{"id":830,"date":"2025-03-10T12:32:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T19:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr-dev\/?p=830"},"modified":"2026-04-21T12:37:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:37:32","slug":"launching-the-nwxr-edu-xr-tools-for-teaching-workshop-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr\/2025\/03\/10\/launching-the-nwxr-edu-xr-tools-for-teaching-workshop-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Launching the NWXR EDU &#8220;XR Tools for Teaching&#8221; Workshop Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>This March, the Bellevue College XR Lab launched the first sessions of the <strong>NWXR EDU &#8220;XR Tools for Teaching&#8221;<\/strong> workshop series, an initiative designed to introduce accessible XR tools to educators and students. Led by instructor <strong>Maria Sanchez-Isaza<\/strong> and hosted by <strong>James Riggall<\/strong>, the workshops provide hands-on learning experiences focused on building immersive virtual environments that support education, creativity, and collaboration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>Supported by the NWXR EDU Network, the series aims to make extended reality (XR) technologies approachable, highlighting tools that require minimal equipment and can be used directly from a web browser or smartphone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p><strong>Workshop 1: Introduction to Spatial.io \u2013 Create Your Own Virtual Space<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong> <em>March 7, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>The series began with a session introducing <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spatial.io\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.spatial.io\/\">Spatial.io<\/a><\/strong>, a web-based platform that allows users to build and explore custom virtual spaces without the need for specialized VR hardware. Participants learned how to navigate the Spatial.io web editor, customize a 3D environment, and share their virtual spaces with others.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>Key learning objectives included:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Navigating and using Spatial.io\u2019s web-based editing tools<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Customizing virtual environments through asset placement and design features<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sharing created spaces with peers for collaboration and interaction<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>By the end of the session, attendees had successfully created their own personalized 3D spaces and gained foundational skills for working with web-based XR platforms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p><strong>Workshop 2: Polycam and 3D Assets for Your Virtual Space<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong> <em>March 14, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>Building on the first session, the second workshop introduced participants to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/poly.cam\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/poly.cam\/\">Polycam<\/a><\/strong>, a mobile application for capturing and creating 3D models from real-world objects. The focus of the workshop was on enhancing Spatial.io spaces with custom and sourced 3D assets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>The session included:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Overview of building or sourcing 3D assets for use in Spatial.io<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Demonstrations on downloading assets from websites such as <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/sketchfab.com\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/sketchfab.com\/\">Sketchfab<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/poly.pizza\/\">poly.pizza<\/a><br><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Step-by-step guidance on using Polycam to scan physical objects and integrate them into a virtual environment<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Introduction to <strong>AI-generated 3D models<\/strong> using tools like <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meshy.ai\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.meshy.ai\/\">meshy.ai<\/a><\/strong>, including creating models from text or image prompts<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>Participants were guided through the technical steps of scanning, optimizing, and importing 3D models, while also learning best practices for achieving high-quality results, such as maintaining even lighting and targeting difficult angles when scanning objects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>To apply what they learned, attendees spent the final segment of the workshop updating their Spatial.io spaces with newly created or imported 3D objects and sharing screenshots of their work with the group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p><strong>Looking Ahead: Expanding XR Skills Across Disciplines<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>The NWXR EDU &#8220;XR Tools for Teaching&#8221; series continues with upcoming workshops, including an introduction to creating avatars using <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/readyplayer.me\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/readyplayer.me\/\">ReadyPlayer.me<\/a><\/strong> and sessions focused on integrating additional interactive elements into virtual spaces.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>Workshops like these reflect the XR Lab\u2019s broader mission to expand access to immersive technologies, equip the Bellevue College community with future-ready skills, and inspire new possibilities for education, collaboration, and creativity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p>The XR Lab extends its sincere thanks to Maria Sanchez-Isaza and James Riggall for leading these initial sessions, and to all participants for their enthusia<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This March, the Bellevue College XR Lab launched the first sessions of the NWXR EDU &#8220;XR Tools for Teaching&#8221; workshop series, an initiative designed to introduce accessible XR tools to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3313,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":{"summary":"This March, the Bellevue College XR Lab launched the first sessions of the NWXR EDU \"XR Tools for Teaching\" workshop series, an initiative designed to introduce accessible XR tools to educators and students. Led by instructor Maria Sanchez-Isaza and hosted by James Riggall, the workshops provide hands-on learning experiences focused on building immersive virtual environments that support education, creativity, and collaboration.","featured_media_type":"image_horizontal","featured_image_horizontal":831,"featured_image_vertical":null,"featured_video_url":"","caption":"","author_override":"","contact":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":832,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830\/revisions\/832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/nwxr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}