Interest in virtual worlds and their application to learning have increased significantly in recent years. They play an increasingly important role for people in both social and work-based contexts, and they challenge many of our assumptions about how we work, teach, learn, and relate to each other. There are many different types of virtual worlds and they are used for a multiplicity of purposes including gaming, play, social networking, learning and development, work, and also business. The experiences gained in virtual worlds influence who we are in the physical world, and vice versa. What are we learning through those experiences and how transferable is that learning from one domain to another?

The main aims of this conference are to increase our understanding of experiential learning in virtual worlds, both formal and informal, to share experience and best practice, and to debate future possibilities for learning in virtual worlds. We believe the conference will be of interest to educators, researchers, students, independent scholars, trainers, virtual world users, and anyone interested in what happens in virtual worlds and what it means for us as human (or virtual) beings.

For the purpose of this call for presentations, we define virtual worlds as 3D, immersive, graphical environments, representing realistic or imaginary worlds, in which users are co-presented as animated characters (avatars) and interact with each other and with the worlds’ contents. However, we recognise both the complexity and contested nature of experiential learning in virtual worlds and welcome papers that challenge this definition.

As it is such a broad subject area, Experiential Learning in Virtual Worlds precludes a definitive list of sub-topics, but the following themes are indicative of the kind of topics envisaged by this Call for Presentations. Presentations, papers and performances will be considered on any related topic or theme, but we are particularly keen to encourage papers which explore research methodologies in virtual worlds. The Steering Group welcomes the submission of preformed panel proposals.

Education, training and learning in virtual worlds

Assessment and evaluation
Blended learning approaches
Corporate training in virtual worlds
Education and training in virtual worlds
Scenarios, simulations, role-play and experimentation
Work-related learning in virtual worlds

Identity, presence and self in virtual worlds

Art of building a virtual persona
Communication modes and etiquette
Identity and citizenship in virtual worlds
Immersion and presence in virtual worlds
Online communities, formal and informal
Psychology and affect in virtual worlds
Sexuality in virtual worlds
Understanding mortality in virtual worlds
Virtual and global teams

Research methods in virtual worlds

Discourse analysis in virtual worlds
Ethnographic approaches
Ontology and epistemology in virtual worlds
Research design, data collection and analysis
Virtual world semiotics

Virtual world technologies

Connectivity between platforms and media
Design issues in virtual worlds
Human–computer interaction
Technological convergence
The future of virtual worlds

Types of virtual worlds

Virtual world technologies in education
Virtual worlds for health and social care
Medical education in virtual worlds
Psychological healthcare in virtual worlds
Social work training in virtual worlds
Therapeutic interventions in virtual worlds

Arts and entertainment in virtual worlds

Machinima and virtual film-making in virtual worlds
Play, fun, fantasy and horror in the virtual world
Massively multiplayer online role-playing games
Storytelling and narrative in virtual worlds

What to Send
300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 12th October 2012. All submissions are double blind peer reviewed. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday18th January 2013. 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 f) up to 10 key words
E-mails should be entitled: ELVW 3 Abstract Submission.

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 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, you look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs

Jim Gritton: j.r.gritton@gre.ac.uk
Rob Fisher: elvw3@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.