ACCY 199 Leadership

SOC 396

Parkland College Visitors

Woods Journalism Course

Fashion Illustration Students

Academy High Visit

Unity Workshop

Psychology Faculty Visit

Low and High-Tech VR Workshop

Art and Design Course

Digital Humanities Fellows

ISchool Grad Students

Dansk Visitors

La Casa Visit

Illini Esports & The Innovation Studio

Sadler Course Visit

Power of Presentation

BADM 449

CEF Club

Aranoff Neuro Course

Bullock ID Course

Kindall ID Course

Konan University

French Courses Fall 2019

French Courses Fall 2019

STAMP Scholars

Tait Johnson ARCH Course

Steam Studio

VR Club

VR Demo Day

JOUR Course

Zhejiang University Visit

Second Grade Field Trip

Recently, we hosted a class of second graders from Barkstall Elementary School to visit our innovation spaces and try out our technology. It was a great time for everyone!

International Guests

During Summer 2019, CITL’s Innovation Spaces have been happy to host many guests from universities around the world who are interested in using technology to enhance learning. Here are some photos from these visits that highlight our relationship with other educational institutions across the globe!

Faculty Summer Institute 2019

This Summer, CITL team members gave a talk on virtual reality capabilities at the Faculty Summer Institute in the iHotel. They were joined by Andrew Wilson, a University High School teacher who is using Virtual Reality to engage his history students.  

Cornerstone Home Schoolers

Thirteen home-schooled students took time away from their studies to visit the Innovation Spaces to explore laser cutting, 3D printing and virtual reality.    

VR Lab Open Hours

The newly formed UIUC Virtual Reality Club held their first VR Open Lab Hours in April.  If you’re interested in joining the VR Club contact the club president Siwen at siwenw2@illinois.edu  

Ebertfest Film Festival

Staff from CITL’s Innovation Spaces demonstrated Virtual Reality to festival goers at the 2019 Ebertfest Film Festival. An added feature of this year’s festival will be virtual reality demonstrations on the plaza outside the Virginia Theatre in between films on April 12, hosted by the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning at the U. […]

Playful by Design Symposium 2019

The Armory Innovation Spaces were happy to help host the second annual Playful be Design on April 5th.

ATLAS VR Classroom Designs

CITL staff was asked to consult on the design of a new virtual reality classroom in the Foreign Language Building. This new space is scheduled to open to support a number of vr-related courses in the Fall of 2019.  When completed the room will host ANTH 399 – Virtual Archeology as well as the Beginning […]

David Hoptman Visit

Artist and photographer David Hoptman visited campus to consult on a Nature and VR Lab research project. Read more about David’s work on LinkedIn

VR@Illinois Whitepaper

Working collaboratively with Technology Services and University Library staff, we developed a virtual reality white paper to help our campus think strategically about VR for education. read the draft version of the VR white paper here

HKPU Visit

Hong Kong Polytechnic University Visit to the Innovation Spaces during Spring 2019.

VR Flight Simulator Up and Running

CITL has successfully worked with AFROTC Detachment 190 to establish a VR flight simulator program to help cadets gain basic aviation understanding without having to pay for expensive flight hours. Last week, the program opened to cadets to sign up and come in for their first flights. The program requires cadets to take a quiz […]

Urbana Middle School Visit

Photos from the Spring 2019 Urbana Middle School Field Trip to the CITL Innovation Spaces.

Agora Days

VR Lab representatives offered an Immersive Media mini course during Uni High School Agora days.  

ATLAS Partnerships

Beginning in the Spring of 2019 CITL’s VR Lab partnered with ATLAS to experiment with providing 20 Oculus GO headsets to support Beginning and Intermediate French courses.  French students visit the Innovation Studio to use the headsets to experience Mondly and Wander to explore the potential of these technologies to support immersive language learning.

Learning French in VR

A collection of photos from a Spring 2019 French class where students used VR to enhance language learning.

