The Immersive Learning Research Network is happy to announce our newest member of our Board of Directors! Randall will be stepping in as iLRN's Membership Director to lead in the growth of our association of immersive learning professionals. Rode is an innovator with educational uses of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and other extended reality (XR) technologies in support of research and teaching activities, with a particular emphasis on medicine and health.  His is a prominent voice in uses of XR in higher education and medical settings, leading conversations and explorations with peer institutions and industry XR developers, and he's a frequent speaker at higher-education conferences on the topic of XR, an organizer of XR workshops for higher education institutions and facilitator of the Educause higher education Extended Reality(XR) in Education community forum.  

Instructional design is a strong part of Randy's professional background, and an important part of his approach to serving the students and the faculty he supports.  He is currently working with several departments at Southern Connecticut State University on XR initiatives including workforce training workshops and a computer science XR development elective.  Previous work includes leading the Blended Reality applied research project at Yale, managing the implementation of an AR based anatomy teaching application for the Yale School of Medicine and serving as an instructor/designer for online user-centered design curriculum at Quinnipiac University. 
iLRN is proud to offer a seat at our board table for Randy's expert contributions and leadership to the emerging field of Immersive Learning!
To connect with Director Rode and congratulate him on his new role for iLRN, please visit https://linkedin.com/in/randallrode for further details.

Academic Submission Deadline Extended to October 25th!
iLRN2025 invites you to submit your research to the 11th International Conference on Immersive Learning, themed around Multimodal Literacies in Immersive Learning Environments. Join global experts in exploring how immersive technologies like XR, AI, and generative AI are reshaping education and learning. Whether you’re focused on ethics, pedagogy, or the cutting-edge applications of technology, this is the platform to share your insights. 
Conference dates: June 15-19, 2025, in Chicago and online. 
https://www.immersivelrn.org/ilrn2025/home/

The Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) announces that Prof. Leonel Morgado has stepped down from his position on the Board of Directors, effective at the conclusion of our recent conference. Prof. Morgado has been a foundational member of iLRN for the past decade and has served on the Board of Directors for five and a half years, contributing significantly to our growth and success.
In his former roles as Vice-President and Director for Scientific Quality, Prof. Morgado led the successful inclusion of the annual iLRN conference in the CORE rankings and worked continuously with conference organizers to sustain and improve the scientific quality while maintaining the community and welcoming spirit of our event and organization. His contributions to the Knowledge Tree are enabling immersive learning researchers to employ solid theoretical grounding, replicable methods, and common terminology to further develop the field. 
While he is stepping down from the board, Prof. Morgado will continue to play an active role within iLRN as a member of the Steering Committee, Circle of Scholars, and Knowledge Tree. He will remain involved helping to enhance the global relevance of our field.
"I believe iLRN is poised to become a major reference organization in immersive learning research and practice," said Prof. Morgado. "By stepping down, I hope to open opportunities for other researchers to take on this role and bring new energy and ideas to our community."
We are grateful for Prof. Morgado's unwavering dedication and are delighted that he will continue to contribute to iLRN's mission. Please join us in thanking him for his service and in looking forward to his ongoing involvement.
iLRN remains strongly committed to Scientific Quality as a key value and pursuit for the iLRN community and with Prof. Morgado’s help are seeking a new Director to join our board to continue innovative and capacity building for the immersive learning sciences.

Mixed Reality combines real-world and computer-generated images, recently highlighted by the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3. This talk explores apps and games developed for mixed reality headsets. Using a browser or VR headset and the Spatial platform, your avatar walks around models, displays, and videos on both the underlying concepts and how they have been used in various application types such as education, stories, puzzles, FPS, music, and more.   Our guest presenter Mark Jeffcock is a semi-retired software architect interested in virtual reality. For the last 4 years, Mark has been teaching remotely in virtual reality on various subjects: such as virtual world building, Unity, VR hardware, game-building, mixed reality development, photogrammetry, and gaussian splatting.   Hosted by Amany Alkhayat, this Guided Virtual Adventure will be held on Thursday, September 26 at 8 am Pacific, 11 am Eastern, and 3 pm UK time.   This session will be hosted in Spatial. Please go to this link at the time of the session:  https://www.spatial.io/s/MR-Concepts-64c26f8dcac2456ee44f68b2?share=3756115269191298766   Spatial.io supports web browser access, most VR headsets (though their stores), and mobile devices. See Download Spatial.io for specifics. Be aware that through the web browser access (Firefox recommended, then Chrome, then Edge), you will see your avatar in a second person perspective. If your OS and mouse support it, use the scroll wheel to zoom in for a first person experience. The VR perspective is first person.

The Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) is pleased to announce the Call for Proposals for its 2025 conference, centered around the theme "Reading the World: Immersive Learning & Multimodal Literacies."

