SIG3D Update

In a recent post, I announced that the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) took a landmark step in the arena of educational 3D by establishing a new Special Interest Group. Today’s post provides a timely update as the new ISTE SIG3D springs into action.

Big Growth for SIG3D

In my recent post, Whither eS3D, I made the following prediction:

“The new SIG 3D formed by ISTE will double its membership and

establish a growing foothold in educational technology.”

At last year’s first interest meeting we saw approximately 47+ interested partners in attendance, mostly educators and a few manufacturers. My prediction was that SIG3D membership would grow to nearly 100 members this year. How is SIG3D doing so far? Nancye Black, the chair of the SIG3D group reports that membership has exploded to over 571 members as of April 1^st.  And it’s still growing. This level of membership growth clearly exceeds all expectations.

All ISTE members are welcome to join SIG3D.  Corporate organizations are also welcome to join ISTE and then sign up for SIG3D. (Many 3D firms already pay for ISTE sponsorship and membership, so it’s simply a matter of joining the SIG3D group.) The SIG3D Website can be found at: http://www.iste.org/connect/special-interest-groups/sig3d

Newsletter Submittals Requested

SIG3D plans to provide a quarterly newsletter as a new SIG. If you have success stories, school stories, district rollouts, or new product announcements (as long as they are educationally driven), please forward your news items to iste.sig3d@gmail.com.

ISTE SIG3D Events

Two ISTE SIG3D membership events are now scheduled for this June in San Antonio at the ISTE Conference. We hope to see you there!

o    SIG Open House -- Sunday, 6/23, 3-5 PM

This is an open house for all ISTE members to investigate various SIGs. ISTE SIG3D members are invited to visit the SIG3D booth and mix with each other and potential new members.

o    SIG3D Gathering -- Tuesday, 6/25, 5-6:15 PM

This is the official SIG 3D meeting, which will incorporate a variety of activities: getting acquainted, overview, teacher poster sessions*, and breakout sessions by interests.

I will post precise meeting locations here, as soon as they are confirmed. 

*Please note that SIG3D is soliciting teacher poster presentations (on stereo 3D or 3D printing) to be conducted in the meeting during a 15-20 minute rotation period. Vendors are encouraged to sponsor talented classroom teachers or professors to attend and present at this event. Only educators may present, however. Submit your proposals or questions here.

Healing Glasses

I am an amblyope. I have had amblyopia as long as I can remember. It’s known as “lazy eye,” but that is too kind of a euphemism. I’ve been through every treatment you can imagine over the years, and still I possess 20/200 vision in my right eye. Amblyopia’s effects on my eyes have been deleterious, to say the least. It affects my work, learning, driving, sports abilities, entertainment, and my ability to enjoy Colorado’s beautiful natural environment, which so richly surrounds me.

Many amblyopes cannot see 3D movies or media without discomfort, if at all. I am an outlier. For some clinically veiled reason, I can enjoy 3D fully. And do I ever.

In promising development, we are seeing some of the innovations used in 3D technology now being applied to the arena of vision care and treatment. Building upon their intense expertise in optics and 3D glasses technologies, I was delighted to see that XPAND recently announced a clinical solution that promises to reverse the challenges faced by children and adults with this unfortunate eye disorder.  Called Amblyz, XPAND has created a medical device used to treat amblyopia, shaped in the form of normal glasses. Working with world-renowned ophthalmologists and optometrists, this solution has undergone steep clinical trials as well as scholarly peer review in scientific journals, and is now launching into the medical market. Due to the medical nature of this offering, Amblyz is only sold through referring optometrists and opthalmologists, and not direct to consumers or patients. You can learn more about this new (and I believe, 3D-influenced) therapeutic technology at this site: AMBLYZ

Around the 3D World

This week’s post is a virtual “grab bag” of happenings in and around the world of eS3D (educational stereoscopic 3D). Enjoy this virtual playground, as you explore the tremendous potential for 3D in education and other related fields.

