Oh! Virtual Learning!

Cool Cat Teacher is December's Blog-o'-the-Month!

2009-12-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Vicki Davis for her Cool Cat Teacher blog's impressive victory in the race for December Blog-o'-the-Month at the ISTE Island Blogger's Hut! CCT will be featured in the auto-updating RSS feed at the Hut for the entire month of December.

Polling is now open for the Blog-o'-the-Month for January, and there's an impressive group up for the honor this month. Each and every one of them has been culled from the Second Life Bloggers' ning and each one has a unique perspective on the Second Life experience.

The Cindy Kesey Show (Cinderlla Kesey)
since July 2007, abounds with detailed musings about the relationships between Second Life and, well, relationships...One of her earliest posts is entitled, "Is Second Life a Guilty Pleasure?":

Second Life at hand (Sofian Mannonen)
since November 2007, works "in finance, Hence I need escaping a little from numbers" and lives in Talouse, France. Her blog posts are often populated with machinima or snapshots from her explorations in Second Life and she enjoys significant traffic, illustrated in this recent post highlighting her Clustrmap:

Mariko Nightfire, a Virtual Life (Mariko Nightfire)
since new year's eve, 2008, shares the reflections and journal of this self-described "19 year old...student at a large Northeastern university." The quality of her writing certainly evident in this recent post about the Mont St. Michel in France and its rebuild in Second Life:

Dusan Writer's Metaverse (Dusan Writer)
since at least 2007, this prolific blogger is a veritable fountain of information and opinion about Second Life. From his "about" statment, "Dusan Writer is my avatar name in virtual worlds such as Second Life where I like to wander, build, explore, and buy stuff. Interested in the metaverse and identity, education, visualization, and collaboration. This post from November 2007 highlights his commitment to education in Second Life and his sharing nature:
(note: this post resides at a Wordpress archive site, Dusan's current blog is at http://dusanwriter.com

Have a great month!

Mariko Nightfire: A Virtual Life

2009-11-29T05:57:00.000-08:00

Wow. I just logged into Second Life, stepping to John Prine's 1971 eponymous vinyl LP, gently exercising to "Hello in There," an ode to empathy for the aging. Catching up on instant messages, I got a "hello in there" from someone I haven't met, a self-described "student at a university in the northeast," who asked me to consider her blog for the ISTE Island Blogger's Hut. Her blog is entitled "Mariko Nightfire: A Virtual Life."

Click.

Wonderment.

Some readers may know that I've been exploring other worlds, most recently Twinity and OpenSim, and I've not been in Second Life much lately just because no matter how many "mes" there are there is only one "me," and though I can (and have been, actually) be in three or four places at once with the magic of multiple display windows and a monster hard drive, I can only give my attention, truly give it, to one experience at a time. Tom Hayes, in Jump Point, calls attention "the aphrodisiac of the future." (I think that may be Hayes citing someone else, but I don't have the book at hand. Correct me if I'm not giving credit where due.) I'm not sure it's all that sexy all the time, but that characterization does underscore the role of attention as valuable currency now and in the future.

Giving some attention to Mariko's work, I can see that she's only been blogging Second Life for a little over a year. It's already an impressive, refreshing, inspiring body of work. I hope she keeps it up. Rarely do I visit a blog that knocks my virtual socks off immediately, and this one leaves me barefooted and wide-eyed. It's an enthusiastic, open, and thoughtful collection of explorations in Second Life and I heartily recommend you visit it.

If nothing else, it will remind you, as it does me, that Second Life sets the benchmarks that all aspiring virtual environments must aim to surpass. So far, though I've seen a number of promising attempts, a blog such as Mariko's reminds me that none have so far succeeded.

Here's what the author says in her introduction:

Welcome to Mariko Nightfire: A Virtual Life.Mariko Nightfire is the name of my Second Life self. Mariko is also my name in real life. I’m a Japanese-American girl from Hawaii and a student at a university in the northeast. As an extention of me, so is Mariko Nightfire. But, she is far more than an extention. She is the Mariko in Wonderland. This blog records her adventures in wonderland and my thoughts on Second Life's culture and development. Her's is truly a fully realized life being lived in that alternative universe of pixels...

