Matt Sparks
Founder/CEO, Dittogrid
Matt Sparks is founder and CEO of Dittogrid, a software company building digital twins of the energy grid. He has spoken at conferences and written about XR and serious games for Learning Solutions Magazine. He also co-invented Bird Feeder 3000, a 360-degree video-enabled smart bird feeder.
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Metafocus: Why I Don’t Want You to Know About Robo-Teachers
Augmented intelligence applications include learning support. Some already coach humans in highly personalized ways, and the range of what they do is growing.
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Metafocus: Making an Educational Game That Lasts 40 Years
Do you aspire to build perennial-seller educational video games that people will play for years, gaining skills and insight? Great! Start here.
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Metafocus: Serious Games: Three Questions About Unit Economics
Unit economics are an important part of making serious games or educational experiences. Answer three basic questions to see if they are financially feasible.
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Skills Needed to Create a Serious VR Game with a Game Engine
In order to create a serious game or educational experience in virtual reality, you’ll need skills with game engines and related game development software.
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Don’t Break the Spell: Creating Presence in Virtual Reality
Virtual reality relies on the creation of presence. Here are details and resources to help you with the difficult business of illusion.
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Metafocus: Seven Ethical Dilemmas of VR in Education
We hear VR called an empathy machine. But can VR decrease empathy? What does the research say, if anything? And, if true, what can we do about it?
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Metafocus: Is Virtual Reality Safe for Kids?
At the South by Southwest (SXSW) and SXSWedu conferences in March, several speakers and panelists brought up the safety of virtual reality for children. Evidently, the risks of VR are weighing on many people’s minds. Is this a reasonable concern?
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Metafocus: You Say You Want a(n Educational) Revolution
Everybody says it: Virtual reality will revolutionize education. In this column, you’ll find an example lesson plan to demonstrate to teachers and instructional designers just how close VR really is to its moonshot promises of revolutionizing education.
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Metafocus: Diversity in VR, Games, and Education
“I stood in the center of the room at a VR meetup in Austin, Texas, spinning around, gaping at a sea of young white male faces surrounding me. … I counted only a handful of women in the entire crowd, an even smaller handful of people of color.”
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Metafocus: Interview with Maria Johnson of UT Dallas Virtual Reality Social Cognition Training Department
The Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas–Dallas offers a “scientifically based social cognitive training program that uses a motivational virtual-learning platform. Clinicians coach clients through real-life scenarios in a video game–like environment, providing a safe place to practice social interactions in a virtual reality school, home, playground, or coffee shop.”