Steve Bambury has worked in education and training for 20 years. In 2016 he became the first Head of Digital Learning and Innovation across the JESS school group before moving on to work as an education consultant in 2019. This included an extended engagement within New Media Academy where he led on education strategy and immersive technology and coordinated the deployment of the first virtual campus in The Middle East.
Steve has won awards from Apple, Microsoft, GESS, BETT and EdTech Digest for his working integrating technology in learning and professional development. In 2017, he hosted the world’s first professional development sessions inside virtual reality and in 2018 he co-hosted the world’s first global lesson inside VR alongside Pixar co-founder Loren Carpenter. Steve is on the judging panel for both the GESS Awards and World VR Awards and his work with VR has been featured on Forbes Middle East, Arabian Business, Dubai One and more.
Steve now works as a consultant and project manager in the field of NFTs, Web3 and the Metaverse.
Chris Dede is the Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education (HGSE). His fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership. From 2001-2004, he was Chair of the HGSE department of Teaching and Learning. In 2007, he was honored by Harvard University as an outstanding teacher, and in 2011 he was named a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association.
In 2020 Chris co-founded the Silver Lining for Learning initiative (https://silverliningforlearning.org). He is currently a Member of the OECD 2030 Scientific Committee and an Advisor to the Alliance for the Future of Digital Learning, sponsored by the Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiative (MBRGI). Also, Chris is a Co-Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded National Artificial Intelligence Institute in Adult Learning and Online Education.
His most recent co-edited books include: Teacher Learning in the Digital Age: Online Professional Development in STEM Education; Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Realities in Education; Learning engineering for online education: Theoretical contexts and design-based examples; and The 60-Year Curriculum: New Models for Lifelong Learning in the Digital Economy.
Paula MacDowell, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, specializing in Educational Technology and Design. Her ongoing research focuses on designing technology-enhanced learning experiences for K-12, higher education, and informal learning contexts. In collaboration with academic, industry, and community partners, Paula studies the design of immersive learning experiences for pro-social and environmental change. She serves as the Practitioner Chair for the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN).
Dr. Brooke Morrill serves as the Senior Director of Education at Schell Games. Morrill uses her expertise in behavioral science, psychology, and research to increase the impact of and engagement in the company’s educational and transformational games. She identifies and secures extramural project funding in both the federal and private sectors in order to create and iteratively develop innovative, interactive experiences. In addition, she collaborates with universities and research institutions for product development and evaluation. She also maintains an active Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral credential from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board.
Morrill’s noteworthy contributions at Schell Games include securing and managing governmental funding for projects including Happy Atoms, HoloLAB Champions, and most recently HistoryMaker VR, all of which are funded through federal grants. Outside of the studio, Morrill serves on the XR Education and Training Advisory Group for the Academy of International Extended Reality (AIXR), a membership network of industry leaders that helps to enable growth, nurture talent, and develop standards while working to bring wider public awareness and understanding to virtual and augmented reality. She is also a Principal Member of grant review panels for the Institute of Education Sciences at the US Department of Education.
Prior to working at Schell Games, Morrill gained a variety of experiences through her educational endeavors. While earning her PhD at Utah State University, she became a summer intern at Disney Research Pittsburgh in the Behavioral Economics Research lab. While there, she met Schell Games’ CEO Jesse Schell and began working at the company soon after.
Morrill currently lives north of Pittsburgh, with her husband, children, and dogs. During her free time, she enjoys cooking, being a theater patron, and counting down to the holiday season.
My name is Shannon Putman, PhD-Fort Knox Coordinate in the Education Leadership Evaluation and Org. Development Department at the University of Louisville. Prior to that, I spent eight years teaching the multi-modal communication special education classroom and two years as the learning and behavior disorder resource teacher. I spent three years working as the teacher in residence at Cochran Elementary. I have focused my work on implementing the use of Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) technologies into the educational curriculum. My Ph.D. research focused on the use of IVR technology as educational interventions.
I am also an advisory board member of XReps, the leading immersive virtual reality football simulation system.
Doug is a co-founder of Big Rock Creative, a XR company producing large scale events in VR. Big Rock’s first large project, BRCvr, created a fully immersive Burning Man festival in social VR starting in 2020 which generated much positive PR including an article in Wired Magazine. Big Rock won the Producer’s Guild innovation award and the Aurea Award. They have since worked on projects ranging from directing an XR music video featuring Pitbull, facilitating a Hollywood red carpet premiere in VR or creative directing the VR version of “Breonna’s Garden” that premiered in SXSW 2022 and won the Auggie that same year for Best Societal Impact. Most recently they teamed up with Microsoft to launch “Pride has no borders” – an interactive event space and exhibit in virtual reality. Currently, they are working on a new BRCvr project – a fully immersive documentary shot at last year’s Burning Man.
Doug’s background is in the film industry, he graduated from USC film school in the 90s with honors. Over the course of my career, he has written, directed, produced, and edited several festival award-winning narratives and documentaries. He is also a member of the Television academy (Emmys) and the Producers Guild of America.
A lover of technology and new ways of storytelling, Doug has been spending time in VR – shooting 3D video, building worlds, and guiding new users through Alternative realities in digital space.
Athena Demos is the co-founder and CEO of Big Rock Creative, an award-winning XR experience studio creating immersive storytelling projects for global clients. With more than 20 years of experience producing large-scale cultural and creative events, Athena has built a career at the intersection of art, technology, and community.
Big Rock Creative has received numerous industry honors including the Producer’s Guild Award for Innovation, multiple Auggie Awards, a Gold Telly Award for Best Branded Immersive Content, and recognition from No Proscenium, Corporate Global LiveWire, and Adello Magazine. Athena is a proud recipient of the XR Women Trailblazer Award.
She is the creator of BRCvr, an official virtual Burning Man experience, and the producer of internationally recognized social impact projects including Breonna’s Garden and Pride Has No Borders. Athena is currently leading BurnerSphere, a participatory immersive documentary platform preserving art, culture, and human connection through shared virtual experiences.
John Collins a.k.a. The Paper Airplane Guy held the world record holder for paper airplane distance for ten years. Author of five books of original designs, John has been called the world’s foremost expert on paper aircraft. He has appeared on Conan, Nat Geo, Discovery, Science Channel, ESPN’s Sports Science, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, as well as performing live for TedX Munich, Google Zeitgeist, WIRED 21, Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and more than 90 in-person presentations per year.
If you’ve never seen a paper airplane flaps it’s wings, flip over and fly back upside down, spin, circle, loop or stay aloft for minutes indoors; tighten your seat belt and stow your tray table. You’re cleared for takeoff!
Brian is a Developer Advocate at Igalia, as well as Original Co-author/Co-signer of The Extensible Web Manifesto. He is active in Web standards, sitting on many working groups and is co-chair of the MathML Working Group, Co-Founder/Chair, W3C Extensible Web CG Member, as well as the AC Representative to the W3C (formerly OpenJS Foundation and now Igalia). He is a blogger and speaker on many web topics.
Timmy has been described as an expert in C#, JavaScript, and web technologies. He is a senior developer, technical lead with a lot of knowledge about architecture. He has been building software for 3 decades ranging from large web portals and mobile apps to creating 3D artist impressions and virtual, augmented, and mixed reality. He has a great interest in AI and graphics.
Timmy currently works as a Senior Mixed Reality Developer at Velicus working on applications to train people in hospitals and first responders. When he’s not working, he builds small VR/XR games. He founded the WebXR NL meetup, helps to run the WebXR Discord, and is recognized as a Microsoft MVP for his contributions to the Mixed Reality community.