A new virtual reality program at George Mason University will help faculty learn how to fight racism and their “implicit bias.”
The university’s College of Health and Human Services announced plans for “training [that] will educate faculty to recognize and react to implicit bias and microaggressions through a [virtual reality] simulation.”
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Erika Donalds, a former school board member and the wife of Florida U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds, recently launched a virtual charter school called Optima Classical Academy.
Erika and her husband have been active in the fight to expand the reach of charter schools. Byron Donalds, while serving in the Florida House was an enthusiastic supporter of Governor DeSantis school choice proposals.
Erika Donalds, who served as the vice chair of the Collier County School Board, is described as a “relentless advocate for charter schools and non-public education.” During her time as an elected school official she led the conservative Florida Coalition of School Board Members and pressed for school board term limits. More recently, she started School Choice Movement, an organization aimed at paving the path for more school options for parents.
“My time on the School Board really led me to conclude that the best prescription for school reform is the free market,” said Donalds.
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The tandem rise of autonomous driving and virtual reality has the potential to revolutionize modern life. At the same time, however, the technologies could introduce an epidemic of motion sickness.
This disconcerting prospect inspired Behrang Keshavarz, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Ryerson University in Canada, and John Golding, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Westminster in the U.K., to review currently available research and, in an article recently published to the journal Current Opinion in Neurology, summarize why motion sickness occurs, who is susceptible, and what can be done about it.
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Facebook gave Georgia State University $75,000 to create a narrative film experience about racism.
Georgia State University’s School of Public Health received the grant from Facebook Reality Labs — the technology company’s virtual reality arm — to “create a narrative film that will be an immersive and interactive online platform for combating racial injustice.”
The initiative is meant to “increase viewers’ empathy and enhance their understanding of racism and structural inequality” through augmented and virtual reality technologies.
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Nissan began efforts to move production to the United States on Tuesday by manufacturing the 2021 Rogue in Smyrna, Tennessee.
Nissan predicts the Rogue’s longstanding popularity will lead to its “turnaround as the company’s top-selling U.S. model,” according to their press release.
by Elizabeth Lee Imagine being on the bridge of a ship navigating through space with your crew’s survival at risk, then stepping onto a river raft to battle aliens in a swamp, and finally flying through the air, all in one night. All this and more are possible at a futuristic micro amusement park called Two Bit Circus in Los Angeles. “I think it takes a whole arcade game venue to the next level, and there’s a couple of games I played tonight where I was out of breath and actually sweating,” said visitor Kelly Bentall, who had just finished playing a game where she had to roll a plastic ball and watch a cartoon version of it on a screen, while trying to knock an opponent off a virtual arena. Many of the games at Two Bit Circus can be described as traditional carnival games on steroids where sensors, cameras or virtual reality goggles add to the experience. There is even a robot bartender that mixes drinks for customers. “I have not had a robot make my drink before. That was actually pretty cool. He even managed to shake it,” said customer John Duncan. Just like a movie…
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by Maximilian Speicher Augmented reality systems show virtual objects in the real world – like cat ears and whiskers on a Snapchat selfie, or how well a particular chair might fit in a room. The first big break for AR was the “Pokémon GO” game, released in 2016 with a feature that let players see virtual Pokémon standing in front of them, ready to be captured and played with. Now, technology companies like Microsoft and Mozilla – the company behind the Firefox browser – and even retail businesses like IKEA and Lego are exploring the potential of AR. Where I do research, an AR lab at the University of Michigan School of Information, it seems everyone knows about AR and is excited about the technology becoming popular among the general public. My colleagues and I watch videos of impressive AR demonstrations, try out new applications and play with new devices. The research community’s enthusiasm may be why several experts – including some I talk with – say they expect AR to be commonplace in five years, or envision AR glasses replacing smartphones within a decade. But as an AR researcher with expertise in both industry and academia, I disagree…
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