This year, the 19th Annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference will take place from March 19–21, 2026. This international gathering of professionals and students is unique: it is completely virtual, free to attend, and hosted across multiple platforms including Second Life® and live-streamed on YouTube.

In addition, immersive experiences are featured in the weeks before and after the main event.

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:

• Defining AI’s place in education: Institutions are still wrestling with policy questions around generative AI and academic integrity. How do we ensure fairness, while empowering students to use these tools responsibly?
• Balancing automation with critical thinking: AI can streamline research and lesson design, but educators must guard against the erosion of deeper intellectual engagement.
• Protecting privacy and ethics in a data-driven age: From AI proctoring to student analytics, we face unprecedented questions about ownership, consent, and surveillance.
• Establishing guardrails for emerging tools: Without shared standards, institutions risk inequities and unintended consequences when deploying advanced technologies.
• Scaling immersive technologies: Augmented learning environments, digital twins, and AI teaching assistants offer new pedagogical possibilities—but also bring steep learning curves, infrastructure costs, and questions of access.

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

What Participants Can Expect

By presenting at, or attending, VWBPE 2026, you will gain:

• 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.

SAVE THE DATES

March 19-21, 2026
VWBPE 2026 Conference – INSIGHTS