John has worked at Champlain College (http://www.champlain.edu) for 10 years where he served in a variety of capacities:  Program Director, Computer Networking, Creator / Program Director Game Programming, and currently Program Director for the MS in Managing Innovation in Information Technology (MSMIIT). The MSMIIT Program is an online program. In addition to Champlain College, John is also the owner of Creative Twists Designs (http://www.creativetwists.com). The company creates, designs, and implements virtual world environments for both academic and business use.

Prior to coming to Champlain College, John possesses over 27 years of corporate experience in the technology sector with experience as a Project Manager, IT manager, and Software Engineer, with 12 years of this experience being at Digital Equipment Corporation.  John was also president of Vermont Technology Exchange Company (VTEC), a hardware, software, and services company which achieved the status of the top 100+ companies in Vermont.

Since July, 2007 John has become intimately involved with the research and implementation of virtual technologies for education and business.  Initially using Second Life, John has migrated to the Open Source arena and the development of OpenSim (http://www.opensimulator.org).  John has gained world-wide recognition for this work among academics, however, John periodically works with senior level individuals from IBM, Google, INTEL, Microsoft, and others in making virtual technologies a reality for the next era of the Internet – Web 3.0 / 3D.  Since May 2008, John has globally presented 40 papers, lectures, workshops on the use of virtual technologies in a variety of disciplines.

John has an Undergraduate degree in Photo Journalism, and an MBA with a focus in Information Technology.  John’s doctoral studies, from Nova Southeastern University, are in the field of Educational Technology.

Gwen Noteborn, is currently working as ICT Innovation Manager at the Department of Marketing at the University of Maastricht. Gwen started this position after finalizing her thesis, entitled: “You only live twice, about the affect and antecedents of co-creation self-efficacy within the Metaverse Secondlife”, in 2007. As a part of her work and research, Gwen, together with others, developed an online Brand Management course using the virtual world created by Linden Labs called Second Life. This course consisted of 160 3^rd year undergraduate students who used Second Life as an immersive learning experience in order to enhance their market branding skills, one of the many learning outcomes of the course. Over an 8-week period, student-teams had to develop, brand, and eventually market a personal care product within the Metaverse of Second Life. This project enabled students to fully experience the entire realm of concepts associate with branding! In 2009 Gwen, and other colleagues, won the UM Education award for this specific project. The efforts and outcomes of this project are documented in several papers, and also serve as a contribution to a book on Virtual worlds in Higher education.

Gwen holds a Master’s degree in Strategic Marketing (MSc), and a Master’s degree in Conflict Management (MA). In addition to an interest in virtual worlds, Gwen researches and implements other forms of online education and distance education practices that include online lectures, using technology to deliver online education, and other pedagogical approaches in the delivery of learning outcomes using online / distance education.