Call for Papers: Call for Papers: "Virtual Worlds: play or education?"
November 2009 issue

A call for case studies and research papers discussing integrating virtual worlds with social media, VLEs and traditional teaching methods

"let them play..."
Ted Castronova, Relive08

Can virtual worlds add an extra dimension to traditional learningware? We are looking for papers that discuss and illustrate the ways in which Virtual Worlds such as Second Life, World of Warcraft, Wonderland etc can be used to enhance and contribute to the fun of learning. We are also interested in submissions looking at how Virtual Worlds may extend the educational experience beyond learning by their inclusion within and alongside the learning environment aspects of socialising and playing.

The third issue of ITALICS for 2009 will be a special issue on Second Life and other Virtual Worlds in use in higher education. The Guest Editors are Jane Chandler, Timothy Collinson, Jonathan Crellin, and Emma Duke-Williams from the University of Portsmouth.

Important Dates

Deadline for submission of papers – Friday 26th June 2009
Notification of outcome - Friday 28th August 2009
Deadline for revised papers - Friday 2nd October 2009

Papers should be submitted in electronic format and sent to heacademy-ics@ulster.ac.uk and should not exceed 6000 words.