Designing the Virtual Classroom: The Advent of Tele-Immersion

Posted by admin on Jul 3, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments

               From 1996 to 2001, ANS led and funded the National Tele-Immersion Initiative to connect users at a distance and allow them to play in the same virtual world. Our dream was to create the illusion that people in different places were present in the same room and then let them use any computer backgrounds and simulations they desired to create the reality they chose.

                As builders of the Internet, we saw the potential for this new technology to change the way we learn. Tele-immersion is a technology that does exactly what its name implies: It engages all the senses and totally immerses us in our subject matter. And it can be used to create a variety of scenarios and learning environments. The beauty of tele-immersion is that it involves the whole body and mind in the learning process. Chemistry no longer has to be about memorizing tables and abstract properties. Instead, students can walk into a telecubicle and interact with an atomic structure that’s projected in three-dimension. Using a robotic glove, they can actually feel the forces that hold molecules together.

                Educators believe that tele-immersion will eventually do away with textbooks and allow kids to step inside a problem and see it from the inside out, making learning more visceral and intuitive. It will also engage a greater portion of the brain-not just the area responsible for logic and linear thought but also the areas that deal with spatial relationships and visual and kinesthetic memory.

                Back in the 1996, however, our goal was to create the first national demonstration of the new technology and show how it might enhance creativity and collaboration. As the chief architects and engineering group for Internet2, ANS had access to very high bandwidth, and we were able to use that bandwidth for our experiments. Tele-immersion is the most is the most challenging application of all because it pushes both the speed and the latency (the delay between transmission and reception) of a network to the outer limits.

                As the developers of this technology, we envisioned a brave new world where surgeons would guide their colleagues, and even their robots, through complex operations from a distance. Architects would make major changes in building design without having to go on-site or coordinate five sets of blueprints. Archaeologists would be able to “sit in” on remote digs from the comfort of their living rooms. NASA engineers would be able to address operating problems on a space shuttle from the safety of mission headquarters. This technology would also revolutionize distance education. Our best teachers would reach a larder audience, making eye contact with their viewers. One day telecubicles would be built large enough to accommodate music and theater audiences, because this new technology is capable of conveying all the nuances of a live performance.

                In 2001, the Los Angeles Times predicted that tele-immersion would lead to a new wave of innovation. “The telecubicle offers a glimpse of the Internet of the future-one that will be liberated from computer monitors and infused with the essential sense of sight, sound, and touch. The goal is to create digital worlds where computer-generated avatars will become realistic stand ins for actual people, surround-sound audio will emulate real-life noises, and force-feedback technology will reveal the shape and texture of physical objects across a computer network.”

                ANS spent roughly $10 million to get these new technologies off the ground. And over the past eight years, NSF has invested more that $16 million in tele-immersion, working with the University of Southern California (USC) to make this dream into a reality. At present, USC investigators are studying the details of facial expression-the sly smile, the sarcastic roll of the eyes-so computer models could provide us with better clue about a person’s emotional state. These researchers are also making advances in haptics, or the “technology of touch” that, for example, will allow users of a museum website to feel the surface of a Grecian urn and let online shoppers feel the texture of a coat or shirt. A program called Cybergrasp will also aid in the rehabilitation of stroke patients and provide “visualization exercises” for the blind.

                Tim O’Reilly, a blogger who watches the alpha geeks to determine emerging technology trends, has said, “The network is opening up some amazing possibilities for us to reinvent content, reinvent collaboration.” This will promote innovation across the board and give us more eureka moments.

read more

Assessing Traumatic Brain Injury – The Glasgow and Rancho Los Amigos Scales

Posted by admin on Jun 27, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result in a number of differing effects in victims, including loss of consciousness and even coma. Published in 1974 by neurosurgeons Bryan J. Jennett and Graham Teasdale of the University of Glasgow, the Glasgow Coma Scale is a tool doctors use to assess a patient’s consciousness. When doctors wish to assess a brain injury patient’s recovery, they turn to the Rancho Los Amigos Scale, which was developed by head injury treatment specialists at a California hospital in order to assess a patient’s progression during the traumatic brain injury rehabilitation process.

The Glasgow Coma Scale

The Glasgow Coma Scale allows doctors to place a numerical value on the amount of consciousness they perceive in a brain-injured patient. It is essentially a mathematical formulation in which motor response, verbal response and eye opening are added together to create a numeric value that stands for the degree to which the TBI patient is in a coma state (in which “coma” is defined as unable to obey commands, speak coherently or open the eyes).

The Glasgow scale is as follows:

Eye Response (E):

* Eyes open spontaneously (4);

* Eyes open to speech [not to be confused with a sleeping person awakening, which rates a 4 on the scale] (3);

* Eyes open to pain [pain is administered by applying pressure to the fingernail of the victim, with other measures implemented if there is no response] (2);

* Eyes do not open (1).

Verbal Response (V):

* Oriented – patient is able to respond to queries about date, time, place, and his name and age (5);

* Confused – patient is somewhat disoriented, though he or she can respond coherently when questioned (4);

* Inappropriate words – patient cannot engage in conversation and forms sentences of random words or utters individual words at random (3);

* Incomprensible sounds – patient makes moaning sounds or other verbalizations, but does not form words (2);

* No verbal response (1).

Motor Response (M):

* Obeys commands – patient can complete simple tasks when asked (6);

* Localizes to pain – patient can try to prevent or change pain administered by a doctor (5);

* Withdraws from pain – patient flexes, flinches or pulls the body away when pain is administered (4);

* Flexion to pain (3);

* Extension to pain (2);

* No motor response (1).

After assessing numbers for each area, the practitioner adds them together for a final score. A score of eight or under indicates that the patient is in a coma; at least 50 percent of patients at an eight score or lower more than six hours after TBI will die. A score of 9 to 11 indicates a moderate coma or injury, while a score of 12 or higher means a moderate injury.

The Rancho Los Amigos Scale

The Rancho Los Amigos Scale was developed to help practitioners, families and therapists to understand a brain injury victim’s progression through the rehabilitation process. Though it stipulates “levels” of recovery, it is possible for patients to exhibit characteristics of different levels simultaneously, and plateaus are common in recovery. The scale is not intended to predict outcomes of traumatic brain injury.

The Rancho Los Amigos Scale is as follows:

* Level I – No Response – Patient cannot respond to external stimuli including sound, touch, or speech;

* Level II – Generalized Response – Patient can respond to stimuli only inconsistently and may open the eyes without appearing to see or focus;

* Level III – Localized Response – Patient may respond to simple commands; patient responds inconsistently to external stimuli;

* Level IV – Confused, Agitated – Patient is in a state of agitation and exhibits excitable behaviors that may range to the abusive or aggressive;

* Level V – Confused, Inappropriate, Non-Agitated – Patient is unable to process new information and may display verbally inappropriate behavior; patient can follow commands and appears alert;

* Level VI – Confused Appropriate – Patient has some self-awareness and can be taught simple tasks; patient’s attention and memory span are improving;

* Level VII – Automatic Appropriate – Patient no longer seems confused, but carries out tasks in a “robotic” fashion; patient appears normal but has poor judgment and needs guidance;

* Level VIII – Purposeful Appropriate – Patient is oriented as to time and place and exhibits alertness and functionality.

If You’ve Been Affected By Traumatic Brain Injury

If you or a loved one has been in a coma or has experienced the effects of TBI, consider contacting an experienced brain injury attorney. Your traumatic brain injury lawyer may be able to obtain compensation for your injury including paying for medical bills, surgeries and therapies, covering the costs of lost wages and future medical care.

read more