CFP: 1st Global Conference Experiential Learning in Virtual Worlds

1st Global Conference Experiential Learning in
Virtual Worlds

Sunday 20th March - Tuesday 22nd March 2011
Prague, Czech Republic

Call for Papers
The advent of Information and Communication
Technologies has changed how we work, teach,
learn, and relate to each other. The idea of a
virtual world encompasses online communities,
communities of inquiry, formal teaching and
learning, and horror and fantasy games. The
experiences gained in such virtual worlds, whether
high or low tech, impact who we
are in the analog world (and vice versa): Who am
I? How do we relate to each other? What is my
role? How can we be productive as a team? What is
mortality? How do we resolve conflict? These
questions are addressed, to some degree, through
the experiences we have in virtual worlds. What
are we learning through those experiences? How can
we perform better in both worlds?

The aim of this conference will be to examine
formal and informal learning in virtual worlds in
an attempt to critique both its essential
characteristics and its future possibilities.
Teachers of all levels, university faculty,
virtual world players, researchers, and others
interested in what happens in virtual worlds and
what it means for us as humans are invited to
participate.

Being such a broad topic, Experiential Learning in
Virtual Worlds defies a definitive list of
sub-topics but the following list is indicative of
the envisaged topics covered within this Call for
Papers:

* Virtual and global teams
* Communication modes and etiquette
* Skill development in MMORPGs
* Online communities, formal and informal
* Case studies of experimental projects
* Understanding mortality in the virtual worlds
* Sexuality: appropriate behaviour in virtual
learning worlds
* Play, fun, fantasy and horror in the
virtual world
* Art of building a virtual persona
* Emerging technologies within Higher Education
* International technology challenges
* Blended Learning approaches
* Expectations of performance in virtual spaces
* Metrics and assessment in virtual worlds
* New forms of testing in virtual worlds
* Organizational issues/strategies in Virtual
education
* Professional development/support structures
* Role switching between traditional and
virtual organizations

Papers will be considered on any related theme.
The Steering Group also welcomes the submission of
pre-formed panel proposals. Papers will be
considered on any related theme.

300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday
1st October 2010. All submissions are minimally
double blind peer reviewed where appropriate.
If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a
full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 4th
February 2011. Abstracts should be submitted
simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts
may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with
the following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d)
title of abstract, e) body of abstract

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain
from using footnotes and any special formatting,
characters or emphasis (such as bold,
italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and
answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do
not receive a reply from us in a week you
should assume we did not receive your proposal; it
might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to
look for an alternative electronic
route or resend. If an abstract is accepted for
the conference, a 12-20 page full draft paper
should be submitted to both Organising Chairs by
Monday 7th February 2011.

Organising Chairs

Peter Williams
Assistant Professor Organizational Leadership
University of La Verne
La Verne, California, USA
E-mail: pwilliams@stlearn.com

Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader,
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
United Kingdom
E-mail: elvw@inter-disciplinary.net

The conference is part of the 'At the Interface'
programme of research projects. It aims to bring
together people from different areas and
interests to share ideas and explore various
discussions which are innovative and exciting.

All papers accepted for and presented at this
conference will be eligible for publication in an
ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited
for development for publication in a themed hard
copy volume(s).

For further details about the project please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/education/experiential-learning-in-virtual-worlds/

For further details about the conference please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/education/experiential-learning-in-virtual-worlds/call-for-papers/