Derek E. Baird is a leading kid culture expert, futurist, and author who helps brands, educators, and parents safely connect with kids and teens through culture, media, and technology.
Here's my latest piece for Virtual Reality Pop! magazine, this time focused on the new privacy law, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and how it will impact both publishers and creators of digital experiences for kids, including virtual reality.
The primary challenge for many companies is that to be CCPA compliant, they will now be required to acquire actual knowledge of a users age, and by doing so, it may potentially open them to COPPA liability.
The primary benefit for kids, teens, and families are that the CCPA will give parents and teens more control over what personal data companies can collect from minors.
Here's my latest piece for Virtual Reality Pop magazine! From Disney Studios + Pixar VR entertainment experiences to Google Cardboard and Oculus VR in school, Gen Z's reality now comes in virtual and augmented.
Given that all the big tech giants (Apple, Google, and Facebook) have already baked augmented reality capabilities into their smartphones or apps, the rate at which this always-connected Gen Z has adopted these technologies shouldn’t be surprising.
VR, especially when combined with storytelling, enable the student to participate in the story, develop empathy to experiences outside their current realm of understanding and fully immersed in their learning.
While there’s much hype around the use of VR in education, how are teachers using this emerging technology in the classroom? What do students think? Those are just some of the questions asked by research conducted by Foundry 10, a Seattle-based non-profit.
Foundry 10: Students & VR Pilot Program
In 2015, 2015, Foundry 10 launched a pilot project to study the impact and student sentiment towards the use of virtual reality in their classroom and curriculum. Foundry 10 reached out to educators who expressed an interest in utilizing VR in their classes and provided them with headsets.
I stumbled across this really terrific article on the life cycle of virtual reality in the kids education and entertainment market--well worth reading for anyone involved in the kid/tween/teen media and education worlds.
"Once the VR space takes hold, kids will ultimately become "world-smiths," as they create immersive social experiences utilizing powerful, easy-to-use tools found on 3D user-generated content platforms.
These platforms will empower children to create and distribute VR content for consumption by their peers."
There’s some very cool stuff happening out there with virtual reality in education! I've covered some of these classroom VR experiences in other posts, but Welcome to Mars---a new VR program for schools, created by Lockheed Martin, is among the coolest!
“The first people who will visit Mars are sitting in a school today. In fact, the first astronauts will arrive before today’s kindergartners graduate college. To help inspire these students, Lockheed Martin created a one-of-a-kind virtual reality experience.
The Mars Experience Bus is the first immersive VR vehicle ever built and it replicates the Martian landscape. Riders experience a virtual drive along the surface of the Red Planet.”
A 100 years after they began telling stories on film, the movie business is rapidly embracing the virtual reality wave to move beyond telling stories and into creating immersive storytelling experiences.
Currently, major Hollywood studios like Lionsgate, Warner Brothers, Disney and 20th Century are creating virtual reality studio divisions looking at how they can incorporate virtual reality into the filmmaking process to create immersive experiences through film.
Disney Studios is especially is bullish on the possibilities of VR films, recently investing $65 million into virtual reality hardware and content startup, Jaunt.
“Every major studio is testing the VR waters, with small scale projects run for popular franchise such Warner Bros ‘Batman vs Superman’, Fox’s ‘The X-Man’ and ‘How to Train Your Dragon.“
This trend towards virtual reality infused entertainment is also being fueled by Facebook forming a virtual reality movie studio, staffed by former creatives from Pixar and Lucasfilm, to explore how its own virtual reality (and 360 degree video) technology, powered by Oculus, can be used to create immersive and emotionally driven story experiences.
“Sharing knowledge is a lovely thing.” –Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef
In my previous blog post, I outlined how technologies like virtual reality, especially for Gen Z students, provides avenues that allow them to engage in a social, collaborative, and active learning environment.
The theory of constructivist-based learning is even more powerful when placed in a social and immersive and spatial context like that provided by virtual reality.
