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Logan Petlak

~ Lifelong Learner.

Logan Petlak

Tag Archives: vr

Closing the distance between distance education and myself.

12 Thursday Jan 2017

Posted by loganpetlak in ECI 834

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

blended learning, distance education, distance learning, ECI 834, eci834, edtech, GAFE, google, Petlak, remind, socrative, technology, vr, zoom

Greetings fellow ECI 834 students. I look forward to learning with you over the course of the term!

who am i zoolander.gif

“Who am I?” via Giphy

Who am I?

I am Logan Petlak.

  • High school science educator (biology, health science, environmental science).
  • Football coach (and track coach).
  • Recreational hockey player.

    jesse.png

    Foster kitten: “Jesse” (now adopted: “Lou”)

  • Physical activity addict (weight training, assorted sports)
  • Frequent co-foster parent of stray cats and kittens (with my beautiful partner, Kristin).
  • NFL/NHL fan.
  • Moose Jaw product and resident.
  • Lifelong learner and critical thinker.
  • Proud Central Collegiate, Moose Jaw teacher.
  • Avid gamer and supporter of gamification of learning.
  • Open education supporter.
  • Student advocate.
  • #EdTech enthusiast and;
  • Fledgling distance educator.

This course revolves around the final point! It’s not necessarily a fresh topic for me, I’ve discussed it before. How exactly can I bring the Mr. Petlak experience worldwide? Not for personal gain, but to simply aid in the learning of others? Better question, how do I best deliver online education and learning to others? Therein lies my goals for this course:

  1. Gain resources and tools to create a distance learning classroom. Then utilize tools to best replicate what it’s like to be in a face-to-face classroom with students (and for students, with me).
  2. Connect with other professionals who can provide examples, suggestions and support as I develop distance learning opportunities.
  3. Critique and analyze the learning inherent within distance education and what learning may be lost outside of a face-to-face or in-school setting.
  4. BONUS: begin developing content for my Biology course as part of our module assignment!

 

In our school, some students are already taking distance education courses. Through informal polling, it has received generally positive reviews! Perhaps it was a shift in thinking but I don’t remember them being offered as much when I was in high school and, in my only distance experience in university, I had a hard time getting engaged without the face-to-face piece…

Fast forward.

When picking where to apply for my Master’s, distance education/universities came up, but I assumed they would hold less validity or reverence than other institutions so I decided against it. Whether it was engagement or validity of distance education, I guess I should’ve watched this video first!

Opportunities for distance education are available for most subjects, at many levels, worldwide. How will I fit into the distance education world and can I provide something that others don’t, and will I stick to my open education-centered morality?

If you were a distance educator, would you capitalize on the potential financial gain associated with private education?

How will your distance classroom work?

Am I foolish to hope that I can almost completely replicate the classroom experience, or is being consistently connected (via email) and using apps/tools like Zoom, Remind, virtual reality, google docs or GAFE to include all of the Google apps I guess (thanks Kyle), and socrative not enough to make it happen completely and becomes a blended learning environment (just shy of a completely online course)?

How will I account for students who don’t have as much access? We know they will be affected negatively, can we supply devices at a distance?

 

Regardless, I intend to close the distance between where I am now, and where I want to be with distance and blended education.

 

Thoughts and comments are welcome!
Logan Petlak

A whole new world: virtual and augmented reality.

25 Friday Nov 2016

Posted by loganpetlak in ECI 833

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

ar, arvr, assistive technology, ECI 833, eci833, edtech, gamification, virtual reality, vr

Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR)!

First off, thanks to Bill for being a great presenting partner. I thought our teaching styles complimented each other very well.

Next, I wanted to provide something new to the #ECI833 readers than what we had presented about… and that is my experiences and subsequent beliefs, biases and views towards AR/VR. And for those of you coming in with pre-existing notions about the “uselessness of gaming” (yeah, you, Jayme. Your husband’s a good guy!), I got a class devoted to game creation and gaming’s power for learning that would beg to disagree!

