REGISTRATION OPENS FOR iED 2012 : IMMERSIVE EDUCATION BOSTON SUMMIT

World's leading immersive learning experts & practitioners convene June 14-16 in Boston

BOSTON, MA - March 15, 2012 - The Immersive Education Initiative today announced that registration for Immersive Education 2012 (iED 2012) is now open. Boston College will host iED 2012 from June 14-16 through arrangement with the Woods College of Advancing Studies. The three-day Summit is open to the global academic community and experts in immersion, simulation, learning games, virtual reality and full, augmented and mixed reality (FAM). Building on the success of the previous seven years of Immersive Education conferences, iED 2012 has a special focus on learning games, serious games, game-based teaching and learning and full, augmented and mixed reality.

Seats may be reserved through the official website at http://summit.ImmersiveEducation.org. Due to popularity and space considerations there is a strict limit of 5 seats per organization. Registration will automatically close when the available seats have been reserved. Speakers and presenters may submit abstracts and proposals at http://summit.ImmersiveEducation.org/submitters.html.

Organized specifically for educators, researchers, and administrators, Immersive Education (iED) Summits provide attendees with an in-depth overview of immersive learning technologies, platforms, best practices and techniques.

Speakers at past iED Summits have included faculty, researchers, and administrators from The Grid Institute, Boston College, Harvard University (Harvard Graduate School of Education, Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, and Harvard Kennedy School of Government), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), MIT Media Lab, The Smithsonian Institution, Loyola Marymount University, Stanford University, United States Department of Education, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Federation of American Scientists (FAS), Duke University, Temple University, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center, Cornell University, Amherst College, Kauffman Foundation, Boston Library Consortium, South Park Elementary School, Oracle, Turner Broadcasting, Open Wonderland Foundation, realXtend (Finland), The MOFET Institute (Israel), University of Aizu (Japan), Keio University (Japan), National University of Singapore, Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), University of Essex (UK), Coventry University (UK), Giunti Labs (Italy) and European Learning Industry Group, Open University (UK), and more.

About iED Summits and Topics of Interest

iED Summits are official Immersive Education Initiative conferences organized specifically for educators, researchers, and administrators. iED Summits consist of presentations, panel discussions, break-out sessions, workshops and demonstrations that provide attendees with an in-depth overview of immersive learning platforms, technologies and cutting-edge research from around the world. iED Summits feature new and emerging virtual worlds, virtual reality, learning games, educational simulations, and related teaching tools, techniques, technologies, standards and best practices.

The world's leading experts in virtual worlds, learning games, educational simulations, and full, augmented and mixed reality (FAM) convene June 14-16 in Boston, USA, for the seventh Immersive Education Summit.

Topics of interest for iED 2012 Boston include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Learning Games
• Serious Games
• Game-based Learning
• Game-based Learning Technologies/Systems (e.g., PC, Mac, XBox, Playstation, Nintendo, iPad, etc.)
• Commercial Video Games as Learning Tools (e.g., World of Warcraft, Little Big Planet, Minecraft, etc.)
• New Literacies Using Video Games For Education
• Best Practices, Curriculum Development and Assessment for Game-Based Learning
• Full-body Immersion (such as caves, domes, natural interfaces, XBox 360 Kinect, and so forth)
• Augmented Reality (AR)
• Mixed Reality (MR)
• Head-mounted Displays (HMDs)
• Haptics, Natural Interfaces and Touch Interfaces (e.g., iPad, iPhone, Tablets, Android devices, etc.)
• Robotics
• Virtual Worlds
• Virtual Reality (VR)
• Simulation
• Psychologically Beneficial Immersive Environments as defined by iED PIE.TWG
• Pedagogy in the Age of Immersive Education
• Assessment in the Age of Immersive Education

Abstract Deadlines: April 1st is the abstract deadline for all sessions except demos and outliers, for which the abstract deadline is May 1st. Submission details are available on the official iED Summit website at http://summit.ImmersiveEducation.org

Thousands of Members Worldwide

The Immersive Education Initiative is a non-profit international collaboration of universities, colleges, research institutes, consortia and companies that are working together to define and develop open standards, best practices, platforms, and communities of support for virtual reality and game-based learning and training systems. Thousands of faculty, teachers, researchers, staff, administrators and students are members of the Immersive Education Initiative.

About Immersive Education
Immersive Education (ImmersiveEducation.org) combines interactive 3D graphics, commercial game and simulation technology, virtual reality, voice chat (Voice over IP/VoIP), Web cameras (webcams) and rich digital media with collaborative online course environments and classrooms. Immersive Education gives participants a sense of "being there" even when attending a class or training session in person isn't possible, practical, or desirable, which in turn provides educators and students with the ability to connect and communicate in a way that greatly enhances the learning experience. Unlike traditional computer-based learning systems, Immersive Education is designed to immerse and engage students in the same way that today's best video games grab and keep the attention of players. Immersive Education supports self-directed learning as well as collaborative group-based learning environments that can be delivered over the Internet or using fixed-media such as CD-ROM and DVD. Shorter mini-games and interactive lessons can be injected into larger bodies of course material to further heighten and enrich the Immersive Education experience.

Immersive learning and immersive teaching ("Immersive Education") are enabled by the Media Grid.

About the Media Grid
The Media Grid is a public utility for digital media. Based on new and emerging distributed computational grid technologies, the Media Grid builds upon existing Internet and Web standards to create a unique network optimized for digital media delivery, storage, and processing. As an on-demand public computing utility, a range of software programs and Web sites can use the Media Grid for delivery and storage of rich media content, media processing, and computing power. The Media Grid is an open and extensible platform that enables a wide range of applications not possible with the traditional Internet alone, including: Massive Media on Demand (MMoD); Interactive digital cinema on demand; Immersive Education (immersive teaching and immersive learning); Truly immersive multiplayer games and Virtual Reality (VR); Hollywood movie and film rendering, special effects, and composition; Real-time rendering of high resolution graphics; Real-time visualization of complex weather patterns; Real-time protein modeling and drug design; Telepresence, telemedicine, and telesurgery; Vehicle and aircraft design and simulation; Visualization of scientific and medical data.

The Grid Institute leads the design and development of the global Media Grid through the MediaGrid.org open standards organization in collaboration with industry, academia, and governments from around the world.

To learn more about the Media Grid, Immersive Education or the Education Grid visit:
MediaGrid.org, ImmersiveEducation.org and TheEducationGrid.org