ISTE Island to Close February 28

This is not an announcement, but rather a call to contribute to re-imagining ISTE in Second Life.

ISTE Island HQ in Second Life

Many of us in the educational communities in virtual worlds have heard rumblings over the past few months that ISTE is revising its level of financial support for its activities in virtual worlds. Historically, that has been made manifest through generous ongoing payment to Linden Lab for a region called ISTE Island. Indeed, there was one long run where ISTE maintained four separate regions in Second Life. The virtual heyday, as it were. The realities of today's economy requires organizations to rethink financial commitments, and ISTE has done so.

As of the last day of February, 2012, payments will no longer be made to maintain ISTE Island, and ISTE Island will no longer be.

Andy Wheelock, aka Spiff Whitfield, currently Lowly High Grand Poobah of the Special Interest Group for Virtual Environments, has been leading a task force (yes, we do call it that) to investigate options. The group has coalesced much like any SIGVE group has, more or less come together on its own as interested parties have responded to calls for discussions and collaboration. Some configuration of the group has met a half dozen times over the past several months. Andy alluded to all of this and made the collaboration document available for one and all in the closing paragraph of his open letter in the recent publication of January 2012 issue of Virtual Education Journal.

Last night we met at the campfires on ISTE Island to discuss our findings and preferences with Jennifer Ragen-Fore, the revered original catalyst for ISTE Island in the first place. Here's a pic from that gathering. If you click to enlarge, you can see the nametags over the heads of those present, most of them at any rate. My tag doesn't show but I'm parked on the ground past Mandie.

In the spirit of sharing, I "call to comment"--either here at this post or on the document itself (which you should by all means read before you make your own suggestions or comments). Do you have any notions about how SIGVE should go about best use of a $500 per year budget for a space in Second Life? Now's the time to share them. A decision must be made by the end of the first week in February.

Please put Friday, February 27, all day and night, on your calendars: There will be a party. I'm putting out tissue boxes the day of. This morning, I set out a notecard dropbox at the welcome table at ISTE Island Headquarters. Do you have fond memories from your own experiences at ISTE Island in Second Life? We'd like to hear them. Feel free to comment here or type out your reminisces at your leisure, paste them into a notecard, and drop them in the box at ISTE Island in Second Life. It looks like this:

Thanks in retrospect for all you have shared with all of us at ISTE Island over the years. Thanks in advance for your sharing over this next month. Keep the faith, whatever it is for you.

Installment 3 of Virtual Education Journal is HERE!

Seriously? A beautiful new issuu (sic) of SIGVE's Virtual Education Journal? Bring it on!!!

Open publication - Free publishing

Please share profusely. And do visit ISTE Island in Second Life before  it moves to a new, smaller (but most likely more robust) space. You'll want to build a few virtual memories from the heyday of our tribe, now, wontcha?

Virtual Pioneers History Conference 2012

Good friend Andy Wheelock runs a robust community of virtual world pioneers called, intuitively enough, "Virtual Pioneers" and he holds an annual conference inworld in Second Life each year. It's coming up this Friday so make yourself useful and go see what it's all about! I'm not even going to make you click over to the web page with the schedule. I'm going to shamefully copy and paste it here. All times are Second Life Time (US Pacific) and from past experience I can say this shindig will be running on time and on schedule. Come be a pioneer your own self!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* Need help with Second Life?  Please go to this location first.  There will be volunteers there to assist you. http://secondlife.com/destination/phoenix-wave-team

Friday, January 20
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Biomedicine%20Research%20Labs/107/107/472
3:00 pm SLT - Newcomer Welcome and Orientation
Ghost Ulich and the volunteer mentors will be available at the New Phoenixia Help Area to assist new residents.

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4:00 pm SLT  - Keynote
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland%209/19/75/22

The Keynote Speaker this year will be David Klevan (SL- Eubie Doobie) from the US Memorial Holocaust- Kristalnacht Exhibit, one of the most powerful reflections of virtual learning environments. This digital re-creation of a historical time period provides the visitor with a minds eye view of this horrible period in world history by providing primary source documents, audio presentations, video reflection pieces, and graphic representations.  It is an amazing companion to the Historical Museum’s main site in Washington D.C.  In Real Life David is a Museum Educator at the US MM Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. and does workshops and presentations about the Holocaust.

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5:30 pm SLT - Tour of  Renaissance Island
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Renaissance%20Island/128/128/27

Amza Hydraconis and other residents of Renaissance Island will show us the many features of the island including a replica of the Globe Theater. We will also have an opportunity to watch an authentic joust. Historical clothes are available in the shops, including some freebies.

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Saturday, January 21, 2012
9:00 am SLT  - Explore America
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland%209/19/75/22
Scavenger Hunt and Pictorial Collection Kick Off. Come join the fun and your chance to win 1000 Lindens. Notecards and directions available at this time.

