Call for Papers: The Journal of Virtual Worlds and Education (Deadline extended to April 15, 2011)

The Journal of Virtual Worlds and Education is dedicated to the exploration of virtual, adaptive, and immersive environments in general, with a particular emphasis on their effective use in education. Readers of the journal will find original empirical or theoretical contributions—articles on methodology, visual demonstrations, reviews and interviews—all of which provide evaluation of the research and theories pertaining to education in immersive environments. All manuscripts pass through a multilevel blind peer-review process. The journal is to be published semi-annually online.

JVWE seeks original papers on the intersection of virtual worlds and education. Submissions are invited on all topics from principles to practice, from abstraction to application. Taking advantage of the online nature of the journal, articles may incorporate digital media including, but not limited to machinima, video, podcast samples, and the like that enhance or support the article.

Particular topics of interest include best practices in virtual education; online gaming; identity, gender and relationship behaviors in virtual learning environments; building educational spaces; societal impact; impact on faculty as well as impact on students; methodologies; student performance and evaluation; and other such topics as may be timely and relevant to virtual worlds and formal education, procedural training, and informal learning.

Fields of interest include, but are not limited to, anthropology, arts, biology, cultural studies, cognitive science, communications, computer science, educational technology, English and rhetoric, history, linguistics, medical science, neuroscience, psychology, and sociology.

Guidelines:

Style: Submissions to the Journal of Virtual Worlds and Education must use MLA Style with in-text citations and Works Cited.

Format: Papers are to be submitted by email as a Word (.doc) document or Rich Text Format (.rtf). All submissions will be acknowledged upon receipt.

We use blind peer review. Papers may not have any identifying marks. Contact information must be included in the body of the email to which the paper is attached. Include an abstract of 250 words or less. In the cover letter, please confirm that the piece is not under consideration at another venue.

Articles: typically 5,000-15,000 words, these papers are research and/or theory oriented and must be original work that has not been published elsewhere.

Essays: typically 1,000-3,000 words and may include reviews, interviews, survey articles, discussions and opinion pieces.

Deadlines:

Please submit your full article and accompanying media by April 15, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, along with an abstract of 250 words or less.

Submissions are to be sent as an email attachment to jvwe@jvwe.org Please contact us with any questions at this address.

Birmingham City University’s COMSLIVE project was featured on the UK’s Sky News recently. The video shows a training sim, built in Open Wonderland, which helps nursing students train for patient interaction in a virtual environment.

Read the article and take a look at the video here:

Birmingham City University Virtual Hospital

And learn more about the project on Open Wonderland’s Wonderblog.

The Journal of Virtual Worlds and Education is now published. Volume 1, Issue 1 is available as a free download at the JVWE website, or click the image below to download the pdf:

Journal of Virtual Worlds and Education

This groundbreaking journal is the first to be devoted exclusively to the use of virtual worlds as education platforms, and is rich with research in this emerging field. The inaugural issue contains more than 200 pages of research on the pedagogical uses of virtual realities, featuring works by educators and scholars from around the world.

As we work on the second issue, we are excited and intrigued by the growth of virtual worlds and look forward to research into the educational use of Second Life, Open Sim, Blue Mars, Open Wonderland, Cobalt, Active Worlds, and others. Please check our submission guidelines for more information.