Special report on learning with 3-D video

Stansbury, M. (2009) eSN Special report: Learning in 3D eSchool News, December 11

Will three-dimensional video be the next flavour of the month in educational technology? Quite possibly.

Costs of creating and showing 3-D video have dropped dramatically – under $700 for projection/viewing. Throw in 3-D sound and you are running up to $8,000 on the ‘show’ side towards the top end. However, the real costs are going to be on the content production side, and we run into the same problems here as with educational gaming: is the market big enough to justify the investment?

The other challenge as always is pedagogy. What are the educational benefits and how will 3-D be integrated in the curriculum? I think in terms of educational benefits, it’s really easy to make the case. Many concepts that we deal with in educational are three dimensional, and students would certainly get a deeper understanding of many concepts if they can be displayed three-dimensionally. However, it is also important in higher education at least to be able to move from the concrete to the abstract and back again, so the teaching challenge will remain.

This is a report well worth reading if you are interested in being on the cutting edge of educational technology – but remember, you often bleed on the cutting edge.