When: Tuesday, January 17, 2023, from 12 pm to 1 pm
Where: Virtual & In person (CAWP Caseroom, Rm. 2916)
Speaker: Dr. Paul Pickell
This event is free and will be held virtually and in person. Lunch will be provided to the first 50 in-person attendees and granted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Abstract
The metaverse is a proposed next evolution of the internet, involving the creation of “digital twin” environments that are virtual representations of the real world where people can interact in virtual reality. There is a wide range of unexplored applications for an educational metaverse such as virtual field trips, creative sandbox play, and exploration-based learning. Game engines are a logical entry point into a metaverse because they provide the basis for simulating real-world environments including processes such as Sun position, lighting, shading, atmosphere, clouds, weather, gravity, and vegetation growth among many other processes.
Dr. Paul Pickell will discuss some of the benefits of teaching with video games, introduce the Gamification of Forestry project, and share some recent examples of teaching with Minetest, a Free and Open Source Software clone of the popular Minecraft voxel-based sandbox video game. Bring your PC or Android device to play along!
About the Teaching & Learning Lunch Seminar Series
The Teaching & Learning Lunch Seminar Series features extraordinary in-house and external speakers highlighting teaching & learning experiences or pedagogical research in UBC Forestry and beyond. The lunchtime forum invites the interactive participation of the public surrounding the speakers’ presentations and will open wider discussions about education in Forestry and undergraduate instruction in general.