyond the headset. Virtual Interiorities offers multiple, sometimes unexpected entry points to virtuality—theme parks, video games, gyms, pilgrimage sites, theater, art installations, screens, drones, film, and even national identity. What all these virtual interiorities share are compelling cultural perspectives on distinct moments of environmental collision and collusion, liminality, and shifting modes of inhabitation, which challenge more conventional architectural conceptions of space. Senses of Place and Space steps beyond environments to look more closely at inhabitation, time, non-space, and placelessness. Each piece gathered in this final volume touches on how we exist—or might exist—in emerging virtual constructs, as well as how those constructs shift our perceptions through fluidity, pervasiveness, and altered vantages.

Word Count: 189719

ISBN: 978-1-387-49250-3

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

This is a lesson where the students will research the use of Virtual Reality. 

This resource is to provide an understanding of the following: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Properties of Virtual Reality, Properties of Augmented Reality, The Effectiveness of the Emergining Technologies in Education, Outcomes of Student Learning and Experience.

10. Brave New World - XR - What is Immersive Technology?

The trifecta of globalization, urbanization and digitization have created new opportunities and challenges across our nation, cities, boroughs and urban centers. Cities are in a unique position at the center of commerce and technology becoming hubs for innovation and practical application of emerging technology. In this rapidly changing 24/7 digitized world, city governments worldwide are leveraging innovation and technology to become more effective, efficient, transparent and to be able to better plan for and anticipate the needs of its citizens, businesses and community organizations. This class will provide the framework for how cities and communities can become smarter and more accessible with technology and more connected.