3D @ ISTE: EXPO

Some pundits feel that 3D in education has peaked. But it didn’t seem that way at all at ISTE 2016, where 3D technologies evidenced their strongest and most mature presence in the history of that event. The ISTE 2016 educational conference, with over 16,000 in attendance hailing from 76 countries, is the largest ed-tech conference held in the U.S. 3D was well represented in both the exhibit hall. Here are some of the players we saw in action in the expo hall:

AVRover. 3D stalwart AVRover, offering their mobile 3D classroom platform, maintained heavy crowds and high interest every time I passed by. They are now partnering with DTI (see below entry) in offering an autostereoscopic lab platform that can provide a 3D visualization ‘breakout’ experience, taking AVRover content into the computer lab or classroom centers. Doug Smith, CEO of AVRover explained:  "AVRover and DTI are working together on a technology where educators will teach one-on-many using a mobile AVRover with a screen. In this scenario, the teacher manipulates stereo 3D objects for the students; but then the students can go to multiple workstations in the classroom or in a lab and can work on that same content, with autostereo, glasses free monitors.”

Dimension Technologies. Co-located in the AVRover booth, Dimension Technologies, Inc featured their autostereo display platform. Having worked with NASA for over twenty-five years, DTI just received a new SBIR Phase II E grant from both NASA and Boeing to build a glasses-free 3D display for aerospace. Tom Curtin, Director of Business Development, pointed out: “Education is a natural fit for this technology.” The cost to the customers is expected to be a 60% premium over traditional displays. 

Eureka. They offered a strong presence showing mesmerizing mono and stereo 3D content to passersby. What’s new? It seems like DesignMate is rebranding itself in the U.S. as the more internationally known Eureka.in.

Sensavis. Sensavis, a 3D visualization content company, ran a vibrant booth featuring some of their newest 3D simulations. It seems like they are showing a new simulation at each successive show, a remarkable pace for new content development.

Sterling Pixels. Sterling Pixels, a veteran 3D content company, broke away from the hidden corners of past booth locations to find themselves in a prime spot with much better visibility for this impressive company. 

Unity3D. Unity3D came to the exhibit floor with a fresh, vigorous vision to reach the education market. 

Visible Body. Although traditional 3D anatomy provider Cyber-Anatomy was noticeably absent from ISTE 2016, VisibleBody offered their rich visual anatomy lessons for STEM educators.

zSpace. Again winning Best of Show at ISTE 2016 from Technology & Learning magazine, zSpace continued in stride impressing large numbers of booth visitors. For a deeper dive, take a look at my most recent article with District Administration magazine entitled “Broadening the Impact of Technology.”

3D @ ISTE 2016: Sessions

Some pundits feel that 3D in education has peaked. But it didn’t seem that way

at all at ISTE 2016, where 3D technologies evidenced their strongest and most mature presence in the history of that event. The ISTE 2016 educational conference held just this summer, with over 16,000 in attendance hailing from 76 countries, is the largest ed-tech conference held in the U.S. 3D was well represented in a number of conference sessions:

Five concurrent sessions featured 3D at ISTE 2016 (all showcasing 3D design technologies), yet the strongest 3D presence and audience could be found in the panel presentation sponsored by the ISTE 3D Network. This panel featured comments by Pavel Solin (University of Nevada-Reno), Tom Adams (Costa Rica), Len Scrogan (University of Colorado-Denver), Kristin Donley (Monarch High School, CO), and Mattias Bostrom (Sensavis), followed by discussions and breakouts. Professor Solin spoke about the importance of student-created design for promoting 3D; Mr. Adams spoke about 3D printing and its role in school ‘makerspaces’; and this author spoke about the morphing of 3D technology into the current VR meme. Most notably, Kristin Donley summarized some of her recent research on using passive 3D displays with high school students, while Mr. Bostrom spoke of the potential of stereo 3D visualization in world-wide classrooms, providing a number of insightful teacher anecdotes.

Echo Chamber

At the ISTE 2016 conference, being held this week, virtual reality is no doubt turning out to be the new popular kid on the block. (See last week’s post.) But there’s a problem afoot: We are seeing an “echo chamber” effect at play in educational settings. Too many of these sessions sound like the same content: the field trip or the gadget. Both represent education ‘light.’ That’s not a good thing.

