Online Learning Update

By Rebecca Marcucci, the Rocket

Imagine you can take a class where you are an avatar – not a lanky and scaly blue cinematic creature, but an online personality much like an Xbox character. In this type of classroom, you can ask questions and interact with students, much like the atmosphere of a physical classroom, except it’s a virtual world. The classes are not limited solely to student resources like D2L. They are aimed at moving online and leaning away from D2L into something more advanced that students seem to respond well towards, said business professor at SRU and virtual reality class developer Dr. John Golden. Just like the nature of virtual reality, the classes are geared toward immersing students into an alternate world. This world of course, is Slippery Rock’s campus. “Let’s say for instance, our students wanted to view Slippery Rock as an entirely green campus,” Golden said. “You could test that in an online world.”

http://www.theonlinerocket.com/campus-life/new-technology-opens-door-to-world-of-virtual-classes-for-students-1.2966272#.UMJjWYPAdwI