Go visit Mariko Nightfire, a Virtual Life.

ISTE SIGVE Tour of ReactionGrid this Monday!

2009-11-28T04:59:00.000-08:00

Hey, all,

I don't want to crash any sims here, but I do want you to know that we've been invited to drop into Core1 at ReactionGrid on OpenSim Monday, 5 pm EST (that's 3 pm Second Life Time and my CST 4 pm) to take a brief tour with the owners, Kyle and Robin Gomboy and Chris Hart.

I would suggest not waiting until then to go scarf your new avatar (I chose to maintain my SL avatar name, Scottmerrick Oh, in RG/OS, but you go for it if you wish and reinvent your identity all over again!) to go 'splorin' yourself. Simply visit http://reactiongrid.com and sign up just like the n00b that you are, dress out your n00b avi, and drop in. I've been doing my own advance scouting this past week or two and here are a just few things I've discovered as the new "me." Oh, pay no attention to the n00b hairstyle--I've fixed it. Sort of.

--A fine and complex project to honor the 1939 New York World's Fair (maybe these will soon be called "Worlds' Fairs), see a flickr slideshow here
--A budding Michigan pioneer village at My Michigan
--Our own fave Aussie Jokay further expanding her virtual education empire, Jokaydia
--the Greenbush CSI, yes, Crime Scene Investigation

--CoolCatTeacher Viki Davis engaging her Georgia students with virtual world challenges
--a wonderful art gallery with thought provoking displays of eclectic art
--dozens of educators flexing their perceptions of what learning is and how best to share it with their students

There's more, and there will be more, take my virtual word for it. See you then, or see you sometime, somewhere, on OpenSim!

OpenSim Hypergrid!

2009-11-25T21:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, ya'll.

I don't really get this yet? But I will. The analogy is that I've cracked open this door. I see amazing things through the crack. And I so can't wait to share it that I turn around and run to the phone on my wall to call everyone I know.

http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Hypergrid

ISTE SIGVE in "soft opening" mode--join now!

2009-11-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

Hey, all, I'm pleased to (quietly, shhhhh) announce that the newest Special Interest Group for the International Society for Technology in Education, SIG Virtual Environments, is slowly but surely ramping up its efforts to build a new and comprehensive community of educators who are doing great things with virtual worlds.

While the formal SIG membership within ISTE is of course an option only open to ISTE members (and we highly recommend you join ISTE--it's a wonderful community of over 85,000 members from all over the world), the wiki and the ning is open to all educators who are interested in how 3D virtual environments, primarily, are changing the landscape of learning and teaching.

While its origins are in Second Life (and there's also a Group there) we want to welcome thought leaders and followers from all virtual platforms.

Visit the wiki to start, and dig deeply. We need you.

Balance in Life and Pathways

2009-11-08T04:56:00.000-08:00

Been 'splorin' Second Life this morning based on a "Real Life Education in Second Life" group query I picked up in group chat yesterday. Someone (sorry, I didn't note the avatar name) chatted a question to the effect of "Does anyone have a lm (landmark) to the store where I can purchase a Pathways Learning System?"

Well, I was as I am wont to be curious, so I tp'd to the replied landmark and found myself in a very interesting space. I looked around. My wife and son pulled into the garage downstairs in real life (IRL) and I knew I had to leave Second Life so I did. It's important to honor balance and time in the contexts of life and family, dontcha know.

This morning I awoke, ran through my morning espresso-making, pet-treating ritual, slipped into workout clothes and hauled my laptop down to my garage office/study. I set up the computer at my bookcase shelf where it resides on top of my ancient amplifier receiver, selected at more or less random the John Lennon vinyl recording "Rock 'n Roll," turned up the amp and climbed aboard my step machine. That's where I still am, exercising and typing to my 2nd listening of Side 1's "Be-bop-a-lula," I have a good sweat working, I've been exploring Second Life, and I've answered a couple emails. I just took my last sip of espresso, which is cold; but that's okay. Life(s) is good.

