The SL Enquirer: VWBPE 2019 Conference “Re:Visions” Opens April 4, 2019 in Second Life

April 4 starts the three-day Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference, with an amazing lineup of speakers, workshops, sim demonstrations, poster presentations, open discussions, and more. The conference will cover a wide range of subjects concerning virtual worlds and their use for education, virtual reality, smart games, arts and science, and the future of technology. Although the main part of the conference will be held in Second Life this year, there are sessions about different virtual worlds, and events on other virtual world grids.

This year's keynote speakers are Dr. Tom Boellstorff, Dr. Tuncer Can, and Dr. Jonathon Richter. (https://vwbpe.org/conference/keynotes-and-speakers-2019). They will help us consider an anthropologist’s view of virtual worlds (including the feature film “Our Digital Selves: My Avatar Is Me” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQw02-me0W4&feature=youtu.be); the use of virtual worlds in language learning; and what works in immersive XR (VR/AR/MR).

The VWBPE conference keynote speakers and their respective presentations are featured on the conference website (http://vwbpe.org), along with a calendar of exciting presentations, social activities, and networking events that will set extraordinary discussions in motion.

The VWBPE Immersive Experiences showcase unique and interesting work being conducted across the metaverse. We invite you to join us as we explore sixteen interactive and engaging locations across five virtual environments. The Immersive Experiences are scheduled from March 24 to April 19 (exclusive of the conference dates). Details and access instructions for the experiences are found at http://vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe-calendar.

Additionally, this open and free conference would not be possible without the generous contributions of our VWBPE sponsors (http://vwbpe.org/sponsors-2019 ).

The Rockcliffe Registration Portal is open for people to register new Second Life avatars and find out more about the VWBPE conference in-world. Go to http://urockcliffe.com/reg/second-life/ and all the instructions are there to get your friends started.

The full conference schedule is online here: http://vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe-calendar. You can also view presentations live on YouTube (http://vwbpe.org/watch). All of the conference events will be in Second Life this year, and the locations are included in the listings. When you click on a conference event and click Add to Calendar, you can add the event to your own calendar (Google+ and more).

**Keynotes**

VWBPE Main Auditorium

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VWBPE%20Central%204/34/31/22

Keynote: Paraethnographic film as mode of education: Lessons from disability in virtual worlds

Dr. Tom Boellstorff, University of California Irvine

Thursday, April 4, 2019

9:30 – 10:20am SLT/US Pacific Daylight Time

Keynote: Teacher training within Virtual Worlds

Dr. Tuncer Can, Istanbul University

Friday, April 5, 2019

9:00am – 9:50pm SLT/US Pacific Daylight Time

Keynote: Crossing the Horizon together: Scanning, transforming, and sharing “What Works” in Immersive XR