UIUC Virtual Reality Club

The UIUC Virtual Reality Club emerged on campus in the Spring of 2019.  To join the VR Club visit http://go.illinois.edu/vrclub

VR in Journalism by Ramiro Ferrando

Ramiro Ferrando, a Journalism student at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, created a website about virtual reality in journalism. The website features a video where Jamie and Jim talk about virtual reality. Journalism & Virtual Reality Website

CITL/ROTC VR Flight Simulator

CITL is proud to announce the creation of a Flight  Simulator Lab as part of the Virtual Reality Lab. In partnership with UIUC’s AFROTC Detachment 190, the lab will soon be available for cadets and midshipmen to practice flying aircraft in immersive Virtual Reality. The new simulator experience utilizes an Oculus Rift headset running on […]

VR Review: The Stanford Ocean Acidification Experience

The Stanford Ocean Acidification Experience (SOAE) is a VR program from Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. SOAE is a Steam-based VR experience aimed at creating awareness and education about how climate change is effecting the world’s oceans. Throughout the experience, users participate in different roles, first learning about the chemistry of ocean acidification, then transitioning […]

Daily Illini Features VR Workshop

Daily Illini staff writer Shreya Goel focused her recent story on an upcoming virtual reality workshop offered through the TechHub on November 27th. “The purpose of this workshop is to expose visitors to the basics of virtual reality and how to dive into it in different ways,” Chapa said. “This relates to our series in […]

Virtual Archaeology in the News

CITL and the VR Lab are excited to be partnering to support alpha testing of a virtual cave dig experience with Laura Shackelford, Anthropology. Her course, Virtual Archaeology, is scheduled to debut in Spring 2019. More information about this project from the University of Illinois News Bureau is linked below. https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/717299    

U of I Extension Conference

CITL’s VR Lab participated in the conference imaginarium session that provided a space for 375 conference attendees to experience a place where their minds can expand and soar, where innovation, curiosity, and creativity are encouraged and where learning and problem solving can occur.

360° Rio Pollution Video Review

In this video, I talk about why TIME’s 360° Rio Pollution Video wasn’t effective, and what they could have done to make the experience more enjoyable and educational overall.   Link to the Experience (YouTube)

Professor Kasten’s Course Visit

Professor Anna Kasten returned to the Innovation Spaces this time with her class of 16 Saudi students.

CalcFlow

CalcFlow is an immersive environment that puts you front and center with tough topics such as 3D calculus and electromagnetism. This tool can help to teach and visualize topics from surface integrals to electron orbitals to vector fields. CalcFlow is a valuable resource for anyone working with 3D phenomena. https://nanome.ai/calcflow/

Biostatistics in VR

Professor Charles Linville sent students studying biostatistics to the VR Lab to explore Sharecare VR and Google Earth.    

360° Battle of Waterloo Video Review

The 360° Battle of Waterloo experience proves how informative and captivating VR videos can be. In these 2 minutes, you are taken through a reenactment of this historical battle, all through an up close and personal view, and you can see first hand what war looked like 200 years ago. The 360° footage enabled a wider […]

1943 Berlin Blitz

1943 Berlin Blitz is an immersive VR experience narrated by an original BBC recording of a bombing run on Berlin in 1943. This experience puts you front and center in one of the tensest times in recent history as you witness the dramatic reality that was aerial warfare in World War II. https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/berlin-blitz-vr

Teaching Archaeology through Virtual Reality – LAS Teaching Academy

Digitally-empowered Learning: Teaching Archaeology through Virtual Reality and Game-Based Learning Professor Laura Shackelford discusses her NSF-sponsored project to develop an immersive, interactive, room-scale virtual reality (VR) archaeological site. The technology and curriculum enable faculty to teach the physical methods of archaeological excavation by providing the setting and tools for a student to actively engage in […]

The Protectors, Walk in the Ranger’s Shoes 360° Video Review

Link to the Experience (YouTube)

Uni High Students Explore 3D Modeling & Virtual Reality

Andy Wilson discusses how he has introduced VR in his freshman World History class at Uni High. Read more here.        

VR Demo at Law Library Resource Fair

Law students explore the legal applications of virtual reality during the Law Library Research Expo on October 30th at the College of Law.

Lincoln Land Community College Visit

Sharecare|VR Immersive Human Biology

 Sharecare|VR lets you explore human anatomy in an immersive environment. Here, you can interact with the different organ systems and examine their internal structures and operations. This application even shows the effects of different health conditions on the body and can put you up close as you get a first person view from inside […]

Career Center Visit

Representatives from the Career Center visit the TechHub and VR Lab to learn about 3D printing and explore VR.

Waymo 360° Video Review

Link to the experience (YouTube)

Aaron Brakke Architecture Class Visit

Professor Brakke brought his architecture students to tour the TechHub and VR Lab as part of this studio course called Museum of Future Pasts. His students are working on a cultural center that incorporates tradional notions of a museum program, but also new media with technologies like VR and AR.

Student Sustainability Committee Grant Proposal

CITL’s VR Lab staff is involved in a grant proposal with faculty members Cory Pettijohn and Matt Browning to tell the story of climate change using 360-video.  If awarded, we will provide student teams the opportunity to create a 360-video project focused on issues of sustainability pertinent to the midwest. We’ll also make GoPro Fusion […]

Making Video Essays Course Visit

Professor Oyallon-Koloski brought her Media and Cinema Studies students to the VR Lab to explore 360 video.