• What are Egyptologists doing with 3D at Harvard? Check out 3D At Harvard
• How is the University of Kansas training football players with stereo 3D? Check out 3D at the University of Kansas
• How is a Singaporean Medical School employing rendered 3D in medical training? Check out the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore
• How is 3D being employed in the arena of Domestic Abuse Education? Check out Domestic Abuse Education
• How is ESPN exploring the use of 3D in advertising?  Check out 3D in Advertising

More on Brain Research and 3D Learning

In our post last week, I wrote about a new study now being conducted in Boulder connecting brain research with 3D learning.  In this follow-up post, I want to take a closer look at the study design and the hardware/ software that is being deployed in the effort. This insight can help other schools and organizations develop their own research strategies.

Study Design

Some of the most insightful design aspects of this study include:

• Using software in both the stereoscopic mode (3D) and in non-stereoscopic mode (2D) in to explore students’ ability to understand and retain abstract knowledge (as opposed to just using 3D). 
• Testing a student’s ability to transfer learning through model building and videotaped explanations of abstract concepts and processes (as opposed to testing for retention). 
• Ascertaining a student’s ability to transfer their newly-acquired visual learning to the standardized tests and writing prompts of the new Colorado state testing system.
• Using a control group of students, who do not view the science and math lesson content in stereo version prior to the standardized test, comparing their outcomes with students who used the stereo mode for only the first 5 to 10 minutes of a class period. (Remember, it may not require constant use of 3D to show a positive effect on learning.)
• A special focus on the effects of 3D versus 2D images on thinking, memory formation and student learning disabilities.
• As an innovative form of evaluation, students will be videotaped while using 3D and 2D interactive software and while doing hands-on performance assessments (3D model building and video explanations of content).

Hardware and Software

The hardware being deployed in this study includes DLP 3D projectors provided by Vivitek and active glasses provided by XPAND. The software lessons to be used in this designed study include Stereo 3D biology, physics, and chemistry resources from Designmate, along with and 3D Geometry and Calculus lessons from Spatial Thinking.

3D in Education meets Brain Research

What do you get when you cross a 3D classroom with an advanced cognitive neuropsychology laboratory?  Find out for yourself by reading my recent Display Central article, which has been opened up for a limited time only....

To see the article, and answer the question, 

just click HERE

And if you have something to say on the matter, please come back here and submit a comment.

A Teacher's Story

Do you ever wonder what educators think about 3D? How they approach buying a 3D solution? What kind of obstacles they face in doing so? Over the last few months, I have received six emails like the one below. Please take a close read:

Dear Len,

I first met you at ISTE in the EXPO while you were demonstrating an incredible lesson using 3D technology. I again spoke with you during another 3D session. I’m extremely interested in bring 3D technology into my school district and have the support of both my IT Department and Superintendent. Our district is very tech savvy and interested in implementing 3D technology!

I need more information regarding what I saw at the EXPO at what exactly is required to implement this technology precisely as it was seen; I believe this is called “stereoscopic 3D”. The few pieces of 3D software that we have demo’d thus far have been nothing more than glorified 2D—I am looking for what’s required to implement stereoscopic 3D. The software I saw yesterday must have been flat 3D. I was not impressed at all. This was nothing like I saw when you demonstrated 3D at [the Texas Instruments ISTE exhibit]. That demonstration still has me talking and has me incredibly eager to get it in my district. I just need more specifics. The [AV dealer] for our district said we are the first district in the state to request 3D technology to demo. However, he sent us a special [and expensive] projector, told us we needed a special [high-end] laptop, and two pair of glasses [@ $150 each]. The video we witnessed was hardly 3D. I don’t think our rep is familiar with what I am after.

I want to blow people away with I saw at ISTE! It was incredible!

Could you please contact me to answer a few more detailed questions and point me in the right direction to working with people that can help me successfully locate the appropriate technology required?

