The Dreamery

Where ideas and technology come together to meet the challenge of improving the teaching and learning experience.

Empower your dreams of improving education

Affordability, academic integrity, teaching efficacy, student performance, and overall productivity are just some of the challenges facing higher education institutions. Some have been around as long as teaching and learning, while others have a more modern slant. Teaching and Learning with Technology’s mission is to find solutions to these challenges in order to transform, in positive and lasting ways, how teaching and learning happen at Penn State and beyond.

The Dreamery, located on the ground level of Shields Building, opened in December 2016 and serves as the de facto headquarters of TLT’s mission. In this one space students, faculty, and staff can use multiple new and emerging technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, rapid prototyping with simple robotics, artificial intelligence and more. There are ample opportunities through dynamic, facilitated experiences for students, faculty, and staff to uncover how technology can help overcome higher education’s human hurdles.

The Dreamery is also a versatile space where virtually every piece of furniture is mobile. Chairs, tables, whiteboards, and monitors can all be arranged in configurations that showcase how learning spaces can be more active and collaborative. Thanks to this versatility, the Dreamery is able to host workshops, presentations, demonstrations, class sessions, and more.

Faculty member Karen Johnson brought her students from Early Childhood Education 479: The Young Child’s Play as Educative Processes to the Dreamery to foster behaviors of “experimenting, exploring, and discovering”. Students participated in facilitated experiences exploring emerging technology like simple robotics and augmented reality. The goal for the majority of these students is to become a pre-K to fourth grade teacher; having these types of learning experiences allows these students to develop a toolbox of curricular activities that can be adapted and deployed in their future classrooms.

TLT’s staff is full of experts in creative learning, emerging media, faculty development, instructional design, and more. They’re able to provide robust support to any Penn State faculty, student, or staff member who wants to utilize the Dreamery to investigate how technology can transform education.

Reserving the Dreamery

The Dreamery can be reserved for events, meetings (not recurring), and classes. Facilitated experiences, as described below, can be requested and will be hosted by TLT. Outside of the facilitated experiences, no tech support is available for the use of the room.

Augmented Reality with Adobe Aero

This experience will introduce your class to augmented reality that will empower your students to create their own augmented reality scenes. Students will have a brief introduction to what AR is and what it looks like in society and higher education. Next, students will use iPad Pros to explore dynamic and interactive AR scenes via the Adobe Aero app. They will then be guided through a short Adobe Aero tutorial that teaches them how to use the app. This workshop will conclude with creative time that encourages students to take what they have explored and learned and apply it to a newly created scene that the students will have access to once they leave.

Intro to Virtual Reality

This experience will introduce your class to virtual reality that will allow them to freely explore an immersive environment without any wires. Students will have a brief introduction to what VR is and what it looks like in society and higher education. Next, students will have a brief introduction to the Quest 2 VR headset and how to operate the basics of it, including creating a guardian, operating the controllers, and adjusting the headset fit. Next, students will experience an app called First Steps, which is intended to walk users through their very first steps in a VR environment. Consultants will be available for any questions and troubleshooting while students are in the headset.

IMPACT card game

The IMPACT Deck is an exploratory, card-based game that aims to introduce students, faculty and staff of all ages and backgrounds to a wide variety of situations in which established and emerging technologies impact society. IMPACT starts from a position of empathy, introducing character cards representing people whose backstories offer opportunities for nuanced consideration as action cards are added to the gameplay mix. Players unpack how each of the technology cards might impact the society, industry or other community in which the character (and we) spend our day-to-day through human-centered conversation.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Students will be introduced to artificial intelligence through a guided, hands-on experience. This workshop begins with a brief introduction of what AI is, how it can be used in higher education, and ends with students exploring byte-sized AI experiments. Students will learn about neural networks, machine learning, and have the opportunity to contribute data to the world’s largest data doodling set.

Explore Other Learning Spaces Projects

Bluebox

Cutting-edge digital displays, interactive technologies, and moveable furniture join together in 101 Althouse Laboratory to create an experimental classroom where innovation and excellence meet.

Shared Experiences Lab

A space with furniture and technology that supports blended learning, video conferencing, active learning, and collaboration.

IMEX Lab

There is a learning space at University Park designed specifically for 360° video creation and viewing as well as other immersive technology and experiences – the Immersive Experience (IMEX) Lab.

Questions?

Have a great idea? Get in touch with us! We can help you identify the right technologies to meet your pedagogical needs, or develop something completely new.
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