XR Mobile Learning Lab Partnership with Rural and Northern Communities

项目概述：居住在北部和农村社区的加拿大学生在接受中学后职业培训方面面临的挑战得到了很好的记录，15至30岁的人群迫切需要一系列培训选择，为他们在社区和其他地方的职业生涯做好准备。在大流行期间，北部社区的教育工作者发现，迫切需要(I)与加拿大南部的高等教育机构建立更多的地区联系和伙伴关系，(Ii)教育工作者的专业发展，以及(Iii)增加支持北部和农村学习者的技术支持。增强和虚拟现实(AR/VR)数字平台的部署，统称为扩展现实(XR)技术，使学习者能够虚拟地参与到否则可能难以访问的培训环境和场景中。使用XR学习模拟扩展了农村教育者和学习者的能力，并允许门槛概念与更好的学习保持相结合。此外，安大略省已投入巨资发展专上院校的XR，特别强调将XR的能力和发展带给北部和农村社区。社会影响的目标和潜力：XR学习实验室伙伴关系利用社会影响框架和多利益攸关方合作模式，有四个目标(I)用技术连接北部和偏远社区以及高等教育组织，使用XR学习模拟进行教学的软件和专业开发涵盖各种职业可能性(Ii)与我们的组织合作伙伴合作进行需求评估联系North/Nord，以确定哪些职业培训差距可以通过XR学习模拟有效地解决(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提升技能内容(Iv)开发和试点XR创业计划，该计划孵化移动和远程加速器能力，以构建社区内的资产和内容创作和交付人才管道。

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.