MUVES+and+Professional+Development.

While looking through my MUVE, second life, I found a variety of different educational entities that were available to me to learn more in a virtual environment. In second life there are a variety of different colleges which provide online lectures, and educational buildings that you can tour. The two that I was most interested in were, Better Earth, and Infolit ISchool. In better earth, shows users of the island ways that they can be better to our earth, through sources of renewable energy, sustainable living, and improving our relationship with nature. This was particularly interesting to me because of what I teach, and it would be a great resource to my enviormental science units. The second island Infolit ISchool, is a part of a UK university that is focused on teaching people the effectiveness of information literacy and inquiry based learning, again interesting to me, as it provides a variety of new learning experiences in things that I already focus on in my own classroom.

ISTE Island is an island on Second Life that the international society of technology in education has provided for educators to network, connect, and learn new ways about educational opportunities specifically in second life. This island allows users to find specific engaging places in second life that can help support the educational experience, and allows teachers to find out about new and emerging technologies that are available to use inside second life, or outside in the traditional classroom.

The second life network has a variety of different learning experiences for educators across the globe, and it is an easy way for my colleagues to connect with others around the globe to create private islands where classes can congregate, and learn in a new and engaging learning environment. The multitude of learning islands that exist for myself and others are astonishing, and the ease of learning on the second life is unparalled, as you can visit any island at any time, and get the professional development that you are interested in for free, on your time.

Jake March

Jake, I think one of the great things that you pointed out was that there is TONS of stuff and it's available all the time, allowing you to access it in your own time. I think a place like Better Earth, as you describe it, could be a powerful area for students to learn from, as the issues it deals with are the same conversations that we as an entire world are (or will be soon) having. Great Finds!!

Bill

Chilbo Education Community – Offers online classes for teachers who are starting to use SL as an education tool. Promotes development of skills in a pressure free, helpful environment.

EdTech Island – Provided by Boise State, this “map” offers free resources for all teachers. It seems like a great place to go and gather resources and information from a wide variety of people.

Integrating Technology for Active Lifelong Learners (IT4ALL) - IT4ALL is a community that helps support teachers and learner who are using Moodle and other online technology that promotes education in all stages of life. Their goal is collaboration and communication through technology and advancement.

Tech Soup (techsoup.org) – Tech soup is a non-profit that has tons of valuable information about technology. Not only does it talk about how to implement it with learners and the various new technologies out there, but it also has practical advice about getting rid of your old tech, answering troubleshooting problems, etc. I think this area would be very helpful for many teachers beginning to use technology or trying to find ways to improve what they are doing.

For me, one of the most powerful things about these resources is the fact that I had no idea they were out there. I think for a lot of teachers, unless you find a reason to go looking for something, you will never find out what is available to you. It reminds me a bit of those 3 am infomercials, you don’t really know you needed something until you saw it, and at a price to good to be true. In order to help teachers use these resources, I believe one of the biggest things we (I) can do is to use the technology effectively, get them asking questions, and then directing them in the proper direction to learn more. By doing this and then providing quality support, I think it is possible to bring all teachers into the “light” of technology.

Bill Lutke

Bill,

I couldn’t agree more that one of the most powerful things about second life is that many people (myself included) don’t know that these things exist. I really like the first site that you posted, Chilbo Education Community; it’s nice to know that there is something out there for educators that are using second life for the first time. It is always nice to find something new, but one of the biggest challenges is how to navigate the immense amount of information to find what is useful to me, and it seems this site would be the answer to my problems.

Jake March -- Multi-user virtual environments have the potential to support learning. They allow teachers to create worlds for students to explore that help to make learning authentic and meaningful. In addition they provide teachers with the opportunity to take their students on a 3D virtual field trip, opening up travel to places that students may never get a chance to visit. They also promote global awareness as these virtual worlds have members from all over the world. In essence they encourage sharing of knowledge between students and emphasize the importance of becoming self-directed learners. They are many MUVEs available to free to the public. However, it is important that educators explore them carefully in order to find one that is age/grade appropriate for his/her learners. Many of the MUVEs I first came across were geared toward teens and adults. It took some searching to find MUVEs that were appropriate for younger learners. Here are a few: [] [] [|http://www.woozworld.com/#!home/home?partner=Google&siteid=GS-USCA&mkwid=sBgkHIqgP&pcrid=16752713873&pmt=b&kw=virtual%20kids%20worlds&plcid=&gclid=CKvH-b2-h64CFQxW7AodSVsQ5Q] [|www.neopets.com] []

Unfortunately, these sites “as is” appear to only support gaming and do not currently offer any educational benefit. Nonetheless, they do have the potential to become learning tools. Instructors can log on and create “worlds” to suite their learning objectives thus turning these tools into more than just games. It is very difficult to explore the various MUVEs without first taking the time to create an account for each one. None of the sites above appeared to have any connections to any professional learning organizations. However, MUVEs that cater to teens and adults such as Second Life have numerous organizations with an online presence. Including ISTE which provides teachers with the ability to collaborate and keep abreast of new and emerging technologies. [] is the only MUVE for younger learners that I located that has professional organizations presence online such as the CDC. I have not been able to identify if these sites provide personal learning networks for teachers.

With that said, I can tell it will be very challenging for me to convince my colleagues that MUVEs are another great tool for supporting learning.

