Happy New Year everyone. 2019 was a great year for eTV with lots of projects and operations contributing to teaching and learning excellence at RRC.

2020 comes in with another exciting initiative for eTV and CLPE, most notably the design and construction of an immersion room for teaching, learning, and research at RRC. An immersion room allows for the projection of images on all four walls of an environment (or dome structure) to fully immerse participants in a 360-degree sensory experience. The experience is similar to Virtual Reality but can be conducted in a collaborative environment for presentation or simulation exercises. For example, a Paramedicine student can practice stabilizing a patient in dark allay with sirens and traffic noise blaring or a student who is afraid of public speaking can practice their skills with a simulated audience before having to step in front of a real one. The opportunities for simulation and presentation are endless: safety, onboarding, data analysis, travel, art, architecture, construction, history, anatomy, technology, etc. From the photos below you can see we’re just in the beginning stages of pulling this tech together. The plan is for a room, approximately 9.5 by 9.5 metres (to be housed in Studio B), that will allow for some amazing sensory experiences in a collaborative environment. So, stay tuned or contact us for further details. Cheers!

Also check out the two videos below that show what an Immersion Room can look like and how it can be used for teaching and research (courtesy of CBC The Nature of Things).

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We hope you all had a great summer. Here in eTV it has been a busy and productive summer. In June, we presented our Disability Awareness Course at the annual Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) conference. We spent a large part of the summer working with some fantastic people producing for a series around Truth and Reconciliation. We’re also super happy to be part of the Mybabymanitoba.ca project which sends weekly positive, engaging, evidence-based messages to young expectant and new parents in Manitoba (click on the link for more info). We also put together a piece for the Building Envelope Technology Access Center about product research and material application to control air leakage in masonry walls. Over the last few days we’ve been a part of the Red River Ready event for new college students with an offering of VR tours of the EDC and NDC campuses. On Aug 26th, the new terms of our Nursing and Paramedics streaming programs will begin and we’re super excited to be working with Manitoba Public Insurance, Continuing Education, and Corporate Solutions on the delivery of Driver Instructor Training with some of our new symmetrical streaming technologies. Lots of things happening and much more to come with eTV and the Center for Learning and Program Excellence. If you have any questions and interest please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you. Cheers!

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The beginning of 2019 has certainly presented some new and exciting opportunities for eTV/CLPE. We completed our first Ojibway Language course, streamed out to Pine Creek First Nation with the School of Indigenous Education (SIE), that included some fun experiences with bingo and bannock. Our streaming program continues to grow and accommodate new users with accessibility features including closed captioning and interpreters. Our winter convocation stream reached over 20 countries and over 1000 viewers. The purchase and installation of symmetrical streaming technologies (for real-time two-way video/audio communication between users) promises some great opportunities for teaching, learning, and communications at RRC.

On the production front, eTV traveled to Opaskwayak Cree Nation for a production that focuses on developmentally appropriate practices for nursery and kindergarten classrooms. While there we also captured some awesome 360° video footage of the Trappers Festival in The Pas – stay tuned for that. Our Indigenous education video series is well under way with videos promoting Social Enterprise, Community Economic Development, and Languages courses within SIE.

Over the past few months, we presented a VR tour of selected RRC locations at the 2019 Rotary Career Symposium and flew drones in the south gym with grade 12 students from Garden City Collegiate, in conjunction with RRC Teacher Education. In addition, two eTV staff members just returned from the National Association of Broadcasters Convention, which is the largest show for media and technology in North America. Lots of fantastic technology there that has tremendous potential for teaching and learning innovation at RRC.

So a lot of things continue to happen here in eTV – as always feel free to contact us if you’re interested in hearing more or stay tuned to this site and our Facebook page for further updates.

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2018 was certainly a busy year for eTV with many exciting initiatives serving Red River College, community and industry. We were very fortunate to work with partners who took us from remote indigenous communities to virtual reality worlds that offer incredible teaching and learning experiences. On this journey we worked collaboratively to create materials for the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre, a Disability Awareness Course, 360 videos about early child development, RRC recruitment panoramas, Lynda.com initiatives, as well as hundreds of hours of course and informational content that reached out around the world.

