Eileen O'Connor - SUNY Empire State College
Bethany Winslow - San Jose State University
Scott Dolphin - SUNY ESC MALET Graduate

Virtual Worlds have been available for several decades and now more opportunities are coming forward for both viewer-based (downloaded app for enhanced graphics) and web-based interactions. These environments can provide networked immersive, shared experience that can be joined through a computer, phone, or 3-d headset, depending upon the application and design. This session will demonstrate virtual world settings and experiences that have been developed and used across several platforms from viewer to web-based, illustrating the types of activities that are possible. Examples will be shared and approaches to incorporating these immersive virtual environments into K-12, higher education, corporate and business will be considered.  In a global world needing to interact and work together at a distance new communities are emerging. Gain ideas, examples, and startup resources to consider your own development.

Conference Strand: Emerging Technologies

Target Audience: Grades K-12, Post-Secondary, Other: Applicable to all communication and education venues