~Carissa Martin

Carissa, I received the same kind of response from my colleagues this past Friday when I brought up the concept of using MUVE’s to the tech committee I am a part of. Sometimes, I feel this reason many object to MUVEs is because there is little known about MUVEs in most educational classrooms. As a Social Studies one of the biggest challenges I face is making historical content relevant to students. Likewise, with limited funding and outdated textbooks MUVEs, simulations and games solve this need. -Aaron Martell

Carissa and Aaron, I agree that many of us are facing some resistance to MUVEs because we and many other educators are so unfamiliar with the concept especially in its regards to education. I think that our continued research into MUVEs and taking part in any online trainings or discussions about incorporation of MUVEs will ultimately help to sell the idea to those who are still unsure. I think it is somewhat hard to see how to incorporate at first, but after researching you begin to see some really positive ideas.

This week while I was searching for various MUVE’s I stumbled upon the [|Center for Research on Learning and Technology] (Indiana University). The CRLT currently is showcasing an exciting MUVE called Quest Atlantis which is designed for students ranging from ages 9 to 15. In this MUVE students travel to virtual places and participate in quests, or curricular tasks. Much of the content is standards-based and students have shown gains in a variety of subjects. The CRLT also provides a plethora of [|resources] and journal articles for educators looking to integrate technology into their classroom.

Another professional organization I came across was [|The Educational Arcade], which is an organization that is devoted to promote authentic learning through games and simulations. The Educational Arcade has several [|projects] posted that encompass a wide range of content that educators can utilize in the classroom. One particular MUVE/simulation I uncovered was [|Revolution]. Through Revolution student role play one of seven social perspectives ranging from an upper class lawyer to an African-American house slave. Furthermore, students will have an opportunity to experience the daily social, economic, and political lives of the role they selected. As an eleventh grade American Government teacher I have always struggled with finding a new way to teach the politics of the American Revolution. This simulation would give my students a real life feel for all the factors surrounding the American Revolution.

Aaron Martell

Aaron, Thanks for sharing this valuable information. I had a difficult time locating MUVEs that were appropriate for my 6 year olds that had the online presence of a professional organization. The MUVEs you shared are very beneficial for supporting learning. I can just imgaine how teachers could bring the classroom to life by incorporating these MUVEs. Students would really find the use of MUVEs meaningful and remain engaged throughout the lesson.

~Carissa Martin

These are some of the resources I can across:

Discovery Educator Network: Connect and Discuss the involvement of technology and MUVES with other educators University of Minnesota: Group that explores Second Life as a platform for scholarship and educational opportunites. --Both these resources seemed like valuable tools for collaborating and bouncing ideas off other professionals in the educational community.

ISTE: ET (Emerging Technology): increasing knowledge of emerging technology to support student learning. This group was set up specifically to increase awareness of new technologies and allow educators to share how they are using new technologies in education.

SLEARN: Educators and Researchers gather in this group to share about technolgy and how it can be used in education

Second Life was a completely new experience for me this week. I have never seen a MUVE used, let alone joined one so I had a lot to explore. I was overwhelmed at first, but as I looked further into Second Life I found some valuable resources. I found that by just searching the keywords "educator" and "emerging technology" many groups and organizations with places or trainings within Second Life appeared. I like that so many groups are set up for educators to collaborate and communicate with each other. I found this incredibly helpful as a first time user because questions I had about Second Life and how to use it were addressed. I think that by returning to some of these groups over the remainder of the school year will really help me build ideas for incorporating a MUVE into my own classroom

Elizabeth Kressin

Elizabeth, I thought the same thing. I had no idea there were so many sites dedicated to this type of program. I like that a lot of them are dealing with education too. Do you have the resources at your school to implement MUV in your classroom? I know you said you would like to return to some of the sites you found for inspiration into incorporating it, which I would love to do as well, but my county just can't handle something like this at this point. There are so many factors that I guess I don't even see. I looked into it and asked our Office of Technology what they thought and it's something that they would like to see happen in the future, but not in the near future. So sad... we'll keep trying and learning as we go though. Good luck with implementation, I hope you have better results than I did. :)

Amanda Jourdan ___ 2 Professional Organizations: TechSoup Global: [] A site that assists in online meetings for business corporations that may not be able to meet face-to-face. Webkinz: [] A site that allows kids to login and put in a code that comes with the stuffed animal. Then they are able to play games as their animal and “care for it” online.

1 Personal Learning Network: []

1 Other Resource: []

While researching this week, I had no idea how extensive MUV's were in the world today. I am familiar with online MUV's in gaming, but I guess I never really thought of them being used in the classroom or even in a professional setting. They are all over though. It was very eye opening when I began to search. Some of the MUV's were very basic and some were very advanced and life like- depending on the use of the program. There was one MUV that was used for students who were in school to work in the medical profession and the MUV was designed to help simulate sickness and different medical senarios. I thought this was a great use of MUV.

I don't think my county is anywhere near ready to adapt MUV's in our schools, but it is very interesting to have conversations with colleagues about it. It is fun to go through all the "what if's" and wonder together what it would be like to have a computer available for every student and have an interaction through a MUV. I think the websites I found will help plant a seed of curiousity, if nothing else. I think using MUV's within professional development days within the county would be a great way to start though and introduce the teachers and staff to the possibilities they hold.

Amanda Jourdan