The 2024 Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education (VWBPE) conference takes place between Thursday, March 14th and Saturday March 16th, 2023 inclusive. A grass-roots community event focusing on education in immersive virtual environments, VWBPE attracts 2200-3500 educational professionals from around the world each year. Its primary goals are to foster discussion on, and learning about educational opportunities presented through the use of such virtual spaces, a defining core values and best practices in doing so, including:
- Helping to build community through extension of learning best practices to practical application of those ideas and techniques;
- Providing networking opportunities for educators and the communities that help support education; and
- Offering access to current innovations, trends, ideas, case studies, and other best practices for educators and the communities that help support education.
In the context of the conference, a “virtual environment” is an on-line community through which users can interact with one another and use and create ideas irrespective of time and space. As such, typical examples include Second Life, OpenSimulator, Unity, World of Warcraft, Eve Online, and so on, as well as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest or any virtual environments characterised by an open social presence and in which the direction of the platform’s evolution is manifest in the community.
Every year, the event has an over-arching theme. For 2024 this is Mythic Origins, which the organisers describe thus:
Mythic stories can provide a way to engage students in critical thinking and analysis, as well as developing their creativity and imagination. Mythic origins can provide students with a deeper understanding of their own cultural heritage and how it has evolved over time. It allows us to explore the origins of our socially constructed myths and legends that have inspired educators and their various works.
Join us as we all share experiences and successes in how virtual technologies used in the classroom have helped shape education for the better.
Programme
As with previous VWBPE conferences, this year’s event includes speakers, workshops, presentations, social activities and more.
The best way to find out what is going on over the three days of the conference is through the VWBPE programme page, However, here are some of the highlights of major events (note: all times SLT and held at the main auditorium unless otherwise stated):
- Thursday March 14th:
- 08:00-08:50: Kick-off event at the VWBPE Gateway.
- 12:00 Noon-12:50: What’s Up at the Lab?
- 13:30-14:00: The VWBPE Parade, commencing at the VWBPE Gateway.
- 16:00-17:00: Keynote Address: Mythic Origins of Metaverse Myths – Wagner James Au.
- Friday March 15th:
- 08:00-08:50: Keynote Address: The Hero’s Journey of Learning Transformation in the Digital Age – Nellie Deutsch (Ed.D) / Nellie Homewood
- Saturday March 16th:
- 18:00-19050 SLT: Closing ceremony.
If you cannot get in-world to attend any of these or the other major talks and presentations at the conference, note that you can watch them via You Tube – check the VWBPE website for the full schedule of live streams.
Region Themes and Facilities
For 2023, the conference returns from space, where it has been for the past couple of years, to a more Earthly setting, presenting a series of biomes in which events will be held and people can explore and play. These comprise:
- Canopy Biome (Canopy Point): a canopy biome is a forestry ecosystem characterised by a dense layer of vegetation at the top (the canopy), under which can be found a diverse forest ecosystem.
- Rainbow Basin: an ecosystem found within a basin or depression within the Earth’s surface, often characterised by wetlands, rivers, lakes, with the environment ranging from dry through to very wet.
- Jungle Habitat: a tropical forest environment generally characterised by high levels of rainfall and warm, humid temperatures. These are often among the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet.
- Meadow Biome (Floating Meadows): a meadow biome is characterised by a mix of forest and meadow habitats, generally in temperate zones with moderate temperatures and rainfall.
The four regions form a square and feature the main auditorium straddling there adjoining corners. They are supported by:
- Grasslands Biome – home to the VWBPE Gateway.
- Badlands Biome (Badlands Wild): badlands are characterised by their rugged, eroded landscape, featuring ravines, canyons and buttes. They tend to be semi-arid in nature. Here they are also home to the Rock Theatre Workshop.
- Wetlands Marsh: an ecosystem characterised by a combination of shallow water, emergent vegetation and saturated soils. Here they are also home to several of the VWBPE social venues.
- Desert Hinterlands: a region receiving very little rainfall, resulting in a dry, arid environment, often with high daytime temperatures and very low night temperatures. Home to the Oasis Lecture Theatre and The Ruins Workshop.
- Tundra Expanse: a cold, treeless biome form in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, characterised by low temperatures, strong winds and little precipitation and vegetation limited to shrubs, mosses, lichens and the like, the ground being generally frozen. Home to the Quadrivium and the Hearth Lecture Theatre.
The VWBPE Gateway
At the VWBPE Gateway you can find information on the conference – including the schedule for the day, a Swag Bag which includes the conference teleport HUD for easy access to all locations and venues, information on the biomes comprising the conference regions, and more. And, of course, VWBPE volunteers are on hand to answer your questions!
Core Facilities and Locations
Within these regions the following core facilities for the conference can be found – but please refer to your conference Swag Bag (and teleport HUD!) for full information on all locations and facilities at this year’s conference.
- The VWBPE Auditorium: with three access points Auditorium, Canopy Point (Waterfall); Auditorium, Floating Meadows (Gallery); Auditorium, Rainbow Basin Mezzanine), the auditorium features floating seating – just click on a barrel, tyre or box on one of the rafts to sit or claim a box / block on the bleachers!
- The lecture and workshop areas: Lecture A – The Hearth; Lecture B – The Oasis; the Quadrivium; Workshop A – Rock Theatre; Workshop B – The Ruins.
- The VWBPE Social Centres, all of which are located within the Wetlands Biome: the Wetlands Visitor Centre; the Coastal Coffee Chat; the Science Centre and the Viewing Deck, all of which will be host to gatherings and events through the conference period – check the main schedule for details
To keep up-to-date with the conference, be sure to check the VWBPE website daily.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 