So back to the Pathways Learning System. It's pretty neat. I'm considering purchasing the starter kit, and at $L 9999, even with the educator discount, that's saying something.

To continue the narrative: This morning, I fired up my Emerald Green SL client and clicked to login at my "Last Location" and there I was, taking up my exploration again as if I hadn't had a wonderful dinner with my family, watched two Dexters on DVD with my lovely wife, collapsed into a sleep-coma and awakened to my elderly rescuee cat meowing on my chest for her morning treat.

Here's where I rezzed (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Belphegor/110/34/71):

After giving things time to rez in, I walked around. This looks like a godsend to educators and if the makers have set up a viable and profitable way to share it and support their development endeavors at the same time, more power to 'em, I say!

Watch the video to get the whole picture.

I certainly could have used this at my "slartclectic" art gallery build (see previous post and video) but alas, it's coming down today. You might be able to catch it, or me taking it down, if you pop in today, Sunday, November 8, 2009, otherwise content yourself with the video and plan to visit Nashville next year the third week in October for artlcectic, the "real" thing.

ISTE SL Tour Nov 1, 2009

2009-11-02T03:37:00.000-08:00

Lasterday (sic) I popped inworld to greet participants in Esme Qunhua's wonderful bi-weekly educators' tour of Second Life sites at my temporary "slartclectic" build. I'm announcing here that the fabulousmarvelousgenerous Angrybeth Shortbread has granted us a one week extension on its lifespan so that it will be available to visit in SL until the end of the day Sunday, Nov. 8. Yay! Please visit and sign the "guest book," several copies of which are laying around at the bars and also right at the teleport location. Click on everything. Be kind and thoughtful when you give me feedback because I'm hoping to use it to pitch either a permanent build or at least an annual one so that this wonderful real life juried art show can extend its reach into the global community! Thanks! I'll add a few more pics here along with Esme's commentary and get out of the way. Come visit! (SLurl)

ISTE SL Tour Nov 1, 2009: Adventures, mazes, and a little art.

We visited 4 sims:

SLartclectic - The Port - Art and Creative Tech, The Port (138, 98, 501)

SLartclectic is an experimental art gallery created as a "proof of concept" for the annual University School of Nashville art show and gallery, "artclectic."

Here we were met and guided by

Scottmerrick Oh. The sim is a limited time exhibit of many, many pieces of art, sculpture and other designs.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Port/146/94/501

The Pencil Factory - Angrybeth Shortbread

Absolutely fabulous and huge interactive art sim.

Enscharys: Elven Castle and Game, Enscharys (121, 96, 153)

A game/maze that you must explore to find the keys to the castle. Beautiful architecture.

One Man's Garbage, Cookie (182, 85, 21) - We explored Tooters sentence maze and other booths.

Participants

1. Esme Qunhua, tour manager

2. Janita Collins, tour assistant

3. Scottmerrick Oh, guest tour guide

4. Oronoque Westland, ideas

5. Mandie Mimulus

6. Learner Magic

7. Jackie Rexen

8. Shailey Garfield

9. Louise Borgnine

10. DrDavis Idlemind

11. Carson Vespucciano

12. Elyen Zlatkes

13. Eruditus Drut

14. Josain Zsun

15. Alocin Tigerpaw

16. Kevin Hootfly

17. Haley Swansong

18. Aquiel Aero

19. Firery Broome

Cross-Cultural Collaboration in Second Life--Draxtor Despres

2009-10-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

Draxtor Despres has put together another stunning little video, this one about how architects are beginning to use Virtual Environments to collaborate with real-world projects as the end in sight. A significant player in this new cross-cultural collaboration? How about the U.S. Department of State!

I'm embedding here just for fun and elucidation. Really worth a watch!!!

slartclectic--Please Visit!

