In the News

November 3, 2013 at 8:20 pm

Leap Motion Highlights Linguistics Holodeck at Ohio University

The Leap Motion bloggers gave a shout out to the new language learning lab in Gordy Hall, dubbed the holodeck.

At Ohio University’s Athens campus, there’s a room where students can travel virtually anywhere on Earth. Popularly known as the “Holodeck,” it uses projectors, Google Earth, and the Leap Motion Controller to generate 3 interactive walls that create the illusion of standing in cities around the world – and much more.

The Holodeck is part of an experimental lab space where teachers test out new ways to help students learn languages. Created by a group of linguists at Ohio University’s Language Resource Center, it allows them to feel immersed in the places where these languages are spoken. Despite having no formal technology background, the team built the Holodeck by integrating the Leap Motion Controller with 3 projectors and a MaKey MaKey kit.

Besides exploring cities with Google Street View, the Holodeck has been used for everything from a IMAX style chalkboard to Chinese calligraphy practice. Some students are even using a zombie apocalypse mod for Minecraft as a creative foundation for their class essays.

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