Documents - ADL Announces All-Star Roster for Immersive Learning Technologies

ADL has assembled an impressive roster of players for its Immersive Learning Technologies team. Their talent and expertise in games, virtual worlds, mobile learning, and Web 2.0 technologies will join forces to attack the formidable problems of these technologies in distributed learning. We anticipate an exciting synergy will emerge as these individuals form an alliance using the latest innovations and research from their varied disciplines in Immersive Learning Technologies. You’ll find reports and additional information about the team’s challenges, successes, and on-going activities in the future at Immersive Learning Technologies. You can also email the team via helpdesk@adlnet.gov.

Team Lead: Peter A. Smith

Current Role: Director, Training Technologies Center, Joint ADL Co-Lab
Primary Expertise: Games and virtual worlds
Personal Perspective on ILT:
“I have been heavily involved in the Serious Games industry for many years now. In that time I have witnessed an impressive convergence of ILT technologies within the DoD space. While the technological connection between games and virtual worlds seems obvious, it is exciting to see both Web 2.0 technologies being integrated into these environments and being able to deliver the resulting content across mobile platforms. The future of ILT is looking bright, I can’t wait to see what is coming next.”

Mobile Learning Expert: Judy Brown

Current Role: Research mobile technologies, ADL Co-Lab Hub
Primary Expertise: eLearning, mobile learning
Personal Perspective on ILT:
“I have had a very strong interest in mobile – or ubiquitous – learning since 1996 and have focused entirely on this area for the past several years. Having the availability everywhere, all the time, to access, connect or verify gets us to the advanced learning and performance support that we have only dreamt about in the past.”

“It is great to ‘return home’ to ADL and to offer assistance to the military on this new capability for reach back, performance support, access to experts, and just-in-time information in the palm of one’s hand. We have only begun to discover the potential and I am very excited to be a part of this incredible team.”

Web 2.0 Learning Expert: Mark Friedman

Current Role: Research Web 2.0 technologies and support for mobile technologies, Joint ADL Co-Lab
Primary Expertise: Game-based learning, mobile learning, emerging technologies
Personal Perspective on ILT:
“In my work as an eLearning/Innovation researcher for the DoD, I utilize a daily kitbag of online sources – Google Reader, Google Docs, Twitter, LinkedIn – in an attempt to understand the current state of eLearning and venture educated guesses about what the future will need to include. I also blog on my personal space and ask questions to gauge other opinions.”

“But what I really need is the Intelligent Agent that John Scully described in an Apple Computer promotional video during the 1980's, but that still does not exist today: an agent that would pull information specifically for me from a vast and deep collection of knowledge and report to me each morning.”

“Until that happens, I will be perusing my network, group, and collective of resources – all in a somewhat random and complicated way. I hope that my work for the ADL Initiative in Web 2.0 technologies will help me and others achieve my desired goal soon!”

Virtual Worlds Expert: Dr. Keysha I. Gamor Keisha Gamor

Current Role: Research virtual worlds technologies and instructional systems design, ADL Co-Lab Hub
Primary Expertise: ISD guidelines for emerging technologies (Web 2.0, 3DI, virtual worlds, virtual reality, mobile learning and social software)
Personal Perspective on ILT:
“Avatars, graphical user interfaces, teleportation, haptic devices, and no laws of physics…sound interesting? I thought so! I became interested in virtual worlds and virtual reality well over 10 years ago when I began to experiment with MOOs, MUDs and MUVEs. My fascination with virtual learning environments gave way to fully immersive virtual reality environments, which was the modality used for my dissertation research.”

“It is great to see virtual worlds make a strong comeback, and I foresee them being the future of our web experience as it transitions into a more immersive environment. I plan to use my years of research, experience, and expertise in this area to help ADL forge a way ahead in pedagogy, standards, and assessment. Virtual worlds allow people to do things they could only dream of in a way that is both meaningful and fun.”

Game and Simulation Expert: James Xu

Current Role: Research game and simulation technologies and integration in the space of learning, education and training, ADL Co-Lab Hub
Primary Expertise: Game-based learning, simulation, emerging technologies (SOA, Web 2.0, virtual worlds)
Personal Perspective on ILT:
“Today’s military recruits grew up in environments surrounded by an arsenal of consumer electronics ranging from cell phones to gaming consoles and much in between. These “digital natives” bring with them expectations of learning with advanced technologies. In order to get the most out of our “best and brightest,” we must infuse new and ever-changing technologies into training and education. We need to meld immersive technologies such as game and simulation, virtual worlds and Web 2.0 with pedagogy flexible enough and effective enough to satisfy multi-generational learning requirements.”

“With experience in immersive technologies and a passion in education, my goal is to support ADL to find best approaches to bring immersive technologies into learning and training; and to ensure these new technologies meet DoD requirements.”