Next month’s UniVirtual Experience, a ground-breaking experience, festival, and conference all in VR, is expanding to potentially hundreds of events across more than 10 VR platforms. The schedule will begin to be announced soon. Help spread the word as this is going to be one of the most exciting, free 30-day celebrations of education in and with immersive technology ever.

There are many ways to keep up with the events and activities with Educators in VR beyond this site. Subscribe to our Educators in VR AltspaceVR channel to be automatically updated by email when a new event is added there. Join our active Educators in VR Discord. Add our Educators in VR Google Calendar to yours. And join as a member of Educators in VR.

Here is a summary of upcoming events, along with some highlights from related organizations, from Educators in VR worth considering adding to your scheduled.

Special Events

Every Educators in VR event is special, but we have some very special events this month and next.

April Earth Day Discussions and World Tours: Educators in VR is joining the AltspaceVR community to celebrate Earth Day with world tours, open discussions, and special events based on this year’s “Restore Our Earth” theme. We’re also inviting our members to build virtual worlds in honor of that theme and share links to those worlds so they might be included in the festivities.

• April 13 – Earth Day Discussion: Water
• April 20 – Educational World Tour: Climate Change
• April 22 – Virtual World Society Earth Day World Tour
• April 27 – Earth Day Discussion: Restoration

May – UniVirtual Experience: The UniVirtual Experience May 1-30 is free and open-to-the-public, a month long celebration of education in XR is a joint venture with the Virtual World Society. It will feature industry leaders, educators, and friends sharing their insights and expertise into the past, present, and future of XR education. We have over 150 events planned throughout the month across multiple platforms. If you would like to help out this free conference, please join our Volunteer Team and check out the training sessions below.

Membership Events: We recently soft-launched our Educators in VR Membership program and we have many new discounts and benefits we’ll be announcing shortly, so please take time to join and help us support our ongoing mission to integrate and expand the potential for XR in education globally. We host over 600 free and paid events, conferences, workshops, and classes in VR annually, and your support goes a long way in keeping so many of those events free.

This Week with Educators in VR

April 12: The VR Researchers Meetup in AltspaceVR today will explore Proxemics in VR, how space influences human behavior, communication, and social interaction, exploring the four proxemic distances, equilibrium theory, and implications for VR.

April 14: The vCoaching & Personal Development workshop this week in AltspaceVR features Ingeborg, a psychologist specializing in social interaction, discussing problem-solving and goal setting for improved communication and leadership. Ingeborg is a professional provocative coach and trainer for people, teams, and organizations, and considered goal setting her passion hobby. The event is hosted by vCoaching Team Project Leader Dana-Maria Fanaker of CaptainVR.

April 14: Join Chris Madsen and Daniel Dyboski-Bryant Wednesday in ENGAGE to explore the platform for education and beyond. ENGAGE is a key VR platform for virtual communication, event, collaboration, education and training by Immersive VR Education, and when these two get together, who knows what will happen or where they will take you as they work with you to test this grand experiment of education in immersive technology.

April 15: Our Educators in VR Curriculum Team is starting a series of discussion events in AltspaceVR on teaching the teachers in XR education and our first one is Thursday. Join us to explore the challenges and potential for integrating XR immersive technology into the classroom, training, and beyond. This is a part of the new teacher training programs we will be offering soon as part of the Educators in VR Institute.

April 15: The Educators in VR Institute offers Lorelle VanFossen’s weekly Family History and Genealogy meetups and workshops in AltspaceVR. This week, she will be exploring family history document and filing systems with the future in mind. Introductory classes and intermediate-level workshops will soon be announced.

April 17: Join the vLanguage Team Project leaders and Dr. Angelina Dayton of Students in VR as speakers at the New York TESOL TeLL SIG 2021 Language Learning conference. They will share their expertise online on using immersive technologies in language learning.

April 22: Homeschooling In A Virtual World in AltspaceVR tackles how to apply SCRUM to homeschooling as part of our ongoing Virtual Homeschooling meetups with Keely Canniff and her team to explore remote and distance learning from home through the innovative “Bring It Home” series of workshops. Learn about how to adapt Scrum’s agile model of project management to your homeschooling lifestyle.

April 22: “Using VR to Save Lives” presentation by the XR Medical & Healthcare Team in AltspaceVR features the innovative team of i3 Simulations company specializing in medical and healthcare VR training through applications like Resuscitation VR, a collaborative curriculum used at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and 70+ medical institutions around the world. It’s a great opportunity to explore their non-linear learning design and research outcomes as well as best practices for XR training simulations.

English Intro Workshops: Micheal McDonald of Gold Lotus language consultancy continues to partner with Educators in VR for a series of workshops and classes in English language throughout the entire month.

If you are new to VR events, we’ve a How to Attend Events in VR Guide for you to help you through the process. You may access these events with a VR headset or in 2D with a laptop or desktop computer with headphones.

Also, don’t forget to subscribe and check out our Educators in VR YouTube Channel where we showcase many of our past events, and sometimes stream our live events. We have over 200 videos from our various events that will keep you fascinated for days.

VR Training Events

If you are interested in becoming more active in VR as an educator, student, research, or passionate user, consider attending our VR training events in AltspaceVR. If you are interested in joining our crew, sigh up with our Volunteer Team.

Video Filming Event Support Training in AltspaceVR: Wednesday, our Video Filming Event Support Training is an introduction to filming techniques for events in VR. Educators in VR hosts and produces hundreds of events in VR annually and we’re expanding our video volunteers and production team.

Moderation 101 Training: Moderation is one of the best ways to give back to Educators in VR and other VR events you support through the gift of your attention, patience, and crowd-control skills. No special skills are required other than patience and the gift of your attention and time. We’ll take you through the process of determining when and how to manage the audience and explore how to support VR events. Our next Moderation 101 Training is Friday, April 16, in AltspaceVR. You may moderate in 2D or VR headset, though it is often easier to do so in 2D.

2D Training in AltspaceVR: 2D access through Windows 10 or Mac is an easy way to explore AltspaceVR and attend our events. We are back offering regular training sessions in AltspaceVR to introduce you to navigation, interaction, and other fun tips and techniques for making your way in VR on your computer. Ensure you have a good quality (USB is best) gaming headset with over-the-ear headphones and mic or screw-in-earbuds (Bluetooth, optional), and join us Friday, April 16, in AltspaceVR for our 2D Training. We wikl even teach you to fly!

Other Educational Events and Activities in VR

Educators in VR supports a wide range of XR educational events and activities. Here are a few to consider adding to your schedule.

May 17-June 10 – iLRN International Conference: iLRN2021, the 7th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network, is scheduled for May 17 – June 10 this year. Calls for papers and presentations are open and deadlines approaching quickly.

As usual, keep up with us here and in our Educators in VR Discord group, Facebook, Twitter, and Educators in VR AltspaceVR channel for more information and updates on the events in Educators in VR.