“Hardware has run ahead of content,” bemoans Rene Pinell of Kaleidoscope VR . She’s right. You can see it here at the ISTE conference. In the Wall Street Journal, Chrisotpher Mims lambasts the fact that “most content is demos.” He’s right, too. Can you whisper “hype cycle?” With the exception of zSpace and my own workshops (the last two on the list posted last week), there is nothing much new here. Unlike VR at the recent SXSWedu festival, which featured many creative twists for VR (e.g., online learning, virtual reality mashups, vision health, emotional intelligence, and the future of storytelling), VR at ISTE is, like many new technologies, pursuing the lowest common denominator. Ouch.

ISTE 2016 Preview

The annual ISTE conference is convening this year in Denver, Colorado. The ISTE conference is the largest ed-tech conference in the U.S, and will offer more than 1,000 educational sessions to more than 23,000+ teachers, professors, and administrators. Examining the ISTE 2016 conference landscape goes a long way in informing us about what is trending in education. Let’s zoom in on some of these developments from the perspective of 3D and virtual reality.

In the Conference Sessions

The upcoming ISTE conference will offer forty-six 3D-VR-AR-related events in their slate of sessions: five showcase 3D design in education; ten feature AR solutions; fourteen highlight 3D printing; and seventeen sessions specifically focus on VR in education. In the VR arena, the session titles convey particular meaning:

• Google Cardboard, Virtual Field Trips, and Visual Learning: The Power of Maps
• Google Cultural Institute and Google Cardboard (VR) for the Classroom K-12
• Gizmos and Gadgets for Use in (but mostly out of) the Classroom
• The Basics of the New 3"R's" in Education: AR, VR, QR
• Classrooms, Made of, Virtual Reality Field Trips
• Virtual Field Trips: Bringing the World to Your Classroom
• Virtual Reality Bridges the Gap for ESL Learners
• Virtual reality tour with Google Cardboard to amazing places!
• 3D and Virtual Reality in the Classroom
• Augmenting and Virtualizing Reality through Computer Science
• Breaking out of the Norm with Virtual Reality
• Tripping Out! Virtual Field Trips for All
• Student Led Virtual Field Trips around the World
• Discovering Immersive 3D and Virtual Reality in a STEAM classroom with zSpace
• Creating a Customized Street View Experience for Your Classroom
• Your First ISTE 3D VR Bootcamp
• See 2 Achieve: Virtual Reality, 3D, Vision, and Learning

In the Exhibit Hall

3D and virtual reality stalwarts like zSpace, Unity, Google, Samsung, AV Rover, Sterling Pixels, and Sensavis are returning to the expo floor. New to the ISTE exhibit hall finds Mursion and Omniglobe with their first-ever presence.

3D Network Events

ISTE’s personal learning network (PLN)—the 3D Network—will also continue its educational advocacy for all things 3D. This group is expected to raise the decibel level of 3D and VR in education by again hosting three special events: their popular membership open house; the annual meet-and-greet event; and a panel presentation (entitled Designing, Visualizing, and Making in 3D) at the conference. (Companies wishing to have a presence—in person or with literature—at the 3D Network meet-and-greet event, scheduled for Tuesday morning should contact this author sooner rather than later.)

ISTE in Depth

The ISTE 3D network has a very detailed list of the 3D-related sessions being offered at the upcoming ISTE 2015 conference in Philadelphia. Take a look: SESSIONS.

We hope to see all of you there!

Fireworks at ISTE 2015

The groundwork is just now being laid for the June ISTE 2015 educational technology conference, with the fireworks taking place in Philadelphia this year. Last year, this conference was enjoyed by more than 16,800 attendees. (It is known as the largest ed-tech soiree in the U.S.) Last year’s conference evidenced a solid 3D in education presence (twenty one presentations plus fourteen 3D-related vendors), and this year’s program suggests the same positive trending. 