Under this new “digital pedagogy” learners tend to construct knowledge via self-directed and collaborative project based learning (PBL) activities, forming social learning communities, and technologies such as Oculus Rift headsets and virtual reality platforms like MissionV and Google Expeditions.
As students go through process of choosing, utilizing, and integrating technology into their projects, it provides opportunities for them to be actively engaged, as well as acquire, share, and make use of community knowledge and showcase their skill sets and contributions.
“What it [VR] offers as a tool for creating worlds and experimenting with some of the ideas underpinning logic and programming that make it exciting — together with the incredible community of users and their creations.” -Tom Chatfield
In addition, collaborative and interactive projects undertaken in a community structure allow students to interact with other members of the class, identify who has a particular skill or expertise they want to acquire, and provides opportunities for them to model and scaffold this knowledge with their peers. Constructing the Future of Virtual Reality Learning “The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.” --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
In an evaluation report on the MissionV Schools Pilot Programme in Ireland, Dr. Conor Galvin, a professor at University College School of Education, found that the use of virtual reality technology in the classroom showed real benefit in tackling students’ social issues.
For example, Galvin points out that the students struggling to being included in their classroom, were able to become accepted by their peers because of their technology skills. Integrating the virtual reality project into the curriculum allowed for shy students ‘come out of their shells’ and boost confidence in students who were previously lacking in confidence in their maths skills.
One thing is clear, as Gen Z move from the classroom to the workforce, it will be increasingly important to deepen our understanding of these burgeoning digital learning styles and prepare educational and training programs (online and off) to meet their learning styles. If the future for education is going to involve virtual reality, how exactly can virtual reality technology make an impact on the learning process? While in many ways we are just getting started using VR in the classroom, the future is here and it will be exciting to see where it takes us!
“Perhaps our generation focused on information, but these kids focus on meaning -- how does information take on meaning?" - John Seeley Brown
Early in their seminal work on knowledge management and social learning--The Social Life of Information, John Seeley Brown and Paul Duguid, point out that, “learning requires more than just information, but also the ability to engage in the practice.”
Brown/Duguid further illustrate the active nature of learning by outlining the (action-oriented) steps required for a “newbie” to effectively utilize, integrate, and understand a knowledge base existent within a Community of Practice (CoP) or learning community:
Become a member of a community
Engage in its practice
Acquire and make use of its knowledge
When learners fail to be actively “engaged in the practice” they will, in turn, be excluded from the “local topography” of the practice, as well as the opportunity to “understand the CoP from the inside out”—both of which are crucial in the transformation of information into meaning.
Actively Constructing Knowledge in Virtual Reality Learning Environments “Shifts in students’ learning style will prompt a shift to active construction of knowledge through mediated immersion.”-Chris Dede
Constructivist-based learning, according to Dr. Seymour Papert, “is grounded in the idea that people learn by actively constructing new knowledge, rather than having information 'poured' into their heads.”
Moreover, constructionism asserts that people learn with particular effectiveness when they are engaged in constructing personally meaningful artifacts (such as computer programs, animations, 3D modeling, virtual reality or robots)."
Technologies like virtual reality, especially for Gen Z students', provides avenues that allow them to engage in a social, collaborative, and active learning environment. The theory of constructivist-based learning is even more powerful when placed in a social and immersive context like that provided by virtual reality.
Virtual reality, especially when combined with storytelling, allows the student to participate in the story, develop empathy to experiences outside their current realm of understanding and allows them to be fully immersed in their own exploration and learning.
"The experience of participating in a story, as teller or audience, is typically that of being caught up in it while it is being told...Stories convey meaning about the social context and identity of the teller and audience. However, stories also have an effect on that identity and context." --John McLeod
How Irish Students Use VR in the Classroom “...students are eager and excited about the project, queuing outside the classroom door in the morning.” -St. Kieran Principal Esther Lambe
Students at St. Kieran’s, a school in the Irish town of Broughal, recently went on a field trip to Clonmacnoise, a nearby site with historic ruins. Nothing unusual or exceptional about that, right? This sort of thing happens in schools around the world, right? But wait--there’s more!
