jonathon

Compassion is empathy in action, and action is what games do best! The emotional affordances in some video games can enable players to practice social and emotional learning (SEL) skills in spaces free from real-world consequences. Emerging research suggests that these competencies are, in fact, teachable. With thoughtful guidance, games can help youth manage emotions, demonstrate empathic concern, and exhibit prosocial behaviors. Join Dr. Matthew Farber as he shares ideas from his research and recent book, Gaming SEL: Games as Transformational to Social and Emotional Learning. About Dr. Farber:

Metaverse Adventure : Meet The Makers Meet The Makers In his most recent achievement, Ben orchestrated the 3rd Polys - WebXR Awards, which marked several firsts. The event showcased the first red carpet and award presentation streamed from both a volumetric capture stage and an LED stage, and delivered the virtual trophies in holographic displays. His next show “Meet the Makers” is focusing on “the who” of the Metaverse which will premiere at AWE. About Ben Erwin: Ben Erwin is the creator of The Polys - WebXR Awards, WebXR Summit Series, and MetaTr@versal which have impacted the industry by catalyzing awareness of, and engagement with the immersive web. His work is dedicated to the advancement of the XR industry through recognition of its pioneers and events that provide an advocacy platform for thought leaders. He is a passionate proponent for cooperation on standards for the Metaverse. As an Internet frontiersman since the 1990s, Ben has served as a developer and as an executive for digital media agencies creating data driven interactives for dozens of major brands. For 13 years, he was a webmaster and consultant for the United Nations humanitarian section and partner NGOs, bringing awareness to the plight of women and children in conflict areas around the world. Before the internet, Ben began his career in the entertainment and music industry. Ben is a digital polymath with decades of experience in marketing, management, programming, video editing, and writing. Influenced by his years as a veteran of the browser wars, he has teamed up with XR industry leadership to produce the MetaTr@versal series of events. These events are designed to galvanize the community around cooperation on the development and adoption of open standards and platform interoperability for the Metaverse. Ben believes passionately in the potential of immersive content as a positive means for evolved human communication, particularly in civics, journalism, and education. Through shining a light on the good works of innovators, he aims to help preserve their legacy and inspire others to build upon their work.

The education system is rapidly changing as the globe and technology continue to change. There will probably be some kind of hybrid learning in the metaverse for the upcoming generation of pupils. A co-founder of VEDX in 2020 has stepped up to help schools create VR labs at their institutions in order to meet this challenge. The business focuses on the global adoption of virtual reality, providing students with immersive and engaging learning opportunities. VEDX is dedicated to granting access to cutting-edge technology that will improve the future of education because of its strong confidence in the transformative potential of VR technology. About Jay Schnoor: Jay Schnoor has dedicated his life to international education and VR. He believes the next generation of students in the world will have some form of hybrid learning in the Metaverse, which is why he co-founded VEDX in 2020. His company focuses on VR Deployment across the world and is working to help schools make VR labs a reality at their institutions.

It's understood that Team Building relates to the cohesion of groups that already identify as a team while community building help groups of relative strangers to find a shared identity and reason to be together. Remio, a Social VR platform designed explicitly for team building, is expanding it's features and services to include community building going forward. Let's talk about how lessons from team building can be applied to this endeavor, and the core elements being introduced to make these communities possible. About Lance Powell: As Product Manager at Remio, my role includes contributing to design, platform quality, and day-to-day project management. Concurrently, I'm the CTO of VEDX Solution, a VR education company deploying VR programs to schools. Here, I'm guiding the development of apps for workforce development and 360 libraries. I've also been a lecturer in Virtual Worlds at Behcesehir University and made keynote speeches and attended panels at GDC, art, and technology conferences. My educational background is in Cognitive Science.

Come along as Jackie Lee explores the virtually endless potential of immersive learning. New technologies like virtual reality and the Metaverse have removed physical obstacles from schooling. We'll look at how immersive learning is changing the way people learn and opening up new options for both teachers and students. About Dr. Lee: Jackie Lee, Ph.D. is a cross-disciplinary inventor in VR/AR, learning, and Affective Computing. He worked on Intel's RealSense 3D cameras and Project Alloy (the first all-in-one VR headset). He did biosensing and behavioral research at the Affective Computing Group at MIT Media Lab. He did his master thesis focusing on Spatial User Interface and Augmented Reality. Jackie is the recipient of the Virtual World Society's Nextant Rising Star Prize at AWE 2020. He is part of the Oculus Launch Pad 2020 program and a two-time recipient of Epic Games' MegaGrants.

