The VWEC Student Challenge Awards Ceremony 2026 was presided over by Marie Vans (founder of the project), along with VWEC Board Chair Elli Pinion and her fellow Board Member Valibrarian Gregg. To start with each participating student was presented with a certificate ‘for achievement in building, problem solving, and team work’ and a medal. Congratulations to all the student participants for completing the module and the Student Challenge. It was great to see everyone receive their awards. Special thanks to Marie Vans, Elli Pinion, and Valibrarian Gregg for organising, managing and supporting this initiative which always plays such an important part in this module.
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Erin Mc Ilwain (avatar name, erniemcs) certificate ‘for achievement in building, problem solving, and team work’.
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This was followed by the presentation of the overall team awards, of which five were won by our teams:
Green Team was awarded First Prize for “Virtual Village Sustainable Development Goals”. Team members: Erin Mc Ilwaine (erniemcs, team leader) and Jessica Finnegan (JessicaAmanita, co-lead) both from TU Dublin; Iuliana Todorean (IulianaMonica) from Cluj-Napoca; Yeşim Toytok (yesimtytk) and Yasemin Damla İnceoğlu (ydmlinceoglu) both from Çağ. Team mentor: John O’Connor (Acuppa Tae) from TU Dublin and Çağ.
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Purple Team was awarded Third Prize for “A Sustainable and Accessible College of Further Education”. Team members: Liliana Trushkevych (Liliana0520, team leader) from TU Dublin; Samia Jailani (samia17, co-lead) from TU Dublin; Atahan Hosta (atahosta); and Ayça Dilara Helvacı (aycadilaraa) both from Çağ. Team mentor Magua Theriac (Murat Gülmez) from Çağ).
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Gold Team received the Award for Best Presentation for “A Sustainable and Accessible College of Further Education”. Team members: Diana Boț (Diana Bot, team leader) from Cluj-Napoca; Goda Majauskaite (GodaMajauskaite, co-lead) from TU Dublin; Catherine Ifa-Uwadiae (Catherine004) from TU Dublin; Ümmühan Bobuş (ummuhann); and Cemre Uysal (cemreuys) both from Çağ. Team mentors: Andrea Pasca (Andreea88) and Raluca Pascaniuc (Raluca1984) from Cluj-Napoca.
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Blue Team received Honorable Mention. Team members: Nisa Karataş (nisakrs, team leader) from Çağ; Mariana Kifa (marianakifa05, co-lead) from Cluj-Napoca; Óskar Rondán (Oskar333) from TU Dublin, and İlayda Lara Bağban (ilayda11) from Çağ. Team mentor Çağla Solak (Merino) from Çağ.
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Red Team received Honorable Mention. Team members: Eliza Iura (iuraeliza, team leader) from Cluj-Napoca; Huilin He (Huilink057, co-lead) from TU Dublin; Uliana Dovhoteles (Uliana) from TU Dublin; Ayfer Güvenç (ayyferr); and Sıla Naz Tepebaşı (Silanazzz) both from Çağ. Team mentor Lia Pop from Cluj-Napoca.
Other awards were made to teams from Sekolah Bintang Mayantara, a virtual world school initiative in Jakarta, Indonesia. The student teams were unable to attend due to their time zone and were represented by their instructor Maria Magdalena (Marcel Mosswood):
Ice BeAm Team Red was awarded Second Prize for “Water in the World”.
IceBeAM Blue Team received the Award for Most Authentic for “Animal Cells”.
IceBeAM Orange received the Award for Most Interactive for “Urban Farming for Sustainability”.
Finally, a Special Acknowledgement:
Global Digital Citizenship Minecraft Club received a Special Acknowledgement with the “Minecraft Innovation Award”. Team members: Ezio, Pomni, and Eve. Team mentors: Lucía Morales (ceriumsolas), Çağla Solak (Merino), and Valerie Hill (Valibrarian Gregg). This team of 9 to 11 years olds entered the contest to build without competing with the university teams.
Recording of the ceremony courtesy of Francisco Koolhoven.
Recording of the ceremony courtesy of Francisco Koolhoven.
Classes commence on Monday 9th February and we will meet every Monday thereafter. This semester we will take on the VWEC Student Challenge with teams made up of students from TU Dublin in Ireland, Çağ University in Tükiye, and Technical University of Cluj-Napoca in Romania. Instructors will include John O’Connor in Dublin; Murat Gülmez and Çağla Solak in Türkiye; and Lia Pop in Romania. There will also be guest speakers making presentations and hosting site visits across Second Life throughout the semester as we explore technology and society. There will be additional class meetings on some Saturdays for support in the Student Challenge.
Monday class meeting times are:
0500 to 0700 Second Life time. 1300 to 1500 Ireland time. 1600 to 1800 Türkiye time. 1500 to 1700 Romania tiime. This will change when summer time arrives.
The Awards Ceremony for the VWEC Student Challenge 2025 was well attended by instructors, tutors, lecturers, students, participants, judges and more this year. All the students were presented with the individual certificates marking their completion of the challenge. In addition, The Red Team was presented with the trophy for Second Place overall winner and the Blue Team received the certificate for the Most Authentic Exhibit. Congratulations to all the students who participated in this year’s challenge. Well done! Huge thanks to the instructors who mentored the three teams and to all the guest speakers who shared their knowledge and experience over the semester.
