XR Mobile Learning Lab Partnership with Rural and Northern Communities

项目概述：居住在北方和农村社区的加拿大学生在获得中等后职业培训方面所面临的挑战是有据可查的，15至30岁年龄组迫切需要一系列培训选择，为他们在社区内外的职业生涯做好准备。在大流行期间，北方社区的教育工作者确定迫切需要（i）与加拿大南部的中学后机构建立更多的区域联系和伙伴关系;（ii）教育工作者的专业发展;（iii）增加技术能力，以支持北方和农村的学习者。增强现实和虚拟现实（AR/VR）数字平台的部署，统称延展实境（XR）技术，使学习者能够虚拟地参与培训环境和场景，否则可能难以访问。使用XR学习模拟扩展了农村教育者和学习者的能力，并允许阈值概念“坚持”更好的学习保留。 此外，安大略省已投入大量资金，为中学后教育机构发展XR，特别强调将XR能力和发展带到北方和农村社区。潜在的社会影响：利用社会影响框架和多利益相关者合作模式，XR学习实验室伙伴关系有四个目标：（i）将北方和偏远社区以及中学后教育组织与技术联系起来，软件和专业发展，在一系列职业可能性中使用XR学习模拟教学（ii）与我们的组织合作伙伴合作进行需求评估联系North/诺德，以确定职业培训方面存在的差距，这些差距可以通过XR学习模拟有效解决（iii）为使用XR模拟教学的教育工作者开发和现场测试培训和技能提升内容（iv）制定并试点北方和农村XR初创计划，孵化移动的和远程加速器能力，为资产和内容的创建和交付建立社区内的人才管道。

PROJECT OVERVIEW: Challenges faced by Canadian students residing in northern and rural communities in accessing post-secondary vocational training are well documented, with the 15 to 30-year-old age cohort urgently needing a range of training options to prepare them for careers in their communities and beyond. Over the course of the pandemic, educators in northern communities identified an immediate and critical need for (i) more regional connection and partnerships with post-secondary institutions in southern Canada (ii) professional development for educators, and (iii) increased technological affordances to support northern and rural learners. Deployment of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) digital platforms, collectively known as eXtended Reality (XR) technologies, allow the learner to engage virtually with training environments and scenarios that might otherwise prove difficult to access. Using XR learning simulations expands the capacities of rural educators and learners and allows for threshold concepts to 'stick' with better learning retention. Further, the province of Ontario has invested heavily in the development of XR for post-secondary institutions, with a particular emphasis on bringing XR capacity and development to northern and rural communities. OBJECTIVES AND POTENTIAL FOR SOCIAL IMPACT: Using a social impact framework and a multi-stakeholder co-op model, the XR Learning Lab Partnership has four objectives (i) Connect northern and remote communities and post-secondary education organizations with the technology, software and professional development to teach with XR learning simulations across a range of vocational possibilities (ii) Conduct a needs assessment in collaboration with our organizational partners Contact North/Nord to determine where career training gaps exist that could be addressed effectively with XR learning simulations (iii) Develop and field test training and upskilling content for educators teaching with XR simulations (iv) Develop and pilot a Northern and Rural XR start-up program that incubates mobile and remote accelerator capacity to build the in-community talent pipeline for asset and content creation and delivery.