On Friday March 14th, the University of Manchester in the UK will host a one-day seminar entitled Reviewing current and future practice in the use of virtual worlds in Higher Education.

The event, which is being organised by Gary Motteram, a Senior Lecturer in Education at the university, will explore the current state of the art in the use of virtual worlds in education and will be a mixture of face-to-face presentations and online activity.

Presentations will be made by Dr. Paul Rudman, a Research Associate at the Institute of Learning Innovation at the University of Leicester; Dr. Darren Mundy, a Senior Lecturer in Digital Media, and Luisa Panichi, a Research Student at the School of Languages, Linguistics & Cultures, University of Hull; Professor Maggi Savin-Baden, Professor of Higher Education Research, University of Coventry; and Professor Liz Falconer, Director, Education Innovation Centre at the University of West England.

Additionally, there will be a special presentation from the Euroversity Network Project partners, a network of 18 European (and Israeli!) universities with significant experience of the use of 2D/3D virtual worlds in learning and teaching contexts, and the day will wrap with a speakers’ panel.

The seminar is free to attend, either in person at Manchester University (please register your intent to attend via the Eventbrite webpage), or via on-line streaming through the Euroversity website. Lunch will be provided for those attending in person.

The seminar will take place at the Kanaris Lecture Theatre, Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Friday, 14 March 2014 from 09:30 to 16:30 (GMT)

Programme Schedule

At the time of writing, the full schedule for the seminar comprised (all times GMT):

09.30 – Participants arrive (Coffee/ Tea available)

10.00 – Opening introduction and welcome

10.10 – Paul Rudman (University of Leicester): Seven reasons for teaching in virtual worlds

11.00 – Darren Mundy and Luisa Panichi (University of Hull): Virtual courses (Online Presentation)

11.45 – Coffee/ Tea Break

12.00 – Maggi Savin-Baden (University of Coventry): The impact of virtual world learning on Higher Education

12.45 — Lunch and networking

13.30 – Liz Falconer (University of West England): Learning in virtual environments: dimensions of situated learning

14.15 – Virtual session: Euroversity Network Project partners

15.00 – Coffee/ Tea break

15.15 – Final panel (joint on-line and face-to-face)

16.00 – End of day

For up-to-date information on the schedule and activities, please refer to the event’s Eventbrite web page. Further information can be obtained by interested parties contacting Gary Motteram directly via e-mail.