I look forward to hearing from you!

Wow! My question to the reader is: “Why do we make 3D so very hard to buy, even if the customers want it badly?” 

3D Dupery

It’s April Fools’ Day here in the U.S., so I wanted to pursue a topic consistent with the hoaxing season.  Yet, these unfortunate examples are no joke—or maybe the joke’s on you!

This is a test. Feel free to use your notes. Look at these exhibit hall booth pictures or videos, each featuring 3D products, which were taken at recent FETC (Orlando) and TCEA (Austin) conferences:

Exhibit 1


Exhibit 2

Exhibit 3

Next, look at this product:

Exhibit 4

What’s absolutely intriguing about each of these scenes is that they have nothing to do with Stereoscopic 3D. They demonstrate guerrilla marketing techniques, efforts at capturing the recent cultural fascination with all things 3D:   

• Exhibit 1 is a vendor marketing a type of 360^◦ teacher evaluation product. No stereoscopic here.
• Exhibit 2 is a media distributor advertising 3D simulations from a respected company—Cyber-Anatomy—but although the exhibitor advertises it as 3D, they only sell the rendered 3D versions (namely 2D), not their wonderful stereo 3D collection.
• Exhibit 3 shows the booth for the well-known Kid Pix software sold to elementary schools. But there is no stereoscopy here—it rendered 3D or paste-boarded 2D.
• Exhibit 4 is a new toothpaste product. ‘Nuff said.

Although truth and advertising are jokingly considered contradictory terms, let’s pause and consider what is actually happening on the exhibit hall floor. 

If I were a pessimist or a conspiracy theorist, I might call this approach misleading or beguiling, a clever ruse set up by dishonest wanglers attempting to cloak questionable marketing copy. Ignis fatuus.

On the other hand, this might be a very reasonable and benign attempt at marketing. In that case I would consider this approach to be little more than benefit by association or unintentional misbranding. Or you might consider this old-school branding—after all, rendered 3D and stereo 3D both use the ‘3D’ nomenclature.

But the more I think about it, and how ‘3D’ is hawked in person or in print in these exhibit halls or advertisements, I can see why many educators I talk with feel differently. They feel let down after visiting these booths in exhibit halls. It’s similar to the dozens of exhibitors that aim to jump on board the ‘green’ bandwagon by claiming their products are now green. The words canard, misrepresentation, or equivocation come quickly to mind. Mere semblance always frustrates educators. Remember that.

3D Conference Talk

As the 2012 ed-tech conference season began in earnest, I found myself at the FETC 2013 conference in Orlando (late January) and the TCEA conference in Austin (early February). I not only attended these huge events, I presented at both.  Of course, I also spent considerable time traversing the exhibit halls.  I would like to share some key observations related to 3D presence at these huge conferences.

Learnings from FETC

Stereo 3D was not well represented.  It was visibly on display only in only one or two booths. I followed up on every session in the conference program that mentioned ‘3D’ in the title or description, and it is clear that, except for one presentation by Nancye Blair, Stereo 3D is not well understood by conference leadership.  They imagine that “3D virtual worlds” (rendered-3D immersive worlds, like Second Life) and rendered-3D design tools (like Sketchup), or rendered-3D animation in augmented reality or games is what it is all about. I found nothing on the visualization and learning advantages of using stereoscopic 3D.  You may ask, “Why doesn’t conference leadership understand what stereo 3D is? I think it’s easy to explain. It is not fully a part of their generation or their personal culture.  It is not yet on their radar.  It should be, but it is not.  But don’t ever think it is an unreachable goal.  We just need the right messaging.

