It’s that time of year again – YAY! As most of our residents know, the Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education Conference (VWBPE) is coming up this weekend … and you’re invited!

From the conference Website…. “The Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education (VWBPE) is a community-based conference that provides opportunities for participants in all virtual worlds to share current teaching, learning, and research practices in 3D virtual environments. Conference presentations focus on teaching/learning, scholarly work, projects, events, activities and new and innovative tools for virtual education. Presenters will focus on the identification of best practices in education designed for 3D virtual world technology.”

For information on how to participate in a huge range of presentations, workshops and social events check out the main VWBPE Conference website and register to attend (for free!).

As in previous years, the jokaydia Community is very pleased to be involved in VWBPE, and we’re honored to be hosting 2 events at jokaydiaGRID this year! Check out the details below for more information on how you can get involved.

jokaydiaGRID Whistlestop Tour!

4pm – 6pm, Thurs 17th March  (Second Life Time / PST) / 11pm – 1am , Thurs 17th March  (GMT) / 10am – 12pm , Frid 18th March (Sydney Time) / Check your local time here!

Join us for a whistlestop tour and meet the residents who are creating jokaydiaGRID!

Visit our new landing point sim, meet some of the residents and find out more about the various projects we are building! After the tour we will gather for a fireside discussion focused on the joys and challenges of exploring opensim virtual worlds environments for education and the arts.

[list type=”green”] [li]Meeting Point Location in Second Life: West Departure 2 (SLurl). jokaydia Team Members will be at the Departure Area 30mins prior to each session to assist those who are new to open simulator.[/li] [li]Starting Location at jokaydiaGRID:  Scooter Sim[/li] [li]Session Facilitator: Jokay Wollongong[/li] [/list]

How to Attend:

To attend this session you will need to choose from one of the following options:

[list type=”green”] [li]Signup for an account at jokaydiaGRID. You can find instructions on how to signup and setup your viewer software here.[/li] [li]If you have an avatar at a compatible opensim grid like ReactionGrid,  (jokaydiaGRID is running Opensim 0.6.9) you can hypergrid to the Tour Starting Point via Hypergrid Address: jokaydia.metaverseworlds.com:9000.[/li] [li]We recommend the Imprudence or Hippo Viewers as the best options for participants who are new to opensim.[/li] [/list]

Western Institute Virtual Tourism – from Moodle to Opensim!

9pm – 10pm, Fri 18 March 2011 (Second Life Time / PST) / 4am – 5am, Sat 19 March 2011 (GMT) / 3pm – 4pm, Sat 19 March 2011 (Sydney Time) / Check your local time here!

Join the project team for a live guided tour of ‘Wards Resort’ and the other learning spaces that have been created as part of the Western Institute Virtual Tourism Project.

During the tour, participants will be invited to take part in some simple activities designed to support students in developing a range of skills and knowledge including customer service skills and occupational health and safety. Following the tour we will meet at the Resort Restaurant for a Q&A session and an opportunity to discuss how these types of immersive environments can be used to assist students in developing skills for the workplace, and the outcomes of a 5 week pilot undertaken with 15-18yo students in 2010.

[list type=”green”] [li]Meeting Point Location in Second Life: : West Departure 2 (SLurl). jokaydia Team Members will be at the Departure Area 30mins prior to each session to assist those who are new to open simulator.[/li] [li]Starting Location at jokaydiaGRID:  Scooter Sim[/li] [li]Session Facilitators: Rob Merchi, Jokay Wollongong[/li] [/list]

How to Attend:

To attend this session you will need to choose from one of the following options:

[list type=”green”] [li]Signup for an account at jokaydiaGRID. You can find instructions on how to signup and setup your viewer software here.[/li] [li]If you have an avatar at a compatible opensim grid like ReactionGrid,  (jokaydiaGRID is running Opensim 0.6.9) you can hypergrid to the Tour Starting Point via Hypergrid Address: jokaydia.metaverseworlds.com:9000.[/li] [li]We recommend the Imprudence or Hippo Viewers as the best options for participants who are new to opensim.[/li] [/list]

Beginner Tour of World of Warcraft

2pm – 4pm, Sat 19th March (SLT / PST) / 9pm – 11pm, Sat 19th March (GMT) / 8am – 10am, Sunday 20th March (Sydney Time) / Check your local time here!

Join us for a beginners tour and some in-game fun in Azeroth! The VWBPE Beginners Alliance Tour of World of Warcraft is happening on the Sisters of Elune server and is sponsored by Global Goblin Gathering a subsidary of Jokaydia, Center4Edupunx and endorsed by the guilds Socially Inimacable (Worgen) and Inevitable Betrayal (Horde). For more information email abacuscapalini@gmail.com.

How to Attend:

[list type=”green”] [li]Registration for the tours are required please email abacuscapalini@gmail.com. The tour will be capped at 20 and registrations must be received by midnight SLT on 15 March![/li] [li]Participants will be emailed with login and server information.[/li] [li]PLEASE NOTE: To attend you must register for a free account and download the World of Warcraft Trial Software. This process can take 2 hours or longer depending on your computer. You will also need to download Ventrilo at http://www.ventrilo.com/ to participate in voice chat. [/li] [/list]