The U.S. Coast Guard holds an Innovation Expo each year, and ReactionGrid has been invited to attend and present at this year’s Innovation Expo 2011 in Tampa, Florida on October 25th.

If you’re attending the Expo, or if you’ll be in the area and would like to meet with us, please drop us a line at create@reactiongrid.com.

The USCG Innovation Expo creates an environment for Coast Guard Innovators to resolve organizational challenges by showcasing their initiatives in a rich collaborative learning environment alongside other innovators throughout DHS and across Government, industry and academia.

One area of interest is 3d simulations and virtual worlds as platforms for immersive learning.   I’ll be giving two presentations on Tuesday, October 25th:

Keynote Speaker #2
11:30am – 12:00pm (Oct 25)
“Learning Through Three Dimensional Simulation and Virtual Worlds”

In this presentation, John will share his experiences using virtual world technology to enhance education and his current work at ReactionGrid to create web and mobile-based virtual word platforms for learning. He will describe best practices for creating effective alternative reality learning scenarios, common pitfalls when exploring immersive learning technologies, and ways to effect cultural change within an organization by using online collaborative environments.

Breakout Session #1
2:00pm – 3:00pm (Oct 25)
“Alternative Reality Learning: The Potential of Virtual World Platforms”

In this breakout session, John will lead a group discussion and hands-on demonstration of the potential of virtual world platforms for immersive learning. Specific examples of virtual learning environments using ReactionGrid’s Jibe platform will be presented, running on both the web and mobile devices, and attendees will be walked through a typical virtual world development workflow using the Unity3d editor and 3d mesh models. Attendees will also learn about the unique affordances of virtual worlds when they are integrated with existing social media (e.g., Facebook) and web-based educational content.

You can learn more about the Expo here and here.

Take care,
-John “Pathfinder” Lester