Tag: VWBPE
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ChatGPT is my new social anxiety assistant
I have social anxiety. I dread interacting with strangers in unfamiliar settings, and yet I love travel, exploring new places, and getting to know interesting people. One coping mechanism I use is being prepared ahead of time: My anxiety doesn’t last, but anyone who shares this condition knows the stomach-clenching I go through as I…
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It’s VWBPE conference time again
The annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference is back for a 16th year, with events already underway and the bulk of the program next week, March 23rd through 25th. The official program has a variety of discussions, lectures, and activities, and there are always interesting exhibits to visit. As an anthropologist by training,…
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VWBPE’s Steampunk Social
Last night I attended a networking and fundraising event for the upcoming Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference. The theme was steampunk and the music tended toward the blues. A friend asked why I volunteer with VWBPE (or attend, when I can’t help out). I’m not an educator; sessions on techniques for increasing classroom…
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Second Life: conference, land sale
I’m happy to say that I’ll be volunteering at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference again this year. It takes place from March 9-12 in SL and OpenGrid and everyone is welcome to attend, no charge. Some of the sessions are also streamed live and recorded to watch later. And that’s where I…
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A few final thoughts on VWBPE 2015
All in all, I thought it was a wonderful conference this year. Things appeared to run smoothly; a few small glitches I noticed along the way were quickly corrected or worked around. I can’t speak to any of the social events but I heard good things about them. So, a few things: Why the heck did…
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VWBPE conference, day 4 (part 2)
The final keynote was from Jay Jay Jegathesan (Jayjay Zifanwe), who spoke on “Building Global Communities Through Virtual Worlds”. He talked first about how he began in a virtual world, building an online version of the University of Western Australia. Winning a Google SketchUp Build Your Campus in 3D competition with his team helped them gain…
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VWBPE conference, day 4 (part 1)
Today is busy for me offline, so my plan is to see two sessions at beginning and end of the day. I’ll split those into separate posts to remain relatively timely. The morning began with a talk by Susan Toth-Cohen (Zsuzsa Tomsen), “7 Years of Adaptation and Renewal in Second Life”. She has been using SL…
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VWBPE conference, day 3 (part 2)
The afternoon session “Educators and the Second Life Viewer”, led by Oz Linden, wasn’t a topic that had direct impact on me, but I was curious. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one: Oz began with an overview of how the Lab does viewer development and release and then the questions came flooding in. Most of…
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VWBPE interrupted: an apology
So, tonight I made a complete ass of myself in a VWBPE session. I owe a huge apology to the presenters of “Content Curation Through Virtual World Communities”, particularly Beth Ghostraven/O’Connell, and to the attendees. I’m so sorry. I turned away from my keyboard when my husband came in, turned back to see what was happening, apparently hit…
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VWBPE conference, day 3 (part 1)
I’m splitting today’s posts about the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference into two parts, to take advantage of my afternoon break and not overload either post. I arrived at the first session, “Creating Dinosaurs & Earning Badges”, in my finest pteranodon attire, but since it was as anachronous as my normal shape, I…