ThingLink on Tour with VR Bootcamps

This fall I'm excited to travel to locations across the US to launch ThingLink VR Bootcamps!  Like any plan I've ever developed, this plan has layers. It's a complex plan that was built to benefit educators on many levels! 

About ThingLink VR Bootcamp

Our VR Bootcamp was built from the ground up to be useful for all educators. Guided by an understanding of the stages of tech integration and universal design for learning, and powered by pedagogy, this Bootcamp is built for success.

Level I - Working with all Bootcamp Participants

At the most basic level, I am excited to connect with educators and spend 6 hours learning and creating together! I'm eager to experience the excitement that occurs when teachers and coaches realize how seamlessly they can move to the modification and transformation levels of tech integration through the use of an amazing feature called Remix. This feature gives teachers and their students the ability to modify lessons in a couple of clicks and acquire a powerful skill. We've been doing our homework and we can't wait to watch the transformation at the Bootcamps, right in front of our eyes!

Level II - Training-the-Trainers

At each Bootcamp I will be connecting with ThingLink Certified Educators in person to spend an entire day teaching and learning together at the facilitator level. This train-the-trainer model will empower local experts to offer their own ThingLink VR Bootcamps in the area, and it will accelerate the development of local leaders to inspire others to explore the powerful potential and educational value of interactive VR in the classroom. The development of local experts will be great for adoptors of VR at the basic level, and it will open up leadership opportunities, as educators increasingly adopt interactive VR into schools and districts.

Level III - Creating a Published Curriculum of Incredible Content

During our Bootcamps, educators will create content that allows learners to explore the most interesting places on the planet. We'll learn to target instructional goals, collect data, and provide differentiated options within one engaging lesson. We'll address digital citizenship with an emphasis on Creative-Commons licensing and reuse of 360 images for educational purposes. We'll teach participants how to take 360 images with a Ricoh Theta camera and we'll show you how to contribute them to a portal for students and teachers created by Kathy Schrock, called 360 Images for Schools.

Once we've created all of that incredible content, we will share it with each other, and participants can bring it back it to your own teams at your schools for modification and reuse. Schools can begin to design and customize their own VR rich curriculums.

At the end of the Bootcamp, educators will learn about opportunities to fine-tune the lessons based on our criteria and to explore further opportunities to design lessons for us as part of our collection of exemplary lessons that will soon be organized and available on our website.

Find a Bootcamp in Your Backyard

Explore this interactive Professional Development calendar to keep up with Bootcamps as they are scheduled. We are talking with enthusiastic coaches, teachers and administrators every day about scheduling more Bootcamps and we expect to be able to announce additional sessions soon. Be sure to follow us through the social media icons on the calendar!

Bring a Bootcamp to Your Backyard

Please email susan@thinglink.com to offer a training space and Bring a Bootcamp to Your Backyard! We provide our host schools with 5 ThingLink Premium Teacher accounts and complimentary training in appreciation for use of your space.