Inside sources reveal that the ISTE 2015 conference will offer twenty-three 3D related sessions: five in the arena of designing in 3D, including game design; five focusing on stereo 3D; four on visualization using rendered 3D; and nine sessions on 3D printing (3D printing gets the numbers edge this year, for the first time.) A sampling of the featured session titles includes:

• Learn 3D Modeling in One Hour
• Promising Technologies, Creativity & Teaching: Ten Solutions to Take Away
• 3D Network Showcase: Designing, Visualizing, and Making in 3D
• Virtual Reality in the Classroom: Simulations using the Oculus Rift
• C-R-A-Z-Y New 3D Resources
• Creating 3D virtual living spaces to promote sustainable development
• Depth-defying Learning: Exploring the Top Ten 3D Developments
• Teach 3D Game Design in One Week
• 3D Print Your Classroom

ISTE’s recently formed special interest group or personal learning network (PLN)—the 3D Network—will also continue its educational advocacy for all things 3D. This group is expected to raise the decibel level of 3D in education by again hosting their popular membership open house, offering an annual meet-and-greet demonstration event, and sponsoring a first-time panel presentation at the conference. 

No doubt, many 3D-related exhibitors will also make their presence known on the ISTE 2015 expo floor this year—newcomers and the familiar folks alike. Companies wishing to have a presence at the 3D Network meet-and-greet demonstration event—in person or with literature—should contact this author sooner rather than later. 

Fireworks at ISTE 2015

The groundwork is just now being laid for the June-July ISTE 2015 educational technology conference, with the fireworks taking place in Philadelphia this year. Last year, this conference was enjoyed by more than 16,800 attendees. Last year’s conference evidenced a solid 3D in education presence (twenty one presentations plus fourteen 3D-related vendors), and this year’s program suggests the same positive trending. 

Inside sources reveal that the ISTE 2015 conference will offer twenty-three 3D related sessions: five in the arena of designing in 3D, including game design; five focusing on stereo 3D; four on visualization using rendered 3D; and nine sessions on 3D printing (3D printing gets the numbers edge this year, for the first time.) A sampling of the featured session titles includes:

• Learn 3D Modeling in One Hour
• Promising Technologies, Creativity & Teaching: Ten Solutions to Take Away
• 3D Network Showcase: Designing, Visualizing, and Making in 3D
• Virtual Reality in the Classroom: Simulations using the Oculus Rift
• C-R-A-Z-Y New 3D Resources
• Creating 3D virtual living spaces to promote sustainable development
• Depth-defying Learning: Exploring the Top Ten 3D Developments
• Teach 3D Game Design in One Week
• 3D Print Your Classroom

 ISTE’s recently formed special interest group or personal learning network (PLN)—the 3D Network—will also continue its educational advocacy for all things 3D. Now pushing 2,500 members, this group is expected to raise the decibel level of 3D in education by again hosting their popular membership open house, offering an annual meet-and-greet demonstration event, and sponsoring a first-time panel presentation at the conference. The 3D Network is again expected to grow in numbers dramatically. (They are already one of the fastest growing PLNs in ISTE.)

No doubt, many 3D-related exhibitors will also make their presence known on the ISTE 2015 expo floor this year—newcomers and the familiar folks alike. Companies wishing to have a presence at the 3D Network meet-and-greet demonstration event—in person or with literature—should contact this blogger sooner rather than later.

In Schools: 3D Printing

The 3D printer craze continues its enthused cadence, parading through the halls of schools nation-wide, with no apparent sign of losing formation. The next three posts feature the latest and most useful news bytes and perspectives about printing in 3D in schools.

We will begin with a few random tidbits, hopefully items of interest to many of our readers:

NEO3DO Quicksteps to Printing in 3D

NEO3DO is touting a Print Preview app, an STL file viewer that allows for naked eye 3D interactivity. It works on all android devices and, soon, also on Apple devices. Of course, when using the glasses-free NEO3DO, it enables full autostereoscopic 3D viewing. This is a game changer for schools, by viewing student-created prototypes before for actually printing in 3D.  This translates well into classrooms, saving time, money, and scarce consumables.

COSN and ISTE Interest March Forward

Printing in 3D continues to please the crowds within the largest professional educational technology organizations, as well. ISTE's 3D Network recently conducted a very informative webinar on printing in 3D, featuring 3D printing expert Chad Norman, while COSN will be including printing in 3D as a featured topic within their 2015 EdTechNext Report on 3D in learning.

