Empowering the Diverse Creators of the Future

Session Overview

Who writes the stories? Who benefits from the stories? Who is missing from the stories? The world is a better place with a diverse range of creators, storytellers, interactive experience designers and programmers at the helm. When you bring real-time 3D development into your classroom, you have the opportunity to expand, develop and broaden the diversity of creators. This session focuses on strategies and resources to help you do that.

This Session took place on October 27, 2020.

Session Resources

Azine's Slides

Beth's Presentation

Clorama Dorvilias

Clorama is a Product Manager in Applied Machine Learning at Facebook and the Founder/CEO of Debias VR. She has been researching and developing applied VR experiences exploring bias and empathy since 2014 for various sectors in the industry. Her mission is to transform the bias training industry towards more engaging, measurable, and effective solutions, leveraging VR technology and game simulations. She has a Master’s Degree in Interaction Design Communication from the University of the Arts in London where she created her first VR app gamifying anti-bias training for the workplace in 2015. She was a selected winner for Oculus LaunchPad 2017.

J Collins

J Collins is the Founder and CEO of Snowbright Studio and Liminal Esports. Previously, J led game-based education policy for the U.S. Department of Education and coordinated federal games policy across the executive branch under the Obama and Trump administrations. J is a former teacher and has been recognized for their work in education by being named a Finalist for the 2020 Digital Education "Breakthrough of the Year" award by the Falling Walls Foundation and with a 2020 Ohio Educator Award from the National Center for Women & Information Technology. J is also an outspoken LGBTQ+ and gender equity advocate who served as a 2019 LGBTQIA+ Fellow for the Union for Reform Judaism and was a 2019 Featured Voice at ISTE.

Elizabeth LaPensée

Elizabeth LaPensée, Ph.D. is an award-winning designer, writer, artist, and researcher who creates and studies Indigenous-led media such as games and comics. She is an Assistant Professor of Media & Information and Writing, Rhetoric & American Cultures at Michigan State University and a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow.

Azine Davoudzadeh

Azine is an educator and Founder of XR EDU, a dedicated organization in bridging the gap between technology and education. She was the 2020 National Winner of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Educator Award for Aspirations in Computing from The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). She has been teaching and creating curriculum for over a decade. In her Master's thesis, she researched how Virtual Reality affects middle school girls' future career choices. Currently, she teaches Computer Science at Dougherty Valley High School.