ForanexcellentPDmodelthatintegrates21st century learningandtechnologytoolstoenhancelearning,besuretovisit SLEECIsland.Also,Any1Gynoidsharesvaluableinsightsand resourcesin“In-WorldEducationThrivesinSecondLife.”
I was especially excited to visit the China International Schools Inworld (CISI) campusin slandlearnmorefrom DeedDavidsabouttheir workinSecondLifeand ReactionGrid. Makesurewhenyouvisittosigntheguestbookand grabafreet-shirtfromthebunny.
TheISTE2011VirtualEnvironmentsPlaygroundwassuchasuccessful eventthatitstwoCo-Facilitators,AndrewWheelock(SL:SpiffWhitfield)and thisauthor,havesincebeenapproachedbytheirstateISTEAffiliatestomount similareventsattheirownstatetechnologyconferencesinTennesseeand NewYork,respectively.Thisworksoutquiteneatly,sinceeachofuscanhelp theotherremotelybypresentingfromadistance,utilizingavirtualworldto presentaboutvirtualworlds. To see pictures from our activities in Philly and SL check out http://www.flickr.com//groups/iste2011sigve/pool/show/with/5882799941/
Andyhimselfkickedusoffinourlocation‘wayupovertheopening registrationarena,sharing“ADeeperUnderstandingoftheHolocaustthrough VirtualEnvironments”withourattendeesbothonsiteinPhiladelphiaand onsiteatthePlaygroundinSecondLife,highaboveISTEIsland.Hereishis descriptionofhis session, which was typically understated but incisive. “Think
history is dull? This presentation will highlight a powerful new way of bringing history to life. By creating a virtual replica of the Anne Frank Annex, students are able to get a „minds eye‟ view of the literature and history connections to this tragic period in world history.”
[Note form the editors – Scott will be back in the next issue to describe Day 2 of the “Fabulous ISTE SIGVE Virtual Environments Playground in Philadelphia and in the Metaverse, 2011.” Stay Tuned!]
Thanks to ALL our Volunteers!
After A Hard Day
Bernajean Porter on True Collaboration
Scott Merrick Adjusting Camera
Second Life Audience
Virtual Worlds Graduate UnSymposium
http://www.vw.unsymposium.org November 4 -6, 2011 Second Life, Jokaydia, World of Warcraft and possibly more.
The Virtual Worlds Graduate UnSymposium is a community building event that provides opportunities for graduate students, alumni and educators to share current practices, network with colleagues, and explore opportunities for professional development, enhancing research, teaching and learning.
The Theme for 2011 is Games, Play and Community. This is a fully online, free conference. Conference locations will be in Second Life, Jokaygrid, World of Warcraft and other locations based on speaker and participant request. This educational gathering is an opportunity for you to “assemble your entourage” or expand your personal learning network. It is for educators whether they have completed graduate work, are in a graduate program or doing professional development to build connections for social network knowledge creation.
Why? It seems to be what we are doing – we have been developing ARGs, testing out 3D gamelab; playing, learning and networking with Cognitive Dissonance in WoW; making Machinima and watching students play and learn in Minecraft and Lego Universe.
We are overwhelmed by the extraordinary creativity and community involved in all of these modalities. During raids and late into the night we are discussing flow, cognitive load, knowledge sharing and absorptive capacity. And did we mention – play! If you and your organization are playing and learning or learning about games, please join us.
For the CFP please go to: http://vw.unsymposium.org/cfp-2011
Submission Deadline October 15, 2011.
For any questions or requests please feel free to contact: Kae Novak mailto:que.jinn@gmail or Rurik Nackerud rurik.nackerud@gmail.com
At the ISTE2011 SIGVE Birds of a Feather meeting on Monday, June 27th, a suggestion was made to reorganize ISTE Island Thursday night newcomer socials. Marie Booz (Mandie Minimus, SL) and Nan Zingrone (Maggie Larimore, SL) put their heads together and came up with some ideas for reorganizing the socials and encouraging more ISTE members to come to ISTE Island for networking, socializing, and a lot of FUN! In addition, we are hoping more ISTE members will step forward and help plan and host these social events.
of notice and help getting to the social.