VREP Drums into 3D Printing

Even the large, Iowa-based VREP program is marching to the beat, shifting from pure 3D design on displays to options for outputting student designs to 3D printers. For the first time, they offered breakout sessions on 3D printing at their past VREP Showcase. Their 2015 showcase is scheduled for April 15, 2015.  

The 3D Network

The ISTE 2014 educational conference, with over 16,000 educators and thousands more vendors in attendance, was remarkable. In this post, let’s zoom in on the activity that occurred with the ISTE 3D Network during this conference.

3D Network Activities

The ISTE 3D network is a special interest group (or personal learning network) of educators within ISTE who are interested in the promise of 3D in K-20 learning. At the ISTE 2014 conference, the burgeoning 3D Network grew its membership to more than 1,800 focused educators. It’s nothing less than a new grassroots force in education. 

The ISTE 3D Network itself hosted two well-attended events:

The ISTE PLN Open House: 3D Network Table. The table was swarmed by literally hundreds of interested educators, most of whom knew very little about 3D in general and many of whom joined the network on the spot. 

The 3D Network “Gathering.” The annual face-to-face meeting of the 3D network was well attended by both educators and vendors. It was a high energy event, bringing in new leadership and many new members. Many powerful 3D technologies were also demonstrated, including auto-stereoscopic tablets, 3D scanning, a small student-built 3D printer, 3D classroom lessons, and student-designed stereo 3D projects. Free copies of Presente3D’s PowerPoint add-on were awarded to all attendees.

*****

Overall, the ISTE 2014 educational conference was a memorable event in the steady upwards trajectory of 3D in education.

3D @ ISTE (3)

The ISTE 2014 educational conference, with over 16,000 educators and thousands more vendors in attendance, was remarkable. Let’s zoom in on some of the 3D happenings and developments in the exhibit hall.

The Exhibit Hall

The ISTE exhibit hall was one of the best ever. It was populated by fourteen booths featuring 3D visualization, 3D design, or 3D printing solutions. In addition to these fourteen, I noticed officials from Cubedigico and Eon Reality that were not exhibiting, but connecting with customers and partners on the expo floor. Some of the highlights include:

zSpace

zSpace. Again, zSpace was the winner at another educational conference. Their booth was slammed with attendees from the starting gun to the finish line, sustained crowds like I have never seen. Most educators I spoke with had never seen anything quite like their near-“holographic” 3D. I still don’t understand why they didn’t win a Technology and Learning “best of show” award.

AVRover

AVRover. AVRover was exhibiting, and drew solid crowds while featuring their newest mobile3D display carts.

Leap Motion. Gesture recognition controls were on display live, captivating minds and hearts by using gesture controls to manipulate rendered 3D images. See this video of Leap Motion in action.

Leap Motion

DesignMate. DesignMate shrunk their typical booth size to a smaller footprint, and drew crowds by featuring their content running on a zSpace unit, front and center. Their content keeps getting better, by the way.

Smartur3D

Smartur3D. Smartur3D made their first entry into the U.S. market with some eye-catching products, innovative navigation, and a unique value proposition. These folks are so interesting, I am going to make them a topic of a coming spoltlight post here on FutureTalk 3D.  

Sterling Pixels

Other Notables. Sterling Pixels made their entry known into the educational market with a modest booth; Stampede’s new 3D guru, Jodi Szuter, was demonstrating 3D in a partner’s booth and connecting broadly with partners.

Stampede was in the house, too!

3D @ ISTE (2)

The ISTE 2014 educational conference, with over 16,000 educators and thousands more vendors in attendance, was remarkable. I simply cannot recall a better ISTE conference in a decade. But the real story lies with the teeming presence of educational 3D technologies at this conference. Even the Atlanta Now magazine featured 3D on its June cover.

Let’s zoom in on some of the 3D happenings and developments at this huge educational event. 3D was everywhere—in the concurrent sessions, in the exhibit hall, and within the ISTE 3D Network’s special events. We will dedicate one post to each of these arenas.

