Encouraging immersion in the Soil Sciences through virtual conferences where ideas are shared among avatars to improve the educational background of young scientists

This chapter presents a teaching experience in which a virtual immersive conference was created to hold participative meetings between senior researchers and young scientists on soil sciences. Our aim was to provide PhD students with the opportunity to attend and present their work to experts at an international conference such as the European Geosciences Union Assembly, whose main purpose is to transfer this scientific and educative experience to other fields. An overview of the experiences along the last three editions of the conference (2015–2017) is provided. The main points of concern were technical. In particular, it was essential that the server at the conference site have the capacity to provide a reliable Internet connection for the number of participants attending. Regarding the strengths, the young scientists greatly appreciated the sense of immersion and the fun atmosphere, which encouraged them to interact, voice their opinions freely and use a foreign language. Unlike conventional presentations, the more informal format of these innovative meetings clearly increased interaction among participants, which was well valued by the young scientists.