Educators in VR has a busy week planned with great special guests, partner events, and team project meetups and events. Remember, we announce these events regularly on our Educators in VR Discord group, Facebook, and Twitter. For events in AltspaceVR, consider subscribing to our Educators in VR event subscription channel to receive regular reminders of upcoming events there. For events on ENGAGE VR, check out their Events schedule, and we will update you on our projects on other social and educational platforms as they happen.

July 14 – VR Researchers Team: We begin the week on Tuesday with the gathering of the VR Researchers team members and general audience to discuss research in immersive technologies, how the research is going, where to start, and where to find key research. Also, check out their VR Researchers Discord Channel in the Educators in VR Discord.

Don’t forget that our #research-help-wanted campaign helps publicize your research across our social media platforms. If you have a research project that needs to reach a wide audience, post in the #research-help-wanted and discuss it in the #research-projects channel and at the above meetups.

July 14 – Weekly Workshop: A few hours later is the Educators in VR Weekly Workshop with Matt Burns of HRBento discussing the upcoming HR Global Summit, July 28-29, in @AltspaceVR. He will be talking about preparing students, HR companies, and professionals for a future integrating VR/AR/XR. The Global HR Summit is in AltspaceVR, and ticket proceeds benefit the Virtual World Society, a partner of Educators in VR. The next HR in VR Meetup is Thursday, also in AltspaceVR.

July 15 – vCoaching and Personal Development: Wednesday features CaptainVR’s Dana-Maria, leader of the vCoaching and Personal Development Team Project, with special guest Fabian R-CANE Schlosser, a renowned expert in music therapy for relaxation and stress reduction. Fabian’s work and research developed a Stress Reduction Method with music therapy being used around the world. You may learn more about his work on his website, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Check out the vCoaching and Personal Development channel in the Educators in VR Discord for more information and resources, and access to the videos of past meetups and workshops.

July 15 – Cyberbullying Team Project Meetup: Later on Wednesday is the next Cyberbullying Defense & Protection Team Meetup with Eric Segal (ZenPanda) of NEST, Network of Emotional Support Teams, as she takes us through the journey of cyberbullies and bullies in general, to help you understand the types, styles, prevention, treatment and training, and how to protect yourself from harm. With an increase in hate and racism acts IRL and online, this regular meetup group is ideal to help you learn more. We’ve information on cyberbullying here on our site and will be adding more, and we have resources and discussions on our Cyberbullying Channel on our Discord.

July 16 – Virtual World Society Fireside Chat: Thursday is the Virtual World Society Fireside Chat with Tom Furness & Ben Lok, award-winning professor & founder working with virtual storytelling & communication skills. He teaches a variety of courses at the University of Florida’s Computer and Informational Sciences and Engineering Department, and is co-founder of Shadow Health, an educational company focused on using virtual humans and mixed reality to train communication skills within VR and human-computer interaction. He received the UF Innovator of the Year Award (2019), a UF Term Professorship (2017-2020), the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Faculty Mentoring Award (2016), a NSF Career Award (2007-2012), and the UF ACM CISE Teacher of the Year Award in 2005-2006. He and his students in the Virtual Experiences Research Group have received Best Paper Awards at IVA 2019, IEEE VR 2008, and ACM I3D (Top 3, 2003).

Look What’s Next

There is plenty coming up with Educators in VR, and here are some highlights.

July 28 – Special Event with Stanford University Virtual Human Interaction Lab: Dr. Geraldine Fauville from The Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab has been working on an innovative VR educational project working with 200 6th to 8th grade girls in VR or 2D studying ocean acidification and marine environmental issues. Their insights on immersive learning, assessments, and outcomes help us all understand the power of VR in education.

July 28 – Weekly Workshop on Building Virtual Worlds for Events and Education: Educators in VR has spent the last two years building custom worlds and event spaces for classes, workshops, and conferences. This special workshop will introduce you to the challenges and features necessary in an immersive classroom and VR event spaces. In September, we are launching a new feature to rent those virtual world spaces for your own events, classes, workshops, and conferences. The worlds will be available individually and in packaged kits, and you will be seeing a preview of some of those spaces. The event will begin in our Educators in VR Training Center and move through some fascinating social worlds.

July 28 – iLRN2020 Conference Lessons Learned: Join Educators in VR with the iLRN (Immersive Learning Research Network) team for a discussion about the lessons learned from producing their first virtual conference, iLRN2020 in VirBELA and AltspaceVR. Migrating a conference for less than one hundred attendees to one featuring thousands, and incorporating the IEEE conference standards and requirements for their attendees, is a huge undertaking, from choosing a platform to implementing the top notch speaker and event program. Join us as we discuss the lessons learned and how to bring a real-world event to VR and virtual.

July 26 – CPDinVR in ENGAGE VR: As part of the amazing CPDinVR Third Anniversary events with Steve Brambury, Educators in VR’s Daniel Dyboski-Bryant will be interviewing the co-founder of Students in VR, Angelina Dayton, and Kelly Lovell of Bridging the Gap Ventures, part of the team along with Educators in VR producing the upcoming YOUNGA Take-over of the United Nations student-led event, September 28-29, 2020.

July 28-29 – Global HR Summit: The Global HR Summit is July 28-29 in AltspaceVR, bringing together HR professionals, experts, and consultants for their first all VR conference. Produced by Educators in VR, Matt Burns of BentoHR and the Thinking Inside the Box podcast, and ticket proceeds benefit the Virtual World Society, a partner of Educators in VR. The next HR in VR Meetup is Thursday, also in AltspaceVR.

September 28-29 – YOUNGA Take-over of the UN: In collaboration with Educators in VR, Students in VR, and Bridging the Gap Ventures, YOUNGA is a take-over of the United Nations, student-led event held in ENGAGE VR. The event will feature student leaders and experts along with industry and corporate leaders and activists solving the world’s key problems with leadership panels, virtual master classes, fireside chats, and immersive VR performances, engaging cultures and societies around the world. Registration is open to participate in this ground-breaking, VR event in ENGAGE VR as celebrities and students call upon the United Nations to help solve the challenges the world faces together.

October 2020 – National Bullying Month: This is the second anniversary of the Educators in VR Cyberbullying Month in conjunction with National Bullying Month. This year, we have a month-long series of workshops, classes, meetups, and trainings on the subject open to everyone, and potentially some master class programs and trainings as well to help us all learn from experts on reducing harm and being prepared against the bullies who follow us from the real world to online and VR social platforms. We have information and resources from last year to update you, and join our discussions and plans on the Cyberbullying Channel in Discord. We’re always looking for topics and expert speakers on these subjects.

February 2021: We have plans in motion for our next Educators in VR International Summit, but we are breaking the rules again. Keep your February open and we’ll have announcements on this coming soon.