Congratulations to the Red Team who were presented with their certificates. Photo courtesy of Acuppa Tae.John O’Connor (Acuppa Tae) accepted the trophy for Second Place on behalf of the Red Team. Photo courtesy of Acupp Tae.Congratulations to the Blue Team who were presented with their certificates. Ersin Ïnal (Ginger) accepted the certificate for Most Authentic Exhibit on the team’s behalf. Photo courtesy of Acuppa Tae.Congratulations to the Green Team who were presented with their certificates, with Lia Pop.
Welcome to the module ‘Virtual Environments: Is one life enough?’ being offered as an elective module to students of Technological University Dublin studying art & design, architecture, media and business.
Classes will start on Monday 10th February at 1:00 pm for two hours. We meet online every week on Mondays and Saturdays at 5:00 to 7:00 pm at TU Dublin in Second Life and other venues in SL. Please note: you will need a Mac or PC desktop or laptop to access Second Life – you cannot do so with a mobile device.
Full details about the module are available to eligible registered students on the university VLE, Brightspace, where you may self-enrol (If you have any issues enrolling email John O’Connor or Lucía Morales at TU Dublin). Read the Introduction unit carefully where you will find instructions on how to access Second Life and set up your personal avatar. Learning how to get around the virtual world and familiarising yourself with the environment and how to control your avatar will take a few hours so give yourself plenty of time before class starts.
Please read pages 1 to 9 in the column on the right hand side of this website also. If you would like to find out more about what to expect during the semester read the posts in this blog: all class since 2009 have been summarised.
If you have any problems email John O’Connor at TU Dublin.
Once again, this semester we will be working with Prof Murat Gülmez (aka Magua) and his students at Çağ University in Turkey. Also joining us will be colleagues from the European University of Technology alliance EUt+ Dr Lucia Morales and Intesar Made from TU Dublin Faculty of Business and Dr Lia Pop from the Technical University of Cluj Napoca in Romania, along with their students. We will primarily be working on the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium Student Challenge which will see students from across the globe competing for a range of awards.
There is also an opportunity to earn Digital Badges in Global Citizenship through Virtual Worlds and Digital Literacy. For more information on this opportunity see the TU Dublin webpage here.
Classes will start on Wednesday 2nd October at 3:00 pm for two hours. We meet online every week at TU Dublin in Second Life. Please note: you will need a Mac or PC desktop or laptop to access Second Life – you cannot do so with a mobile device.
Full details about the module are available to eligible registered students on the university VLE, Brightspace, where you may self-enrol. Read the Introduction unit carefully where you will find instructions on how to access Second Life and set up your personal avatar. Learning how to get around the virtual world and familiarising yourself with the environment and how to control your avatar will take a few hours so give yourself plenty of time before class starts.
Please read pages 1 to 9 in the column on the right also. If you would like to find out more about what to expect during the semester read the posts in this blog: all class since 2009 have been summarised.
If you have any problems email John O’Connor at TU Dublin.
Once again, this semester we will be working with Prof Murat Gülmez (aka Magua) and his students at Çağ University in Turkey.
Classes will start on Friday 9 February for a special introductory class. After that we will meet every Monday from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm and most Saturdays from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. We meet online at TU Dublin in Second Life. Please note: you will need a Mac or PC desktop or laptop to access Second Life – you cannot do so with a mobile device.
Full details about the module are available to eligible registered students on the university VLE, Brightspace, where you may self-enrol. Read the Introduction unit carefully where you will find instructions on how to access Second Life and set up your personal avatar. Learning how to get around the virtual world and familiarising yourself with the environment and how to control your avatar will take a few hours so give yourself plenty of time before class starts.
Please read pages 1 to 9 in the column on the right also. If you would like to find out more about what to expect during the semester read the posts in this blog: all class since 2009 have been summarised.
If you have any problems email John O’Connor at TU Dublin.
Once again, this semester we will be working with Prof Murat Gülmez (aka Magua) and his students at Çağ University in Turkey. In addtion we will be joined by Dr Lucia Morales from the Business faculty at TU Dublin who will also introduce her PhD students to Second Life.
Classes will start on Wednesday 27th September at 3:00 pm for two hours. We meet online every week at TU Dublin in Second Life. Please note: you will need a Mac or PC desktop or laptop to access Second Life – you cannot do so with a mobile device.
Full details about the module are available to eligible registered students on the university VLE, Brightspace, where you may self-enrol. Read the Introduction unit carefully where you will find instructions on how to access Second Life and set up your personal avatar. Learning how to get around the virtual world and familiarising yourself with the environment and how to control your avatar will take a few hours so give yourself plenty of time before class starts.
Please read pages 1 to 9 in the column on the right also. If you would like to find out more about what to expect during the semester read the posts in this blog: all class since 2009 have been summarised.
If you have any problems email John O’Connor at TU Dublin.
As we commence the new semester we were all shocked to hear the news of the catastrophic earthquake that devastated Eastern Türkiye and Syria. Our thoughts are with our friends, colleagues and students at Çağ University which has been unable to commence the new semester as a result. We hope they will be able to rejoin us soon. While the TU Dublin students commenced last week we will keep in mind that some adjustment to the syllabus may be necessary to accommodate them as they return.
Virtual Environments: Is one life enough? 