Four teams of Westminster students presented their immersive learning project ideas and papers online via Metaverse between 3-5 June and at the tenth Immersive Learning Research Network (ILRN) Conference in Glasgow between 10-13 June. This followed a hackathon earlier in the year, a field trip to Vienna and much collaboration between academics and students from other universities.
The theme for the tenth Annual International Conference was Tech4Good, and it brought together researchers and practitioners from all over the world working to develop immersive learning game apps. One team from Westminster travelled to the conference to present in person, while the other three teams did so virtually in the Metaverse Platform.
Attending the conference and speaking about their work allowed the students to engage academics and researchers in the sector and encouraged new collaborations between experts.
The students had submitted their projects earlier in the year in the hope of winning the fifth iLRNFuser International Student Competition for Immersive Game Apps, also known as the 5th iLRNFuser Game Jam. The students had to make sure their prototypes were going to engage and excite learners and that they supported at least one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Their submissions and presentations were judged at the conference in Glasgow.
University of Westminster students Vanesa Mendez, Yoanna Gramatikova and Ines Lobo, and Fachhochschule des BFI Wien students Stefan Krotenthaler and Fanny Mozes went on to win the 2024 iLRNFuser with their outstanding project and iLEAD paper. Their project was titled Enhancing Learning through AI: An Approach to Ocean Conservation and Recycling Education.
One of the students who presented in person, Chaye Foster, said: “I had the honour of presenting our work-in-progress paper, Escape Room Puzzle Game: Become a Phryctoria Archmaester at the conference. It was amazing to showcase our project to a diverse audience of researchers from around the world.”
Markos Mentzelopoulos is both the Course Leader for the Computer Games Development BSc course at the University of Westminster and the Director of Student Engagement for the ILRN.
About this year’s competition and conference, Mentzelopoulos said: “Thanks to our network's support, we received numerous high-quality submissions, including prototypes and Work-In-Progress (WIP) research papers as part of the iLRN proceedings. I want to thank all participants and academics for their dedication and enthusiasm. We look forward to expanding our competition next year.”
The CEO of the ILRN Jonathon Richter echoed these sentiments: “I’m really proud of the work that my colleagues have accomplished in support of students in cross-institutional partnerships through our Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) — real, grounded impact and meaningful student engagement in heartfelt and technical applications. We are excited to scale the iLRNFuser Game Jam and other student opportunities next year with the phenomenal foundations that iLRN Director of Student Engagement Markos Mentzelopoulos has built these last five years.”
Read more about the winning student project titled Enhancing Learning Through Conversational AI: An Approach to Ocean Conservation and Recycling Education.
Find out more about the Computer Games Development BSc course at the University of Westminster.
