VWBPE 2020: STELLAR

Call for Proposals

Stellar: Outstanding (informal); of or relating to the stars. (Merriam-Webster)

How do you reach for the stars?

Last year VWBPE reflected on how we can build on the past to inspire, innovation, and create. This year we take the next leap, to go where no avatar has ever gone, as we explore the possibilities of what might be.

Instructors hold a special place in that cosmos of possibility. They are the guiding stars that help fuel the imagination to create, to build, to communicate, to partner. It is little wonder that instructors are innovators themselves, seeking out new worlds, new frontiers, and new opportunities for learning, as well as teaching. They are, in a word, stellar. Not necessarily because they want to be, but because they have to be.

Every day is a new universe of challenges, bringing together people of diverse skills and ideas. Whether it is language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, or a host of other subject areas, instruction today is not simply about book learning.

It is about experiencing.

It is about reflecting.

It is about doing.

It is about learning to be Stellar in ways that build creative and critical thinkers of the future. These are lifelong learners, capable of building galaxies filled with diverse worlds that blend people, processes, and technology.

VWBPE invites you to bring us a piece of the cosmos of possibilities, innovation, and thought you create, whether it is in in areas of instruction, programming, graphic arts, storytelling, design, or research. All subject areas and virtual worlds that support learning and development are welcome.

Now is the time. Share your Stellar vision of the future of creation and immersive learning within and beyond the ecosystem of VWBPE.

Call for Proposals

The VWBPE committee seeks submissions of presentation proposals along with proposals for exhibits and immersive experiences (pre- and post-conference virtual experiences). The call for proposals encompasses these three categories, with further details about each in the section below.

Submission due dates for proposals:

  • Presentations: 27 January 2020
  • Exhibits: 16 February 2020
  • Immersive Experiences: 10 February 2020

There are seven tracks and three formats. When formulating your proposal, we encourage you to consider the current theme of the conference, which in 2020 is “Stellar”.

We invite proposal submissions from a broad range of communities including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Educators and Trainers
  • vLanguage Members
  • Artists, Designers and Builders
  • Advocacy and NonProfit
  • Support and Help Communities
  • Entertainers and Performers
  • Coders, Scripters, and System/IT Analysts
  • Business and Entrepreneurs

Please consider the following information in preparing your proposal.

Presentations

Presentation proposals are those which will be included as part of the conference program, during any of the three days of the conference. These will be scheduled in a particular location and be listed on the main program.

All proposals submitted here are required to submit a title, a presentation summary, and 1-2 objectives, and a description of how your proposal fits the Stellar conference theme. Each of these fields has character limitations, so please compose in a document before you add it to the form. Text that exceeds the character limit will be truncated.

Click on each of the tabs above to get additional information on how to create a proposal that fits this conference. Only paper submissions will be peer reviewed and included in the published proceedings as a peer reviewed journal article. Therefore, real names are required for this type of submission. Refer to the VWBPE 2020 Paper Submission Guidelines for details.

Time zone for the lead presenter will be requested in order to assist in scheduling your presentation.

You will also be asked to include 1-4 keywords that are applicable to your proposal, such as tags for topics, technologies used, digital skills applied and other similar tags.

Proposal submissions for the VWBPE 2020 conference are now CLOSED.

An additional consideration to keep in mind is the manner in which you will make your presentation accessible in text and voice for our diverse audience. We suggest one of the following or you may indicate a different method in your proposal submission.

  • SpeakEasy HUD Tool
  • Provide your own transcriptionist
  • Provide a written script during the presentation
  • Other: (please specify)

Consider the type of community you represent:

  • Educators and Trainers
  • vLanguage Members
  • Artists, Designers and Builders
  • Advocacy and NonProfit
  • Support and Help Communities
  • Entertainers and Performers
  • Coders, Scripters, and System/IT Analysts
  • Business and Entrepreneurs
  • Other (if needed)

Stellar VWBPE presentations should fit one of the seven Digital/Virtual Tracks listed below.

  1. Analytic Thinking and Complex Problem Solving
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on how analytic thinking is applied and used for solving meaningful, real life problems with applications to society, practice, creation ,and learning, including the development of proof of concept or experimentation.
  2. Creativity and Innovation in Design, Practice, and Learning
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices of creative and innovative work, by featuring ways to demonstrate originality, artistic and practical expression in practice, creation, or learning.
  3. Essential Accessibility in Digital and Virtual Spaces
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on using technology to make practice, creation, or learning accessible to multiple populations with varied abilities and engagement styles.
  4. Collaboration and Distance Connections
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on how virtual and digital technologies make connections and collaborations possible across distances in unexpected ways in practice, creation, or learning.
  5. Multimedia Communication and Multifaceted Interactions
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on the use of multimedia communications made possible through multiple technologies, insofar as interactions are redefined and go beyond text and spoken word in practice, creation, or learning.
  6. Ethics, Responsibility, and Tolerance
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on how to engage digitally in responsible ways, demonstrate tolerance of differences and multiple viewpoints, and/or models ethical behavior in practice, creation, or learning.
  7. VWBPE Redux
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with previously presented subjects from past VWBPE conferences with updated content. Redux sessions will be generally be 30 minutes long, unless submitted as a Micro Burst Cluster format presentation (15 minutes).
The main VWBPE conference program will include four formats scheduled during any of the conference dates. Please review the following descriptions before you make your choice.

