
2 minute read
Classrooms go virtual
Classrooms

go virtual In March, the admissions team hosted its fi rst virtual graduate fair. Sounds like a typical class, right? What if we told you that you were campus and into a virtual students experienced this new way of attending class last spring, when the virtual space persists just as it would in a physical setting — providing them with a sense of place and community.” Over the past year, Davenport introduced this new sense of cyberspace to select students while teams across the university sought new ways to utilize the technology. While the university will continue to look for ways to expand Davenport’s use Davenport is the fi rst university in Michigan to I magine walking into class — you see your classmates, your professor, and today’s lesson of the platform, the focus will remain on creating greater access to education and improved outcomes for all types of online students. As Brian Miller, dean of enhance online learning displayed on the TV screen. You take Davenport’s global campus, explains it, with virtual reality your seat and chat with the person next to you until the class begins. When the “Adopting VirBELA not only allows us to off er our online community a heightened professor asks a question, you raise sense of togetherness, it simultaneously your hand and the professor calls on gamifi es the online classroom experience you to answer. A discussion ensues. to benefi t individuals of all learning and walking across a virtual Learn something new classroom as an avatar? Gam·i·fy / noun / the process of adding Davenport’s health games or game-like elements to something information management (such as a task) to encourage engagement they became the fi rst to take an offi cial Davenport is the fi rst university in Michigan course in VirBELA — the university’s and one of the fi rst in the nation to adopt virtual reality platform. VirBELA. “We have a 20-year history of “Students, faculty, and staff have all online,” said Dr. Richard J. Pappas, university enjoyed the adaptability of VirBELA and president. “We are leaders in this space and the real-life interactions it replicates,” will continue to look for ways to expand said Jeff Wiggerman, Davenport’s director our use of new technologies to create more of instructional technology and delivery eff ective online experiences for our students systems. “Even after leaving the software, and professors.”
working styles.” off ering bachelor and graduate programs