What makes this school field trip unusual is what the students did when they came back to the classroom. The students, part of a virtual reality pilot program in Irish schools, used the MissionV platform to create a virtual model of the Clonmacnoise in OpenSim and then viewed it using Oculus Rift headsets.
A key element of course design that is often overlooked: designing opportunities (both digital and analog) for students to create social bonds (through interaction) is equally as important as the course content or technology used in a project based learning activity. In this virtual Clonmacnoise example, these 10-12 year old students utilized both technology (maths, scripting, 3D modeling, programming), creative (archaeology, history, design) and social skills (project management, collaboration, face-to-face interaction) in a constructivist-based project to create a virtual reality experience.
“What it [VR] offers as a tool for creating worlds and experimenting with some of the ideas underpinning logic and programming that make it exciting — together with the incredible community of users and their creations.” -Tom Chatfield
In short, all learning is rooted in relationships. Not technology. Social interaction will continue to be at the heart of any effective constructivist-based or virtual learning environment. I'll explain more about how to use virtual reality as a pathway to learning in my next blog post.
One of the strongest applications of VR is its potential for emotional connection through character driven storytelling. Turns out the team at Oculus also see's the power of digital and virtual storytelling on a platform like Oculus.
Oculus Story Studio’s latest VR experience, ‘Henry’, a heartwarming comedy about a loveable hedgehog, coming later this year. ‘Henry’ is directed by Ramiro Lopez Dau, whose work includes animation on films such as Pixar’s Brave and Monsters University.
Henry is a lonely, spikey hedgehog who is having some trouble finding friends, and I can't wait to tell his heartwarming story. Oculus Story Studio has recently announced that they will be premiering "Henry" in Hollywood on July 28th.
This is a video featuring Jake McKee (formally LEGO’s Global Community
Relations Specialist) discussing how LEGO found, supported and incubated
their biggest fans from around the world to help pull the company out
of a pretty dark time to be back on top of the world, lead in part, by a
strong social media strategy.
Jake McKee makes three really strong, but incredibly simple points:
1. Look beyond your target customers 2.
Support existing fans 3. Find what works and replicate
1.
Look beyond your target customers
Your target market isn’t always
your biggest group of talkers. For years, LEGO was focused on kids —
that is, until they realized adults had created their own community of
enthusiasts.
When LEGO started connecting these talkers, not only did
they increase their word of mouth, they immediately helped their bottom
line. Whereas kids were spending $20 a year on LEGOs, these adults were
spending around $1,000.
2. Support existing fans
Without
LEGO’s knowledge, adult fans had already created an online LEGO
community and marketplace. LEGO approached this group by offering
support and resources in the form of an ambassador program.
By offering
to support what these fans were already doing so well -instead of
demanding ownership and control -LEGO was welcomed into the community.
3.
Find what works and replicate
The enthusiasm of the adult fans
helped teach LEGO how to gain more participation from their other fans-
including kids. Jake says that when you find something that works with
one fan group, try applying it to other groups of talkers.
Because the
fundamentals of great communities are the same, strategies behind one
fan community can often generate similar success for another community. (via Digital Buzz)
Hotels.com looks to make virtual vacations a
little more "real" via the use of augmented reality technology to
extend its television advertising campaign.
Beginning this
week, the company has set up a microsite, www.virtualvacay.com, through
which people can use their Web cameras and computer microphone to
convert a special "glyph" on print and e-mail advertisements into
scaled-down, 3D-animated versions of 10 U.S. cities including New York
City, Denver, New Orleans and Las Vegas.
