Second Life Newser: Press Release: VWBPE 2021 Conference RECONNAISSANCE Opens March 18, 2021

March 18th starts the three-day Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference, with an amazing lineup of speakers, workshops, sim demonstrations, poster presentations, open discussions, and more. The conference will cover a wide range of subjects concerning virtual worlds and their use for education, virtual reality, smart games, arts and science, and the future of technology.

Launched in 2007, the VWBPE Conference provides educational and networking opportunities that are relevant to educational curriculum development utilizing virtual environments and “best practices”.

These include

helping to build community through extension of learning best practices to practical application of those ideas and techniques;
providing networking opportunities for educators and the communities that help support education; and
providing access to current innovations, trends, ideas, case studies, and other best practices for educators and the communities that help support education.

Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education is a global grass-roots, peer reviewed, community event focusing on education in immersive virtual environments. This open conference is organized by educators, for educators, and is open to everyone to provide an opportunity to showcase the learning that takes place in this community of practice. All educators, librarians, non-profits, designers, and developers are encouraged to present, attend and take part in this discussion of collaborative deeper learning and co-presence in virtual worlds and games.

Although the main part of the conference will be held in Second Life® this year, there are sessions about different virtual worlds, and events on other virtual world grids. All Conference venues are listed in the program (https://www.vwbpe.org/conference/program) and will be open to the public on Monday 15 March.

This year's keynote speakers are Dr. Undine Frömming, Heike Philp, and Dr. Bryan Alexander. We also have several invited speakers from Linden Lab, the developers of Second Life®.

The VWBPE conference keynote speakers and their respective presentations are featured on the conference website (http://vwbpe.org), along with a program of exciting presentations, social activities, and networking events that will set extraordinary discussions in motion.

The VWBPE Immersive Experiences showcase unique and interesting work being conducted across the metaverse. We invite you to join us as we explore sixteen interactive and engaging locations across Three virtual environments. The Immersive Experiences are scheduled from 3 March to 5 April (exclusive of the conference dates). Details and access instructions for the experiences are found at https://www.vwbpe.org/conference/program.

Additionally, this open and free conference would not be possible without the generous contributions of our VWBPE sponsors. https://www.vwbpe.org/our-sponsors/vwbpe-2021-sponsors

The Rockcliffe Registration Portal is open for people to register new Second Life® avatars and find out more about the VWBPE conference in-world. Go to http://urockcliffe.com/reg/second-life/ . The instructions are there to get you and your friends started at this educator-friendly newcomers’ region in Second Life®.

The full conference program is online here: https://www.vwbpe.org/conference/program. You can also view presentations live on YouTube (http://vwbpe.org/watch). All of the conference events will be in Second Life® this year, and the locations are included in the listings. When you click on a conference event and click Add to Calendar, you can add the event to your own calendar (Google and more).

Note: Daylight Savings Time

In most of the United States and Canada, Daylight Savings Time is in effect as of 14 March 2021. In Europe, Great Britain, and many other locations, DST is in effect as of 28 March, 2021 (after the conference is over). Check this page to find out when (and if) Daylight Savings Time begins for you: https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/2021.html.

**VWBPE 2021 GATEWAY**

SLurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VWBPE%20Gateway%20Pyxis/100/128/24

**KEYNOTES**

Keynote: About the History of Virtual Reality and the Meaning of VR for Education

Dr. Undine Frömming

Thursday, March 18, 2021

9:00 am – 9:50 am SLT/US Pacific Daylight Time

Keynote: Despacito!

Heike Philp

Friday, March 19, 2021

8:00 am – 8:50 pm SLT/US Pacific Daylight Time

Keynote:

Dr. Bryan Alexander

Saturday, March 20, 2021

9:00 am – 9:50 am SLT/US Pacific Daylight Time

**INVITED SPEAKERS**

Invited Speaker: Patch Linden, VP of Product Operations

What’s new at the Lab?

Thursday, March 18, 2021

3:00 pm – 3:50 pm SLT/US Pacific Daylight Time

Invited Speakers: Patch Linden, VP of Product Operations; Brett Linden, VP of Marketing; Grumpity Linden, VP of Product; Madori Linden, Product Specialist (Land Operations)

Reconnaissance with the Lab Roundtable Discussion

Friday, March 19, 2021

1:00 pm – 1:50 pm SLT/US Pacific Daylight Time

Invited Speakers: Brett Linden, VP of Marketing; Grumpity Linden, VP of Product

Quadrivium 3 :: Reconnaissance with Linden Lab

Saturday, March 20, 2021

3:00 pm – 3:50 pm SLT/US Pacific Daylight Time

**WEB PAGES**

Conference Information: http://vwbpe.org

Program: https://www.vwbpe.org/conference/program

Registration: http://vwb.pe/register

Sponsors. https://www.vwbpe.org/our-sponsors/vwbpe-2021-sponsors