Michigan State Visitor

It was great to have Monika Dressier from the University of Michigan stop by to check out the Armory Innovation Spaces.

Education 101 Visitors

80 freshman education students in EDUC 101 toured the Innovation Spaces to explore how emerging technologies are being used in education.

Professor Sadler Course Visit

Professor Randy Sadler and his students visited the VR Lab to explore applications for language learning in virtual reality ImmerseMe – https://immerseme.co/ Mondly Languages – https://www.oculus.com/experiences/gear-vr/1272636489423125/ VirtualSpeech – https://virtualspeech.com/language . . . and play some Kitty Rescue.

Illinois Business Council RSO

Members of the Illinois Business Council RSO stopped by to take a look at the technologies available at the TechHub and VR Lab.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

Student teams from Phil Anderson’s business administration course stop by to play Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.                  

Undergrad Admissions Staff Experience VR

Visitors from the Data Analysis and Systems Services team stopped by the VR Lab to try out a variety of VR Experiences.

Testing the Virtual Cave

The VR Lab is currently assisting in early testing of a virtual cave dig for Professor Laura Shackelford. Students are encouraged to sign up for a 30 minute session to complete a short VR lesson and respond to survey questions. Sign up here to participate.

Pygmalion Learn Demo

CITL Innovation Spaces took part in Pygmalion’s Learn Demo for the second year.                  

Zhe Jiang Tour

Guests from Zhe Jiang University visit the Innovation Spaces to explore the use of emerging technologies and virtual reality in higher education.  

Archeology VR Experience

Professor Laura Shackelford, working with campus colleagues, has developed an educational VR experience for students. CITL’s VR Lab will support alpha testing of this experience during the Fall 2018 term.  

CITL Innovation Spaces Year 01

More than 2000 visitors came through the Innovation Spaces in our first year of operation.  Take a look at our annual report at Infogram for details.

Pettijohn 360º Video Project

CITL was happy to consult with Professor Cory Pettijohn to help prepare for his filming of a 360º video aboard the SSV Corwith Cramer  to use in both his GEOL 117 – The Oceans course and also for recruiting students into this study abroad opportunity.

Lebanese Fulbright Scholars

Seven visiting Fulbright scholars from Lebanon visit the Armory Innovation Spaces to explore emerging technologies like 3D scanning and VR.

Mahomet High School Faculty

Mahomet-Seymour High School faculty and administrators visited the Innovation Spaces on July 11th to explore emerging technologies and their educational applications.

iSTEAM Summer Program

Young students interested in architecture, on campus for the Summer iSteam program, visited the Innovation Spaces to investigate the intersection of architect and virtual reality.    

Upward Bound Visit

Students from the OSMA Upwards Bound Program visited the Innovation Spaces in June.

MACS 323 Immersive Media Course

MACS 323 Introduction to Immersive Media was offered for the first time in Spring 2018. This course offered 20 undergrads from a variety of disciplines the opportunity to explore immersive technologies and 360º video production. VR Timeline Final projects included: 360º narrative video Google Tilt Brush explorations 360º time lapse videos

Journalism Student Interview on Virtual Reality

Liam Dwyer

AIS Spaces on Google Maps

Click here to see the streetview image of the TechHub

360 Cameras and Virtual Reality

Playful by Design

The 1st Annual Playful by Design Spring Symposium, was held on April 5th-7th, 2018 at the Armory Innovation Spaces

Human Interact Demos Starship Commander

Human Interact Website

CITL’s Armory Innovation Spaces

The Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning opened the newly renovated Armory Innovation Spaces in the Fall of 2017. Stop by to see the TechHub, Innovation Classroom, VR Lab, and Innovation Studio.

Visualizing the Protein Database

This prototype VR experience was created by Kishore Adimulam for demonstration in the VR Lab.

Using VR to Acquire Phrasal Verbs

“The main pillars of VR being built on are: immersion, sensory feedback, authenticity, and interaction. The first three features are dependent upon interaction to be able to be properly implemented (Dawley, 2007). These features make VR an ideal tool for second language acquisition as they can enhance immersion, promote interaction, and can provide a more […]

IEI students visit AIS

Professor Anna Kasten brought her students from Japan to visit the AIS spaces.

MACS Course Visit

Professor C.L. Cole visited the ais to show her sports media students how VR is being used in sporting events.