Learnings from TCEA

For the second year in a row, Texas really “gets” 3D.  My half-day workshop was packed with interested K-12 educators of every persuasion. My follow-up TATN network 3D presentation was well attended and well received.  It was clear the educators were ready to move on this technology. On a negative note, the exhibit hall floor had only four booths demonstrating 3D, a significant downward trend. Teachers kept approaching me on the exhibit floor to find resources, but I had only two places to send them. Lumens was the bright spot, crisply demonstrating their magnificent 3D document camera. One brave exhibitor was a new entry into the marketplace for 3D pre-school  content, Classteacher Learning Systems.  

Also, one 3D printing company (what we call additive manufacturing) offered a small presence.

The final product was in the Epson booth. But they were showing a 15-year old technology solution for 3D (double projectors) that exemplified the historical problems with this old delivery system: the projectors were out of sync and two expensive projectors, not a single inexpensive DLP projector, were necessary.  My conclusion: Again, just like last year, Texas educators really ‘get’ 3D.

On a related note, DLP 3D Lamp-Free Projectors were being demonstrated in a few areas, but the messaging was exceptionally weak.  I consider this to be one of the most impactful technologies ever invented for recession-wrenched educators, but it was absolutely clear that neither exhibitors nor integrators had any idea how to communicate its value proposition to educational customers. (To the educator, ‘lamp-free’ means not paying for bulbs every year—at $350 a whack.  These projectors cost a little bit more, but pay for themselves in a year and a half. In some cases, a solution can last for 20,000+ hours—10+ years in school terms.) You may want to research this mainstream innovation on your own.

Whither eS3D?

Predictions for Educational 3D in 2013

Most prognosticators deal with predictions earlier in the year, say, in January. Unfortunately, my editorial schedule did not permit such a luxury. Under the “better late than never” rule, please allow me to humbly offer my informed predictions for the educational use of 3D in 2013:

• The recession will continue to have a hampering impact upon the growth of 3D in K-12 education. (The way funding for education works is that schools lag the economy by a full year, so don’t expect much improvement until the year following any improvements in the economy.)
• International use of 3D in K-12 education will continue to outpace the spread of 3D in U.S. schools.
• The new SIG 3D formed by ISTE will double its membership and establish a growing foothold in educational technology.
• Some surprise “big players” will jump on the 3D bandwagon in education.
• Post-secondary education will see stronger 3D sales than K-12 schools as they continue to deploy 3D demonstration classrooms in some universities and community colleges.  (Post-secondary education, with the ability to charge tuition and fees, seems to experience nowhere near the same level of financial meltdown seen in the K-12 sector.)
• Half of the universities or post-secondary institutions deploying 3D demonstration sites will create their own content, employing students in that effort; the remaining schools will buy or commission any needed content.
• Medical education (medical schools, teaching hospitals, hospital education services) will see increased growth in 3D usage.
• New and pioneering educational content providers will continue to appear on the scene, strengthening the quality and quantity of stereo content for education.
• New innovations will emerge on the scene in 2013, strengthening the case for 3D (such as web delivery and viewing options beyond the active/passive debate).
• Brain research (neuroscience) will weigh in, helping to build the use case for 3D in education.
• 3D math content will increase significantly and science collections will continue to expand in topical coverage. There will not be enough 3D content to support most other subject areas, however.
• User-generated content will continue to expand and represent a reasonable niche market.
• 3D will become easier to use as some hardware barriers melt away.
• Software copy protection schemes on software will continue to frustrate end users and make 3D difficult to implement. (Grow up developers—you’re not the CIA!)
• The vision health issue will struggle to receive the attention it deserves. Still, slow and steady progress will be made
• The persistent struggle we face in inoculating against 3D mythologies (3D is bad for you, it makes everyone sick, it hurts children) won’t go away. We’ll still have to wrestle with those unfortunate media-generated sound bites for some time to come. But we will win the arguments. Science and medicine support us.

What is your prediction? Please comment below. Resist the urge to stay silent. Blow the lid off this blog. Please.