In the Concurrent Sessions

At ISTE 2014, there were more than 21 presentations scheduled on the subtopics of 3D visualization, 3D design, and 3D printing, equally distributed. In the visualization category, about half featured educational practices using stereoscopic 3D and the other half demonstrated anaglyphic projects. I attended most of these sessions, but here are highlights of a few:

In-depth Learning Poster Session. “The best 3D educator in the U.S.,” Holli Hillman joined forces with Len Scrogan to present a poster session that reached hundreds of educators with best practice and promise in teaching with stereoscopic 3D. 

The Smithsonian. The Smithsonian is lending their gravitas to educational 3D by starting the work of turning their many educational collections into 3D visualizations, simulations, and printing templates. See for yourself: http://3d.si.edu/ This session had the largest and most enthusiastic attendance of all 3D sessions at ISTE.

Donley Research Presentation. Kristin Donley, Colorado Teacher of the Year (2012) presented her recent research on the advantages of teaching in 3D over teaching with flat 2D.

Other sessions. Other sessions were packed with attendees viewing anaglyphic field trips, architectural walk-throughs, 3D time capsules, and the NASA 3D collection.

3D @ ISTE (1)

If the recent ISTE conference—held in the closing days of June in Atlanta—is any indicator of the future, then the education market is alive and well. 

ISTE 2014 is the largest ed-tech conference in the U.S., organized by the internationally represented International Society for Technology in Education. At a leadership reception on Monday, Brian Lewis, CEO of ISTE announced that all attendance records were broken during this Hotlanta event. More than 16,000 educators and thousands of additional vendors converged in the halls of the Georgia World Congress Center for a remarkable technology experience.

While past ISTE conferences have always been well-attended, rarely has that attendance spilled over into the exhibit halls. Educators were always there, but many shunned the expo areas. Some likened previous ISTE exhibit hall traffic to working in a bowling alley: “enough room in the aisles to lay down some bowling lanes and curve a few strikes and spares.” Hashtag, sparse traffic.

This year was decidedly different. The exhibit halls were packed with educators, from opening to closing—even in the far remote corners of the expo space. I spoke with some habitual exhibitors, asking them about the quality and quantity of the attendance. “Best I have seen in years,” was one answer. “Second best I have ever seen,” said two more. “Second best to what?” I asked. “Second best to BETT in England,” they responded. (The BETT conference is 4x larger than ISTE, for perspective.)

Most interesting to observe was the wickedly heavy exhibit hall attendance even on the final day of the expo. I have seen nothing like it ever. Last days are for early departure and relaxed strolling down the exhibit hall aisles. Not so at ISTE. From my perspective, the pace was frenetic even on the last day, up to the last few hours. There were still lines to talk to people and slow going in the major arteries.

Some of the traditional display companies were there (e.g. Panasonic, Samsung, Vivitek, Hitachi, Epson, Boxlight, BenQ, and a Korean pavilion ), but I noticed the absence of 5-6 major display companies that, for some reason, did not choose to exhibit this year. Boy, did they miss out. The award for best and boldest new presence goes to the Panasonic exhibit, which offered a fresh, open, striking, and accessible new look for their booth. 

On another note, the 3D marketspace was the most vibrant and populous I have seen in 5 years at ISTE. I will cover that story in next week’s post. You will be quite surprised.

Perhaps all this was nothing more than pent-up demand, spontaneously released with easing of our recent economic straightjacket. Or maybe it was because people were happy with the fact that wireless was working reliably for the first time at an ISTE conference, so attendees had more spare time to spend in the exhibit halls. Or just maybe… we are witnessing the education market bouncing back to life. Cross your fingers.

Wassup @ ISTE

The annual ISTE conference is rapidly approaching, convening this year in Atlanta. Besides the 3D Network events mentioned in last week's post, there are many other exciting 3D things happening at this large ed-tech conference.

In the Conference Sessions

The upcoming ISTE conference has currently scheduled twenty-one 3D-related presentations in their slate of sessions. Of these, five sessions feature Rendered-3D solutions; six sessions highlight 3D printing; five sessions showcase 3D design in education; and five sessions specifically focus on stereo 3D in education.

Traditionally offering only a few sessions a year, this session expansion at ISTE represents the largest increase in recent history.