The submission deadline is October 1, 2024.
For more information, go to https://www.immersivelrn.org/ilrn2025/call-for-papers/

We are happy to announce a Call for Papers for a special issue in the journal "Computers & Education: X Reality", which is organized with iLRN and invites selected papers submitted to and presented at the 9th and 10th iLRN conferences to submit extended versions. However, submissions from the academic community are welcomed, regardless of whether they were part of the iLRN conferences.
Overview
The integration of immersive technologies—such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR)—into educational environments has shown significant potential to transform the learning experience. However, the rapid adoption of these technologies has outpaced the development of comprehensive, evidence-based frameworks that guide their practical implementation and evaluation in diverse educational contexts. 
Immersive Learning is emerging from multi-disciplinary research in Computer Science, Game Design, UX, the Learning Sciences, and other fields that apply Immersive Learning in context. This special issue of Computers & Education: X Reality aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice in immersive learning by bringing together research that explores theoretical foundations and builds robust frameworks grounded in empirical evidence. We seek contributions that provide insights into how immersive technologies can be systematically integrated into educational settings to enhance learning outcomes, showing effective practices in immersive learning, addressing educational challenges and the technical affordances of tools and frameworks that are both scalable and sustainable.
This special issue is organized with the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN). Selected papers submitted to and presented at the 9th and 10th annual International Conferences will be invited to submit extended versions to this Special Issue. Extended versions of papers submitted to the iLRN Conference must contain about 50% new material, and the title must clearly and unmistakably differ from the title of the article presented at the conference.
Likewise, we welcome submissions from the academic community, regardless of whether they were part of the iLRN conferences.
Topics of Interest
This special issue invites scholars, practitioners, and technologists to contribute to the evolving landscape of immersive learning by providing research that advances theoretical understanding and offers practical, evidence-based solutions for educators worldwide.
We invite high-quality, original research articles, case studies, and review papers that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
Theoretical Foundations
Conceptual models and frameworks for immersive learning. Cognitive, social, and emotional theories underlying immersive learning environments. Ethical considerations and inclusivity in immersive learning. Practical Applications
Case studies showcasing the integration of immersive technologies in various educational settings. Design and development of immersive learning environments. Best practices for implementing VR/AR/MR in classrooms, labs, and remote learning contexts. Evidence-Based Frameworks
Empirical studies evaluating the effectiveness of immersive learning tools and environments. Longitudinal studies on the impact of immersive learning on student engagement, motivation, and outcomes. Frameworks for assessing and improving the accessibility and usability of immersive learning technologies. Technological Innovations
Emerging tools and platforms for immersive learning. Interdisciplinary approaches to enhancing immersive learning experiences. Future trends and challenges in the adoption of XR technologies in education. Submission Guidelines
Authors are invited to submit original manuscripts that have not been previously published and are not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. We expect final articles, not abstracts. All submissions will undergo a rigorous peer-review process. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the journal's standard guidelines and submitted through the Computers & Education: X Reality online submission system: Editorial Manager®.
Please refer to the Guide for Authors to prepare the manuscript and select the article type “VSI: Immersive Learning" when submitting your manuscript online.
Important Dates
Manuscript Submission Deadline: October 17, 2024
Editorial Notification Deadline: January 31, 2025
Guest Editors
Anasol Peña-Rios, BT Group, UK
Daphne Economou, University of Westminster, UK
Daniela Pedrosa, Polytechnic Institute of Santarém, Portugal
Jule Krüger, University of Potsdam, Germany
Dennis Beck, University of Arkansas, USA
Leonel Morgado, Universidade Aberta & INESC TEC, Portugal
Contact Information
Please contact the guest editors at publications@immersivelrn.org for inquiries regarding this special issue.
We look forward to receiving your contributions to this essential and timely special issue.
You can also find the full Call for Papers here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/computers-and-education-x-reality/about/call-for-papers#immersive-learning-from-theory-to-practice-building-evidence-based-frameworks

We are proud to announce that open-access proceedings are now available on our Digital Library.

•  iLEAD Stream
•  Other academic contributions

Springer proceedings for Academic Full and Short papers will be available in the Fall.

We've been back and forth with the Twitter. As many of you know, while Twitter has always been a place for loud and opinionated forms of expression, the platform has become more acerbic, more permissive (even supportive) of negative, exclusionary, and inflammatory stances over the past few years. While we still find a lot of community potential there, the garbage-to-nutrition ratio has just reached a point where we are openly questioning its utility any longer. We've looked at Mastodon, and many other social media alternatives and while still open to any possibilities, have yet to find a real path to replacement. LinkedIn seems our best current social media platform and we're happy to continue building the iLRN presence there. 

But this trend on Twitter is clearly Anti-Science in the growing voices attempting to drown out evidence-based claims and careful analysis tempered with (usually) humility with cascades of posturing, blame-casting and ego. 

Indeed, the larger scientific community, which once found great value in Twitter, is continuing their exodus. 

"In light of what's happened over the last several months — and over the weekend — I believe we're at an inflection point where the risk/benefit analysis for folks such as myself is shifting to looking at going somewhere else," said Jorge Caballero, founder of Distal Labs, a non-profit that builds digital tools for grassroots advocacy groups."

Perhaps we can use THIS platform, our new iLRNetwork Intranet to build dialogue - although we're not sure if we can attract sufficient numbers of you to engage, given how busy everyone is and how fractionated one's attention generally is on the Internet. hmmm. 
What do you think, iLRNetwork community? We'd love to hear your thoughts!