KCCD receives $1 million for a mobile VR lab
With state funding for a new mobile virtual reality lab intended to provide next-generation job training to area children in need of career possibilities, the “gamification of learning” is making its way into Kern County.
Assemblywoman Dr. Jasmeet Bains, a Democrat from Bakersfield, gave the Kern Community College District a $1 million state grant on Monday so it may construct an economic mobility lab. By autumn 2025, the district hopes to have the 30-foot caravan operational.
District Chancellor Steven Bloomberg said in an interview that the lab would provide the newest advancements in augmented and virtual reality technologies to enhance training in career and technology education. According to him, it will be used in a number of academic disciplines, such as physiology and cybersecurity.
Referring to the lab as an instrument within the gamification of learning, an educational approach that integrates videogame components to enhance student engagement, Bloomberg detailed a virtual reality initiative that places cybersecurity learners in an emulated National Security Agency workstation.
According to Bloomberg, the programme would give students the impression that they are seated at a table in front of actual monitors while it walks them through a scenario of a digital crime. He said there isn’t anything like the mobile lab that is now being designed in the college district.
According to Bloomberg, those with a two-year KCCD degree may start earning over $60,000 annually. He said that the district’s Cerro Coso Community College in Ridgecrest has submitted an application to start offering a four-year bachelor’s programme in cybersecurity.
He said that the project’s mobility is crucial at the check-presentation event that took place downtown on Monday morning. No matter where they are in the county or what is preventing them from advancing in their careers, it will provide services to pupils.
What happens if one has an obstacle in their path? What happens if there is a shortage of child care? he asked. Bloomberg said that this is precisely what economic mobility entails.
Bains connected this concept to her own upbringing as a Delano girl who never dreamed she would become a doctor. She described the local kids as among of the state’s smartest and most driven, and she said the lab would make higher education more accessible to them.
The issue lies in their lack of access, Bains said. Kids need to see it to be it, to believe it, she remarked.
Romeo Agbalog, a KCCD Trustee, commended Bains for her unwavering advocacy and support of the district. He said that she has competition from over a hundred other state legislators to get projects like the mobility lab.
What she was able to do was a heavy lift, he said.
