Press Release: VWBPE 2017 Kick-Off: “Legacy”

March 29 starts the four-day Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference, with an amazing line-up of speakers, workshops, sim demonstrations, poster presentations, 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.

This year's keynote speakers include Dr. Celia Pearce (SL: Artemesia Sandgrain), Chris Dede (SL: Chris Olejniczak) and John Lester (SL: Pathfinder Lester). All three of these visionaries are have been involved in virtual worlds as long as, and even longer than, VWBPE.

Each VWBPE conference keynote speaker and their respective presentations is featured on the conference website (https://vwbpe.org), along with a calendar of exciting presentations, social activities, and networking events that will set extraordinary discussions in motion. 

We have Immersive Experiences happening throughout the week before the conference. Check out Chemistry Labs on the 21st, Spanish Language Learning on the 24th, and Lizards of ARS on the 26th. More Immersive Experiences are scheduled after the conference.

Additionally, this open and free conference would not be possible without the generous contributions of VWBPE sponsors.

Starting March 21st the Rockcliffe Registration Portal will be open for people to register new avatars and find out more about the VWBPE conference in-world. Go to https://urockcliffe.com/reg/second-life/ and all the instructions are there to get your friends started.

The full conference schedule is online here: https://vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe-calendar. 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).

**Keynotes**

VWBPE Main Auditorium
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VWBPE%20Central%204/34/31/22

Keynote: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same: Twenty Years in Virtual Worlds
Dr. Celia Pearce, co-author of Ethnography and Virtual Worlds (2012)
SL: Artemesia Sandgrain
Wednesday, March 29, 2017, 5:00 p.m. SLT/US Pacific Time

Keynote: How Immersion in Virtual and Augmented Worlds Helps Students in the Real World
Chris Dede, Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education (HGSE)
SL: Chris Olejniczak
Friday, March 31, 2017, 1:00 p.m. SLT/US Pacific Time

Keynote: Beyond Escapism: Virtual Worlds, Vulnerable Populations and Social Good
John Lester, CTO of Virtual Rehab‘s global technology strategic direction
SL: Pathfinder Lester
Saturday, April 1, 2017, 4:00 p.m. SLT/US Pacific

**Legacy Panel**

Panelists:
Beth Ritter-Guth (Desideria Stockton: SL)
John Lester (Pathfinder Lester: SL)
Ken Hudson
Kevin Feenan (Phelan Corrimal: SL)
Moderator:  Ghaelen D’Lareh
Time:   Thursday, March 30, 2017, 8:00 a.m. - 9:50 a.m. PT/SLT
Location:  VWBPE Main Auditorium
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VWBPE%20Central%204/34/31/22

**Above the Book**

Above the Book at the VWBPE 2017 Conference will feature sessions with Ebbe Altberg (SL: Ebbe Altberg) and Bernhard Drax (SL: Draxtor Despres). Those who would like to attend this private Livestreamed session must submit questions to https://vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe-2017-above-the-book-question-submittal by Monday, March 20, at 11:59 pm SLT.

**Major Sponsors**
*Silver:
Rockcliffe University Consortium (https://urockcliffe.com/)
Virtual Ability (http://www.virtualability.org/) 
Agile Dimensions (http://www.agiledimensions.com/blog/)

*Bronze:
Ageless Mind Project (http://agelessmindproject.org/)
University of New Mexico (http://extendedlearning.unm.edu/)
University of Idaho (http://www.uidaho.edu/)

**Web Pages**

Above the Book Question Submittal: https://vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe-2017-above-the-book-question-submittal
Calendar: https://vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe-calendar
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-worlds-best-practices-in-education-conference-2017-tickets-31309376187
Rockcliffe Registration Portal: https://urockcliffe.com/reg/second-life/
Sponsors: https://vwbpe.org/sponsors-2017
Thinkerer Award: https://vwbpe.org/thinkerer-award-2017-nomination