George Mason University Will Use Virtual Reality Simulations to Train Faculty on Implicit Bias

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, Former Florida School Board Member, Starts Virtual Charter School

girl with VR headset on

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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Commentary: A Coming Epidemic of Motion Sickness

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 Forks over $75K to Georgia State for Anti-Racist Virtual Reality Simulation

Girl with VR headset on

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 Moves Production Back to U.S.A. With Smyrna, Tennessee Plant

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.

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Futuristic Fun House Transforms Traditional Games Into High Tech Wonders

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…

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