VWBPE 2021 Reconnaissance Immersive Experiences
A highlight of the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference are the Immersive Experiences offered in the weeks before and after the conference presentation days.
The VWBPE 2021 Immersive Experiences showcase unique and interesting work conducted across the Metaverse. We invite you to join us as we explore interactive and engaging locations across multiple virtual environments from Virbela to World of Warcraft with many stops in between. Have you been to a haunted castle in Gather Town?
Come play a game, solve a problem, and engage in hands-on learning with virtual world education leaders. No need to sign up, simply come and learn!
The Immersive Experiences are scheduled from March 03 to April 05 (exclusive of the conference dates). Attend some or all, as you are able. Many will be open for self-exploration after the presentation date. A list of the pre-conference and post-conference experiences is below. Details and access instructions for the experiences will be found in the VWBPE conference calendar – available now. Some may require creating accounts. There are still a few more sessions to schedule so be sure to check the Program often!
Pre-Conference
Are we simple yet? An evaluation of Virbela
03 March @ 5:00 PM SLT/PDT
60 minutes
Virbela: As more and more tools become available, we face greater challenges in evaluating them. How can we tell which are right for us? In this hands-on tour, we visit one such world – Virbela, and consider by means of a checklist whether or not it has a sound balance of features for business-like needs.
Poland History House – Interactive history telling
04 March @ 10:00 AM SLT/PDT
90 minutes
Second Life: Come learn about Poland as you explore Poland History House. This interactive display looks at the history of this fascinating country.
Lessons by the Sea
06 March @ 10:00 AM SLT/PDT
60 minutes
Second Life: This Second Life Endowment for Arts (SLEA) exhibit brings awareness of how humans are destroying the delicate ecological balance and uses a story to display an alternative way of living to preserve our environment. The Immersive Experience is through the tunnels built to display the world under the sea; the tunnels also contain alcoves for each scene.
Texas A&M Veterinary Triage and Crisis Simulation
08 March @ 1:00 PM SLT/PDT
60 minutes
Second Life: The Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team (VET) and their virtual world facilitators demonstrate and discuss their tornado disaster simulations in Second Life. In active use for over 5 years, the VET crisis simulation is used to immerse Texas A&M veterinary students in emergency situations requiring animal triage, site security, situational awareness, media awareness and other skills they will need when facing real-world disaster scenarios.
The Butterfly Eyeffect: Touch of Light at the Edge of the World
09 March @ Noon SLT/PDT
11 March @ 4:00 PM SLT/PDT
90 minutes each
Second Life: This gallery exhibit is a study of phenology and symbiosis in relationship with Nature, leading us to ponder what the world will be like when we see everything through eyes of LOVE? Those who have experienced it call it “Magic,” and, “Important to the world!”.
Hitchcock: The evolution of the plot twist
12 March @ 4:00 PM SLT/PDT
60 minutes
Second Life: This exhibition and quest will demonstrate how Alfred Hitchcock perfected the literary element of the plot twist in his films, with immersive scenes from Pyscho, The Birds, Vertigo, and North by Northwest.
The Quest for the Galaxy Language
13 March @ 1:00 PM SLT/PDT
90 minutes
Second Life: In this adventure people will discover universal problem-solving abilities to confront life threatening challenges. It is presented as a science fiction story that began with a visit from Extraterrestrials who appeared as Avatars on Inspiration Island and encouraged people to learn the Galaxy Language. The ETs left guidelines for creating a visual and musical language to help hold onto the value of life even in the worst of times.
Dance 101: Free dance lessons with live instructors
15 March @ Noon SLT/PDT
15 March @ 5:00 PM SLT/PDT
60 minutes
Second Life: Many physical dance gatherings include free open dance lessons for beginners. During the class, people change partners with each new song. You dance with (and meet) a dozen dance partners, and during the rest of the evening, you will likely dance with some of them again.
Dance 101 presents six popular SL couples dances using sets of popular songs in a partially immersive open air setting. You learn how to match songs with dances. And you change partners… with each new song and new dance. Come for the lessons and stay for the show!
