FINAL PROJECT STEP 1: IMMERSIVE LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

Here is what I got from reading an article from the Journal of Immersive Education, through the course I am taking at Boston College.  As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I am not typically computer-inclined, however, some of the things I've been learning in this class, whether a simple thing like using a program such as GIMP, or getting as technical as learning how to process html code, I have learned that these tools can be useful in so many ways.  So here is a link to the article I will be referring to and taking screen shots of throughout this post: http://JiED.org

This mission statement, to the common eye, may seem mundane.  However, it is the exact opposite of that.  Through immersive education, people who could otherwise never be able to see things like The Louvre, The Pyramids, or even just a pond with different ecosystems and animals can actually SEE these things and experience them with their own eyes.

Here is the overview statement from the article:

I did not grow up in a family with a lot of money.  Gradually, I saw my father working longer and longer hours to provide for my brother, mother and me.  And in 2001, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Villa el Salvador, Peru for a missionary trip with our church.  While there, I saw what being "dirt poor" really means.  However, the kids I met, some young, some my age, some older, all had one common goal: LEARNING. No matter if you come from means, or if you are in a community where you have five gallons of "clean" water being delivered once a week to your "home," with a tarp for a roof, everyone wants to better themselves, and nobody should be deprived of that. This part of the article struck a chord for me:

Imagine being able to, at free will, correspond with other students across the GLOBE and share a smile.  We all grew up with a penpal in elementary school.  How long did that take to hear back (if you heard back at all)?  The immersive education movement cuts out all the grunt work and allows anyone, anywhere, to SEE and HEAR anyone they care to at the click of a mousepad.  This is a remarkable tool that could potentially change the way we learn for generations to come.  

In closing, I would just like to throw out a question for my fellow classmates (and professor).  How do you think your upbringing could have been different had this technology been around when we were little kids?  I, for one, know that my trip to Peru changed my life, but imagine being able to speak to those impoverished people via any single one of the tools offered by immersive education.  I really don't think there is any doubt that words cannot describe the value of it.