Call for Papers: When Virtual Reality Became a Reality | The Experiential Learning in Virtual Worlds Project: 5th Global Conference

I am pleased to announce a call for papers and presentations at the above conference which will be held in Dubrovnik from 10-12 May 2015. The conference which will be of interest to anyone teaching, learning, training, researching, performing, doing business or socialising in virtual worlds, including gamers, game designers, virtual reality developers, and other virtual world users.

Given the explosion of interest in devices such as Oculus Rift, Project Morpheus and even Google Cardboard, we are particularly keen to encourage presentations that address all aspects of virtual reality, including augmented and mixed reality, haptics, audio and other non-visual interfaces as part of a broader debate on experiential learning in virtual worlds. As it is such a diverse subject area, a definitive list of sub-topics is precluded, but the following are indicative of the kind of topics envisaged by this call for presentations, papers and workshops:

  • Arts and entertainment in virtual worlds
  • Assessment and evaluation in virtual worlds
  • Business and entrepreneurship in virtual worlds
  • Case studies of those who inhabit virtual worlds
  • Education, training and learning in virtual worlds
  • Evaluation of virtual world technologies
  • Gamification (and critiques thereof)
  • Identity, presence and self in virtual worlds
  • Interpersonal communication in virtual worlds
  • Leadership and team building in virtual worlds
  • Legal, ethical and moral issues in virtual worlds
  • Love, sex, friendship and work in virtual worlds
  • Mobile accessibility of virtual worlds
  • Play, fun, fantasy and horror in the virtual world
  • Research methods in virtual worlds
  • Serious games
  • Sociology of virtual worlds and the Metaverse
  • Technologies and innovative practice in virtual world-building
  • The dark side of virtual worlds
  • The future of virtual worlds
  • Therapeutic uses of virtual worlds
  • Transfer of learning from virtual worlds to the physical world
  • Types of virtual worlds
  • Virtual world usage in health, social care, counselling and psychology
  • Virtual worlds of the future
  • Virtual worlds used for corporate training
  • What are virtual worlds?

This is small, friendly conference characterised by inter-disciplinarity and collegial dialogue. If you would like more information about the conference or are thinking of submitting an abstract or proposal for the first time, please feel free to get in touch with Jim Gritton, Organising Chair (and erstwhile alumnus of the MSc in e-Learning!).