Med Ed 3D (3)

In the last post, I asserted that much of the growth and potential for 3D in education will find a promising foothold in medical fields. In this last post, our example reaches into the arena of patient education.

Patient Education

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is an increasingly global health problem, one which leaves a lot of patient suffering and costs for care in its wake. Enter Sensavis CEO, Magnus Arfors, with an aggressive project employing stereoscopic 3D visualization for patient education.  Together with support from the Karolinska University hospital in Stockholm and the Swedish public patient insurance organization, this project may grow into a real game changer. 

Graphics from the Sensavis storyboard. Their actual graphics are insanely realistic.

“The overall goal of our effort,” explains Arfors, “is to educate and motivate patients to take action in the right direction in order to radically decrease suffering and to save money in the health care system.” Assembling a team of Sensavis visualization architects, specialists in lung medicine/physiology, and specialists in patient education, Arfors is deploying a unique software solution that imitates physiology, both in healthy lungs and in lungs with COPD (e.g. TLC, FRC, IC, VC, alveolar pressure, resistance etc.). Using this stereo 3D simulation, physiological parameters can be changed in real time and the consequences can be explored. With stereo 3D, the user experience becomes much richer than is the case with 2D visual representation. 

The project will launch with sophisticated content that is presented in large groups, using a 3D projector. However, their goal is to move well beyond the traditional scenario we have seen with audience-style patient education. Arfors plans to enable patients to interact with simpler content themselves, via iPads or tablets—or by making the content available on the Internet. This self-study approach represents an interesting supplement to traditional 3D audience-delivery education.

Evaluation will be a vital part of this project. Sensavis and their university partners will use a control group methodology to study improvements in learning. They also aim to analyze the bottom-line—the return on investment in terms of health improvements and cost savings. Part of the follow up study will measure the effectiveness of simpler simulations delivered to patients in the self-study format described above.

Although some of the collaborators are established, and others (including pharma companies) are in ongoing discussion, Sensavis is seeking (more) partners for the financing of the content production and the study. They are also looking for technical equipment partners (such as screens, projectors, computers and tablets). If your organization is interested in exploring this opportunity, please contact Maggie Warbrick at maggie@sensavis.com.

Med Ed 3D (2)

In the last post, I concluded that much of the growth and potential for 3D in education will find a promising foothold in medical fields—in universities, medical schools, teaching hospitals, surgery centers, continuing education offerings for various health professionals, and patient education. Three recent international examples support my humble hypothesis. Our second example is in the field of surgery.

Surgical Education

One firm, 3Dlivesurgery (based in Portugal but with partnerships throughout Europe), is leveraging its substantial experience in live stereoscopic 3D surgery to expand its services to offer a full range of impressive 3D medical offerings.  These offerings cover the complete ecosystem of 3D medical services: 3D live surgery (using specialty cameras), 3D consulting /video production (how to get the most out of a 3D visualization), 3D recording (for use/reuse formats), 3D event management (education and training events), and 3D media publishing /distribution.

Marco Neiva, the CEO of 3Dlivesurgery, advocates that “3D HD provides a true perception of depth for surgeons, closer to their experience in the real world.” He also suggests that the value proposition for 3D visualization goes well beyond reducing the time to perform procedures and lessening surgeon fatigue. It offers tremendous educational potential for the surgeon’s operating team, residency programs, interns, and hospital staff. He explains: “High definition 3-D visualization should shorten the learning curve for surgical skills transfer. Now, multiple observers - including residents, fellows, and attending physicians - can all see the operating surgeon's stereo view.”

Med Ed 3D (1)

I believe that much of the growth and potential for 3D in education will find a promising foothold in medical fields—in universities, medical schools, teaching hospitals, surgery centers, continuing education offerings for various health professionals, and patient education. Three recent international examples support my humble hypothesis. In next three of posts, I will feature these examples, one at a time. Our first example is in the field of dentistry.