My experience with AR/VR

AR

A student was playing Ingress (an AR game) in my class last year after completing his work and, prior to reminding him he still had more work to do, I listened to him mention that the company that made this was planning on making a Pokemon game… since I was partially raised in the region of Kanto (this is a location in the original Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow games), I patiently waited.

pokemon-go-1

Pokemon GO via MobiPicker

My wait was almost rewarded as the official release of the game was in summer 2016… in the United States… still unavailable to the Canadian public. Fortunately, I had an AP Conference in Anaheim, CA. Let the Pokemon catching begin. The young Logan was ALIVE and, surprisingly, with the augmented reality, viewing my surroundings with creatures of my childhood, I soon connected with strangers and with my environment. Adults. Youth. Men. Women. I met and talked with strangers, I learned about locations in and around Anaheim, and I had fun. I was engaged. Interesting.

VR

I had never tried out a VR device prior to this class. After registering to present about it (mostly out of post-Pokemon GO excitement), I mentioned it to my father, and he conveniently picked up a Playstation VR (for himself, not me, for the record) on sale three weeks prior to our presentation. He told me I needed to come over to try Batman Arkham. Several days later, I did…

And?

Shut.

the.

front.

door.

It was incredible.

I! WAS! BATMAN! I PUT ON THE BAT SUIT, GAUNTLETS, TESTED OUT THE BATARANG, AND I HUNG OUT WITH ALFRED!

There I was in downtown Gotham City, analyzing a crime scene, yet simply doing 360’s in my basement looking around desperately for clues to solve a murder. I searched a morgue to locate a key, problem-solved using tips and inferences from the environment I was in. I was learning in a game. It was more than I’d ever felt playing a game before. My legs responded to the environment as my brain accepted what my sight and hearing had presented as real. (If you have an opportunity to try it, do it!)

Learning Implications of AR/VR

Then the implications came, and I was almost overcome with emotion. Perhaps place-based learning in a Saskatchewan classroom is possible for more than four months of the school year… this could change my environmental science 20 class!

Virtual tours. Simulation of activities re-imagined. Pseudo-hands on experience/training. Distance learning 3.0. Assistive technologies?! Imagine therapeutic treatments made possible with Virtual Reality… or transcending our mortal lives to exist as a series of light, sound and code for loved ones to reconnect…

A New Reality

But it’s not reality… or is it? If it’s not reality… is that okay?

I would be inclined to argue that reality is subject to what we make of it… a virtual reality, though digital, is still reality nonetheless. Are we ignorant to accept it as real or toy with our brains to escape reality? We have built other devices to better observe reality (telescopes, glasses), why is this different?

morpheus.jpg

Morpheus via Pinterest

What is real? How do you define ‘real’? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. – Morpheus, The Matrix (1999) via IMDB

At least we’re not in the matrix… or are we? At least robots aren’t simulating this reality for us… but who is? Who is creating the reality for us? Angus elaborates with detail on the potential for misinformation and personal agendas made possible through these wildly interactive realities.

Ultimately, the uses for AR/VR are whatever we can imagine and create, with some concerns of spam, privacy, . Some of it is available for free; apps like Aurasma can be used in our schools to augment the reality of your classroom. Others with more intense experiences with virtual reality headsets are available in a wide variety of styles and processing power. The industry presents a limitless potential for incredible learning. All of this predicated on the large assumption that you are wealthy enough to purchase a device that makes it possible.

So, if you can, go get a headset and immerse yourself in a whole new world. If you can’t, then, education system, let’s work on making this possible.

What are your thoughts on AR/VR? Comment below!

Logan Petlak

Logan Petlak

Incredible day! Photo courtesy Julia and Lucas Photography

Follow Logan Petlak on WordPress.com

Contact Info

650 Coteau St W,
Moose Jaw, SK
Treaty 4 territory
13066934691
Regular school hours.
Email: petlak.logan@prairiesouth.ca

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