2009-10-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

Hey, all,

Been knee-deep, virtually and really, in rw living and learning this past week. My apologies!

Here's what I've been doing in SL:

Find more videos like this on Virtual Environment Education Videos!

More later, and lots of it!

Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds

2009-10-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

Please visit Second Life TOMORROW evening (Sunday, unless you're in Australia :) for an important talk at Spiff Whitfield's Virtual Pioneer's meeting, tonight, at 5pm SL time (US Pacific). Here's the announcement from the Spiffman, followed by a quote from the website he's sending you for "pre-requisite" work:

We are honored to have Rita J. King (Eureka Dejavu) and Joshua Fouts (Schmilson Nilson), Senior Fellows at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, present their powerful work that involves using Second Life as a platform for educating people about the Islamic faith.

This will be a sit down presentation at our WNYRIC building on Lighthouse Learning Island.

As a pre-requisite Rita and Josh ask that attendees watch their documentary "Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds" that may be found here: http://dancinginkproductions.com/projects/understanding-islam-through-virtual-worlds/

Please join us for this presentation and come prepared to ask questions and express your thoughts for an active dialogue, with these influential educators.

To save you a couple clicks (though I do encourage you to visit the website and learn more, here's an embed of the wonderful video. Note the appearance of my MUVErs partner, padlurowncanoe Dibou, about mid-way through. What a great surprise that was to me! From the website:

On January 29, 2009, Dancing Ink Productions Rita J. King and Joshua S. Fouts released the findings from the Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. The project was funded by a grant from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation. The findings included a trilogy of actionable items available in digital format here. By releasing three types of reports — policy recommendations, documentary video and graphic book — we hope to make what is still a very new medium as accessible as possible.

King Tut Virtual--Heritage Key Project is a Must See!

2009-10-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

I recently took a little visit to a newly released OpenSim virtual world, Heritage-Key's "King Tut Virtual".

I was a little apprehensive at first, since I haven't really had much prior success with OpenSim offerings, but this exploration makes me want to break out the search tools and see what others are doing!

First, I downloaded the viewer, readily and freely available here. It's a quick download, and registration, here, is just as quick and easy.

Then I wound my way through the opening orientation, very extensive, and likely a case of TMI ("Too Much Information"), especially to any experienced Second Lifer. Still, it was interesting to me to see another group's approach to orientation. I've still not found a better, more concise, and yet more detailed one that our MUVErs Orientation in Second Life.

Then I made my way into the build. I'm not going to spoil it for you with too much detail, but I will urge you to persevere. There's a lot to see so take your time and enjoy. Here's a pic of the Coffins area:

I did a little Frapsing while I was there, just to demo a snippet of the build. You can see that at Virtual Environments Education Videos, my ning. You don't need to register to view, only to upload your own videos if that's your cup of tea.

Oh heck, let's just embed it here!

Find more videos like this on Virtual Environment Education Videos!

I'll definitely be back to King Tut Virtual! I have a classroom of 2nd graders who study ancient Egypt every year. This, without the adult content issues Second Life has (admittedly) recently addressed, will be a lasting resource for the future!

October Blog-o'-the-Month!

2009-09-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hey, ya'll!!!

Please take time to visit and congratulate October 's Blog-o'-the-Month, e-clippings (Learning as Art)

http://blogoehlert.typepad.com/eclippings/

Voting for October went in favor this American edublogger's "Internal conversation" as described in this quote from his Typepad blog's "About" page:

About this blog... I want to say that while I love having readers, that is not the most important thing for me about blogging. This is almost an internal conversation I am having in a very public way. I welcome and appreciate your comments, ideas, criticisms, and readership.

This blog is primarily about how culture and technology come together over the space we call 'learning.' It covers a lot of ground but the overarching theme (at least in my mind if not always evident) is how these new technologies, methodologies and ideas can be used to create a richer world of learning.

