Learning businesses in Second Life and

virtual online worlds at ML07

Moving Learning | London & Utrecht | 30 march 2007

Ron Edwards, one of the world’s most radical minds on new approaches to business learning and a renowned commentator on learning in virtual online worlds, is to present at Moving Learning 2007, London on 13 June.

Virtual online worlds are one of the hottest subjects in organisational learning with Second Life, the best-known of these new worlds, one of the fastest-growing Internet applications today, with 250,000 people joining weekly. The learning-provider market has been one of the first to appreciate, on a large scale, the potential of virtual online worlds for deploying new delivery methods and business models. Ron Edwards’ will take us through the potential for learning businesses that Second Life and other virtual online worlds offer, in his keynote session ‘Serious Virtual Worlds, Real Applications’, at Moving Learning 2007.

Ron Edwards said: “There is a groundswell of interest to tap into these environments for training, collaboration, communication, connecting with consumers and much more and many organisations including Reuters, BP, IBM, Sun, Vodafone, MTV, BBC, Toyota, Dell, General Motors and Cisco are jumping in.”

“When was the last time you felt your heart pound online? Do you remember feeling anticipation, excitement, camaraderie, commitment, engaged or responsible during your last online learning experience? Have you ever laughed out loud at anything online? Video games and online virtual worlds can be immersive, exciting, fun and a catalyst for wide range of emotions – that’s what keeps the eyeballs glued to them in swelling numbers.”

“Serious Virtual Worlds are enabling rapid generation of realistic interactive 3D environments that enable organizations to train, plan, rehearse, communicate and collaborate just as they would in the real world,” added Ron.

Ron’s session will explore Second Life; MTV’s Laguna Beach, a bespoke virtual world; serious virtual world training applications based on Forterra Systems’ OLIVE platform; and virtual world trends and future directions.

Ron is also taking part in the discussion panel at Moving Learning 2007 where he anticipates many questions about learning as a business in these new virtual worlds. Also on the discussion panel and presenting at Moving Learning 2007, are Elliott Masie, the internationally renowned learning and technology futurist, Bob Mosher of LearningGuide Solutions, Nick van Dam of Deloitte, Clare Line of Lovells, Walter Jaeger of BT and Jeffrey Berk of Knowledge Advisors.