Dental Education

The Australian Dental Association (ADA) can’t let the U.S. optometry community garner all the attention in 3D these days. The ADA is piloting a Panasonic 3D HD solution for streaming dental and medical training. Read the full story here.

Model 3D Classrooms

Here’s some news of note for teachers, professors, manufacturers, developers, integrators and thought leaders in the 3D in education space. This year, 3DComm at InfoComm (for the first time ever) will focus entirely on the role of 3D in education. You can read about this unique program and focus here: 3D Education . 

The event is scheduled for June 12^th in Orlando and features a robust new idea: a 'live' model 3D education classroom and prototype 3D training room. I very much like that sort of thinking. And the cost for attendees is a mere $99, which makes it affordable for those of us who are working K-20 educators. (Sponsors pay a higher fee to participate.) It sounds like a good opportunity!

Implementing 3D (Part 3)

This is the final post in my series offering advice about implementing 3D projects in your own setting. If you are in a state of planning, each tip is  an important strategy for implementing a 3D pilot project in a school or university setting.

Tip #3

It’s also important to find and use integrators. In a Future-Talk 3D post long ago, I spoke about the vital role of integrators in implementing and supporting 3D projects in classroom settings.

An integrator is a company that can help ‘integrate’ the disparate pieces involved classroom 3D projects, whether at the K-12 or university level. An integrator can help identify the needed hardware components, help you identify high-quality 3D glasses, offer sound technical advice, provide helpful technical support, solve problems over the long-haul, and even suggest appropriate 3D content.

In a word, an integrator can help simplify often confusing 3D technologies, making your road toward instructional success much easier and trouble-free. Most importantly, they can prevent you from making costly mistakes. I have recently updated my list of trusted 3D-capable integrators. These folks know their business. Some of them are better at individual PC or small setting installations; others are better at large scale installations, such as classrooms. They know 3D and I know their work. Presented in alphabetic order, they are:

3Dlivesurgery (Europe)

Aulanova (South and Latin America)

AV Rover (international)

Boson (U.S.)

Conference Technologies (U.S. University venues)

Convergent Solution (U.S.)

Eon Reality (international)

Mechdyne (University, military and high-end venues, Intl)
Nvidia (U.S.)

Okulda 3D (Turkey)
Reachout Interactives (International)

XpandD (international)

(If any of my readers also represent an integrator firm with which I am currently unaware, please leave a comment below, listing your web site; and please contact me via email, so that I can update my list.)

Implementing 3D (Part 2)

This is the second post in our series offering advice about implementing 3D projects in your own setting. If you are in a state of planning, each tip is an important strategy for implementing a 3D pilot project in a school or university setting.

Perhaps one of the most important lessons I have learned about implementing successful 3D installations or pilot projects is exemplified in this poster I recently crafted:

Think deeply about the truths in this poster. I am quite serious about this.

Come back next week for an insightful posting on Tip #3...

Implementing 3D (Part 1)

In the last two months I have been approached by four educators, situated across the nation, for advice about implementing 3D projects in their settings. If you are in a similar state of planning, I can provide a series of three essential tips for you, each an important strategy for implementing a 3D pilot project in a school or university setting:

Tip #1

It takes longer than you think. Implementing a 3D project usually doesn’t happen in a lightning-quick fashion. It takes time to grease the wheels. It takes time to explain it to funders or school/district/university supervisors. It takes time to do your research. It takes time to write a grant or obtain funding. It takes time to carefully interface with your IT department on support or set up. It takes time to see how specific content titles match up to your curriculum. It takes time to think through how you want to best employ 3D in your classroom. (In our original BVS3D project, we gave all participating teachers an entire spring and summer just to play and explore the 3D content we were using—in order to find the right fit, the right purpose, and unforeseen challenges—before officially launching our 4-school case study.)

Buying the equipment is easy. It’s the other stuff that matters. Consider this fact in your implementation timetable. 

See next week’s posting for an insightful Tip #2...