The stellar blogs nominated for the month of November are:

Pooky Media

http://pookyamsterdam.com

Pooky Amsterdam

edbuzz.org

http://edbuzz.org

Daryll Johnson and Shawn Roner

Edtech Jen

http://edtechjen.com

Jennifer Roland

Tim Holt's Intended Consequences

http://webme.com/timholt/Intended_Consequenses/Intended_Consequences_Blog/Intended_Consequences_Blog.html

Tim Holt

In the event of a tie I'll find some groovy randomizing SL tool to choose the winner! Any suggestions? Leave 'em in the info dropbox!

Past Features (Blog Hall of Fame):

Clive on Learning--Clive Shepherd

Technology and Learning--Lee Kraus

PESD Island--Noreen Strehlow

In a Strange Land--Iggy O et al

Second Life in New Zealand--John Waugh, Terry Neal, et al

Hey Jude!--Judy O'Connell

Learning Games--Daniel Livingstone

Learning Visions--Cammy Bean

Dr. Z Reflects--Leigh Zeitz

Hendron's Digest--John Hendron

Phasing Grace--Grace McDunnough

From Mr. A to Mr. Z--Jeff Agamenoni

Around the Corner--McGuhlin.net

Fleep's Deep Thoughts--Fleep Tuque/Chris Collins

NMC Campus--New Media Consortium

PHSPrincipal Blog--Dave Meister

Teaching Math Technology Blog--Maria Anderson

2CentsWorth--David Warlick

The Story of My Second Life--Kevin Jarrett

Oh! Second Life (now Oh! Virtual Learning)--Scott Merrick :)

University of Texas System Poised to Enter 15 Campuses into Second Life--Where is YOUR School?

2009-09-29T05:53:00.000-07:00

From statesman.com, an article announcing the entry of the University of Texas network of 15 campuses into Second Life. What about the school where you teach, learn, and work?

UT System campuses join virtual world

University of Texas System sets $250,000 aside for Second Life project.

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, September 28, 2009

Leslie Jarmon, a faculty development specialist at the University of Texas, sensed that David Prior would bring a certain skepticism to her ambitious proposal to create a series of virtual campuses in cyberspace.

Prior, the UT System's executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, was trained as a geologist. And geologists are all about rocks, oil and other stuff that actually exists.

But he was soon quite taken with Jarmon's pitch to bring the system's nine academic and six health campuses into a three-dimensional, online world of learning, research and collaboration called Second Life. The system agreed to put $250,000 into the project from an account it established to underwrite innovative education initiatives.

"I think we'll want to watch this one carefully," Prior told the system's Board of Regents in August. "I think it's going to be rather interesting." ...Read the entire article at statesman.com

UT (not Tennessee) "Gets It"

2009-09-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

Linden Lab is having a field day with the rollout of the University of Texas's new Second Life initiative and well they should. From the official Linden Lab blog:

The University of Texas System is starting a year-long project to explore the use of virtual worlds for learning, and they are bringing their entire 16-campus system into Second Life.

Wow. A large university system actually "gets it." Read more...

Educational Leadership Article Features Quest Atlantis!

2009-09-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

An article published this month in the popular periodical Educational Leadership features a number of answers to the question "Why Educators Should Care About Games." Score one more important point for my favorite upper elementary MUVE.

Sasha A. Barab and his collaborators do an excellent job of summarizing the underlying principles beneath the design and implementation of Quest Atlantis, the wonderfully engaging 3D Virtual World(s) I will be introducing to my lucky 4th graders in a very few weeks. Last year's 4th graders got the bum's rush, in a way, not getting "inworld" until late February. I'm hoping for a more intentional and informed experience for all of us this year.

The concept of Transformational Play is key. Say the authors:

Our virtual quests expand on strategies
associated with project-based
curriculums. We focus on building
game-based learning environments in
which students play an important role,
using academic knowledge to make
decisions that influence, for better or
worse, the designed storyline. Thus,
these virtual spaces transform learners
in three ways: (1) they transform a
person from a passive recipient to an
empowered actor, (2) they transform
content from information that the
learner has to remember to a tool that
the learner can use to accomplish
desired ends, and (3) they transform
context from an assurance that "this
knowledge will be relevant in the
future" to a present reality that responds
to the learner's actions.

