About VWBPE
Ever taken a class online? What about in World of Warcraft? Or Eve Online? Second Life? These are just some of the examples of new ways in which educators are using virtual worlds for teaching and educating their classes in new and exciting ways.
The Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference is where they all come, to get new ideas of reaching out and connecting with others who have a similar passion for discovering what these technologies have to offer.
Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education is a global, grassroots community event focusing on education in immersive virtual environments. This open conference, organized by educators for educators, provides an opportunity to showcase the learning that takes place in this community of practice. All educators are encouraged to present, attend and take part in this discussion of collaborative deeper learning and co-presence in virtual worlds and games.
This conference is FREE to all attendees.
Who attends VWBPE?
Over 2000 attendees representing 50+ countries participate in 150-200 online presentations including theoretical research, application of best practices, virtual world tours, hands-on workshops, discussion panels, machinima presentations, and poster exhibits.
What We Need
While the conference itself is free to all attendees, the conference does cost. Our ability to provide programming varies from year to year, depending on the amount of sponsorship and contributions we receive. Funding received also is used to record, catalogue, and archive presentations in an open source format that is available to all educators without restriction.
We are asking the community to help donate or sponsor up to a maximum of $16,500. This would be more than sufficient for server rentals, machinima, broadcasting, accessibility for persons with disabilities, incidental expenses, and ongoing hosting expenses for the archives.
What You Get
A Sponsorship package will be available starting November 15, 2014.
Small dollar donations would receive honourable mention on our website and at the venue sites. All sponsors will receive a copy of the conference proceedings (Journal of Virtual Studies) after the conference has concluded, including their information as a sponsor. For larger donations, please refer to the sponsorship package.
What the Educational Community Gets
We have a number of past conference archives available to educators seeking new ideas for their classrooms. Learning instutions can use these archives to evaluate the potential use of these virtual platforms for their curricula.
Past archives include:
Conference Proceedings
- 2013 VWBPE Conference Proceedings (PDF)
- 2012 VWBPE Conference Proceedings (PDF)
- 2011 VWBPE Conference Proceedings (PDF)
- 2010 VWBPE Conference Proceedings (PDF)
Video Archives
- 2014 VWBPE Conference Recordings
- 2013 VWBPE Conference Recordings
- YouTube Playlists
- Treet TV Business
- Metaverse TV
Slideshare Presentations
VWBPE Awards
Other Ways You Can Help
Pass the word to any educators you might know who would be interested in learning about what the best of the best in virtual immersive education is all about.
If you have experience with Second Life or Opensim and would like to volunteer, we will have ongoing calls for volunteers leading up to the conference. We welcome your help in the following roles.
- Builders
- Peer Reviewers
- Hosts
- Mentors
- Greeters
Check our website for the latest information about the conference.