voyeurism

The SORBET Project: sharing at the 21st International Conference on Education Research (ICER)

our team is very happy that we have been given the opportunity to share our work on the Socially Responsible Behavior through Embodied Thinking (SORBET) Project at this year's International Conference on Education Research (ICER).

for this opportunity, we will be sharing on Fostering collaborative dispositions in a peer-designed virus-diffusion simulation through the lens of Design-Based Research, which focuses on work done with students whom i mentor under the auspices of our university's Nanyang Research Programme.

the 21st ICER will be held on the 21st and 22nd of October :-)

The SORBET Project: print edition of Singteach December 2020 is out :-)

last month, i shared that - through God's grace - our team's Socially Responsible Behaviour through Embodied Thinking (SORBET) Project has been featured in the present issue (December 2020) of the newsletter Singteach.

the printed version of the issue is now available :-) if you find yourself within the campus of the National Institute of Education, do help yourself to a copy :-)

The SORBET Project at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference 2021

i am very happy to share that we have been given the opportunity to share our work on the Socially Responsible Behaviour through Embodied Thinking (SORBET) Project during this year's Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference.

thanks be to God for this opportunity.

:-)

[update: the webpage of the session has been posted :-) ]

The SORBET Project: sharing with participants in the Management & Leadership in Schools programme

my team is very happy and privileged to learn that we have been given an opportunity to share our work on the Socially Responsible Behaviour through Embodied Thinking (SORBET) Project to participants in this semester's Management & Leadership in Schools (MLS) programme.

the MLS programme is hosted by the Policy, Curriculum & Leadership Academic Group of the National Institute of Education (NIE). the programme aims to:

- create new knowledge in generative and collaborative learning, beyond any single discipline / subject;
- enhance expertise competence among middle level leaders; and to
- enhance capacity to lead teaching and learning through the creation of learning teams with the focus on continual improvement in the curriculum.

our sharing is scheduled for the 17th of February.

we thank God for this opportunity.

The SORBET Project is featured in the 25 Jan 2021 issue of the schools-focussed newspaper 'IN'

my team was thrilled this morning to learn that our Socially Responsible Behaviour through Embodied Thinking (SORBET) Project has been featured in the 25th January 2021 issue of the schools-focussed newspaper IN. IN is a publication of the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).

we were interviewed a while back, but we did not wish to get our hopes up, knowing the vagaries of editorial schedules under the best of circumstances, leave alone in the context of the ongoing pandemic.

the Straits Times schools department launched in 2005 with a mission to engage young readers with stories about them. IN accompanies the Straits Times (which is Singapore's main English broadsheet) to secondary schools each week. IN is designed:

- to be in tune with young Singaporeans;

- to bridge current affairs with young people's understandings of the issues of the day; and

- to inspire original content based on giving young people a voice.

we are really very grateful to the editorial team at the SPH, and to the teachers and students of the schools who have supported SORBET.

to God be the Glory.

:-)

The SORBET Project: sharing at this year's Teachers' Conference and ExCEL Fest (TCEF) 2021

our team has just received news that Teaching probability through pandemic simulation in a virtual world has been accepted as a concurrent session presentation during this year's Teachers' Conference and ExCEL Fest (TCEF 2021).

TCEF 2021 is scheduled from the 1st to the 3rd of June, and is themed on Ignite imagination, empower communities, transform practice. our presentation is scheduled for the 3rd of June.

our team is very grateful to Dr Leong Swee Ling for submitting the proposal on our behalf, as well as to Ms Peggen Ang and to Mr Sim Zhi Wei of Kranji Secondary for being so forthcoming in pioneering the Socially Responsible Behaviour through Embodied Thinking (SORBET) approach in their school.

glory be to God alone.

:-)

The SORBET Project is featured in the December 2020 issue of Singteach

my team and i are happy and privileged to share that our work on the Socially Responsible Behaviour through Embodied Thinking (SORBET) Project has been written up in the December 2020 issue of Singteach.

Singteach is a publication of the Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Singapore.

the issue is themed on Lessons from a pandemic: what have we learnt?

we are so happy that the editors chose to place the write-up in the section In their own words, because it affords the students whom we have been working with to really be in the limelight :-)

we thank the editors, the respective leadership teams and teachers of the schools, and the students, for walking this journey with us.

glory be to God alone.