Active Teaching and Learning with Virtual Reality

In this short video vignette Professor Cory Pettijohn discusses his use of virtual reality within his courses.

VR Photo Tour of India

Kishore Adimulam visited India over the winter break and shot a series of 360º photos using the Ricoh Theta. This prototype virtual India tour was created by Kishore using Unity.

Journalism Course Visit

Professor Charles Ledford (Stretch) brought his multimedia journalism students to the Armory Innovation Spaces to experience Virtual Reality and 360 Video. Students had the chance to view 360 video narratives in the TechHub and VR Lab and also try out the Theta S and GoPro Fusion 360 cameras while visiting the Studio.    

Sports Media Course Visit

Professor John Lewis brought his sports media course to the Innovation Spaces to see how virtual reality is being used within a variety of sporting events. AIS staff created a YouTube playlist highlighting 360 videos and students also explored the Vive VR headset to view a variety of experiences.  

Future Freshmen Visit AIS

Professor Anna Kasten’s class of 15 ‘Future Freshman’ here on a STEM scholarship from Saudi Arabia, visited the Armory Innovation Spaces where they experimented with touch screen technology, virtual reality, 360 photography, 3d printing and more. Student teams also had the chance to defuse a virtual bomb playing Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes on the Vive […]

Zhejiang University

As part of their recent visit to UIUC campus, traveling scholars from Zhejiang University toured the Armory Innovation Spaces to learn more about how digital textbooks, virtual reality and 3d scanning and printing technologies are being used within higher education.

i-STEM Article Features Armory Innovation Spaces

The i-STEM education initiative featured an article on the Armory Spaces supporting an after-school STEM program with the Next Generation School. “The Illinois VR Lab they visited is part of CITL’s (Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning)iFLEX initiative to build active learning classrooms around campus. In the case of the cave unit, the technology allowed the kids […]

Dental Dog

We’ve been exploring the possibility of bringing an existing 3D model of a dog skull into Unity for viewing through the HTC Vive headset. CITL partnered with the College of Vet Med to create the original interactive pdf for use by students within the online Dentistry Modules. VR Lab employee, Kishore Adimulam, made great progress […]

Experience theBlu for Extra Credit

At least one course has taken advantage of the VR Lab this semester by offering students an opportunity to earn extra credit by viewing and writing about the virtual experience titled theBlu.  

ESL Course Visit

Calen Gutwein, Teaching Assistant from the Intensive English Institute, brought her ESL class of about 20 students to see and experience VR as a class activity.  

Media Course Visit

Professor Veronica Paredes brought her media students to the VR Lab, Innovation Studio and TechHub to investigate the intersection of virtual reality and gaming.

Education Course Visit

Linquistics Course Visit

Randy Sadler, Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, brought his course to visit the TechHub, VR Lab and Innovation Studio to learn more about how emerging technology is being used in higher education.

Five Labs to Love at UIUC

The Technology Entrepreneur Center was kind enough to include the new Armory Innovation Spaces in their review of labs to love at UIUC. “The Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning has now opened their new Armory Innovation Spaces! These high-tech, interactive hubs are designed to give students AND faculty a place to foster their […]

Playful by Design Visit the Armory

Playful by Design is a IPRH supported research cluster that focuses on games, platforms and pedagogies designed to foster empathy, to facilitate the attainment of cultural, digital, and linguistic fluencies, and to promote collaborative authorship and digital inclusion through the Public Humanities. They also hope to generate creativity, energy, and excitement around the possible development of […]

Pygmalion Tech Demo

DEMO is a full evening of the latest developments from local companies and student developers showcasing everything from wearables, 3D printing, virtual reality, video games, robotics, and more. See a list of participants at www.thepygmalionfestival.com/tech/demo.

Armory Innovation Spaces Open House

Join the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning as we celebrate the completion of our new open-air office and innovation spaces in the northeast corner of the Armory.  Spaces will be open for tours and hands-on activities. Stop by to enjoy free beverages and snacks throughout the day from 10am-4pm on September 12th, 13th and […]

Daily Illini Recognizes the new Armory Innovation Spaces

The Daily Illini published an article titled Armory Innovation Spaces reimagine the classroom experience. “The Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning worked with different disciplines across campus to help develop these innovative classrooms that focus on enabling faculty to teach more effectively, and to give students an outlet to engage in more productive learning.” […]

Open Hours Begin at the VR Lab

Beginning on September 5, 2017, the new CITL Virtual Reality Lab begin offering 30 minute HTC Vive sessions for anyone interested. Reserve your 30 session in the VR Lab at go.illinois.edu/vrlab