LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - April 07, 2009 - The Immersive Education Initiative today announced that the London Summit will be free for students. On April 23rd and 24th the London School of Economics (LSE) will host the Immersive Education Initiative's London Summit, a special two-day event showcasing new and emerging virtual worlds, learning games, educational simulations, and related tools, techniques, technologies, standards and best practices. Designed specifically for educators, researchers, and administrators, the London Summit consists of presentations, panel discussions, break-out sessions and workshops that provide attendees with an in-depth overview of immersive learning platforms and technologies such as The Education Grid, Project Wonderland, Second Life, Croquet and Cobalt, realXtend, Alice, Open Simulator (OpenSim), augmented and mixed reality, and more.

The per-seat cost of the two-day London Summit is £195 (pound sterling), or $275 USD (U.S. dollars). Students can attend free of charge by following the instructions on the registration page at MediaGrid.org/summit.

Preliminary speakers and panelists include faculty, researchers, and administrators from The Grid Institute, Boston College, Loyola Marymount University, M.I.T. Media Lab, The Smithsonian Institution, Sun Microsystems, University of Essex (United Kingdom), realXtend (Finland), Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), BalticGrid (Baltic states), Holon Institute of Technology (Israel), Duke University, Montana State University, NASA, the Serious Games Institute, and more.

The London Summit is modeled after the breakthrough 2008 Boston Summit that was hosted by the Woods College of Advancing Studies at Boston College. During the 2008 Boston Summit educators, researchers, administrators and students from Boston College, Boston Public Schools, Amherst College, Federation of American Scientists, MIT Media Lab, Harvard University, Duke University, United States Department of Education, New Media Consortium (NMC), Johnson & Wales University, NASA, Sun Microsystems, Synthespian Studios, and Computerworld gave a series of presentations, panel discussions and workshops that provided an overview of how virtual worlds and game-based learning technologies are used in and out of the classroom today. Immersive Education Day at Harvard University was a precursor to the 2008 Boston Summit.

Similar to the Boston Summit, London Summit speakers and panelists feature an array of Immersive Education experts, researchers and practitioners from around the world. In addition to showcasing new and emerging immersive learning technologies a number of new Community Groups (CGs) and Technology Working Groups (TWGs) and will be launched at the London Summit including groups for: K-6 and K-12 educators and students; virtual world builders; assessment, evaluation and grading; psychology and mental health; and augmented and mixed reality.

During the London Summit status reports and demonstrations will be given by previously launched Immersive Education groups, such as the Library Technology Working Group (LIB.TWG) and Open File Formats Technology Working Group (OFF.TWG).

To register for the London Summit visit MediaGrid.org/summit or ImmersiveEducation.org.

Recent related events:

• 2008-11: Immersive Education Initiative Launches Asia Series of Events in Japan.
• 2008-08: Immersive Education Initiative Launches South America Series of Events.
• 2008-01: Immersive Education Initiative announces Education Grid and Platform Ecosystem at Boston Summit.
• 2008-01: Immersive Education the focus of 2008 Boston Summit.
• 2007-11: Immersive Education Day at Harvard University.

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.

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 and distance 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