Todd Ogle: Applying Immersive Environments and Simulations to Content Creation and Education at Virginia Tech

In this week's episode of the Future Construct Podcast (23 min interview), we are excited to feature Todd Ogle, PhD, Executive Director of the Applied Research in Immersive Experiences and Simulations (ARIES) program at Virginia Tech (@virginia_tech), and our host Amy Peck (@AmyPeckXR). Todd and Amy were able to catch up at the 2022 Geo Week conference (@GeoWeekExpo) in Denver earlier this year to record this episode. We look forward to seeing you at Geo Week 2023, and you can keep up to date on all the Geo Week News here!

Highlights of Todd’s interview with host Amy Peck (@AmyPeckXR) include:

Some of the challenges Todd has found in leveraging reality technology and utilizing cross-functionality and how he overcame them using technologyDifficulties in developing and processing renderings of a particular village projectHow some projects predate newer optimizations tools, and the industry is beginning to revisit them while determining if there are industry standards yetExciting new developments in the world of technology and his ideal product for the future

In his role at Virginia Tech, Todd leads the program, which applies immersive environments and simulations to the content creation and educational programs provided by the University Libraries, such as:

Content to be held in the University Library’s learning object repository, OdysseyUniversity Library instruction and student digital literacy programsOpen educational resource creationResearch and institutional data visualizationDigital Collections-building and Digital Humanities

The ARIES program supports applied research that brings together industry
partners, faculty, and students interested in the cognitive and affective aspects of
learning in immersive environments, games, simulations for training and
performance support, and more. It provides a destination for students to discover,
create and share their own creations in the form of games, simulations, VR and AR experiences for learning and entertainment while having the informal interactions with interested peers, faculty, industry partners, and external researchers that are so valuable for student development.

SHOW NOTES

0:12  Amy Peck introduces Todd Ogle, Executive Director of the Applied Research in Immersive Experiences and Simulations (ARIES) program at Virginia Tech.

02:06  This project is one of the perfect use cases, leveraging augmented reality and virtual reality, and utilizing cross functionality. What are some of the challenges you've found, and how did you overcome them using technology?

10:26  So give us somewhat of a snapshot of this project you've been working on. I've been so impressed with how you're looking at open source and leveraging it wherever you can, and how important that is, so I'd love to hear your perspective.

12:38  So you had two former students who are out there in the wild, working in the industry, and you know, there are a lot of tools. Some of the renderings you shared of the village really looked fantastic, but it was not an easy process. Can you talk about that?

16:54  One of your students was talking about the different levels of decimation. Some of these projects were long before some of these optimizations tools were even out there,

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