Help! I’m Lost in the Metaverse!
Educators find it difficult to navigate across grids and metaverse platforms. The goal of the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium is to bring educators in virtual worlds together, both to share what has been successful and to tackle obstacles across different platforms and communities. This panel discussion shares VWEC Ambassadors collaborating across the metaverse to provide better communication and networking opportunities for teaching and learning.
Speakers
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Valerie Hill / Valibrarian Gregg (Poster Booth #9)Dr. Valerie Hill is a library and information science educator with a research focus on the intersection of information literacy and global digital participatory culture. She has taught at all age levels, served as a school librarian, and is a National Writing Project trainer. She is a co-coordinator of the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium and Director of the Community Virtual Library.
https://valibrarian.net/
https://about.me/valibrarian
https://www.metaverselibraries.org/
https://communityvirtuallibrary.org/ -
Becky Adams / Elli PinionDr. Becky Adams has been in education as a teacher, instructional designer, and Higher Education administrator for 26 years. She was the Director for Online Course Development at the University of New Mexico until her recent retirement. She has been using Virtual Worlds for her undergraduate and graduate students in both face to face and online classes since 2009 and finds it a creative environment for project based teaching and learning. She is co-coordinator of the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium and serves on the board of several virtual world organizations.
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Bruce Gross / Cooper Swizzle (Poster Booth #13)Bruce became drawn to 3D Virtual Immersive Environments for training after being introduced to them at a professional association meeting for trainers. Bruce realized they created opportunities for both synchronous and asynchronous trainings for learners, and offered a very cost-effective solution for companies utilizing them. He realized that 3D environments enabled better engagement for learners, and began implementing use of 3D Environments as replacements for PowerPoint slides in webinars (where he had attendees watch via the webinar screen as he explored the topics in the 3D world). And he was able to convince the company leadership to try a pilot program using 3D worlds for training as a substitute for the expensive face-to-face, week-long training marathons that had been a staple of the company leadership development.
After completing the highly successful pilot 3D leadership training series, he was able to continue and expand the 3D course offerings and subsequently ran a 5-year 3D-based training program before retiring from the company. Holding certifications in DDI®️, Forte®️, and 3D Virtual Worlds from the University of Washington (2012), Bruce brings a broad spectrum of experience in training and enjoys using and sharing knowledge gained from his 15+plus years of training experience.
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Shannon Broden / Kreatya ShannonShannon Broden (Kreatya Shannon) is a Masters of Library Science and Information Science student at San Jose State University. She volunteers helping the VWEC with the metaverse database project.
