This is the Year of Virtual Reality, in case you’ve missed the avalanche of hype, and the reality of actual shipping products. Not to say this will be the only year of VR, as we’ll need more hardware options, and less dependence on external video game card PCs. But it’s not too soon to get down and dirty with what the implications and possibilities are for learning.

Are we going to need to once again “understand media” in terms of its disruption to the status quo, and impact on previous media tools? Probably.

Anders Gronstedt is perhaps somewhat like Elliot Masie in being a promoter and impresario of new Ed Tech. He’s currently offering “private webcasts” and “white paper” introductions…a tactic we’ve learned can be more promotion than substance. But FWIW, here’s a link to a “preview” video.

BTW, He’s blocking Vimeo from embedding it in our blog posts. Vimeo “says” in a popup that we would need to get permission from him first. Which is an interesting feature for “intellectual property”, but also inhibits sites like PSA that are curating useful information. OTOH, PSA might use that Vimeo feature ourselves someday.

Next Gen Learning: The Virtual Reality Experience from Elearning! on Vimeo.

And here’s more about the VR “web cast”… FYI and FWIW.

“Virtual reality can transport your learners to any environment you can imagine. It could be a wrap-around 360 degree video scene or a fully interactive computer generated space that feels almost real. The intense and convincing sense of presence in this virtual reality is unrivaled by any other technology.

You can simulate tasks that are too dangerous, expensive or inconvenient to practice in real life. The learning applications span anything from emergency response to soft skills. Now is a great time for the learning community to begin thinking about how to create innovative learning experiences with this powerful new technology.”