Post-Conference
Reconnaissance in the time of darkness
21 March @ 2:00 PM SLT/PDT
90 minutes
OS Grid: We are a group of 10 artists and each of us has developed an individual artistic idea to deal with the main topic. This is an interactive immersive tour to all the art-installations and to explore different artistic strategies and concepts related to the perception of darkness and how to overcome and handle it.
“Virtual Worlds” an Elective Course for Higher Education
24 March @ 10:00 AM SLT/PDT
90 minutes
Second Life: The tour will include the Cag University (Turkey) Virtual campus and Feed A Smile sim where we carry out our final student projects. The main objective of this course is to teach the students how virtual worlds can be used for the benefit of humanity.
Escape – Spanish Language Learning
25 March @ 2:00 PM SLT/PDT
90 minutes
Digiworldz: Join us for a tour of Escape, a virtual world dedicated to learning Spanish in an immersive environment. While strolling through the plaza or investigating the old pyramid, students discover dedicated grammar and vocabulary learning objects that take them through the process of attaining knowledge, practicing that knowledge and finally assessing that knowledge in an engaging, innovative format.
Digital University: A post-disciplinary gamescape
Part 1: Digital University campus opens for 24 hours asynchronous exploration
26 March @ 8:00 AM SLT/PDT
Part 2: Final synchronous session
27 March @ 8:00 AM SLT/PDT
60 minutes
Gather Town: Digital University is a hybrid of pedagogy and gaming focused on transdisciplinary thinking. Fictional avatars are immersed in a haunted castle campus and participate in a choose-your-own-learning adventure. Hidden pre-recorded videos, lecture excerpts, and provocative questions are discovered, while serendipitous encounters with other players, educators, and ghosts of the castle complete the experience.
Developing a Second Life Quick Start Guide for New Second Life Learners
27 March @ 2:00 PM SLT/PDT
60 minutes each
Second Life: Come experience this new user quick start learning area, which contains a learning path for basic Second Life skills, a University-like learning hub with social areas, classrooms, a concert area, a “freebie” store, and an advanced learning path for experienced SL residents wanting to learn more.
Is the Amani Ready to Sail Safely?
28 March @ 10:00 AM SLT/PDT
90 minutes
Kitely: Join a recon mission at Limiland aboard a full scale cruise ship. This immersive extra credit activity was developed for cruise ship operations management students. Explore role play and use the checklist and embedded information in key locations to determine if the Amani is ready to sail in a post pandemic world.
Shadowlands: Redesign of Play in World of Warcraft
31 March @ 5:00 PM SLT/PDT
90 minutes
World of Warcraft and Discord: This immersive experience covers the covenants (zones) in the newest expansion of World of Warcraft looking through a Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA). We will look holistically at the mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics that each of these bring to game-play and role-play.
Magnolia Gardens of Knowledge
02 April @ 1:00 PM SLT/PDT
60 minutes
OpenSim and SceneGate (optional): A demonstration of using OpenSimulator affordances (Digital Teaching Assistants) to provide introductory learning about any topic with concrete (visible) parts. This demonstration introduces the parts (here garden plants), showing 3D images of them in a typical location (situated learning).
The Superhero’s Journey New Student Orientation
03 April @ 11:00 AM SLT/PDT
90 minutes
Second Life: The Superhero’s Journey New Student Orientation and Guided Pathways Areas of Study Digital Storytelling Project is an ongoing, persistent virtual learning environment to inform and inspire new students and advance institutional understanding at Peninsula College.
Easter Egg Hunt at Cookie II
03 April @ 2:00 PM SLT/PDT
90 minutes
Kitely: Calling all adventurers for a recon visit to Cookie II! Look for the Easter bunny’s baskets with us and uncover teleports to areas of new development we’d like to share with you. Hidden throughout the region are baskets with Easter eggs of delicious tips and tricks shared by our community members on technologies and strategies to foster resilience and collaboration.
Singapore 1825
05 April @ 5:00 PM SLT/PDT
90 minutes each
Kitely: Singapore, Circa 1825 is an imaginative recreation of the early trading port established by Sir Stamford Raffles of the British East India Company in 1819.