JCC Computer Science Instructor Jonathan Blair gives overview of new Virtual Reality Room, seen being used by a student on the far right screen (January 29, 2024)
Jamestown Community College has cut the ribbon on a new virtual and augmented reality room in the Sheldon Center.
The college was awarded a $12,500 Innovative Instruction Technology Grant through SUNY to create the room.
Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Jessica Kubiak said JCC has three goals for the project, “The first is to design and build an inclusive learning space that will encourage interactive engagement. The second is to increase student recruitment and enrollment into STEM fields at SUNY JCC through the introduction of cutting edge technology to the community. And third, expand the use and integration of the virtual reality room beyond the Computer Science Department.”
JCC Computer Science Instructor Jonathan Blair said computer science is about imagination and creativity, which got lost when learning went remote during the pandemic, “Technology moves too fast for us to be able to teach them everything that they’re going to need to know ten years from now. What we can teach them is how to play with things and learn new things on their own. And having a system like this where the students can come in and sit down and just explore what’s happening builds that spark back in them.”
Blair said JCC is one of the only schools in Western New York with a full virtual and augmented reality room. He said the goal is to have the room open to every department at the school as well as making it available to local high schools and the community.
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