{"id":21,"date":"2022-09-27T23:27:17","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T23:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu\/nathanwilliams\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2025-09-22T20:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:20:10","slug":"future-of-recreation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu\/nathanwilliams\/future-of-recreation\/","title":{"rendered":"Future of Recreation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

Gone are the days when recreation and leisure providers could open up a campground, park, tourist attraction, or other destination and just wait for users to show up. The future of recreation will be driven by professionals delivering needs-based programming to increase wellness; immersive experiences that infuse music, food, or other event dynamics; and maybe virtual experiences that encourage participants to explore new destinations (far away or nearby). Future of Recreation is a project to highlight, support, and research these pioneering recreation and leisure services, professionals, and technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Projects<\/h2>\n\n\n
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NC:State of Recreation Virtual Reality Map and Student-Created Experiences<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

This project highlights recreation and leisure destinations and activities from around the state of North Carolina through interactive 360-degree video experiences. Some of these experiences are being created by PRT 152 students and some are recorded by me and staff from DELTA (NC State’s amazing on-campus learning technology office). Every semester, works are highlighted in an opening reception at the DH Hill Library Innovation Studio (this semester on Tuesday, December 5 from 10am-1pm; drop in and check it out!).<\/p>\n\t \t \n

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“Adventures in Recreation and Leisure” Alt-Textbook<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

Having to buy a physical textbook sucks for students. Not only does it add to expenses that stress many of them out, it’s also an out-dated resources the minute it ships from the publisher. This online textbook (supported by an NC State Libraries Alt-Text Grant) ventures to create an open education resource that can be used by students in my courses, but also faculty and students in any recreation and leisure academic programs. It’s free to use, re-use, re-mix or edit, as long as you’re not using it for commercial use.<\/p>\n\t \t \n

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Dix Park in Fortnite<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

Fortnite, the video game and social platform, has lots of amazing recreation environments, but it doesn’t have a park from the real world that has been duplicated in the environment. This project is working to create a 3D model “digital twin” of Dix Park, Raleigh’s new central park, in the Fortnite environment. This will both enable virtual discovery of the parks resources and rich history, but also enable Fortnite users online to participate in real-world Dix Park events and recreation programs.<\/p>\n\t \t \n

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Follow Along!<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Instagram<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/svg><\/span><\/h3>\n \n\n \n

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LinkedIn<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/svg><\/span><\/h3>\n \n\n \n

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Presentations and Workshops<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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January 2024 – NC State University – Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management Seminar<\/h2>\n <\/summary>\n

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Session Title: “VR” Should Mean Virtual Recreation: Educating with Virtual Reality Experiences<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slides from the Presentation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n <\/details>\n\n\n

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November 2023 – Association for Experiential Education Conference in Madison, Wisconsin<\/h2>\n <\/summary>\n

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Session Title: Immersive Learning Without Limits!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slides from the Presentation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n <\/details>\n\n\n

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November 2023 – Symposium for Experiential Education Research (SEER) in Madison, Wisconsin<\/h2>\n <\/summary>\n

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Session Title: \u201cNature environments without actually being there\u201d: Virtual recreation experiences and real-world intentions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slides from the Presentation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n <\/details>\n\n\n

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February 2023 – AAC&U Conference on General Education, Pedagogy and Assessment in New Orleans<\/h2>\n <\/summary>\n

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Session Title: When the Headset Comes Off: Facilitating Real-World Learning with Virtual Reality Experiences<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slides from the Presentation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n <\/details>\n\n\n

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November 2022 – Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education Conference in Myrtle Beach<\/h2>\n <\/summary>\n

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Session Title: Will we learn anything from the pandemic?!? Connecting the dots to a sustainable future for recreation professions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slides from the Presentation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n <\/details>\n\n\n

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November 2022 – Association for Experiential Education Conference in Black Mountain, NC<\/h2>\n <\/summary>\n

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Session Title: Expanding Your Educational Reach: Digital Media Making for \u201cWannabe\u201d Creatives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slides from the Presentation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n <\/details>\n\n\n

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October 2022 – SHIFT Summit in Fort Collins, CO<\/h2>\n <\/summary>\n

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Session Title: Virtual Recreation; Real Impact<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slides from the Presentation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n <\/details>\n\n\n

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Gone are the days when recreation and leisure providers could open up a campground, park, tourist attraction, or other destination and just wait for users to show up. The future of recreation will be driven by professionals delivering needs-based programming to increase wellness; immersive experiences that infuse music, food, or other event dynamics; and maybe…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"pageIntro\":\"\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu\/nathanwilliams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu\/nathanwilliams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu\/nathanwilliams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu\/nathanwilliams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu\/nathanwilliams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu\/nathanwilliams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu\/nathanwilliams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions\/231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu\/nathanwilliams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}