The Washington, DC-based XR Association announced recently it had formed its Education Working Group (EWG) tasked with developing immersive technologies and solutions for academic environments.
The EWG will kick off on Thursday, 23 June and will unite professionals across the industry to develop best practices for educators using XR technologies in health and inclusive working.
Jonathan Teske, Meta Platforms’ Future of Education Lead, will chair the Group staffed by Stephanie Montgomery, Vice-President of Research and Best Practices for the XRA.
The event comes amid the organisation’s ongoing “Developers Guide: An Industry-Wide Collaboration for Better XR” series, which is set to publish later in the year, and will follow a previous panel discussion between the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Street and the XRA.
#ICYMI: At #AWE2022, XRA’s Stephanie Montgomery, joined panelists from @IncMoonbeam @XRAccess and @PEATWorks to discuss #inclusive design of #AR & #VR hardware, applications and content.
Sign up to watch the recording to learn more:https://t.co/piXh7ihbST
— XR Association (@XRAssociation) June 15, 2022
The Washington, DC-based association will also work with the EWG amid its partnership with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to survey roughly 500 educators and staff about their thoughts on XR technologies in the classroom, the organisation explained in a statement.
According to the organisation, all XRA member representatives can join the EWG, and the latter is currently seeking new voices to explore the XR education sector.
Montgomery said in a statement,
“The XR market has tripled over the past 5 years with many deployments in the enterprise space. Exposing youth to tools they will find in the workplace is essential to growing the workforce and the economy. By bringing together XRA members focused on the responsible use of immersive technologies in the classroom, we will help reduce barriers to the use of the technology and improve educational outcomes”
XRA’s Growing Membership and Goals
The news comes just a month after ten tech firms joined the XRA to expand the ongoing global ecosystem of immersive companies and their solutions.
The efforts come amid a massive push for best practices for the industry along with efforts to boost interoperability, compliance, and innovation, among others, as firms build fresh use cases for XR.
The XRA lauded the rise in membership as a “testament to the XR’s increasing role in positively changing the way people live, work and learn,” namely after three major global tech giants — Accenture, Qualcomm, and Unity — also entered the organisation as association members.
