Wednesday, March 18th marks the start of the 8th annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference, which will be taking place in both Second Life and the OpenSimulator based AvaCon Grid.
The theme for this year’s event is Crossroads, and will include a presentations by keynote and featured speakers, panel discussions, workshops, social events and more, running through until the conference closes on Saturday, March 21st.
Full details on conference events can be found on the VWBPE conference calendar. However, for ease-of-reference, here’s a quick run-down of the keynote and featured speakers, and the main discussion panels. together with other pertinent information. As always, all times are SLT.
Wednesday, March 18th, 2015
- 12:00: Meet me at the crossroads welcome reception at the VWBPE SL main auditorium
- 13:00: opening keynote, Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab: Virtual Education in Second Life & in The Future, at the VWBPE SL main auditorium
- 14:00: Quadrivium Networking Topic: Gamification facilitated by James Atlloud, at SL VWBPE Quadrivium
Thursday, March 19th, 2015
- 07:00: featured speaker, Pamela Broviak: Reconstructing and Navigating the Crossroads of Community, at the VWBPE SL main auditorium
- 12:00: Seanchai Library panel discussion: Seanchai A Virtual Library Out Loud moderated by Cyndyl Enyo, at the AvaCon Rockcliffe University Main Stage
- 13:00: featured speaker, Gord Holden: How to Gain the Freedom to Use Immersive-Experiential Technology in Your Teaching Practice, at the AvaCon Rockcliffe University Main Stage
- 15:00: Quadrivium Networking Topic: Accessibility and Tools facilitated by Chraeloos Resident/ Laura Jones, at the AvaCon Rockcliffe University Main Stage
Friday, March 20th, 2015
- 07:00: featured speaker, Jeroen Frans: Creating Dinosaurs & Earning Badges, at the VWBPE SL main auditorium
- 09:00: Virtual Ability panel discussion moderated by Zola Zsun/Linda Lindsey, at the VWBPE SL main auditorium
- 13:00: Featured speaker, Sensuous Maximus: Bootcamp for Virtual Teachers, at the VWBPE SL main auditorium
- 14:05: Quadrivium Networking Topic: Educators and the Second Life Viewer facilitated by Oz Linden, at the VWBPE SL main auditorium
Saturday, March 21st, 2015
- 07:00: featured speaker, Susan Toth-Cohen: 7 Years of Adaptation and Renewal in Second Life, at the VWBPE SL main auditorium
- 09:00: Non-profit Commons Panel Discussion moderated by Letty Pienaar, at the VWBPE SL main auditorium
- 13:00: featured speaker, John Fillwalk: Shared Environments: Shaping Immersive Experiences, at the VWBPE SL main auditorium
- 16:00: closing keynote, Jay Jay Jegathesan, manager of the School of Physics at UWA and is the founder and leader of the UWA presence in 3D virtual worlds: Building Global Communities Through Virtual Worlds, at the VWBPE SL main auditorium
Notes on Attending
The VWBPE conference is free to attend, although there are donation options available for those wishing to support the conference. Those wishing to attend all of the conference activities across the four days of the conference will need accounts for both Second Life and AvaCon grid – please refer to Accessing the Conference for further details.
Additional Links
- VWBPE website
- VWBPE speakers’ biographies
- VWBPE live streaming (when the conference is running)
- Useful SLurls and URLs:
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 
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