The VictoryXR Show

Steve Grubbs: Welcome everybody to the Victory XR podcast. I’m Steve Grubbs, the CEO
of Victory XR, and today we have two great guests, two people I’ve gotten to know and am
very excited to have on. First is Dan Mintz, who is the department chair for IT, Information
Technology at the University of Maryland Global Campus. And then second is Andrew
Sedillo, and Andrew is the instructional design lead at New Mexico State University, and he
leads the digital learning, which falls under exactly what we do, which is immersive learning,
particularly in a synchronous manner.
Both of these schools have digital twin campuses, which is interesting, because the
University of Maryland global campus has no actual physical campus, we’ll talk a little bit
about that. But also, both of these schools launched classes in the fall of 2022, and so we’re
going to explore how that’s going, and try to learn some things as we move forward. So, Dan,
let’s start with you, tell us first of all, what your role is at UMGC, and then talk a little bit
about why you are involved with immersive learning.
Daniel Mintz: So, my day job is I’m in charge of an academic department, and my
department is responsible for all the degree programs in information technology at the
undergraduate and graduate level. So, that’s my day job. One of my programs has, for
example, does web and digital design. The reason I mention that is, they have a certificate in
how to create and used augmented and virtual reality objects.
We decided to build on that, and was given permission by our dean and the chief academic
Officer to go ahead and set up a project to experiment with implementing augmented reality
and virtual reality content across the university. And I’m in charge of that program, and we
have a whole set of people who, as almost a volunteer second job level are putting together
this program across the university.
Steve Grubbs: That’s awesome, Andrew good and talk a little bit about your role at New
Mexico State, and then why you have chosen to get involved with immersive learning.
Andrew Sedillo: Yeah, so, I have a combination of two major roles that’s, um, related to
immersive learning. So, I’m the instructional design lead for the digital learning team, and I
oversee NMSU on demand, which is NMSU Workforce Development programs. So, what we
do is we offer micro credentials about just pretty much anything that you can imagine. And
for me, uh, especially working in corporate at my previous position. Immersive technology
was definitely something that we were exploring, and I know a lot of organizations have
started doing it as well for their learning and development programs to train their employees.
So, it’s was something that’s always been of interest to me within digital learning. Our Vice
provost, Sherry Coleman, she was very much a big supporter of using some type of virtual

But for that, we’re setting up a crime scene, where there’ll be a victim, blood spatters,
potentially fingerprints, other clues that’ll be randomly generated, so, if they can do it
multiple times with different setups. That’s something that would be almost impossible to do
in any environment, so, there are educational experiences that an immersive environment can
do, that you don’t get in just a pure online, where you’re reading text, or you’re interfacing
with people in a Zoom session or something like that.
The second thing is, I think all the schools that have gone online find that most of the
students are very happy with the flexibility and schedule they get, that allows them to control
the timing of the education. But there is a segment of students that lose a certain connection
with the educational process, and with the institution. And so, we think there’s a second
component that will be true of all universities, or all educational institutions that are
interfacing to their students online, where you get a much deeper relationship that comes into
place, because it’s this virtual connection, the synchronous interaction.
Our first class, our speech 100 class, which did not inherently have immersive simulations or
things like that. The feedback we got from our students was they had a much deeper
relationship with the other students, which was an interesting result, a much deeper
relationship with the faculty member felt much more connected to the educational process.
So, those would be the two main reasons, both educational content, but also a relationship
engagement issue that I think the online universities have to deal with.
Steve Grubbs: Got it, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And Andrew, I’m not really familiar
with how much online or remote learning there is at New Mexico State. Do you primarily use
yours for students who are remote learners, or on campus learner?
Andrew Sedillo: Yeah, so this fall we actually used it for two remote learner situations. So,
we actually have NMSU online, which we do have full online programs. And then part of the
unit that I work for, which is the instructional design team as well, is what we’re doing is, we
work with instructors which serve as our subject matter experts to enhance the learning
experiences for our students. Especially for those who are transitioning from bringing their
typical live courses into an online setting, that’s where virtual reality has been awesome.
My experience, I got to experience firsthand as the instructor, because it was actually in my
class, as one of the courses that was part of this launch. So, just like what Dan said, I’ve
taught for about over 5 years now as an adjunct, and my students are all remote, and this
semester was so different, it felt different, especially when I would interact with my students.
Of course, we’d always do it through web conferencing, but actually having on our virtual
reality headsets, our ocular or twos, every week we’d meet for one hour
every week, and we’d actually engage in this virtual space. And I felt that that social piece
was so different, it actually felt that I was really meeting with my students one on one, that
was a lot of feedback I received from them as well. Some of them have never even attended a

course on main campus ever, and this was their first interaction with another student in that
way, and they thought that it just enhanced their entire learning experience.
And then just like what Dan said, I mean, that connection between actually doing something,
that thing was amazing. I’ve created online activities, where my students engage in
discussions, where they complete actual assignments, where they even present through web
conferencing, but I was able to actually create actual scenarios and learning experiences in
which they can then go into, and actually do something, it was incredible, especially being
someone who’s, they’re all going to be future teachers.
So, for example, one activity that I actually had them do was they presented within our digital
twin campus an actual lesson that they would provide students in a real classroom. And we
sat down, they went ahead, and they went through that entire lesson, and it gave them that
experience that like Dan said, they never would be able to get, especially because it’s a 300
level course, and eventually they’re going to transition into more of a practicum, or courses in
which they’re actually going to be in a practicum.
But this was a great way for them to actually practice, and then actually, and I was able to
actually have conversations with them and coach them through things, unlike anything I’ve
ever been able to do in an online space. So, that was just my experience that I’m talking on,
but we also had another instructor, which is Gabby Phillips, and she taught a nutrition course
also online, and it was actually a diet internship in which he was able to meet with students.
And the next semester we actually have an engineering course, and I’ll get the other name,
but we have two courses launching again in spring, and we’re really excited about…