 Hello, everyone, and welcome to the 4.30 to 5.00 p.m. session of the 2021 Open Simulator Conference. In this session, we are pleased to introduce the presentation, Managing Student Emotions in the Metaverse. Our speaker is Maria Magdalena, who is Marcel Mosswood. Maria is the founder and teacher of the Salu Bang Samulia, a metaverse school based in Indonesia. Please check out the website at conference.opensimulator.org for her speaker bio, details of the session, and the full schedule of events. This session is being live streamed and recorded, so if you have questions or comments during the session, you may send tweets to atopensimcc with the hashtag PoundOSCC23. Welcome, everyone. Let's begin the session. You know, hello. Our presenter, Maria Magdalena, is also known as Marcel Mosswood in Second Life. Sorry, she isn't able to present in voice today because she has a hard cough. The sound will disturb you, so instead, Lear will be her voice for today. So I'll start her presentation by talking about managing emotional conflict between students in our metaverse school. Some people think that there is no conflict that can occur in an online school due to there's no physical interaction between students. But this seems to be an exception for virtual world schools. The virtual world makes people feel like they're in one place with other people and doing activities with them. But this is what makes interactions in online schools and virtual world schools quite different. Virtual education has gained widespread popularity and recently, especially due to its simulations, its flexibility, the convenience. However, this transition from traditional classrooms to virtual learning environments has presented a new set of challenges, particularly in managing conflicts between students. Conflicts in virtual world schools can negatively impact the learning experience and hinder academic progress. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the causes of conflict and implement strategies to manage and mitigate it effectively. Our school uses the virtual world platform for all learning meetings. For voice interactions, we use Discord, which we also use for daily interactions outside the metaverse. Our students come from various regions in Indonesia with different cultures. As a brief illustration, conflict usually occurs in topics. For example, one, push each other's avatar in the metaverse. Two, moving the avatar to disturb friends. Three, language enthusiast, you know, the one who likes to continue to correct language errors used by friends. Well, it seems that just a small amount of students like to accept criticism. This occurs in their interactions in the metaverse and in Discord. Four, rivalry of social groups usually happens in the metaverse and Discord. The gap in knowledge, number five, between young students and teenagers about viral phrases that have the possibility of offending. So what do we do? Well, we understanding conflict in virtual world schools focuses on these types of conflict. Conflict in virtual world schools can manifest in various forms, including interpersonal conflicts, communication issues, academic disputes, and technology related conflicts. Interpersonal conflicts can arise from differences in personalities, values, or misunderstandings. Communication issues might stem from misinterpretations of written text or a lack of nonverbal cues. Academic disputes, well, they can occur over group projects or differences in opinions. Technology related conflicts may result from technical glitches or difficulties with online platforms. So these causes of conflict, if we explore them, several factors contribute to conflicts in online schools and these include Number one, lack of face-to-face interaction, making it challenging to gauge the emotions and intentions of others. Can't see my face. Two, diverse student backgrounds. Students in virtual world schools come from various cultural and social backgrounds. This can lead to misunderstandings and differences in communication styles. Three, technical issues. Problems with internet connectivity, software, and hardware. Well, that can trigger frustration and conflicts. Ignorance about using Discord features to support voice activities will also be annoying for others. For example, when you are in a discussion and suddenly a student starts singing and his voice disturbs the other students. Well, this turns out to be due to ignorance about using the mute button in Discord and this can leave a bad impression on the student. So what are the strategies for managing conflict? Well, to effectively manage and mitigate conflicts in the virtual world schools, a proactive approach is necessary. Educators, administrators, and students themselves can employ various strategies. Number one, clear communication. Encourage students to engage in clear and respectful communication. This can be achieved by setting guidelines for online discussions and for using voice chat for more personal interactions. Two, conflict resolution training. Incorporate conflict resolution training into the curriculum. This equips students with essential conflict resolution skills including active listening, empathy, and negotiation to help them address disputes constructively. In our metaverse, we have a building that we call the mental health building. Here, students can get various information about their well-being as children, students, and residents of the metaverse. Number three, meditation and support, or mediation, excuse me. Offer mediation services and support mechanisms for students experiencing conflicts. Mediators, counselors, or instructors can help parties involved in disputes to find mutually agreeable solutions and de-escalate tensions. Four, group norms. Establish clear group norms and expectations for collaborative work. Group projects are common in virtual world schools and well-defined norms can reduce the likelihood of conflicts arising from different work styles or expectations. Five, technological support. Ensure students have access to technical support to resolve issues related to the online learning platform. Rapid resolution of technical problems can prevent frustrations that may lead to conflicts. So what's the prevention and intervention? Number one, preemptive measurements, excuse me, preemptive measures. Proactively address potential conflicts by setting ground rules and expectations at the beginning of class. This sounds familiar to me. Two, create a safe and inclusive virtual world learning environment where students are encouraged to express their concerns openly and honestly. Item number two, timely intervention. Recognize conflicts early and intervene efficiently. Ignoring or downplaying conflicts can allow them to escalate. Encourage students to report issues and provide a clear process for addressing conflicts. Conclusion, conflict in the virtual world schools is a challenge that can disrupt the learning experience and negatively impact student well-being. By understanding the types and causes of conflicts along with implementing effective strategies for managing and mitigating learning conflicts, it is crucial for creating a harmonious and productive online learning environment. Educators, administrators, and students themselves must work together to foster a positive relationship and to resolve disputes constructively, ensuring that virtual world education remains a valuable and enriching experience. If you have questions or you would like to visit us, please email her at Marsalini Maria at gmail.com. Thank you for your attention. Are there any questions for our speaker? Oh, you are welcome. I used to tell my classes I'd go in and I'd say, you know, today we're going to have a juicy conflict. I know that's just the opposite of what you're talking about, but the reason we would do it is to get the communication going. To understand whether the barriers to managing conflict and to kind of do a role reversal, a self-awareness, if you will, about the fact that conflicts exist and now we need to address them as a community. Applause and clap. We're all clapping for you. Thank you, Maria Magdalena for a fantastic session. The first question from Lisa Laxton is, what is the age range of your students? And she says K through 12. So we're talking kindergarten through senior in high school. So ages probably four or five until 18. Any other questions? We still have a couple of minutes. And let me tell you that Marcel has a booth in the speaker booth area. I'm trying to pull up the booth number as we speak. And she is at, let's see, booth number 16 on emotions in the OSCC expo three region. So be sure to check her out. What is the most common conflict? That's a really good question, Lisa. And Ada asks, are all of the students Indonesian? So Marcel, what's the most common conflict and are all of your students Indonesian? The answer is Lisa, it is the group rivalry and the language enthusiast that is the most common set of conflicts. And are all the students Indonesian Marcel? Marcel says, yes, they are all Indonesian because we use the Bahasa Indonesia, but we are also open for international students as well. Well, thank you, Maria for an informative and interesting presentation. Please continue to field questions as they come in in the text chat. As a reminder to our audience, you will want to check out the conference.opensimulator.org to see what is coming up on the conference schedule. You won't want to miss our next session, which will begin at 5.30 and it's called Do You Know Who I Am? Also, we encourage you to visit the OSCC 23 Poster Expo in the OSCC Expo 3 region and to check out Maria's booth there as well as the sponsor and crowd funder booths located throughout all of the OSCC Expo regions. Thank you again to our speaker and to you, the audience.