Proposal

From what I have learned so far of Participatory culture is that people are now more connected to each other than ever. This is not some cheesy cliche, but the truth. The way we digest our information has already rapidly changed on the internet from a read and click a hyperlink to a read, comment, argue, and create own website to argue point. While people are definitely connecting with each other more often than they used too there still is a lack of something that I would deem vitally important for the future. That something in physical contact. There is so much to be said about having a conversation with someone or learning from some in real life than opposed to the internet. We have made great strides with technology to help with these downsides,  such as face-time or learning environments such as code academy, but these tech still do not convey the sense of being there that is necessary. I terms of conciseness I will present my proposal for school settings, because that is where I would deem this the most.  Online learning will become something much greater than what it is today in the very near future and there will be people of all types wanting to do it. What scares me the most would be highschools relying so much on high school learning that they are able to cut a day out of the week for classes to be held online  or a person who thinks they can just get a degree online and they are prepared. It would be ridiculous to get a degree in business online with out having properly socialized with other business majors. Classes in school are supposed to be where you learn how to deal with different personality types. So when you graduate you have already interacted with enough business minded people that you can build your senses on other people and when they might help/harm you. Online you cant face chat with someone and expect to understand physical nuances of the body that present themselves while someone is talking Or as an art student you need to develop an awareness of other students to help reflexively look at your self and ask how you can improve. I truly think virtual reality within the next 20-50 years is going to help with some of the physical contact issues.  We have just now started to develop virtual reality with big money behind- like Sony and Facebook big money. Many people that have tried these new technology have truly been awe struck. Once what was thought a stupid gimmick is now making serious tracks in the field. Though video games are the priority for these systems now, Mark Zuckerberg has seen the social implications that this technology could have. Which led to him buying the oculus rift. With 3d technology just on the cusp of photo realism, one could imagine a virtual class room where kids are all hooked up with their at home VR equipment that the house hold uses like an ipad or an apple tv. The students most finite details are tracked from a small muscle twitch in her left leg to a dilated pupils in his eyes. A child could go into this virtual class room with all of his or her classmates and sitting in on the same lecture or It could be as simple as a realtime 3d scanned room which would still enable the child or children to see their their teacher as if they were still in class. Aside from physical contact issues virtual reality would be an amazing tool to truly engage active learning in many fields.  Imagine a Kinesthesiology lab  where the students can see a virtual body run and click layers off to see what muscles are activated or a pre-med student practicing surgery on a highly realistic virtual body. In conclusion, virtual reality will help improve the physical contact people need in a learning environment and help improve more engagement in many type of classes.