Connection. When we find it, we often explore its meaning to us personally as being on the same wavelength, a flow of positive energy, a good vibration, or something that resonates deep within. These analogues to music, science, math, and art are not coincidental. Everything around us pulses with energy that calms us down or revs us up. This same energy is what one feels when envisioning the waves on an ocean shoreline, as the orange glow of sunset draws upon the last wisps of daylight, then fades to a blanket of stars.
These opportunities can have a profound impact on the way we see the events that surround us. Such is the case that experience is even better shared through our connections to each other. Our activities take on so much more depth and meaning when we can develop stories to which others with similar experiences can relate. Like music, there is a harmony inherent in the layering of sympathetic experiences that a single instrument, while beautiful in and of itself, struggles to convey.
Laughter, sadness, humor, exhilaration: these aren’t just found in solitary pursuits, but are enriched by the audience in which they are shared. One doesn’t even need to know the language to understand the meaning conveyed by even the simplest of melodies. Our shared connection to every other person in the world serves to help convey thoughts and ideas regardless of race, creed, color, or religion.
That is the power of connection.
In this conference, we want to focus on how immersive environments have extended the reach of educators to imagine a world without boundaries. To reach out beyond self-imposed constraints and open the doors to new ways of thinking, imagining, expression, and building.
We invite you to bring your best ideas. To reach out and connect with people, not because they are the same, but because they are different. To play in the maze of knowledge that everyone brings to the sandbox which is VWBPE.