Pre-symposium Events
Virtual Reality Research Lab Tours
Virtual reality allows users to become immersed and to interact within a virtual world. Virtual reality is one technology that might be incorporated into an educational game environment. If you attend one of these tours, you will experience virtual reality for yourself as well as see how it can be applied in scientific settings. Use this opportunity to expand your imagination into how games might incorporate more than a mouse, a keyboard, or a joystick.
These tours are hosted by the Department of Computer Science. A department representative will be in touch with you to confirm your registration and to schedule your preferred day and time. Tours will be conducted every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday between September 11 and September 28 as demand warrants. Tours will take place at 11:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, or 4:00 p.m. each day, and will last one hour.
Learning and Entertainment in World of Warcraft
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 26, 2007
World of Warcraft (WoW) is an example of a commercial massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). It is not designed for educational use, but players experience "accidental learning," particularly in such areas as leadership, problem-solving, and strategy development. WoW players also participate in highly sophisticated communities in order to accomplish game goals. Join Laura Christopherson, doctoral student in the School of Information and Library Science, to explore lessons we can learn from games designed for entertainment. No experience with WoW is necessary.
Some references that might be of interest:
- "World of Warcraft: A Pandemic Lab?"
- "You Play World of Warcraft? You're Hired!"
- "Gaming and Learning"
The Immersive Power of Created Worlds
12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m., Friday, September 21, 2007
During this brown-bag discussion, Brian Sturm will share findings from his ongoing research and explore the implications for immersive educational and gaming environments. This discussion is designed to draw ideas from the disparate experiences of the attendees to begin developing a sense of how an education gaming environment might be more (or less) immersive than traditional educational practices.
Dr. Brian W. Sturm, associate professor in the UNC School of Information and Library Science, focuses his research and teaching on the experience and characteristics of created worlds (storytelling, reading, video games, etc.) and the influences that both augment and inhibit one's immersion in them.