The augmented reality program uses
Hotels.com's claymation mascot character "Smart" (voiced by actor Ed
Helms) to guide people through these cities. While touring, users can
take part in various unique activities, like getting married in Vegas,
riding a bull in Denver or attending Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
This augmented reality kiosk called "DIGITAL BOX" has been
developed by LEGO Digital Systems and metaio. After an evaluatiion phase
it is now rolled out to LEGO brand stores worldwide and is widely considered to be one of the best examples of augmented reality in marketing.
Ideally, customers want to hold the product in their hands and look at
it closely from all angles. But for products like LEGO sets, it can
take hours of construction before you know what the toy really looks
like.
Children of all ages can now hold LEGO boxes up to the DIGITAL BOX and watch a 3D animation of the product - from all angles, in every detail - in their hands. This is made possible by metaio, which fuses virtual 3D animations into a live video of the completed LEGO set.
While this is a pretty slick implementation of augmented reality in a youth marketing context, I think it actually is a powerful example of how a brand can leverage augmented reality as a digital storytelling tool.
It's one thing to look at the picture on the box, but to see the LEGO set come to life in 3D that provides youth marketers with exciting new opportunities to create a virtual storyline that draws the customer deeper into the world of LEGO and allows them to connect on a deeper, emotional level with the brand.
Chegg Joins College Battle of the Bands: College Battle of the Bands is proud to announce its partnership with textbook rental service Chegg.com! Student bands and musicians can sign up for FREE and promote their music for a chance to play great venues and win amazing gear and cash prizes as part of the national series of events. [Chegg.com]
Conan-Leno Mudslinging Continues With Oprah.com Poll Allegations: So how exactly does the source close to NBC figure
that Team Coco flooded Oprah’s ballot box? By good old-fashioned ballot
box stuffing, thanks to software designed by die hard Coco fans and
advertised on one of the many Team Coco Facebook pages. (Really Team Jay? Why would Ms. Winfrey, or Conan for that matter, want to do that?) Related: Conan, Leno & The Tonight Show Debacle[MovieLine] [Barking Robot}
Augmented Reality Gives Lift to Kids Digital Space: Mattel was at the head of the line as the first major
consumer products player to incorporate AR into a retail toy product.
As the master toy licensee for James Cameron's film Avatar, the California-based toyco teamed up with an AR software solutions house Total Immersion to create a line of action figures. [Kidscreen]
The Social Data Revolution(s): In 2009, more data will be generated by individuals than in the entire
history of mankind through 2008. Information overload is more serious
than ever. [Harvard Business Review]
Free Reality TV Show Debuts on Your PlayStation 3: Sony Computer Entertainment America is making good on its promise to
expand original content offerings on its PlayStation Network
distribution service. It will be bringing an original reality
television series, The Tester, to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles via the PSN as a free downloadable series starting February 18. [Mashable]
Study Finds Podcasts Reach Unreachable Consumers: Although
podcasting has shown to be quite popular in niche markets, many
marketers have not jumped into the fray. The results of a recent Edison
Research and Association for Downloadable Media (ADM) study could
change some marketers minds, however, because apparently consumers
being reached by podcasting are unreachable in other formats. [Junta 42]
Tweet O' the Week: "At Chateau Marmont on a gorgeous day. Everyone here looks like they're on the verge of famous." via @TVBlogster
Get Real About Gen X Stereotypes: Much laudatory ink has been spilled on the Baby Boomers...usually by
Boomers themselves. As for the Millennials, those born between 1982 and
1998, the quantity of reportage lauding their public-spiritedness has
quickly become tiresome. But a new report casts doubt on the widely
accepted stereotype of Gen X-ers as inferior to these other groups. [New Geography]
The Case for Content Strategy, Mowtown Style: how do you start humming the content strategy tune to your own team and
to your prospective clients? Listen up and heed Aretha Franklin. No, really. [A List Apart]
UX of the Real Time Web: A major thing done by users on the real time web is the posting and
recommending of external links. These links will often go to a story,
website, picture, or video that could be of interest to people right
now. One problem is that there is so much sharing being done on the
real time web that it can become difficult to differentiate the
legitimate links from the noise. [instantShift]
The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination: J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter book
series, delivers her Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of
Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of
the Harvard Alumni Association. [Harvard Magazine]
Mobile Donations Make Giving Easier: Text message donations to Haiti are in the millions. Katya Andresen,
chief operating officer at Network for Good, talks with American Public Media's Kai Ryssdal
about why this type of giving is growing in popularity and how big of a
role it will have in helping Haiti. [American Public Media]
Why Millennials Are Going Gaga for Lady GaGa: She’s funky. She’s weird. She’s different. She’s who we all are on the
inside. Unless you were a cheerleader (a thin one) or a mildly
attractive quarterback, chances are you felt out of place in high
school.
