The Libraries and Museums Technology Working Group, also known as LAM.TWG, is a group of people working together to better incorporate immersive education into libraries and museums. A membership is needed to be a part of this group, and you can apply at http://JiED.org if you meet the requirements. LAM.TWG is looking for members who have real life experience with libraries and museums so that those experiences can be translated into a digital platform. They also are looking for anyone who had experience working with virtual worlds, simulators, and even video games. This way the members can combine real life with virtual reality to create the best possible learning experiences.
As immersive education grows, we can see that libraries and museums are going to need to grow along side it in order to stay relevant. I know from my own experience, Boston College has many wonderful libraries around campus, but I still find myself doing most of my research using the online databases through the BC library website. I think that virtual libraries would be a good balance between libraries staying relevant, but not losing the environment a physical library offers.
The article on LAM.TWG from http://JiED.org talks a lot about bring the library and the museums to the students instead of traveling to the physical buildings. Like the examples given, many students around the world do not always have direct access to libraries and museums, making this project even more exciting. To be able to show students things they may never get to see in real life through immersive education is amazing.
As we watched in the beginning of the semester, virtual field trips to are becoming more popular among school districts that may not have the budget to take 30 students to the museum. Immersive education can fix that budget problem by creating a virtual learning environment similar to what would be going on in a museum. Below is the example we looked at earlier in the semester showing a group of students taking a virtual field trip to the aquarium using immersive education.
Right now I think we are still in the phase of libraries and museums trying to incorporate more technology and digital aspects in the actual buildings. Places like the children museum or the science museum are always adding new exhibits that encourage digital learning. LAM.TWG wants to go beyond that in order to create a virtual space that is more than a website for the museum, but rather a virtual world that allows your avatar to walk around the museum without having the leave the classroom. I think there are definitely pros and cons to this type of learning because seeing something through and screen is always different than seeing it in real life. But, immersive education gives those who may not be able to visit libraries and museums the opportunity to learn through virtual worlds.
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