If you are interested in helping with the socials, make sure to join the SL ISTE management group. Everyone interested in helping plan or host the socials is welcome. Just join the ISTE Management Group, and also IM Mandie or Maggie and let them know that you are interested in helping. There has also been a tag added to the ISTE Island Management SL group available to all group members willing to help: ISTE Social: Ask Me! Wear it proudly!
The Social committee has dropped the “Newcomer” social to make it more inclusive and involve everyone, not just the newcomers (who by the way, are also invited)!
The ISTE Socials will remain every Thursday night, excluding holidays, from 5-6 PM (SLT) on ISTE Island. Socials may also be held at a different site, but there will be plenty
The socials will include four strands: games/activities, dances, building/SL skills, and presentations/networking.
If you are interested in helping or have other suggestions for socials, please contact Mandie or Maggie in sl. Mark your calendar – we hope to see you at the ISTE Socials!
"I have worked in Higher Education for 13 years starting out working with those students who were studying to successfully pass the GED. In addition to this I also managed tutoring programs, adult basic education, a library, and testing center. From there I moved on to work in managing student services at a small community college. I coordinated the online education programs and courses for six public universities in an effort to facilitate their successful collaboration and to improve instructional quality. I am currently Vice President of a small technical school. "
Butaseducators-it'salwayspedagogyfirst-thentechnology.They lookedforaconceptinwhichstudentshaddifficultythatcouldbebestserved inanimmersivelearningenvironment. Theychooseaconceptfroma philosophycoursetitled, Religions of the East. Studentswerehavingdifficulty inunderstandingtheliminalstatebetweenlifeanddeathasoutlinedin Buddhism.Thisisalsowheretheeducators'liminalexperiencebegan.They endedupinaliminalstatebetweenrole-players,immersiveenvironment designers,andteachers.Beingambitiousandrathernaive,theydecidedto createarole-playsimulationof Bardo Thodol basedonRobertThurman's translation The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Book of Natural Liberation Through Understanding in the Between.Thisepicpieceofliterature'slush descriptionofgods,demonsandhero'sjourneyrivalsthecharacters,plots andnarrativeinanyofthepopularMMORPGs(MassivelyMulti-PlayerOnline LineRolePlayingGame). So,theyhadtodecide,howcouldyoutakeastory
thatrequires5distinctphasesandacastofcharactersofatleast18avatars? Itwasn'teasy,buttheybuiltitandcontinuetouseitnotonlyinReligionsof theEastcoursesbutalso Philosophy of Religion, Ancient Humanities andeven English Composition.
By Andrew Wheelock, aka Spiff Whitfield, Grand Poobah
Ihaveahorribleconfessiontomake. Ihaveneverlikedthetimeless movieclassic, The Wizard of Oz. Howcouldthisbe? Well,tomethemovie gavemeanuneasyfeelingthatIfoundhardtoenjoyorthinkdeeplyabout. Morespecifically,themovietappedintobothrealandsurrealfearsthatgave mejarringnightmaresinmyyouthwhichledmetoavoidwatchingitsince. Andyet,anexperienceatISTE2011mademethinkthatIwasreallymissing somethingofvalueinOzthatIthinkisquiteimportantforeducatorsin particular.
So,asIwounddownanotherfantasticdayattheISTEconference,made itbacktomyhotelroom,andlaymyheaddowntodrifttosleep,surprisingly the Wizard of Oz cameintomythoughts. TheanalogywassostrongthatI immediatelyshookoffmysleepinessandletmymindexplore. Thethree peoplethathavebeensuchgreatmentorstomeembodiedthetraitsof Dorothy’sthreecompanionstoEmeraldCity. ScottMerrick’shappyheart, Peggy’sundauntedcourage,andAnne’slogicalbrainhaveguidedmealongmy ownYellowBrickRoadoftechnologyintegrationandwisdom.