The SORBET Project: embarking on a collaboration with the staff and students of T523 at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

my team and i are very happy and humbled to share that, for the coming Spring 2021 semester, we will be collaborating with staff and students of T523 Formative Evaluation for Educational Product Development, which is a course offered by Dr Christine Reich to students at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

specifically, the collaboration will focus on helping students of T523 experience for themselves the process of conceptualising, designing and enacting the process of formative evaluation, with respect to the transposition of our team's Socially Responsible Behaviour through Embodied Thinking (SORBET) Project from a Windows / Mac application to the iOS and Android platforms. the transposition itself is helmed by Tan Boon Hing, under the auspices of the Nanyang Technological University's Undergraduate Research Experience on Campus (URECA) programme.

there are very clear synergies to be tapped with this collaboration, and we are all looking forward to an exciting semester of learning alongside each other!

we would like to express our deep gratitude to Dr Reich, her colleagues, and her students, for the trust they have extended to us.

Call for Papers: the 7th international conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) 2021

on behalf of the International Co-Chairs for next year's conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN), i would like to share the Call for Papers.

iLRN 2021 will be held from the 17th of May to the 10th of June, as an online event :-)

the conference theme is: Transcend: accelerating learner engagement in XR across time, place, and imagination.

The 7th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN 2021) will be an innovative and interactive virtual gathering for a strengthening global network of researchers and practitioners collaborating to develop the scientific, technical, and applied potential of immersive learning. It is the premier scholarly event focusing on advances in the use of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and other extended reality (XR) technologies to support learners across the full span of learning--from K-12 through higher education to work-based, informal, and lifelong learning contexts.

Following the success of iLRN 2020, our first fully online and in-VR conference, this year's conference will once again be based on the iLRN Virtual Campus, powered by VirBELA, but with a range of activities taking place on various other XR simulation, gaming, and other platforms. Scholars and professionals working from informal and formal education settings as well as those representing diverse industry sectors are invited to participate in the conference, where they may share their research findings, experiences, and insights; network and establish partnerships to envision and shape the future of XR and immersive technologies for learning; and contribute to the emerging scholarly knowledge base on how these technologies can be used to create experiences that educate, engage, and excite learners.
Note: Last year’s iLRN conference drew over 3,600 attendees from across the globe, making the scheduling of sessions a challenge. This year’s conference activities will be spread over a four-week period so as to give attendees more opportunities to participate at times that are conducive to their local time zones.

##### TOPIC AREAS #####

XR and immersive learning in/for:

Serious Games • 3D Collaboration • eSports • AI & Machine Learning • Robotics • Digital Twins • Embodied Pedagogical Agents • Medical & Healthcare Education • Workforce & Industry • Cultural Heritage • Language Learning • K-12 STEM • Museums & Libraries • Informal Learning • Community & Civic Engagement • Special Education • Geosciences • Data Visualization and Analytics • Assessment & Evaluation

##### SUBMISSION STREAMS & CATEGORIES #####

ACADEMIC STREAM (Refereed paper published in proceedings):
- Full (6-8 pages) paper for oral presentation
- Short paper (4-5 pages) for oral presentation
- Work-in-progress paper (2-3 pages) for poster presentation
- Doctoral colloquium paper (2-3 pages)

PRACTITIONER STREAM (Refereed paper published in proceedings):
- Oral presentation
- Poster presentation
- Guided virtual adventures
- Immersive learning project showcase

NONTRADITIONAL SESSION STREAM (1-2 page extended abstract describing session published in proceedings):
- Workshop
- Special session
- Panel session

##### SESSION TYPES & SESSION FORMATS #####

- Oral Presentation: Pre-recorded video + 60-minute live in-world discussion with
others presenting on similar/related topics (groupings of presenters into sessions determined by Program Committee)
- Poster Presentation: Live poster session in 3D virtual exhibition hall; pre-recorded video optional
- Doctoral Colloquium: 60-minute live in-world discussion with other doctoral researchers; pre-recorded video optional
- Guided Virtual Adventures: 60-minute small-group guided tours of to various social and collaborative XR/immersive environments and platforms
- Immersive Learning Project Showcase: WebXR space to assemble a collection of virtual artifacts, accessible to attendees throughout the conference
- Workshop: 1- or 2-hour live hands-on session
- Special Session: 30- or 60-minute live interactive session held in world; may optionally be linked to one or more papers
- Panel Session: 60-minute live in-world discussion with a self-formed group of 3-5 panelists (including a lead panelist who serves as a moderator)

Please see the conference website for templates and guidelines.

