In the movie Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio is swept into a world-within-worlds that results in a convoluted storyline something akin to Alice in Wonderland meets The Matrix.

Last week I had my own Inception moment, when I had the good fortune to take visual notes at a conference all about VR (virtual reality) ... using, of course, a VR headset.

The Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) is a global community of educators who are pushing the boundaries of how XR (eXtended Reality, which is becoming the accepted umbrella term for Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality technologies) is shaping the field of education. The iLRN 2020 is the annual online conference for this community, and it seemed only fitting that conversations about VR should be captured using VR.

Using my favourite sketching tool, Tilt Brush, I was engaged to capture some of the bigger group conversations that happened during the somewhat audaciously titled "Grand Challenges." As if the technology setup of live streaming my visual notes to YouTube as they were being created, and then funneling that feed back into the virtual world in which the conversation was happening wasn't ambitious enough, the topics that the group tackled were equally ambitious:

• tackling systemic racism
• fighting climate change
• curbing the spread of infectious diseases, and
• bridging the digital divide.

I'm pleased to say that the technology held up, and the end result was definitely a hit with attendees. Participants commented that seeing their conversation visualised into 3D scenes injected excitement and optimism into the group. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out in the end!

A huge congratulations to Mark, Jonathon, and the rest of the iLRN team and associated volunteers for successfully running what they envisioned to be "the Woodstock of conferences"; I was very grateful to be a part of the event.

You can explore all four virtual scenes from the iLRN 2020 conference on Google Poly using a VR headset (or you can just view them in your web browser) by following the links below.

• iLRN 2020 Grand Challenge I: Combating Systemic Racism
• iLRN 2020 Grand Challenge II: Curbing the Spread of Infectious Diseases
• iLRN 2020 Grand Challenge III: Fighting Climate Change
• iLRN 2020 Grand Challenge IV: Bridging the Digital Divide

I also created some walkthrough videos, like the one below. Enjoy!

We learned last week that the Defining Moments in Australia's History video series that we created for the National Museum of Australia has won a silver Telly Award.

The Telly Awards have been running for 41 years, annually showcasing the best work created within television and across video, for all screens. This year they received over 12,000 entries from 5 continents, and entries included work from some of the most respected advertising agencies, television stations, production companies and publishers around the world.

​We're delighted to be among such prestigious company, and we're so proud of our team for the work they put into this series—we like to think of them as being a bit like the Australian version of Horrible Histories!
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Check out all eight of the "Defining Moments" videos below, or explore all 100 defining moments at the National Museum's digital classroom.