ViewSonic Partners With New Taipei City to Build the World's First Citywide Education Metaverse
We have observed that current online learning faces numerous challenges, such as a lack of interaction and sense of participation," said Chang Ming-Wen, New Taipei City Education Department Commissioner.
BREA, Calif., June 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solutions, announces its partnership with the New Taipei City Government in Taiwan to jointly promote UNIVERSE by ViewSonic, an immersive 3D virtual environment built for education, to schools at all levels in the city, which will benefit around 400,000 K-12 students. After a successful pilot program at Long Pu Elementary School in New Taipei City, the two parties signed a memorandum of cooperation to assist schools to transform into digital learning environments. This week, ViewSonic also demonstrated UNIVERSE at ISTE Live 22 Conference & Expo in New Orleans, USA.
"New Taipei City has been devoted to digital learning for years. We have observed that current online learning faces numerous challenges, such as a lack of interaction and sense of participation," said Chang Ming-Wen, New Taipei City Education Department Commissioner. "UNIVERSE by ViewSonic simulates real-world interactions. Teachers and students can create personalized avatars to further engage with each other in this 3D space. Moreover, UNIVERSE can also be applied to cross-school teaching, thereby bridging the resource gap between schools. We look forward to having New Taipei City as the world's first city to adopt Metaverse for all levels of education, leading the way for schools all over the world in transforming how we teach and learn digitally."
"Current online education platforms still focus on unidirectional communication. It not only limits the development of interactive courses for educators but also makes it difficult to evaluate student engagement during classes. Students cannot easily interact with peers and are prone to feel isolated," said James Chu, Chairman and CEO of ViewSonic. "UNIVERSE by ViewSonic is the strongest solution to resolve these issues by making online learning feel as if it were in-person. Through the cooperation with New Taipei City, all teachers and students will benefit from the most innovative learning pedagogies."
New Taipei City's Long Pu Elementary School has successfully piloted UNIVERSE by ViewSonic. After completing the course with 30 students on the platform, Shih Hsin-Yuan, a teacher at Long Pu Elementary School said; "Students entered the virtual classroom smoothly. Compared with the previous 2D online teaching tools, the 3D platform brought excitement and anticipation to the classroom, which greatly improves their concentration during class. This was a great encouragement for teachers. We are excited to embark on this journey with our children and see what new horizons this technology will bring!"
UNIVERSE by ViewSonic features immersive virtual learning spaces, such as classrooms, lecture halls, and collaborative spaces. Participants have intuitive and easy-to-use options for different modes of communication, such as true-to-life spatialized audio, chat messages, and emojis. The digital teaching tools allow teachers to share content on the screen, create pop quizzes, and split students into breakout rooms for group discussions. In addition, through the built-in browser, teachers can connect to ViewSonic's myViewBoard platform and use its advanced teaching tools.
At ISTE, UNIVERSE by ViewSonic drew strong interest in learning how a virtual environment can enrich online learning. Visitors to the ViewSonic booth had the opportunity to experience UNIVERSE first-hand. Educators responded favorably to the demo experience – sharing that they found it to be intuitive and easy to use, but at the same time recognized it as a powerful learning tool. Most importantly, they expressed enthusiasm over the possibilities of UNIVERSE in better engaging with their students, facilitating greater discussion and collaboration.
For a first look at UNIVERSE by ViewSonic, please see the video here: https://youtu.be/1CADhEJOdls.
About New Taipei City
Situated in the northern part of Taiwan; New Taipei City has an estimated population of over 3.9 millions and an area of 2052 km2. Given its location advantages, today's New Taipei City is a major city of Business Industries. New Taipei City has been on a mission, stresses on the importance of raising global competitiveness by working closely on industrial, cultural, tourism, transportation and city developments in order to accommodate the global trend; transforming into an international city.
About ViewSonic
Founded in California, ViewSonic is a leading global provider of visual solutions and conducts business in over 100 countries worldwide. As an innovator and visionary, ViewSonic is committed to providing comprehensive hardware and software solutions that include monitors, projectors, pen displays, commercial displays, All-in-One LED displays, ViewBoard interactive displays, and myViewBoard software ecosystem. With over 35 years of expertise in visual displays, ViewSonic has established a strong position for delivering innovative and reliable solutions for education, enterprise, consumer, and professional markets and helping customers "See the Difference." To find out more about ViewSonic, please visit www.viewsonic.com.
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