##### PROGRAM TRACKS #####

Papers and proposals may be submitted to one of 10 program tracks, the first nine of which correspond to the iLRN Houses of application, and the tenth of which is intended for papers making knowledge contributions to the learning sciences, computer science, and/or game studies that are not linked to any particular application area:

Track 1. Assessment and Evaluation (A&E)
Track 2. Early Childhood Development & Learning (ECDL)
Track 3. Galleries, Libraries, Archives, & Museums (GLAM)
Track 4. Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, & Social Justice (IDEAS)
Track 5. K-12 STEM Education
Track 6. Language, Culture, & Heritage (LCH)
Track 7. Medical & Healthcare Education (MHE)
Track 8. Nature & Environmental Sciences (NES)
Track 9. Workforce Development & Industry Training (WDIT)
Track 10. Basic Research and Theory in Immersive Learning (not linked to any particular application area)

##### PAPER/PROPOSAL SUBMISSION & REVIEW #####

Papers for the Academic Stream and extended-abstract proposals for the Nontraditional Session Stream must be prepared in standard IEEE double-column US Letter format using Microsoft Word or LaTeX, and will be accepted only via the online submission system, accessible via the conference website (from which guidelines and templates are also available).

Proposals for the Practitioner Stream are to be submitted via an online form, also accessible from the conference website.

A blind peer-review process will be used to evaluate all submissions.

##### IMPORTANT DATES #####

- Main round* submission deadline -- all submission types welcome: 2021-02-28 (Extended)
- Late round* submission deadline -- Work-in-progress papers, practitioner presentations, and - nontraditional sessions only: 2021-03-22
- Notification of review outcomes from main submission round: 2021-04-06
- Camera-ready papers for proceedings due -- Full and short papers: 2021-04-16
- Presenter registration deadline -- Full and short papers (also deadline for early-bird registration rates): 2021-04-16
- Notification of review outcomes from late submission round: 2021-04-20
- Camera-ready work-in-progress papers and nontraditional session extended abstracts for proceedings due; final practitioner abstracts for conference program due: 2021-04-30
- Presenter registration deadline -- Work-in-progress papers, practitioner presentations, and nontraditional sessions (also deadline for regular registration rates): 2021-04-30
- Deadline for uploading presentation materials (videos, slides for oral presentations, posters for poster presentations): 2021-05-10
- Conference opening: 2021-05-17
- Conference closing: 2021-06-10

*Full and short papers can only be submitted in the main round.

##### PUBLICATION & INDEXING #####

All accepted and registered papers in the Academic Stream that are presented at iLRN 2021 and all extended abstracts describing the Nontraditional Sessions presented at the conference will be published in the conference proceedings and submitted to the IEEE Xplore® digital library.

Content loaded into Xplore is made available by IEEE to its abstracting and indexing partners, including Elsevier (Scopus, EiCompendex), Clarivate Analytics (CPCI--part of Web of Science) and others, for potential inclusion in their respective databases. In addition, the authors of selected papers may be invited to submit revised and expanded versions of their papers for possible publication in the IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (2019 JCR Impact Factor: 2.714), the Journal of Universal Computer Science (2019 JCR Impact Factor: 0.91), or another Scopus and/or Web of Science-indexed journal, subject to the relevant journal’s regular editorial and peer-review policies and procedures.

##### CONTACT #####

Inquiries regarding the iLRN 2020 conference should be directed to the Conference Secretariat at [email protected]

General inquiries about iLRN may be sent to [email protected]

the SORBET Project featured on Wagner James Au's 'New World Notes' :-)

a very warm welcome to all visitors browsing by from Hamlet Au's (RL: Wagner James Au's) New World Notes blog :-)

i've been following Hamlet's blog since at least 2007, when he was (back then) by his own description, Second Life's embedded reporter since 2003.

as it has evolved, the blog continues to be authoritative and is a go-to source for thoughts and directions of virtual worlds in general.

Hamlet has very graciously written a post about the Socially Responsible Behaviour through Embodied Thinking (SORBET) Project, which my team and i have been working on with teachers, since March this year.

like any journalist worth his or her salt, Hamlet has been instrumental in sharpening my own thinking as i dialogued with him about its design philosophy and the impacts it has had in schools, thus far.

my team and i remain very grateful to him. thank you, Hamlet.

:-)