  1. Spotlight Presentations (1 hour)
    Proposals using this format are like traditional lectures with slides of information on ideas, projects or research in any of the tracks listed previously. Presenters will be issued presentation tools and trained on their use, including the SpeakEasy for making content accessible.
  2. Hands on Technology Workshops (90 minutes)
    Workshops should be hands on and allow participants to interact with the environment or the technology featured through multiple digital skills. Participants should not be passive listeners but be able to do what is demonstrated in the environment. Those who propose workshops will be able to build and/or set up their interactive area five hours before the session is to be scheduled. Prim counts are limited.
  3. Compass Points Roundtable Discussions (1 hour)
    Roundtable discussions are not lecture presentations, nor are they hands on engagement. Presentation materials are kept to a minimum, and the focus is on the topic under discussion, which will be addressed from four compass point questions: What is exciting? What is worrisome? What is the current stance or opinion? What else do we need to know? A roundtable discussion should include at least 3, and no more than 5, discussants, with some audience discussion possible, as appropriate.
  4. Micro Burst Cluster Presentations (15 minutes)
    Proposals using this format will be ‘clustered’ together by topic / track. Presentations are to be 15 minutes, with 5 minutes for questions / discussion. A session moderator will guide the discussion between presentations. Clusters may be 60 – 90 minutes in total, depending upon the topic submissions. Accept the challenge of sharing a quick burst of ideas.
    Presenters will be issued presentation tools and trained on their use, including the SpeakEasy for making content accessible.
Once again VWBPE will host a game that incorporates hunting for clues and information from the program. We would like you to be more directly a part of its planning, if you wish to be mentioned in the game. If you are interested, provide a question and an answer from your presentation topic.

Presentation Submission Guidelines

Paper Submission Guidelines

Proposal submissions for the VWBPE 2020 conference are now CLOSED.

Exhibits

Exhibits are for those who wish to showcase their creative works in virtual worlds through artistic expression in order to promote their organization or achievements.

Exhibit submissions are VWBPE committee reviewed and require an already developed product for showcasing.

There are only tracks for the exhibit category of proposals. You can review the Exhibit Guidelines for detailed information.

Exhibit submissions are now CLOSED.

When preparing your exhibit proposal, consider the eight tracks below.

  • K-12 Best Practices
  • Higher Education/College Best Practices
  • Field Practices
  • Games and Simulations
  • Tools and Products
  • Advocacy
  • Support and Help Communities
  • Artists, Designers and Builders

Exhibit submissions are now CLOSED.

Immersive Experiences

The Immersive Experiences category showcases locations whose main objective is interaction, immersion, and engagement for those who enter them, whether to play a game, solve an immersive problem, or engage participants in hands-on, interactive learning.

Immersive Experiences submissions require a guide to provide basic instruction on the interface of the platform. Time should be spent mainly on having the participants play, immerse, or engage with the location, not just “touring” it. Accessibility must be considered to allow participation for all.

Submissions to the Immersive Experiences category are VWBPE committee reviewed and require already existing and ready for use locations or platforms. Because of the length of time required for these experiences, these will be hosted pre- and post-conference. If a proposal is selected for inclusion, it will be scheduled in the two weeks before or after the conference, depending on availability and timing.

Immersive Experiences submissions
are now CLOSED.

There are seven tracks for presentation proposals. They are as follows:

  1. Analytic Thinking and Complex Problem Solving
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on how analytic thinking is applied and used for solving meaningful, real life problems with applications to society, practice, creation ,and learning, including the development of proof of concept or experimentation.
  2. Creativity and Innovation in Design, Practice, and Learning
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices of creative and innovative work, by featuring ways to demonstrate originality, artistic and practical expression in practice, creation, or learning.
  3. Essential Accessibility in Digital and Virtual Spaces
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on using technology to make practice, creation, or learning accessible to multiple populations with varied abilities and engagement styles.
  4. Collaboration and Distance Connections
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on how virtual and digital technologies make connections and collaborations possible across distances in unexpected ways in practice, creation, or learning.
  5. Multimedia Communication and Multifaceted Interactions
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on the use of multimedia communications made possible through multiple technologies, insofar as interactions are redefined and go beyond text and spoken word in practice, creation, or learning.
  6. Ethics, Responsibility, and Tolerance
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with innovative examples, projects, or best practices on how to engage digitally in responsible ways, demonstrate tolerance of differences and multiple viewpoints, and/or models ethical behavior in practice, creation, or learning.
  7. VWBPE Redux
    Proposals to this track should engage participants with previously presented subjects from past VWBPE conferences with updated content.
In the Immersive Experiences category, your proposal may be one of the following two formats:

Virtual Worlds: Guidelines
Wanna Play?: Guidelines

The Immersive Experiences category has a wide open option for venues, but they do fall under two general venue types, as long as they can be accessed through a computer, not a specific gaming console. Specific details on access must be submitted with the proposal. These are your choices:

3D Virtual Environment
or
Gaming Platform

Immersive Experiences submissions
are due now CLOSED.