VWBPE: Transitions
April 3-5, 2025
Announcing: Keynotes
With eighteen years of education, art, science, discussion, and networking using immersive virtual environments in education behind us, we now explore the Transitions in brave new digital spaces of play, learning, and creation.
We are pleased to feature the following keynote speakers on the slate for the upcoming VWBPE conference in April 2025.
You can mark your calendar with the dates of these keynote presentations. See you at the conference!
Phylis West Johnson / SL: Sonicity Fitzroy
Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, San Jose State University
Friday 04 April @ 11:00 AM SLT, VWBPE Auditorium
Phylis West Johnson is a Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at San Jose State University. She is also the founder of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications Immersive Storytelling Lab. She has authored six books in media studies, numerous research chapters and journal articles, as well as arts reviews and magazine features on gaming, sound and new media, particularly virtual and mixed reality. She has presented internationally, and has more than 20 years of professional radio experience. She is currently finishing up her current book on the Metaverse. Previous book publications include “Second Life, Media, and the Other Society”, “Machinima: The Art and Practice of Virtual Filmmaking”, and “Redefining Journalism in an Age of Technological Advancements, Changing Demographics, and Social Issues”.
More about Phylis West Johnson:
SJSU Staff Page: https://www.sjsu.edu/jmc/about-us/team/faculty/phylis-johnson.php
Blog – Future Media Journalism: https://futuremediajournalism.wordpress.com/
Rabindra Ratan / SL: Robby (Rabidth Rote)
Associate Professor and AT&T Endowed Chair, Department of Media and Information, Michigan State University (MSU)
Saturday 05 April @ 9:00 AM SLT, VWBPE Auditorium
Rabindra (Robby) Ratan is an Associate Professor and AT&T Endowed Chair at Michigan State University’s (MSU) Department of Media and Information. He is also the Director of the Social and Psychological Approaches to Research on Technology-Interaction Effects (SPARTIE) Lab. He is an affiliated faculty member of the MSU Department of Psychology, the MSU College of Education’s program in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, and the MSU Center for Gender in a Global Context. Dr. Ratan conducts social and psychological research on the effects of human-technology interaction, focusing on how media technologies (e.g., XR/VR/AR/MR, avatars, video games, agents/AI) influence meaningful outcomes (e.g., equity, well-being, motivation) across societal contexts (e.g., education, health, industry). He is particularly interested in the Proteus effect (i.e., avatar characteristics influencing user behaviors), human-AI interaction, gender stereotypes in gaming, and virtual meetings. In addition to conducting research on these phenomena, he has also been teaching all of his MSU classes in virtual reality since 2022.
More about Rabindra Ratan:
Website: https://www.robbyratan.com/
Faculty page: https://gamedev.msu.edu/robby-ratan-ph-d/