Educator Insights from the Engagement Clinic

Lead Presenter: Valibrarian Gregg / Valerie Hill
Co-presenter: Stephen Xootfly / Stephen Gasior

Venue: Lecture B – The Oasis

This presentation features global educators who will share insights from The Engagement Clinic, a pilot course conducted in 2025 within the virtual world of Second Life.

Designed to develop skills in rational thinking and reflective approaches to topics in life, the nine-part course brought together experts from diverse disciplines to explore strategies for teaching critical thinking and respectful engagement in both virtual and real-world contexts.

Panelists will present the course structure, pedagogical approaches, and learning outcomes. This collaborative approach highlights how immersive environments can serve as platforms for global immersive courses and developing learning materials. These courses are intentionally constructed to be adopted and reused in future open courses.

Objectives:

• Presenters will cover ways to teach logic, ethics and critical thinking in our global divisive world.
• Presentation of topics and pedagogy will help participants discover respectful dialogue techniques.

Insights Connection:
The Engagement Clinic is a creative approach to spark a revolution for each participant to develop skills in rational thinking and reflective approaches to topics in life. An elevated sense of logic, skepticism, and balanced emotional composure combined with an empathic approach to others provides a fresh insight into navigating our complex world which is information dense, confusing, and divisive. The course faces the challenge of going from cognitive chaos to conceptual clarity.

Accessibility: I will use a SpeakEasy HUD Tool.