VWBPE: Insights

March 19-21, 2026

Poster Guidelines

Introduction

For nearly two decades, VWBPE has brought together a global community of educators, researchers, and innovators to explore the frontiers of immersive learning. What sets this conference apart is its grassroots, open format, designed to highlight the practices that shape how we teach, learn, and collaborate in virtual and augmented spaces.

The 2026 theme, “Insights”, invites us to look deeper—beyond the tools and platforms—toward the lessons, challenges, and opportunities that are redefining education in an age of rapid technological transformation.

Why “Insights” Matter

The pace of technological change has never been faster. Artificial intelligence, immersive simulations, and augmented realities are transforming not only how students engage with content, but how educators define their own roles. With these shifts come pressing new challenges.

These are not yesterday’s debates recycled. They are new, urgent tensions shaping higher education in 2026.

We invite you to share your ideas at VWBPE in 2026:

  • Fresh insights into how educators worldwide are responding to AI, immersive tech, and ethical challenges in real time.
  • Practical strategies for navigating policy gaps, integrating advanced tools, and fostering critical thinking in the AI era.
  • Collaborative perspectives from researchers, practitioners, and creators who are testing boundaries and redefining educational practices.
  • A global platform to share your work, experiment with immersive formats, and shape the conversations that matter most to the future of post-secondary education.
A Call to Explore: VWBPE 2026 – Insights

Join us at the 19th Annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) Conference. Plan to discover and experience new approaches to immersive learning in action. Get excited about how you can use them in your classroom and research practices, and share what you learn with colleagues.

VWBPE 2026 isn’t just about tools or platforms—it’s about the insights we uncover together. Whether you are an experienced immersive educator, a researcher exploring new methodologies, or simply curious about the future of digital learning, this year’s conference offers a chance to reflect, question, and shape what comes next.

Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of a global community dedicated to redefining education and immersive environments. The conference is hosted across multiple platforms including Second Life®. It will be live-streamed on YouTube. It is completely virtual and free to attend.

Livestream Engagement

Many of the conference sessions are streamed via YouTube Live as part of the recording process. The audience for these livestream sessions has been increasing each year. Therefore, VWBPE 2025 plans to incorporate questions and comments from the livestream with the presenter(s) and participants in-world.

Poster Guidelines

The Posters category provides an opportunity for storytellers, designers, researchers, and educators to share their ideas beyond the written word. This supports visual communication through infographics, conceptual diagrams, research summaries, creative visuals, and other forms of expressive media. Posters allow presenters to distill complex topics into engaging, accessible formats that invite exploration, reflection, and conversation among conference participants.

You can present using a poster or machinima or a mix of each. These posters and machinima will be similar to more traditional physical conferences allowing time for both asynchronous exploration and synchronous scheduled presentation times during the conference.

This category is also open to students who are strongly encouraged to share their current work as individuals or as poster team members.

There are three (3) formats of Poster Presentations.

FORMATS:

  • Poster Only (1 poster)
  • Poster / Machinima Combo (2 posters and 1 machinima of max length 5 minutes)
  • Machinima Only (max length 5 minutes)

Each poster element needs to include a plain text notecard containing information about your poster in an accessible format for people with sight impairments.

Posters may use an aspect ratio of either:
• 3×4 (maximum 1024×1366 pixels), or
• 4×5 (maximum 1024×1280 pixels)

Videos should be accessible from YouTube, captioned, no longer than 5 minutes in length, and have been created on or after 19 October 2025.

Accepted proposals must submit all images as either a JPEG or PNG no later than Sunday, 15 February 2026. Notecards and URLs must also be received by this time.

The VWBPE Poster Liaison will upload your images and notecards for you as part of this submission category once they have been received.

Consider the type of community you represent. Choose one that fits best.

  • Educators and Trainers (default)
  • Artists, Designers and Builders
  • Business and Entrepreneurs
  • Entertainers and Performers
  • IT Solution Designers
  • Nonprofits and Help Communities
  • Students and Post Graduates

When preparing your poster proposal, consider the formats listed below.

  • Poster Only (1 poster, default)
  • Poster / Machinima Combo (2 posters and 1 machinima – max length 5 minutes)
  • Machinima (max length 5 minutes)

Each poster element needs to include a plain text notecard containing information about your poster in an accessible format for people with sight impairments.

Posters may use an aspect ratio of either:
• 3×4 (maximum 1024×1366 pixels), or
• 4×5 (maximum 1024×1280 pixels)

Videos should be accessible from YouTube, captioned, no longer than 5 minutes in length, and have been created on or after 19 October 2025.

When preparing your poster proposal, consider the seven tracks below.

  • Best Practices (default)
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with proven approaches, successful implementations, or lessons learned in practice, creation, or learning. Highlight frameworks, standards, or methods that can be adopted and adapted to support effective outcomes.
  • Advocacy
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with examples, projects, or initiatives focused on promoting positive change and awareness within communities. Showcase work that empowers individuals or groups, addresses equity and inclusion, or champions causes relevant to practice, creation, or learning.
  • Collaboration & Communication
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on how virtual and digital technologies make connections and collaborations possible across distances in unexpected ways in practice, creation, or learning.
  • Creativity and Innovation
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices of creative and innovative work, by featuring ways to demonstrate originality, artistic and practical expression in practice, creation, or learning.
  • Essential Accessibility
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on using technology to make practice, creation, or learning accessible to multiple populations with varied abilities and engagement styles.
  • Research and Studies
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with recent research findings, studies, or analyses that contribute to understanding and improving practice, creation, or learning. Highlight methodologies, data insights, or evidence-based outcomes that inform or challenge conventional perspectives.
  • Tools and Products
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with practical tools, resources, or products designed to support practice, creation, or learning. Showcase innovations that enhance functionality, improve efficiency, or offer new solutions to meet diverse needs in various environments.

ABOUT THE POSTER

  • Poster Title
    The title cannot be longer than 45 characters.
  • Poster Summary
    A brief description of the Poster. [750 characters maximum]
    Note: This summary will be published on the conference program.
  • Track Suitability
    Please describe, specifically and clearly: How does this poster support the goals of the conference? [750 characters maximum]
  • Theme Suitability
    How will your poster fit the theme of the conference? This information is for internal review only and will NOT be published in the program. [500 characters maximum]

PRESENTER INFORMATION

You will be able to submit a proposal as a Contact who is either the individual poster presenter OR a Contact for one or more teams. Each team would have a Captain.

For Individual Poster Presenters:

  • The submitter is both Contact and poster presenter. You have the option of having a co-presenter.
  • Presenter Name(s)
    The Contact will be the poster presenter.
    You will have the option of including both real name and avatar name, or only avatar name, in poster credits.
  • Co-presenter
    You may have up to one (1) co-presenter for the poster. You may optionally have their name included in poster credits.
  • A maximum of one (1) poster proposal will be accepted per individual poster presenter.

For Poster Teams:

  • A Contact can submit proposals for more than one poster team in the same affiliation organization.
  • Only one Captain per poster team.
  • Your poster team will need a name (max 50 characters).
  • There can be several co-presenters on the poster team.
  • You have six options for including names in the poster credits:
    Team name only
    Team name and Captain’s avatar name
    Team name and Captain’s real name
    Team name and Captain’s avatar and real names
    Team name and Contact name only
    Team name and Affiliation only
  • There will be an option to include the names of co-presenters in poster credits.
  • A maximum of one (1) poster proposal will be accepted per poster team.

To submit your poster proposal, proceed to the Poster Submission page.
The deadline for poster submissions is 15 February 2026.