The Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) Conference will take place in Second Life, with tours to other virtual environments, on March 15-18. Conference organizers are requesting those interested to register for the event at http://vwbpe12.eventbrite.com/. The free conference is an opportunity for those already involved and those interested in using virtual worlds for teaching and learning to share experiences, strategies, and research in regard to the topic. Those who do not yet have a Second Life Account should go to http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VWBPE%20Gateway/134/127/25, click “Join Now” and follow the steps to select an avatar and download the viewer required to participate in-world, then teleport to the VWBPE Gateway destination. An in-world experience of attending the conference is the most engaging but those who choose not to participate in that aspect can listen to an audio stream.
Collaboration among and between educators and supporters is living up to the conference theme, “Be Epic”, with conference events being held in a variety of “donated” locations throughout Second LIfe including VWBPE Gateway, VWBPE Central, EdTech/CAVE, Rockliffe, EDUCommons, EduIsland, Builder’s Brewery, and Biomedicine Research Lab, additionally portions will be taped by Treet TV. Knowclue Kidd, an educator who has successfully used Virtual Worlds with her students for years, will deliver the keynote address “Be Epic”. Sessions on the Conference schedule cover all educational levels from elementary school through higher education and post-graduate.
In addition to presentation sessions, the conference will have tours, training sessions panel discussions, contests and games providing experiences in additional virtual worlds and game platforms including OpenSim worlds, World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Club Penguin, and Jibe. A Poster contest and a Machinma Contest promise some creative content for conference attendees to enjoy, winners will be announced on the last day of the conference.
Following the 3-day virtual event may participate in a 4-week Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) run throughout P2P University (http://p2pu.org/en/) . Interested individuals may register for the Virtual Worlds, Games and Education Tour MOOC by signing up for a free account at http://p2pu.org/en/groups/a-virtual-worlds-games-and-education-tour/content/full-description/. Each week will cover a unique area of virtual environments used for teaching and learning.
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