Abstract: The presentation will consider the role of immersive experiences in terms of how we learn. Increasingly, through the use of serious games and virtual worlds we have more opportunities to learn through experiences. What does this mean in terms of learning design and will interface devices such as brain computer interfaces really change how we learn? The presentation will show clips from leading edge serious games and outline research directions in the field of serious games.

Biography for Professor Sara de Freitas

BA (Hons), MA, PhD, FRSA

Sara is Director of Research at the Serious Games Institute at the University of Coventry where she leads an applied research team working closely with industry. Recently appointed Professor of Virtual Environments she holds a visiting senior research fellowship at the London Knowledge Lab, London, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

In 2003 Sara founded (and continues to Chair) the UK Lab Group, which brings the research and development community together to create stronger links between industrial and academic research through supporting collaborative programmes and for showcasing innovative R&D solutions for the knowledge economy.

Voted the Most Influential Woman in Technology 2009 by US Fast Company, Sara chaired the IEEE Serious Games and Virtual Worlds conference in 2009, and is a regular speaker at international conferences. Sara currently holds funding from the Advantage West Midlands, Erasmus Scheme, European Regional Development Fund, European Union and the Technology Strategy Board. Her current lines of research are examining multimodal interfaces, experience design and perceptual modelling in games and virtual worlds. Sara publishes widely in the areas of: pedagogy and e-learning; change management and strategy development for implementing e-learning systems and serious games and virtual worlds for supporting training and learning.

Relevant web links:

• The Serious Games Institute: http://www.seriousgames.org.uk
• Learning in Immersive worlds report: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_innovation/eli_outcomes.html
• Serious Virtual Worlds report: www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/seriousvirtualworldsreport .