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.