Thursday, December 20, 2001

LOGGING IN WITH . . . Jaron Lanier Researcher Sees a Big Role for Virtual Reality in Distance Education By JEFFREY R. YOUNG Jaron Lanier, the computer scientist who coined the term "virtual reality," says the technology he helped pioneer will, in the near future, become more prominent in distance education: Students in remote classrooms, for instance, might soon listen to lectures from life-size, three-dimensional images of professors who are hundreds of miles away. And the professors might see similar images of distant students raising their hands and asking questions. Mr. Lanier -- who has visiting appointments at several colleges, including Columbia University and New York University -- is the chief scientist for the National Tele-Immersion Initiative, a collaborative project involving several colleges and private laboratories. The goal of tele-immersion, which is a kind of networked virtual reality, is to give people at geographically distant sites the sense that they are interacting in a shared environment. Q. What role do you think virtual reality should play in distance education? And how important is it for people to see each other in an educational context? A. I have never learned to feel fully comfortable lecturing to remote students. I've used various systems, and I try to really be there for students if I'm giving a lecture. To me, teaching is the ultimate performing art, and all performing arts are interactive. You always have to connect with the people, you don't just present, you have to connect. And I find it difficult [online]. ... It's one thing to give students the illusion that the teacher is really there. What's much harder is to give the teacher the sense that the students are really there. ... What the students perceive of me matters somewhat. What I perceive of them is actually more crucial, because they just as well could be watching me on a videotape. If I'm in a university environment, and I see a slacker kid falling asleep in the back row, I'll challenge them. And I think that that's absolutely essential. I'm really not comfortable losing that connection. Q. Do you think that not enough attention is paid in distance education to interaction? A. Yeah, I think people tend towards a broadcast paradigm. Because, for one thing, it's less expensive, and, for another thing, it's what we're familiar with. Q. What are the kinds of things that tele-immersion is best for in higher education? A. Tele-immersion as we've created it in the lab so far is best for small meetings. For academic collaborators and for small seminars, I think tele-immersion could be wonderful. I'm very interested in that. Most distance-learning proposals are not about that. Usually when people talk about distance learning, they're talking about broadcasting a teacher even further than the 300 undergraduates that we can now cram into a big room. And that's where I'm a little less enthused. Q. What do you see as the future for virtual-reality technology? A. We're about to see some of the components that can be used in virtual-reality hardware get a lot cheaper. Like for instance, depending on what happens with the overall economy, I think we're going to see in the next two years or so the introduction of a series of really high-quality and affordable alternative display devices -- you know, like big screens and really nice little projectors and all that kind of stuff. ... At the point where it's cheap enough that it's not a huge risk to play with it, then we'll get a really fair test of whether the market wants this stuff or not. Q. If that happens, do you think we'll see more virtual-reality technology in the classroom? A. I have always held to a strong belief that there are great educational applications for this stuff, and I still really believe that. There are a lot of places where I think virtual reality can be a tremendous teaching tool. And the main barrier to exploring that kind of stuff has been the cost of it. Background article from The Chronicle: Virtual Reality on a Desktop Hailed as New Tool in Distance Education (10/6/2000) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

Lawmakers who crafted Pell Grant bill took away secretary's power to reduce award size Education Department declines to ease ban on student aid for people convicted on drug charges Women earn more degrees than men, but men earn more doctorates, Education Dept. reports Arts endowment blocks grant to college in Maine for controversial exhibit U. of South Florida fires professor involved in talk-show controversy U. of Vermont lures ecology-economics institute from U. of Maryland with $7.5-million gift U. of South Alabama punished by NCAA for recruiting violations Best-selling software at college bookstores in November Researcher sees a big role for virtual reality in distance education