They even cite some strong research findings that support the contention that this kind of instruction (more like "guidance") yields better results than traditional delivery of the same science content. Yay, I say, just the sort of research we need more of.

I did some posting at my USNLSTech blog last year about our experiences in QA, and I co-facilitated a great "Birds of a Feather" session at NECC09 in DC with the most stellar Bronwin Stuckey, QA mentor extraordinaire. Joining us on the presentation stage were Fil Santiago, Lisa Lynn, and Marianne Malmstrom. Stay tuned for more this year as my new 4th graders get into virtual environments for the first (monitored:) time!

I'm Too Busy To Date Your Avatar!

2009-09-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

From pookymedia, Bernhard Drax, Draxtor Despres in SL, comes "I'm Too Busy To Date Your Avatar", an hilarious little ditty likely to get your avatar up and dancing with it! Check it out!

September Rolls into the Blogger's Hut Like a Steamroller!

2009-09-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Happy September, ya'll, and I hope you'll take a minute out of your busy Second Life to drop by the ISTE Island Blogger's Hut, which I maintain for the International Society for Technology in Education, and vote for your favorite of the four stellar blogs for October!

What are they? Wellllllll, that'll just have to wait a minute.

First of all, hearty congratulations to "Clive on Learning," the winner of a close vote during August and September's official "Blog-o'-the-Month at the Blogger's Hut. For those who may not know, ISTE is an over 85,000 member international organization with well over 5,000 of those members in Second Life. ISTE sponsors the wonderful bi-weekly inworld "ISTE Eduverse Talks" series, and episode number 9 just went live at http://iste-eduverse.org. ISTE will be hosting its HUMONGOUS annual conference of teachers, technologists, and member organizations in Denver this summer, and it's undergone a name change: Whereas it has brought its fabulous learning and networking resources to its members for 30 years as the National Educational Computing Conference, NECC (18,000+ attendees in Washington, D.C. this past summer), it will be held in Denver, Colorado this coming summer under the new name, ISTE 2010.

Clive Shepherd's wonderful ruminations on learning (with a focus on e-learning) will run in the RSS feed all month of September, when he will be retired by the winner of the vote for October, between--here it comes, wait for it, wait for it:

The Bamboo Project

http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog/

Michel Martin

Donald Clark Plan B

http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/

Donald Clark

e-Clippings (Learning As Art)

http://blogoehlert.typepad.com/eclippings/

Mark Oehlert

Blogger in Middle-Earth

http://newmiddle-earth.blogspot.com/

Ken Allan

Congrats to those wonderful blogs. Feel free to grab a copy of this image and post it at your site,

along with the SLURL above!

That's it for now, but stay tuned. This August has, according to my twitter feed and my other PLN resources, been particularly rough on technologists re-entering the maelstrom that is the school year. We'll be back up to speed shortly, I have no fear!

Phone Home

2009-08-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, let me get this straight. Anyone with a phone line can now call into your avatar in Second Life? If you're online you'll get connection with your friend or fam member's voice?

I freakin' love it.

Check it out.

A Belated Thank You--Looking Back and Looking Forward

2009-08-16T04:27:00.000-07:00

As I prepare a sort of "How I Spent My Professional Development Summer" 2 minute talk for a faculty meeting tomorrow, I notice that I posted this pic on my scottmerrick.net site but not here. You need to see it:

Pictured above are the folks in Washington, D.C. who attended a very lightly advertised event at NECC09, a reception for Second Life Volunteers. Every one of these people (and more) participated in some degree, scheduled or not, in making the Second Life Playground at NECC09 a robust and welcoming experience for anyone who happened by. Over the three days from Monday, June 31 through Wednesday, July 2, that place was hoppin', as the video below will demonstrates. There are people in that picture from Australia, New Zealand, and half the states in the Union. My co-facilitator, Lisa Linn, and I brought these folks together by means of social media including Twitter, Facebook, Wikispaces, Google Apps, Plurk, and Second Life. Yes, I'm proud. Folks in the shot and folks who didn't make the event so they could be in the shot: If I didn't thank each and every one of you in person, here's my thank you now. Thank you!