Whether you were called a freak, a basket case, a fag, or a fat
ass to your face or behind your back, secondary education, and
everything leading up to it, is a playground for ostracizing as many of
your peers as possible. [Next Great Generation]Related: 10 Things Brands Can Learn From Lady GaGa
Spot411: A social TV platform that tells you what and when your friends and family are watching. Hmm. Looks interesting. Anyone tried this? [Spot411]
Google's Social Media Plans for 2010: Google plans to expose and elicit more of the social network
built into the tools that many of us already use — Gmail, Google Talk,
etc. If you use Google products, the company already knows who your
most important contacts are, what your core interests are, and where
your default locations are. [GigaOm]
I'll Tumblr for Ya: Do you use Tumblr? Be sure to check out the new Tumblr backup mac desktop app! Speaking of Tumblr, be sure to check out MiniRobot! [Tumblr]
Couch Potatoes May Have Shorter Life Spans: The researchers suggest this link between TV-time and early death could
be partly due to the fact that sitting in front of the tube may take
away from time a person might otherwise spend moving about, engaging in
light activity, which has been shown to reduce the risk of developing
certain biological indicators of cardiovascular disease. [Yahoo! News]
Why No One Cares About Gen X: Financial institutions are falling all over each other trying to attract Gen-Y consumers. But what about Gen X? It doesn’t seem like financial institutions care all that much about Gen X. Why is that? Here’s the explanation. [The Financial Brand]
Are American Kids Crazy or What?: American teenagers are rebellious thrill-seekers who revel in
immediate gratification and relinquish autonomy to peer pressure. But
is it just the devil of biology that makes them do it? Or is American
culture an accessory to the fact? [Miller McCune]
Why Google Wasn't Winning China Anyway: Google's decision to pull out of China unless the
authorities will allow uncensored search results -- an unlikely outcome
-- probably does stem from moral outrage over the government's
heavy-handed tactics.
But it could be a face-saving way to exit a market where Google has made surprisingly little progress. [AdAge]
Hallmark Launches Augmented Reality Cards: Hallmark Cards has announced the release of webcam greetings, new cards
that use augmented reality technology to bring the card to life on a
computer screen. [Shopping Blog]
Child Mobile Ownership Up: More than one-third of 10-to-11-year-olds in the US owned a mobile phone in 2009, compared with 20% in 2005. Ownership among kids ages 6 to 11 rose from 11.9% to 20% over the same time period. Thanks Graham! [eMarketer]
Meet the NEXT: Get the low-down on this new section that embraces a down-and-dirty style of filmmaking. If a filmmaker wants to create his or her own idiosyncratic vision,
it’s often not worth looking around for a big budget, waiting for
others to say it’s ok to make it.[Sundance Film Festival 2010]
This is a really interesting video clip showing how HIT Lab NZ is using augmented reality as a digital storytelling tool in books, museums and other educational media.
Their MagicBook technology is being further developed so it can be used to play
augmented reality video games on the Xbox and Playstation 2 in new and exciting ways.
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