Virtual Environments: Is one life enough?

During the semester we will be joined by a range of guest speakers. Each one has significant experience of this module – some have been students on it and then returned to share their knowledge – all have contributed significantly to the development of the content. They will add depth to the theme of the class they join and lead the discussion in interesting ways. Some of them will also join us for your Team Project presentation at the end of the semester. It is not possible for all of them to join us every semester due to other commitments but they will all do their best to make themselves available.

James Neville (aka Sitearm Madonna)

James Neville is owner and practitioner in applied online collaboration. His specialties include systems analysis, social media, team operation, and multimedia composition. His online avatar is Sitearm Madonna and his research focus is the nature of virtual environments in human expression.

Sitearm’s company, Development One LLC (Texas), is an independent consultancy specializing in online presence, which he defines as ‘the state of being instantly, digitally, synchronously, available’. James maintains multiple relationships with technology providers and users, focusing on hybrid use of VR/AR/MR/XR virtual environments, gear, applications, and practices.

In his pre-Metaverse career, James was Information Management Senior Analyst for Exxon, Exxon Chemical, and ExxonMobil Chemical. In his Metaverse career, as an independent entrepreneur, he co-developed and operated Dublin in Second Life and Sister Cities in SL. He planned and produced the Second Life Developers Conference and others on behalf of Linden Lab, MacArthur Foundation, Creative Commons, and University of Southern California.

James teaches Online Teamwork and Collaboration for Technological University Dublin and Çağ University Turkey, and is a member of professional groups regularly visiting and assessing multiple virtual environment platforms for applications in business and education.

Prof Murat Gülmez
(aka Magua Theriac)

Murat Gülmez is Vice President at the faculty of Business and Administration Sciences at CAG University and is also the Erasmus coordinator. After gaining his undergraduate degree in business from Istanbul University he went to the US and studies for a Masters degree at the University of Dallas before returning to Turkey for PhD research.

He started bringing students to Second Life in 2017 and now delivers a number of modules in the virtual world while also supervising post graduate students with an interest in virtual learning.

He proposed the International Student Project in collaboration with TU Dublin and Whole Brain Health at Inspriation Island in Second Life which commenced in the Autumn 2021 semester.

Glenn Loughran (aka Feilimy)

Glenn Loughran is an artist and educator from Belfast and after studying Art and Design at Ulster University in 1991 emigrated to the US for six years before returning to Ireland to study for the Diploma in Fine Art (2002) at Dun Laoghaire College of Art, Design Technology. He went on to complete a BA in Fine Art Painting 2003 and an MA in Sculpture at NCAD 2005, completing his doctorate at the Graduate School Of Creative Arts and Media (GradCAM) in 2013.

Alongside this educational trajectory Glenn worked across two fields of practice, one focused on informal education, the other as an artist working within the framework of participatory art. The experiences of informal education were developed in disadvantaged communities throughout Dublin, and were influenced by discourses on critical pedagogy. The experiences of artistic practice were developed in ‘void’ urban spaces, and were influenced by post-structuralist theory and recent discourses on socially engaged art.

Glenn has exhibited nationally (2006–16) and internationally at the Lithuanian Biennale (2010), Mattress Factory (2012), A‐Venue Gothenburg, Sweden (2016). He has also presented on artistic research and pedagogy at the Venice Biennale (2009), International Standing Conference on Popular Education, Utrecht (2010), The Creative Time Summit, Venice Biennale (2014), European Educational Research Association, UCD, Dublin (ECER/2016), Sibelius University, Helsinki (2016). He has written for Encore Review, published a book chapter on Art and Education (Granville, 2012), on artistic research at ‘Documenta 13’ (2012) and developed a collaborative Socially Engaged Art newspaper with the Stockyard Institute, Chicago, Titled: Transactions 1#. (2015). He worked on a series of research events and installations through the Oliver Bond Public Archive, with the Robert Emmet Community Development Project (2016–17).

Glenn is Director of the BA in Visual Art (Sherkin Island) and he launched the MA Art & Environment in 2020.

Prof Noel Fitzpatrick (aka Oisin Bedrosian)

Noel Fitzpatrick (doc es lettres) is Director of the European Culture and Technology Lab at the European University of Technology EUt+ and leads the research centre GradCAM at TU Dublin. He teaches Critical Theory, Philosophy and Aesthetics supervises doctoral and post doctoral researchers. Noel has an interest in the interpretation of text and text as performance. His research spans different disciplines and domains from contemporary French philosophy to performance theories and contemporary cultural production.

Noel was a participant in the pilot programme for this module in 2009.

Alice Kruger (aka Gentle Heron)

Alice Kruger is Chairman of the Board, and the founder of Virtual Ability. She worked part time from home as a technical writer and editor for an education research firm for five years using adaptive office equipment. As a woman with Multiple Sclerosis, she found it increasingly difficult to participate in her real life community. No longer able to leave home to work, volunteer, or socialize with friends, she turned to virtual worlds to fulfill these basic human needs. Alice is the mother of three young adults with disabilities and has been a special education teacher. Her avatar in Second Life is Gentle Heron. Gentle can stand and walk without crutches.

Dr Valerie Hill (aka Valibrarian Gregg)

Valerie Hill is a Library and Information Science researcher currently living in Seattle, Washington. Her interests range from traditional literacy to metaliteracy and new media formats (virtual reality, augmented reality and virtual worlds). Her most recent book is Metamodernism and Changing Literacy: Emerging Research and Opportunities, 2020.

Valerie also serves as the Director of the Community Virtual Library and sits on the Board of the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium. You can read her blog Valibrarian.

Dr Claudia Igbrude (aka Locks Aichi)

Now with Paypal, Claudia Igbrude was formerly eLearning development officer with the TU Dublin Learning and Teaching & Technology Centre (LTTC) and also lecturer on the MSc, Diploma and Certificate programmes. Claudia also facilitated and delivered workshops around the areas of Instructional design and learning theories as well as the applications of the various technologies and their applications. She developed this module with John and they delivered it together for almost ten years.

Claudia graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Industrial Mathematics, subsequently followed by a Higher Diploma in Computing in eLearning and an MSc in Learning Technologies. She was awarded a PhD in 2018.

She has worked in technical roles ranging from desktop and user support and training to network support, systems migration, as well as elearning development and support.

Claudia’s interests include access to education, technology, evolution of learning and teaching, soapmaking, and much more!

Dr Dudley Turner
(aka Dudley Dreamscape)

Dudley Turner is Prefessor Emeritus and former Interim Dean, College of Creative & Professional Arts, University of Akron (UA). He teaches communication, persuasion, and professional speaking.

Dudley is a champion of the use of virtual world communication technologies such as Second Life. He is the 2014 winner of the prestigious Ohio’s Innovative Teacher Award from the Ohio Communication Association.

For a number of years John and Dudley taught the module jointly with students from both universities working on Project Teams together across the Atlantic.

Lynne Berrett (aka Lissena Wisdomseeker)

With an academic background in the humanities Lynne Berrett co-founded the Ageless Mind Project and serves as Executive Director. This nonprofit organisation designs individualised approaches to wellbeing and offers education and training for keeping the body, mind and spirit ageless in the natural and virtual worlds. She established Whole Brain Health at Inspiration Island in Second Life and believes that Lifelong Learning is the most important feature of a fulfilled and happy life.