In other news, Holli Hillman (see Best 3D Educator in the U.S.) will be presenting jointly with me for Depth-defying Learning: the top 10 new developments in educational 3D on Monday, June 30, 1:15 pm - 3:15 pm (GWCC Murphy Ballroom Galleria, Table 24).

In the Exhibit Hall

Preliminary details indicate that 3D design (3D Gamelab, Autodesk, and Realalusion), 3D visualization (DesignMate, Lumens, CubeDigiCo, Sterling Pixels, and zSpace), and 3D printing (Makerbot and Stratasys) will be there in force. Also, AV Rover will be exhibiting.

3D Network @ ISTE

It’s almost time for the annual ISTE conference in late June, convening this year in Atlanta. As you recall, SIG3D has been rebranded into the new ISTE 3D Network, now 1600 members strong. Two 3D Network events are now scheduled:

ISTE Network Open House – Saturday , June 28, 3-5 PM

This is an open house for all ISTE conference attendees to investigate various Professional Learning Networks. The 3D network invites attendees to visit their booth and mix with each other and potential new members. 

3D Network Gathering – Monday, June 30, 5-6:15 PM

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

Special Opportunities:

We want to remind vendors that we will have a dedicated table to display (without cost) any sales material you would like to make available. Just bring your materials personally to any of the executive board members prior to the start of the event.

If any manufacturers have items or resources they would like to make available for our educator raffle, please contact us here.

*Please note that the 3D Network 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.

3D@ISTE 2013 (2)

Of course, not all 3D at ISTE (see last week’s post), was in the exhibit hall. There were four sessions dedicated to 3D in the conference proceedings. 

The first was an open house booth for SIG3D, the newly formed ISTE special interest group dedicated to all things 3D. I was there helping out, and it was slammed with interested educators. 

The second session was a poster session offered by SIG3D president, Nancye Blair-Black. This session was also well attended and buzzing with activity. Nancye does that to folks! 

The third session involved the initial kick-off meeting of the new SIG3D. I will write more about this event later, but it was well attended. 

The last session was a poster session dedicated to 3D printing. It was not well attended, but that made perfect sense. There were zero 3D printing companies exhibiting at this conference. ISTE is not the strongest conference for 3D printing aficionados—that’s the hallmark of technology education conferences. For an explanation, see my recent Future-Talk 3D posts (3D in Tech Ed 1 and 3D in Tech Ed 2) explaining the difference between the “technology education” and the “educational technology” marketplace.

No doubt one of the best years ever. 

3D@ISTE 2013 (1)

This year’s ISTE 2013 conference, attended by more than 18,000 educators and industry representatives, took place in sweltering San Antonio. I cannot remember as much happening in the educational 3D world since Texas Instruments proudly displayed their then nascent technologies more than three years ago.  Here’s a brief description of the many 3D happenings that were baking in the Texas sunlight.

Stalwarts in the 3D content manufacturer industry, Cyber-Anatomy and DesignMate were there. Yet, newcomers were aplenty. Zspace was the most popular new player. (I will write more about the implications of Zspace technologies for education in a future posting.) To say the least, their exhibit was boiling over with activity and interest. ISTE attendees like anything new, and Zspace came to fulfill their hopes. They demonstrated their near-holographic hardware platform and it raised the eyebrows and caught the attention of even the most discerning educators I know. 

Zspace's nnear-holographic display technology. You had to be there!

Across the exhibit hall, award-winning app producers Vito Technology were found showing off some of its apps in anaglyph format, using both iPads and an eye-catching display dome. They were offering three apps, including StarWalk (an interactive astronomy guide), SolarWalk (a 3D solar system model on steroids), and GeoWalk (an interactive globetrek allowing learners to explore new and remarkable things—like animals, plants, history, people and inventions—600 unusual objects in all).

Vito Technology's 3D iPad apps on display at ISTE

ClassTeacher Learning Systems decided to move on from FETC to the ISTE conference and were showing their 3D content for the first time at ISTE. So, too, FortunaPix offered a display in the new startups booth, showing the hundreds of 3D content titles they are just ready to push into the market.

FortunaPix's 3D content on display

 And there's more! Stay tuned for our next post...