April 2, 2012

On Youthful Shoulders

I think DLP-enabled 3D will definitely be carried into the future on the shoulders of kids. Kids get it. Adults, still not so much. Why do I say that? Three reasons. See if you agree with my logic. And please comment if you have time.


Reason 1. Kids pressure adults. While attending the CIO Summit in Fort Lauderdale this year, I had some separate conversations with a superintendent from a large school district on the east coast and his entourage (all technology staff). Although 3D was nowhere on the radar of his technology staff, the superintendent, in a separate discussion, was very interested in creating a DLP-enabled 3D pilot project in his district. I asked him why. He explained that his 4th grade daughter thought it was cool. (I gave him several 3D stickers for his daughter.)
Reason 2. Kids pressure adults. The notion that students appreciate what 3D has to offer was amplified in the last Speak Up survey, an annual national research project produced by Project Tomorrow, which surveys K-12 students teachers, teachers, parents, and administrators.  When asked what types of digital content students perceived as important to make available in e-textbooks, students included access to 3D content as one of their top choices. Middle school students, in particular, rated access to 3D content higher than all other grade levels surveyed. Interestingly, we know that 3D content can also play a major role in four out of the remaining five of the preferred e-textbook characteristics identified in this chart (virtual labs, video clips. games, and animations/simulations).
Figure 1. Project Tomorrow (2010). Empowering Digitally-rich Content through the E-textbook.
Speak Up 2010 Survey. Reprinted with permission.
By the way, Project Tomorrow is a wonderful resource to help you understand what educational stakeholders value in both the present and future, so be sure to visit their website frequently.  You may even want to consider sponsoring a future report.
Reason 3. Kids pressure adults. Scorsese made the film Hugo in 3D because a) his wife wanted him to make something his kids could actually see, and b) his own 12 year-old daughter and her friends asked “In 3D, right?” See Scorcese’s own comments at the 3D Society Creative Awards:
What’s the bottom line? Young people readily connect with the visual, mobile, and social technologies that so permeate our modern lives. Now if only the adults will listen…

1 comment:

  1. I agree with your points. I also think there is a certain degree of 'fear" with 3D technology. Recently, someone on my Facebook commented how they overheard a child talking to another child saying "wouldn't it be cool if real life was 3D?" Of course this fear is silly and we simply need to educate children that everything 3D is modeled after the real world.

    As I've read through your blog the past few days in preparation of writing a paper about how optometrists and educators need to develop a better relationship with the integration of eS3D, I've been thinking about how other professionals may find a role in this as well. I remember shadowing an pediatric OT who specializes in sensory integration and how she talked about some clients who has issues with spatial awareness because their visual system overwhelmed them. However, after some vision therapy, their visual perceptual skills became more manageable and in turn helped their spatial awareness. I wonder if these conditions could be teased out by eS3D and intervention can be provided for these young people earlier in addition to the binocular issues we already know stereo 3D can tease out.

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