First Day full of successes!

It was an exciting first day with "online immersion" at the Governor's Japanese Language Academy! Students and faculty met, mingled, and learned about each other through several fun and interesting classes. It can be very challenging to make sure everyone has a lifeline when everything is being done online, but we were able to ensure all of our students could successfully join our first session this morning. After we completed Orientation, we moved into our second session. There, we had a fascinating and engaging breakout room mixer thanks to our dedicated Teaching Assistants! We have a very interesting group of students with unique hobbies, interests, and stories!
After lunch, we experimented with Virtual Reality. All of the students and faculty logged into a program called RecRoom. Students became more and more used to the platform, and we had some wonderful and hilarious interactions as we talked, drew anime on the virtual whiteboard, and got to know each other better. Despite flying furniture and complicated logon procedures, students seemed to really enjoy themselves in this unique alternative gathering space. Many students expressed their enjoyment and began to think of many new ideas for ways in which to use RecRoom. By all reports, a successful experiment!