XR in Higher Education and Research
On March 3rd, 2020, we organized a meetup with a diverse group of 30 educators and researchers from higher education in the Netherlands, including lecturers, researchers, PhD candidates, film makers, advisers and support staff in our offices in The Hague. Participants came from a variety of different organisations: TU Delft, KU Leuven, SURF, Media and Learning, the Dutch Police Academy and InHolland.
The meeting was organized in the Schouwburgstraat building of Leiden University, The Hague.
We saw this meeting as a first chance to get in touch with the community the initiative for XR ERA is driven by. When this blog post is published, some of the objectives defined during the meeting have already been realised, such as the realization of the very website you’re currently visiting, one of the channels used to exchange knowledge within the community and connect with each other.
During the meeting, we discussed the next steps in developing a European Hub for Extended Reality. The meeting was chaired by Josje Spierings and Carel Jansen from the Centre for Innovation.
Represented Organizations
The program looked as follows
- XR trends and challenges for the future (Jelger Kroese)
- A possible structure for a community platform for XR in higher education and research (Carel Jansen)
- Collaboratively brainstorming on the most relevant topics (Facilitated by Alejandra Blasco)
- Discussing open questions and next steps (Josje Spierings and Donna Schipper)
Participants discussing core questions about the organization of a European XR Hub during the workshop.
Main Outcomes
- The need for sharing knowledge on the use of XR within higher education and research is shared between a wide range of institutes and different people within the institutes.
- Participants are looking forward to being able to share what XR related projects we are all working on.
- Most of the participants would like to contribute to such a community by providing information, knowledge or sharing in a different way through for example a blog or newsletter.
- Clear communication about ownership of materials and the realization of funding, seem the main challenges at the moment to overcome.
- The next steps include actual realization of the platform in a quick and dirty way: start small to see what works and test the right to exist.
The meeting inspired us a lot and we thank the participants for their commitment and ideas. These will help to further sharpen the project continue the development.
Further reading
Want to know more about the event? One of the participants, researcher at Inholland, Zac Woolfitt, wrote a nice blogpost himself about his experience of the event.
