Speakers

Aaron Delwiche, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Trinity University
With one foot in industry and the other in the academy, Aaron Delwiche has been studying ways the Internet can be used to foster education and global dialogue for more than 15 years. His innovative experiments with virtual worlds in the classroom have been covered by international publications ranging from Wired to The Guardian (UK) . As the Director of Interface Development at Lemon Asia, he facilitated the interactive agency's expansion into Singapore and Mainland China. In 2006, he co-founded one of the first full-service virtual world consultancies. Aaron has been actively involved in virtual world development projects for a wide range of organizations, including AMD, France Telecom, New York Law School, New Market Pictures, and USC Annenberg's Center for Public Diplomacy.

Ted Castronova, Associate Professor, Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University, Bloomington
Edward Castronova (PhD, Economics, University of Wisconsin, 1991) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Telecommunications at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is an expert on the economies of large-scale online games and has numerous publications on that topic. His latest book is, Exodus to the Virtual World.  For more, see Dr. Castronova's website

Sarah Robbins, Director of Emerging Technologies, MediaSauce
Ms Robbins is a PhD candidate at Ball State University, the chief editor of the Second Life Education Blog, the coauthor of Second Life for Dummies, and Director of Emerging Technologies for MediaSauce. Always a gamer, Sarah began teaching using Second Life in 2006 and has been researching, blogging, and evangelizing about virtual worlds and education ever since. Sarah's research focuses on the communication mechanics in virtual spaces and how those methods of communication influence learning, engagement, and enjoyment. She's also a sock-collecting mother of 6 year-old triplets who game almost as much as she does. Sarah's research has been featured in the New York Times, USA Today, and The Chronicle of Higher Education . Visit her website at Intellagirl.com