Healthcare organizations carry the responsibility to ensure caregivers demonstrate competency to maintain the highest standards of patient safety and quality of care. A lapse in that care can result in serious physical and emotional harm to the patient, and financial repercussions for the healthcare organization. The burden of education and training is overwhelming for the healthcare industry. Ever-changing protocols and standards, nursing shortages and constant turnover, and limited resources - including educators, training spaces, supplies, and equipment - complicates this herculean task. Finding alternative methodology to train caregivers with efficiency and measurable effectiveness is paramount. 3lbXR has developed a suite of VR training applications, partnered with Tucson Medical Center, for Registered Nurses and Primary Care Technicians. This project includes a module on Fall Prevention, which is currently part of a research study “Using Virtual Reality to Advance Education & Training for Nursing.” Robin Moulder will provide insight on how 3lbXR designed, implemented, and on boarded hospital staff, developed an academic study with our research partner to further VR initiatives for patient safety and quality, as well her thoughts on the future uses of XR technologies for training in the medical field. About Robin Moulder: Robin Moulder is the CEO of 3lbXR and 3lb Games. As a pioneer of Virtual and Augmented Reality, Robin led 3lb Games into the XR space with the Galactic planet-destroying game Space Dragon for Rift, the highly rated Movement system for Oculus, Slime Rancher VR Playground, and VR trainings and simulations for medical and manufacturing applications. She has previously served as President of an internet incubator, CTO of a technology manufacturing incubator, Director of a major consulting company, consultant and engineer serving Fortune 100 and 500 clients in medical, education, manufacturing, supply chain management and communications. Combining those experiences, Robin recently launched 3lbXR, an incubator that forges partnerships with companies to make their XR vision a reality. 3lbXR accelerates development by partnering with subject matter experts and building solutions aimed at successful outcomes for their business, as well as providing go-to market strategies for wide-spread commercialization. 3lbXR builds the highest quality immersive experiences using proprietary rapid development tools and production pipeline process, leveraged from 12+ years of game development experience with 3lb Games.

Although the adoption of the Metaverse is evolving at a slower speed than anticipated, it is still happening worldwide. In many cases, when creating an environment for the Metaverse, the aim is to simulate reality, a certain condition or an activity taking place in the physical world. However, when a simulation is not required, creating a virtual world involves the composition and development of a multisensory, synthetic environmental representation, which does not necessarily resemble physical spaces and within which these activities may appropriately unfold. This direction of research and education will be discussed with the help of relevant theoretical frameworks and several case studies. Furthermore, the art of creating virtual form, spaces and narratives for the Metaverse can ideally be taught within the Metaverse and towards this end, relevant implementations will be presented and discussed. About Dimitris Charitos: Dimitris Charitos is a Professor at the Department of Communication and Media Studies and the Head of the Department of Digital Arts and Cinema of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens spatialmedia.ntlab.gr, where he teaches human-machine communication, interactive design, digital art, virtual environment design and visual communication. He studied Architecture (NTU Athens) and CAD (University of Strathclyde) and holds a PhD in interactive and virtual environment design. He has participated in more than 15 research projects and has more than 100 publications in books, journals and conference proceedings. His artistic practice includes electronic music (1983-1993), audiovisual and interactive installations and virtual environments (1997- today). He has participated in 15 exhibitions in Greece, UK, Canada and Cyprus. This event is part of the iLRN2023 Online Conference. Click here to get more information and register.

Forecasts predict that by 2026 a quarter of the population will spend at least an hour a day in the Metaverse or digital virtual environments. Currently several tech companies are trying to understand how to design an entirely new immersive world, but when considering attitudinal, behavioral and social aspects of human diversity it is logical to ask how the Metaverse could be truly designed by people, with people and for people? There is no doubt that we are living in the immersive technology renaissance era, however how can we maximize this opportunity, by learning from what we have developed in the past with other technologies? With the Metaverse we are at a different point in history than when we created the Internet. We now have more knowledge of Inclusive Design, more understanding of DEI and ethics and integrity practices, and more accessibility standards and policies; therefore, businesses have no excuses for not designing a Metaverse and its technologies to be truly inclusive, accessible, and safe from the very start. As the society is rapidly moving towards addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for all human beings, safety, inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility are becoming fundamental pillars upon which develop the Metaverse and digital, virtual environments. With this plenary session Dr. Zallio will share cutting-edge research findings, case studies from businesses and initiate a conversation on a new discipline called the Metavethics (https://www.metavethics.com/), that deals with ethical and integrity implications of the Metaverse and digital, virtual environments. Scientists, businesses and organizations are in urgent need to develop new knowledge, and tools to best address new challenges and maximize future opportunities to build digital, virtual environments that make people thrive. The boundaries for what the Metaverse could be and what people could do with it and in it are just set by human’s abilities of imagination and we can nurture this imagination by working together to design more sustainable. About Dr. Zallio: Matteo Zallio, MArch, PhD, is on a mission to make emergent technologies accessible and inclusive for all. Matteo is an award-winning designer, researcher, and professor. He has a unique background in helping businesses to develop futuristic technologies that are inclusive and consider different aspects of human diversity such as ability, language, culture, gender, and age. He is a Senior researcher at Autodesk and Senior research associate at the University of Cambridge, chairman at the National Standards Authority of Ireland, previously Fulbright fellow at Stanford University and an A. Graves fellow at Technological University Dublin. Along his academic and business roles he is constantly involved as a mentor for businesses and startups, as member of scientific committees at international conferences, and in his free time you can find him advocating about Inclusive Design.