Post Script: After writing this I realized that so many great people were in that room that as I have gotten to know them, they also embody the traits from above. Please know that I am grateful to all of you for letting me into this merry tribe of SIGVE. I will do my best to carry on the traditions that Scott Merrick and Lisa Linn have set forth to make SIGVE a powerful, yet fun-loving force in educational technology. (The Wizard of Oz (1939) Warner Bros.)
OnJuly30th,Davidgaveaninworldpresentationatthe“10th Global MeetingonGiftedEducationinSecondLife,”fortheBavarianCenterforGifted andTalentedChildren:http://www.begabungszentrum-bayern.de/globalvirtual-meeting-for-gifted-education-in-secondlife/.
Whenher students’statewriting testscorescameback toolow,JulieRamsay begantoquestionthe wayshetaught writing.Withtest scoresinmind,sheset offonanadventureto changeherinstruction andincreasestudent engagementinthe writingprocess.The resultisthather Alabamastudentsare activeinmakingchoicesabouttheirownlearning,somethingnoteasytopull offinourtestscore-driveneducationalclimatethesedays. NowJuliehastold thestoryofthisjourneyinabookabouthersuccessfulmethodscalled, Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?
Thetitleisaquestioncomingdirectlyfromoneofherstudents,showing thesuccessofhermethods. Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing isavailable onlinefromStenhousePublishersasanelectroniccopy($16),ahardcopy ($25),ortogether($30).TheelectroniccopycomesasaPDFandcanbesent fromdevicetodevicesoyoucanreaditwhereveryoulike.
TheVirginiaSocietyforTechnologyinEducation(VSTE)SecondLife Teamisproudtoannounceabookstudyaboutthebook, Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing? WewillmeetatVSTEIslandinSecondLifeforakick-off meetingwherewewillmeettheauthor,calledAustenRaeinSecondLife,and discusschapteroneonAugust22,2011at8PMEDT(5PMSLT).
Overall,theexperienceofbuildingavirtualexhibitandprovidinglive toursinSecondLifewentextremelywell. Librariansarecontinuingtobuild anddisplaycontentattheCommunityVirtualLibrary,aswellascollect resourcestosharewithotherswhocometotheCVLreferencedesk. The virtualworldlibraryandthephysicalworldlibraryareverysimilar. A physicallibrarianandanavatarlibrarianarebothhumanbeingstrainedto helpwithinformationneeds.
This article by Any1 Gynoid, who has taught hundreds of classes at New Citizens Inc in Second Life, surveys major in-world learning opportunities available to the general public, and concludes with some thoughts about the future of in-world education. The classes in this article are free unless otherwise indicated.
With courses open to the public, in-world education is one of Second Life‟s (SL) most popular activities. Hundreds of free courses are offered each week, and language is no barrier. For example, you can obtain a powerful text translator for free, outside the classroom at Caledon Oxbridge University. Click SL URL to Teleport:
Caledon Oxbridge University offers free classes in text chat, that introduce new users to SL, with topics such as inventory, scripting, building, textures, and virtual world economies. As the hub of steampunk culture in Second Life, Caledon contains a blend of Victorian styles with absurdly advanced technologies. Caledon's steampunk community events are listed on-the-web at: http://tiny.cc/3egds
With all events in text chat, New Citizens Inc (NCI), is a vibrant learning community, teaching 50 classes per week about all things Second Life, including scripting, fashion design, building, virtual commerce, and more. NCI hosts fun parties, social events, and terrific show-and-tells. SL group "New Citizens Inc" provides free round-the-clock help on group instant message. See NCI class schedules in-world at:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kuula/70/166/35
Classes in text chat have the advantages of faster performance, automatic translation, and creating a written record. Teaching in voice chat is growing in SL, but has limitations, especially reliability. Some students will have difficulty connecting to the voice system, and re-logging is the only current remedy.
