Conference Programme, Abstracts and Papers

2nd Global Conference

Monday 12th March – Wednesday 14th March 2012
Prague, Czech Republic

The programme for the conference is available below. Delegates are listed according to the session in which they appear. Clicking on the Session Title will take you to the abstracts (where available) for that session. Each delegate is listed according to their affiliation.

Final Conference Programme

Monday12th March 2012
From 12.30
Conference Registration

13.30
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Jim Gritton

14.00
Session 1: Virtual Worlds – Present and Future
Chair: Moira Hunter

Different Virtual Environments – Something for Everyone
Teemu Surakka

The Undiscovered Country: Brave New Worlds Beyond Second Life
Greg Withnail, Anna Peachey and  Mark Childs

Virtual Worlds, Virtual Futures
Jim Gritton

15.30
Coffee

16.00
Session 2: Indentity and Self in Virtual Worlds
Chair: Anna Peachey

Reflections on Identity and Learning in a Virtual World: The Avatar in Second Life
Paul Jerry

The Evolution and Development of Self in Virtual Worlds
Richard Wexler and Suzanne Roff-Wexler

“’Wild and crazy’: Confucian and Contemporary Selves and Their Attitudes Towards Virtual Sexual Experience”
Christina DeCoursey

17.30
Notices and Announcements

17.40
Wine Reception

Tuesday 13th March 2012
09.00
Session 3: Being and Presence in Virtual Worlds
Chair: Paul Jerry

“That Ever-Ephemeral Sense of ‘Being’ Somewhere”: Reflections on a Dissertation Festival in Second Life
Clara O’Shea

Visually Present But Psychologically Absent?: Virtual Team Members’ Experiences on Social Presence in Meetings Held in a 3D Virtual World
Anu Sivunen and Emma Nordbäck

Design for Dasein, Personalising Avatars for More Effective Learning
Mark Childs

10.30
Coffee

11.00
Session 4: Community and Communication in Virtual Worlds
Chair: Mark Childs

Facilitating community in the virtual learning environment
Shana Garrett

Transformative Learning Theory as a Framework for Designing Experiences in Virtual Worlds as Appropriate to Counsellor Education
Tom Edwards

Mixing Virtual, Real-World, & Digital Communication Elements to Create Successful Global Teams
Audrey Aronowsky, Beth Sanzenbacher and Johanna Thompson

12.30
Lunch

14.00
Session 5: Enhancing Learning in Virtual Worlds (1)
Chair: Geoffrey Crisp

Fusing Virtual, Digital, and Real World Experiences for Science Learning and Empowerment
Audrey Aronowsky, Beth Sanzenbacher and Johanna Thompson

Virtual Worlds as Media for Learning in Distributed Work
Marko Hakonen and Petra Bosch-Sijtsema

Experimentation Not Simulation: Learning About Physics in The Virtual World
Anna Peachey and Greg Withnail

15.30
Coffee

Followed by free time for sight seeing

Wednesday 14th March 2012
09.00
Session 6: Enhancing Learning in Virtual Worlds (2)
Chair: Jim Gritton

Using Virtual Worlds to Support Interaction Design Studio Courses
Panayiotis Koutsabasisa

Branching out through VirtualPREX: enhancing teaching in Second Lif
Yvonne Masters (and Sue Gregory via Skype)

Comparison of Role-Plays in a Virtual World
Yvonne Masters (and Sue Gregory via Skype)

10.30
Coffee

11.00
Session 7: Assessment and Evaluation in Virtual Worlds
Chair: Shana Garrett

Social Media Good, Video Games Bad: Negotiating the Dialectic Tensions of Digital Interaction Paradigms in Distance Learning
Jon Leon Torn

User-centered Design and Evaluation of Virtual Worlds
Tomas Bouda

Meaningful Assessment for Student Learning Activities That Are Conducted Within Virtual Worlds – What Should It Look Like?
Geoffrey Crisp

12.30
Lunch

14.00
Session 8: Virtual Worlds for Health and Wellbeing
Chair: Richard Wexler

A Low Tech Approach to Management of Second Life Virtual Patients
Rose Heaney

Avatar-based Recovery: Combine Use of Virtual Reality Platform and Web-based Curriculum for Substance Abuse Treatment
Ivana Steigman

15.30
Coffee

16.00
Session 9: Language Learning in Virtual Worlds
Chair:Tom Edwards

Bringing Playfulness and Engagement to Language Training Using Virtual Worlds; Results, Best Practices, and Experiences From a Virtual Language Course at Aalto University
Eero Palomäki and Emma Nordbäck

Exploratory Virtual Ethnomethodology: Are We Speaking the Same Language?
Moira Hunter

17.30
Development meeting and closing remarks

18.00
Conference Ends