|
|
Virtual world conference will address core issues in contemporary society
The Open University
| Milton Keynes, UK
30-Jul-2010 » Training Press Releases » The use of virtual worlds for learning, collaborative work and business ventures will be explored in a unique conference on 15 September 2010. The Virtual World Conference 2010 will follow the sun and is hosted over a 24-hour period entirely in Second Life - a three-dimensional space where millions of users can create their own worlds and interact with others from around the globe.
The conference will bring together 21 international speakers from around the world to share ideas, showcase innovations and applications, and hold debates with a world-wide audience.
Anna Peachey (The Open University/Eygus Ltd) and Professor Sara de Freitas (Serious Games Institute /Lab Group) will chair in the European zone, with Andreas Schmeil (PARC/University of Lugano) in the American Pacific Coast time zone and Claus Nehmzow (Alcus International Ltd/Hong Kong) in the East Asian time zone.
Hosting the conference on a virtual platform will enable speakers in each time zone to contribute to a full 24 hours of activity and delegates and speakers will access the conference remotely via Internet-connected devices.
Professor Sara de Freitas said: "Hosting international conferences means that delegates use up a lot of air miles but we are taking on board the climate change challenge by hosting it in a virtual world. As one part of the conference closes in one time zone, another part kicks off in another. It is going to be a truly remarkable event and will open up so many possibilities for future global collaborations."
Professor Denise Kirkpatrick, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Learning, Teaching and Quality at The Open University, said: "This event presents a great opportunity to tackle the big questions about how we use virtual worlds to support learning in varied contexts."
The conference, which is the first in a series of community-driven events, will consider how virtual worlds can change the way we learn, work and socialise and focus on several core themes:
• Social interaction, societies and communities in virtual worlds
• Business applications and strategies for using virtual worlds
• Formal and informal teaching and learning in virtual worlds
Virtual world experts and researchers from East Asia to West America will be taking part to discuss these central themes with a view to creating a new virtual networking community to consider future issues and challenges.
Additional Information:
The conference costs £45 to attend and delegates should register in advance. Please visit http://web.me.com/eygus/Virtual_World_Conference/Home.html.
The Virtual World Conference 2010 will host trainers, experts, teachers, policy-makers, managers, consultants, tutors and researchers from industry, academia, schools and policy development, with representation from a wide range of different sectors including:
• Education: schools, colleges and universities
• Research: universities, institutes, industrial labs
• Training: training organisations, private foundations
• Industry: international companies, SMEs
• Health: hospitals and training institutions, care trusts
• Environment: planning agencies, environmental agencies, emergency response organisations
• Government: central government departments, agencies and local government authorities
Editor's Notes
The Open University (OU) is the largest academic institution in the UK and a world leader in flexible distance learning. Since it began in 1969, the OU has taught more than 1.5 million students and has more than 250,000 current students, including 20,000 overseas, learning in their own time using course materials, online activities and content, web-based forums and tutorials and through tutor groups and residential schools.
The OU has been highly rated for teaching quality, and has been at the top of student satisfaction rankings in the National Student Survey since it was introduced in 2005. 70% of students are in full-time or part-time employment, and three out of four FTSE 100 companies have sponsored staff to take OU courses.
The OU supports a vibrant research portfolio and in the UK's latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008), the University climbed 23 places to 43rd, securing a place in the UK's top 50 higher education institutions
Regarded as Britain's major e-learning institution, the OU is a world leader in developing technology to increase access to education on a global scale. Its vast 'open content portfolio' includes free study units on OpenLearn, which has had more than 10 million unique visitors, and materials on iTunes U, which has recorded 13 million downloads. The OU has a 40 year partnership with the BBC which has moved from late-night lectures in the 1970s to prime-time programmes such as Life, Coast, James May's Big Ideas and The Money Programme.
Visit www.open.ac.uk
|
|
|
|
Locations listing this release: Alltheweb | Google | Bing | Yahoo
 The Open University RSS news feed
 View all The Open University press releases
Search blogs for The Open University
Follow the headlines with  | Add to your Google Homepage 
| For
further information
about this story,
please contact:
|
|
|
|
|
News providers may freely use information from the press releases within their own news services. Where an entire press release is copied or significant parts of it copied, then "Training Press Releases" should remain clearly quoted as indicated at the start of each press release.
This
news story is a press
release from the above
company and does not
represent the views
of Training Press Releases.
Please ensure that
you read our legal
notices. |
|
|
|
|