Find more videos like this on SLeducation Videos

Immersive learning: it's game on!

2009-08-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

My deepest condolences to those who can't see this because it's at YouTube, including all the teachers at my own wonderful school, University School of Nashville. You'll simply have to revisit here from home and check it all out. Discovered from a tweet from my dear friend and colleague Bronwyn Stuckey, this is a must watch for anyone interested in teaching and learning in Virtual Environments. I'm completely going to reference it to my 4th graders' parents, especially for the section on Quest Atlantis, but also for the fabulous brief overviews of all the platforms treated, Second Life, World of Warcraft, and more. Have at it, virtual Pilgrim...

Blog-o-the-Month for August 2009!!! Learning and Technology: Blog for Reflection!

2009-08-01T05:40:00.001-07:00

I'm pleased to announce that Lee Kraus's blog, Learning and Technology: Blog for Reflection. has been chosen the ISTE Island Blogger's Hut Blog-o-the-Month for August 2009! And, no, that's not a skirt, silly! It's me kilt!

Congratulations Lee! You've been

Voting for September will choose between four very different types of blogs--a huge corporation's community blogsite, a UK educator's individual thoughts, a non-commercial group educators' blog, and a private LLC company's educational innovation blog.. Nominees feel free to snag the image here for use on your own beautiful blogs, because your blog has been

Dell Education Community Blog

http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/tags/Education/default.aspx

Clive on Learning

http://clive-shepherd.blogspot.com/

Clive Shepherd, UK

Digital Chalkie

http://www.digitalchalkie.com/

Group blog for Technology and Learning

Internet Time

http://www.internettime.com/

Jay Cross, Internet Time LLC

My part of ISTE Eduverse Talks Episode 7!

2009-07-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

ISTE Eduverse Talks Episode 8--MUVErs!

2009-07-29T04:31:00.000-07:00

Last night's ISTE Eduverse Talks went quite well, despite the fact that I didn't say half of what I was hoping to say. I guess you never do in these live situations. [NEW: Now available for viewing in its entirety at treet.tv!] I'll be creating a slideshow for here once Jennifer R-F has her flickr pics up and I have time to do a search for others: I know Julie Sugarplum put up a couple on fb right after the show.

Once again, I'm most happy to have found the friends and partners in John and Cathy, and I'm most honored to be in the thick of the learning community that is ISTE. Cathy and John were nothing short of eloquent as they described the process that has resulted in the innovative MUI (MUVErs User Interface) for Second Life, and the fact that a couple dozen avatars stayed on for quite a while after the live taping for a robust question and answer session really tells me there's an interest in all this. It's true, as John said, that we must begin teaching in ways that address how people are learning and communicating. And it's true, as he also said, that learning can be fun. Uh-oh, there's the "F" word again...

Here's another pic I grabbed after the show:

Another ISTE Eduverse Talks Show This Tuesday!

2009-07-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

This is getting to be a habit! One that I like!

Seriously, this should be my final appearance on this wonderful talk show series hosted by my good friend and colleague Kevin Jarrett (KJ Hax in SL). This time I'll be with dear friends and MUVErs LLC partners Cathy Walker and John Miller.

Read all about it!

SLurl!

MUVErs Presentation, SINI

2009-07-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

John says, This a presentation from SINI 2009 in Baltimore "Nursing Education in 3D: Leveraging Virtual Worlds and Immersive Learning Simulations" about using the 3D world of Second Life to do patient simulations, create simple 3D objects, meet with support groups, have community with other students, nurses, educators and health care consumers...

Nursing Education In 3 D Baltimore SINI 2009

View more presentations from John Miller.