GLOBAL CONFERENCE IN SECOND LIFE® TO SHOWCASE THE
POWER OF VIRTUAL WORLDS TO TRANSFORM EDUCATION

2010 Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference
(March 12-13): Keynote Address by Mark Kingdon, CEO of Linden Lab®
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48-Hour Event Expected to Attract 5,000+ Attendees and over
150 Presentations from Around the World

March 3, 2010 — Pioneers in the creation of innovative uses of virtual worlds in education, training, business, military and cultural spheres will come together in Second Life® to celebrate “Imagination Around The World” (March 12-13).  The Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference (VWBPE) will feature more than 150 presentations and a keynote address by Mark Kingdon, the CEO of Linden Lab® creators of Second Life® (SL).
 
“From a small grass roots community, we have grown dramatically as a global organization and are becoming a force in transforming education in a very short time,” said Marlene Brooks, Program Chair (SL: Zana Kohime). “We expect more than 5,000 attendees at VWBPE10 (www.vwbpe.org) with participants from every continent,” she continued.
 
Presenters at VWBPE10 are at the forefront of capitalizing on advances in new technologies and a broad range of disciplines related to virtual worlds. In addition to Linden Lab® CEO Mark Kingdon, notable keynote presentations and presenters at VWBPE10 will include:
 
“Learning in 3D: A New Educational Dimension”
Karl Kapp (SL: Abbott Bundy) and Tony O’Driscoll (SL: Wada Tripp) authors of the hot-selling book Learning in 3D: Adding a New dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration
 

 “Virtual Worlds, Culture and Change – A Conversation”
Tom Boellstorff (SL: Tom Bukowski) academic, author and editor-in-chief of American Anthropologist and Doug Thompson the (SL: Dusan Writer) CEO of Remedy Communications and owner of Metanomics.
 
“The Rise of Avatars in Social Networks for Military Learning Innovations”
Andy Sticker (Bio-TK) and Marlene Brooks (moderator).
 
Presentations will showcase what is being done in virtual worlds at universities, colleges, businesses, government agencies, not-for-profit entities and K-12 classrooms. More than one hundred volunteers will assist presenters and attendees at the 48-Hour conference taking place in over twenty SL Sims. The Presentations will be available in five languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
 
“What makes this year exciting is that we are becoming more interactive and mainstream, and we are having a growing impact on all forms of education and training based on the values of connection, collaboration and co-creation integral to virtual world learning environments,” said, Kevin Feenan (SL: Phelan Corrimal).
 
The Virtual World Best Practices in Education Conference originated from the 2007 Second Life® Best Practices in Education Conference. Educators are one of the largest and most vibrant groups in SL with an outreach to more than 6,000 residents.
 
Registration for the conference is Free. To register please visit: www.vwbpe.org
 
About Second Life
Developed and launched by Linden Lab in 2003, Second Life is the world’s leading 3D virtual world environment. It enables its Residents to create content, interact with others, launch businesses, collaborate, educate, and more. Since its inception, Second Life Residents have logged more than one billion user hours and generated more than $1 billion in user-to-user transactions. With a broad user base that includes everyone from consumers and educators to medical researchers and large enterprises, Second Life has become one of the largest repositories of user-generated content and the largest user-generated virtual goods economy in the world.

For additional information, please contact:
E-mail: Marty Keltz: marty.keltz@gmail.com
For information on Second Life, visit: www.secondlife.com

Welcome to the VWBPE 2010 Conference!

‘IMAGINATION AROUND THE WORLD’

The Virtual World Best Practices 2010 focus is “Imagination Around the World”.  From the North, East, West and South corners of the physical world what is evident is the collaborate nature of virtual world participants to share knowledge and experience. This 48 hour conference will indeed provide opportunities for sharing and further understanding virtual world technology.

 The Virtual World Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference originated from the 2007 Second Life Best Practices in Education Conference. This grassroots, community-based conference attracts faculty, instructors, trainers, administrators, instructional designers, technical specialists, and members of organizations from around the world. Those who create teaching/learning environments, resources, tools, support services and professional development opportunities internal and external to virtual world environments participate. During the conference, participants have opportunities to ask: What is education?, What is teaching?, What is learning? and How can we provide virtual world educational environments in which today’s learners can become all they can be.

The VWBPE Conference provides opportunities for virtual world communities to showcase projects, courses, events and research that lead to best practices in education. The end result of collaborating, sharing, and co-construction of knowledge during the conference is the creation of innovative and immersive environments in which virtual world residents can learn, work, and play.

Program Chair: Zana Kohime (SL) Marlene Brooks (RL)

Registration is free to all conference attendees.

VWBPE Committee Organizers
Executive Committee:
- Marlene Brooks (SL: Zana Kohime),
- Kevin Feenan (SL: Phelan Corrimal), and
- Marty Keltz (SL: Marty Snowpaw)

For more information please contact

Kevin Feenan
Chair, VWBPE
Ph: 613 276 1911
eMail: info -at- vwbpe.org
SL: Phelan Corrimalc