Help People Island (HPI) is a small, friendly, community-gateway, a place to start life in SL. HPI teaches in mixed voice and text classes, such as SL basics and how to be a Disc Jockey. Touch the national flags for translated introductions to HPI. Visit HPI in-world at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Help%20People%20Island/128/128/12
SOMA School of Design specializes in image editing skills, including Photoshop, CorelDraw, and the free editor Gimp. See Web Resources below. These tools are used by SL photographers, artists, builders, and fashion designers. SOMA distributes a free Heads Up Display (HUD) with courseware. Visit SOMA School of Design in-world at:
Happy Hippo Builder‟s School (HHBS) is a fun SL school for basic to advancedlevel building, scripting, graphics, and photography. Classes are a mixture of text and voice. Visit Happy Hippo in-world at:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kinetix/168/149/22
Builder‟s Brewery is an advanced school for SL building techniques, such as scripting, animations, and sculpties, which are 3D objects shaped by 2D patterns. A very jovial, fun-loving community, SL group Builder's Brewery conducts ongoing help, impromptu classes, and chit-chat 24 hours a day. Classes are conducted in text, with some adding voice. Visit Builder‟s Brewery in-world at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Builders%20Brewery/110/146/23/
Rockcliffe University is a graduate-level school in Second Life including an RL Doctorate of Philosophy in Virtual Collaborative Worlds. One of their focus areas is training RL teachers about virtual worlds and topics such as project
management, law, and virtual business. Rockcliffe delivers World of Warcraft classes and events such as the annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (http://www.vwbpe.org/) conference. Rockcliffe‟s events calendar is on-the-web at:
With SL's worldwide reach, voice chat, and SL search, it is easy to find foreign language communities. CyprisChat.org is a non-profit SL community dedicated to English learning on the Cypris Village III region. Language training is abundant in Second Life, for modest tuition, at schools such as 3D Avatars School, LanguageLab.com, and Drive-Through English as a Second Language (ESL). At 3D Avatars School, you can learn Mandarin Chinese in groups with problemsolving games. LanguageLab puts students in real-life (RL) scenarios, for example, during a fire emergency involving RL nurses and doctors. See Web Resources at story‟s end.
Finally, I would like to share a comment about the future of SL in-world education. With the exception of language training, not much has changed in my 3 years of teaching in-world. The overwhelming majority of public in-world classes cover the basics of user-generated content: SL building, LSL scripting, and clothing construction. SL and the independent worlds of the hypergrid should evolve beyond these fundamentals.
Imagine two complementary visions of the virtual world's future: information-rich collaboration and active-scenario immersion. In the former, virtual spaces are extended with elaborate data displays, groupware for joint creativity, and beyond-the-keyboard interaction. In the latter, densely populated, dynamic realizations of real-world scenes support immersive interaction with human and automated characters. Skills to realize these capabilities are needed in future generations of in-world education; transforming SL and the hypergrid from vast depopulated regions to rich immersive experiences.
Web and Virtual World Resources
Join the SL groups "ISTE: Educational Technology Association" and "Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable" for announcements of events specifically for educators.
Download the Gimp free image editor at http://www.gimp.org and free Photoscape at: http://www.photoscape.org Check the Internet for online tutorials. Even better,
many web-based image editors are freely available. Some of the best include: http://www.pixlr.com , http://www.fotoflexer.com , and http://www.tuxpi.com
The Dreams is an SL learning community started by former stroke victims… which has many learning resources such as free scripts and textures. Visit them in SL at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dreams/112/251/26
3D Avatars School for Mandarin Chinese http://www.3davatarschool.com/
Cypris Chat is a non-profit community dedicated to ESL Instruction http://cyprischat.org/about/ Visit Cypris Chat at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cypris%20Village%20III/128/131/26
Language Labs ESL Instruction http://www.languagelab.com/
Credits: This article is adapted from the original in Italian by Any1 Gynoid published in http://VirtualWorldsMagazine.wordpress.com , an online magazine; used with permission. Photographs of SL classrooms are by Imnotgoing Sideways (SL).
Save The Dates
5th Annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference (VWBPE)
The 2011 Conference Proceedings are available from the Journal of Virtual Studies, (Vol 2, Issue 1) at: http://ejournal.urockcliffe.com/index.php/JOVS/issue/current