The Covid 19 pandemic and associated work-from-home culture reignites the importance of immersive media. Major industries used various terms like Metaverse (Facebook), Mesh (Microsoft), Nth Floor (Accesnture) and so on to invest and commercialize immersive media related products. Traditionally, immersive media is described through a continuum between reality and virtual reality along with intermediate systems known as Augmented and Mixed Reality systems. In the middle of the commercialization efforts and advertisements from software giants, end users are often confused about the best solution for their needs. There are not many studies on analysing end users’ feedback across the continuum of immersive media. This talk will present a comparative study on XR Technologies with respect to ocular, EEG and hand movement parameters of users. I shall present comparison of cognitive load for a virtual flight simulator and between VR and MR interface for a welding task and an Advance Driver Assistance System. About Dr. Pradipta Biswas: Pradipta Biswas is an Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Science and vice -chairman at Study Group 9 of International Telecommunication Union, the Telecom branch of UNO. He is known for research on eye tracking applications and cognitive load estimation. Earlier, he was a Senior Research Associate and Governing Body (Title: B1) Fellow at University of Cambridge, UK. This event is part of the iLRN2023 Online Conference. Click here to get more information and register!

This presentation will address the kinds of support Dr. Eleanor Dare believes is needed to help faculty and students to effectively use and critically encounter XR, describing some of the technical and epistemic strategies which aim to balance technical competency with critical theory. Here, Dare will outline a post -qualitative approach (St. Pierre, 2020, 2021, Grant, 2018) to teaching VR and AR, in which students identify the materiality of technologies which are often framed as immaterial or removed from questions of their material and political implications. Eleanor will explain how using VR has changed the way they teach, in particular the ways in which they frame spatiality in the pandemic and post-pandemic university. About Dr. Eleanor Dare: Dr Eleanor Dare is an academic and critical technologist with a PhD and MSc in Arts and Computational Technologies from the Department of Computing, Goldsmiths. Eleanor was formerly Reader in Digital Media and Head of Programme for MA Digital Direction, at the Royal College of Art. Eleanor is now a Senior Teaching Associate at the University of Cambridge as well as lecturer in Games Design and Research By Practice at UCL. Eleanor is the cofounder of X||rdinary Stories, an immersive storytelling studio. This event is part of the iLRN2023 Online Conference. Get more information and register... click here now!

Much of the evidence on educational virtual reality (VR) is based on quasi-experimental, cross-sectional research designed to measure the effectiveness of a specific VR application. This research is commonly conducted by university or industry researchers on mainly adult populations. This presentation showcases a different framework for research from the VR School Study, now in its 7th year (www.vrschoolresearch.com). The VR School Study is predicated on a participatory model where teachers are co-researchers and student are VR content creators. The study is conducted over long periods of time in different primary (elementary), middle and secondary schools and across different subject areas to capture the practical, ethical, pedagogical and curriculum potential and constraints of integrating this emerging technology into everyday classrooms. The presentation will provide a comprehensive pedagogical framework, case studies on regulation and student creativity for deeper learning, and insights into effective curriculum design for teachers. About Erica Southgate: Dr. Erica Southgate is Associate Professor of Emerging Technologies for Education (University of Newcastle, Australia) She is a teacher educator and maker of computer games for literacy. Erica is an expert on AI ethics for education and lead researcher on the VR School Study, the longest-running research on embedding VR into school classrooms across subject areas. She is lead author on the Australian Government commissioned report, ‘Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies (AR, MR and VR) in Schools’ and author of ‘Virtual Reality in Curriculum and Pedagogy: Evidence from Secondary Classrooms’ (Routledge). This event is part of the iLRN2023 Online Conference. Click here to get more information and register.

XR & AI have long been sibling technologies co-evolving with each other. This keynote from Voices of VR podcast host Kent Bye will present some of the frameworks he uses to help navigate the interdisciplinary nature of experiential design, why embodied cognition is so important for XR Education, and how to make sense of the recent inflection points in AI as well as where it overlaps with XR. He will also be exploring some of the ethical implications for both AI & XR, and doing a brief survey of the current state of XR education and where it might be headed in the future. About Kent Bye: Since May 2014, Kent Bye has published over 1200 Voices of VR podcast interviews featuring the pioneering artists, storytellers, and technologists driving the resurgence of virtual & augmented reality. He's an oral historian, experiential journalist, & aspiring philosopher, helping to define the patterns of immersive storytelling, experiential design, ethical frameworks, & the ultimate potential of XR. This event is part of the iLRN2023 Online Conference. Click here to get more information and register.