In the spring of 2018 we formally became part of the Centre for Learning and Program Excellence which will most certainly present many new opportunities to contribute to RRC’s Vision and Mission. The new year promises to be busy and exciting as well with technologies, partnerships, and projects that help define RRC as a leader in post-secondary education. Keep checking in on this site for updates, but for now, we’ll leave you with this piece on Hide Tanning and Drum Making which reminds us what education and community is all about.

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Today ETV was invited to speak about Virtual Reality and Drones for use in the classroom environment at the September MAETL (Manitoba Association of Education Technology Leaders) meeting. ETV was excited to share our knowledge and give educators and technology leaders a chance to experience these technologies in a hands-on way. The event was held at the Louis Riel School Division board offices.

The second 360° interactive campus tour is in production! At the beginning of this month, eTV was at the Stevenson Campus, home of the College’s aviation and aerospace sector, capturing still panoramas of the hangar, workshops, classrooms, and even the inside of a plane. The completed interactive tour will be available on Red River’s site in the coming months. Follow the blog for production updates and to see the completed tour.

This is the second phase of the RRC Interest Area 360° tour project. Developed in partnership with John Conklin of Student Recruitment and the Marketing & Web Presence department, these 360° tours will serve as a recruitment tool for prospective students, allowing them the opportunity to fully explore the diverse campuses and classrooms of Red River College.

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eTV is excited to announce the launch of the first phase of the RRC Interest Area 360° tour project! Developed in partnership with John Conklin of Student Recruitment and the Marketing & Web Presence department, these 360° tours will serve as a recruitment tool for prospective students, allowing them the opportunity to fully explore the diverse campuses and classrooms of Red River College. Hospitality is the first interest area captured, with 360° views of Jane’s and the professional labs and classrooms of the PGI campus.

These tours also showcase eTV’s years of research and development of 360° panoramic photography, with beautiful high-dynamic range (HDR) photos of these locations. In early July, eTV will be capturing the Stevenson Aviation campus, which will be online in the coming months.

Check out the 360° Hospitality tour!

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RRC’s college-wide professional development day, RED Forum, on May 25th, was a busy one for eTV. The day started with live streaming of the morning kick-off featuring a keynote by Dr. Niigaan Sinclair, who discussed advancing student achievement and RRC’s evolving Indigenous framework. eTV contributed to the day with a presentation on the “Practical Uses of Immersive Media” and another joint presentation involving our partnership with the Science of Early Child Development project, “The SECD Journey – Around the World and Back Again”. Often our posts speak to the contribution eTV makes towards the college’s strategic initiatives but for this post we’d like to simply, and with appreciation, draw attention to the talented eTV team who always put in the extra effort to contribute and get stuff done. Cheers team eTV!!

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This month eTV had the exciting opportunity to attend and participate in the Streaming Media East (SME) conference in New York City. SME is a three day long conference/workshop that brings together the world’s leading organizations and experts in live streaming delivery, such as Netflix, Google, and Facebook to present and discuss the latest in streaming technology and innovation.

The insight gained at the conference is extremely relevant to Red River College’s current strategic initiatives in increasing flexible learning options for students and broadening access to course content and materials. eTV has been utilizing streaming technology for over 10 years in course areas like Nursing, Paramedicine, and adult education with tremendous success. Given the increasing demand for agile and blended learning throughout the College, these workshops, demos, and discussions with industry leaders provided an opportunity to further explore and expand on the significant potential of this technology, as eTV continues to be a leader in streaming technology for Red River College.

If you have ideas or questions about live streaming, eTV invites you to come to visit our department to further chat and explore these options!

eTV is excited to have recently completed a promotional video for Red River College’s upcoming Directions Conference, February 8, 2018 at Canad Inns Polo Park.

What is the Directions Conference?

The Directions Conference connects Red River College students in Business and Applied Arts with industry professionals in many areas of business. Keynote speakers, breakout informational sessions and the popular round table networking event combine into a rich and rewarding experience for both students and employers.

Check out the video:

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