Feb 02, 2008
Media Grid recently announced its plans to roll out a cross-platform, immersive world for education for academics, students, and trainers everywhere because 3D environments need to provide a 3D educational perspective. After experimenting with VRML, the Unreal Engine, and other tools since 2001, the organization realized that it needed to begin looking beyond simply one platform. It formed the Immersive Education Initiative and looked for options. They looked at all the platforms that were available and arrived at the first three systems. Second Life, which is open source on the viewer; Sun Microsystems’ Wonderland; and Croquet, an open-source educational environment created by Duke University. The thrust of the initiative was to get a product out as quickly as possible that is adaptable for ongoing upgrades. That involves establishing not only a user interface that’s consistent across the three platforms, but a way to recognize assets for teaching tools, host them, and make them available for use in any environment. The Education Grid will be populated by file formats that can be read by existing forms and will have educational grid assets for Second Life and X3D for Wonderland and for Croquet. Read more
