Immersive learning tool Zoe showcasing interactive experiences made by High School students as part of first-ever Comic-Con@Home

Zoe, a learning tool allowing teachers and students to create interactive 3D worlds is showcasing virtual experiences built by high school students as part of the FutureTechLive!@Comic-Con@Home activation in partnership with Unity. In this unique experience attendees can explore new worlds in mixed reality, unleash their imagination, and create some magic!

Comic-Con is all virtual this year for the first time in over 50 years, it runs online the same dates it was supposed to be live, July 23-26. The Zoe virtual showcase features projects created during summer programs starting this Comic-Con weekend in partnership with the SDJA, The Bayha Group and San Diego Unified.

“This is a great opportunity for students to use immersive technologies as a way to have a voice in spaces that students don’t have often access to,”  says educator Kwaku Aning, Director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Thinking (CIET) at the San Diego Jewish Academy. “We’re very proud of the diversity of design and how dynamic the projects are.” 

The camp at SDJA is led by Elizabeth Nebo, who has embraced the immersive space using her skills as an arts and ceramics teacher to help students create 3D interactive experiences. Each group will have a place in the Zoe virtual showroom located inside Comic Con’s FutureTechLive! application to present their design process from their ideas to storyboarding, 3D modelling and programming their final experience using Zoe in just a few days!

From a training program helping farmers clean their polluted soil to re-creating personal life stories, with Zoe students learn how to transform their ideas into stories and games, successfully transmitting their knowledge to others.

“We’re excited that our learning platform Zoe is being showcased in this one-of-a-kind virtual event”, says Emilie Joly, co-founder of apelab, the company behind Zoe. “Teachers have been working very hard to keep students engaged during school closures; we are so proud of their energy and what they’ve been able to achieve. We hope to bring many more opportunities like this one to inspire younger generations to stay creative and thrive through their learning process.”

The Zoe showcase will be featuring more student projects during the second week, including the exciting work led by Gaspare Lipari, Terry McCabe & Michele Giorlando at the Western Middle School during their Unbound Innovations Summer program.

At the center of Zoe’s virtual space in Comic Con’s FutureTechLive!, a pod also allows visitors to launch a free version of Zoe VR for the next 30 days on Oculus Rift. Now it’s your turn to be creative!

FutureTechLive! is also presenting a panel on world building as part of the panels of Comic-Con@Home:
World-Builders: The Evolution of Immersive Entertainment
Sunday, July 26 at 3:00 PM 

Isabelle Riva, Head of Media and Entertainment Innovations, Unity Technology
Ted Schilowitz, Futurist, Paramount Pictures
Kwaku Aning, Director, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Thinking
Emilie Joly, Co-Founder & CEO, Apelab (Zoe in-VR Creation Software)
Brooks Brown, Co-Founder & CCO, ViRvii (Bringing Virtual Reality to Art)
Asad J. Malik, CEO & Founder, IRIC / JADU (Augmented Reality Storytelling)
Moderator:  David Bloom, Senior Contributor, Forbes; journalist covering entertainment tech

Zoe is a creation platform made for education developed by the team at Apelab, a Los Angeles & Switzerland based company on a mission to build a more inclusive & engaging education by giving superpowers to students around the world. Zoe enables students & teachers to create interactive 3D experiences from anywhere from mobile, desktop, and VR devices.