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10:00 am SLT - The Islands of Enlightenment
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland%209/19/75/22
Spiff Whitfield will highlight his work using a Reaction Grid Open sim environment that gives students a glimpse into history as avatars.  The Islands of Enlightenment has 2 Islands that have been developed for historical sims.  One of the islands has the Understanding the Holocaust Project whereby students are guided through a series of activities involving the 1942-44 streets of Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family lay in hiding.  Students can interact with the secret annex and learn from source material from PBS, Masterpiece theater materials.
We may get a sneak peek at the second island which is going to be used for a Medieval Roleplaying sim for 6th grade students to learn about the life and challenges of this age.

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1:30 SLT  - WoW
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland%209/19/75/22
bigd Flanagan and Kimmer Jameson will present on WoW and the skills learned that enable students to build college and career readiness.  WoW allows students to build collaboration skills with peers, technical skills as they interface with their own computer platforms, and perhaps most importantly, academic skills in a format where they have enjoyed a modicum of success, i.e. gaming.  When the paradigm  shifts from traditional classroom delivery models into a more supportive learning community, results can be impressive.  BigD will incorporate students from his high school class into this presentation since they are true consumers of this product delivery. In addition, he will utilize existing websites and cite various sources.

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1:00 pm SLT - Tour of 1920 Berlin
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/1920s%20Berlin/237/232/751

Jo Yardley will give us a tour of Berlin in the 1920s. This was a very interesting time, politically, culturally and in many other ways. They have recreated the atmosphere of this fantastic city in that amazing era. This sim is very realistic and authentic allowing the visitor to experience visiting this time in history..



2:30 pm SLT - Historical Photographs
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland%209/19/75/22
CathyWyo1 Haystack will share her knowledge and love of history in A Non Researcher’s presentation on how to study photographs for history, traditions and culture. Cathy will share many photographs and how she has used them to learn about history. Time to dust off those old photographs in your closets and use them to better understand history.

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4:00 pm SLT - Antiquity Texas
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Black%20Bear%20Island/115/193/31

Jacon Cortes, Texas Attorney General, will lead us on a walking tour  of Antiquity Texas, an 1800's role playing sim.  Jacon is an a creator and designer, craftsman by trade - some of his amazing work is on display and for sale.  

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5:30 pm SLT  - End of Conference Gala Ball
At The Beautiful Duchy Ballroom
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Languedoc%20Coeur/42/41/45

Featuring Satin Galli and Erin68 Frog
This real life couple perform together in SL and have proven themselves in Second Life as top vocalists.
Scavenger hunt prizes will be awarded.
Come Join the Fun

Visit our Website for more information about our Group

http://virtualpioneers.weebly.com

ISTE SIGVE Virtual Environments Playground? You?

Okay, ya'll, this is live at the ISTE SIGVE wiki, but I want to pop it in here as well. Do you have anything you would like to share with your fellow ISTE members at ISTE 2012 in San Diego this summer? Tell us. Tell us now!

Random Walk in Learning Selected January 2012 Blog-o'-the-Month!

Happy New Year 2012! We had a 3 way tie for January's Blog-o'-the-Month and I broke it by choosing the one with the most recent update. Congratulations to Albert Ip's "Random Walk in Learning," subtitled "Random rumbling during our journey through the E-Learning wonderLand" for his blog's selection as January 2012's Blog-o'-the-Month!

 As we move into the 6th year of the Bloggers Hut in Second Life (my how virtual time do fly) we're going to take a novel approach to perusing the Edublogger Awards 2010, announced just last month at http://edublogawards.com. We're putting forth our four nominees from the Runners Up, specifically the First. Proceeding on the assumption that these worth nominees from that process deserve some limelight too, select the February 2012 Blog-o'-the-Month from:

 Red: First Runner Up for Best Class Blog: http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/ Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog

 Green: First Runner Up for Best New Blog: http://cecilialcoelho.wordpress.com/ Box of Chocolates

 Yellow: First Runner Up for Best Student Blog: http://www.hcchrisp.blogspot.com/ Chemistry: It's "Elemen"-ary!!!

 Blue: First Runner Up for Best Use of a Virtual World http://www.daynuv.com/ daynuv

Whilst yr at the Bloggers Hut on ISTE Island in Second Life, utilize your Google muscles by perusing some previously selected winners-- 

Previously Featured: Lotus Green's Educating Lotus Dave Lanke's "Virtual Dave...Real Blog" Josh Stumpenhorst's "Stump the Teacher" Dean Groom's "Design for Learning" Esme Qunhua's "Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds" "Blogging ISTE" webpage featuring scores of blogs for ISTE11 in Philadelphia PA AND IN THE METAVERSE! Rawlslyn Francis's "Adventures of an Academic Avatar" Kimberly Hendrick's "Computer Teacher" Rurik Nakerud's "Ed Thought" Gourmet Gadget Gal "Abby's" "Jazzing Up Eighth Grade" Education World's "Teacher Bea"t KZero, Inc., "We Are Worldswide" Engage Digital--(formerly Virtual Worlds News) Virtual School Meanderings--Michael Barbour Blogging ISTE (special compendium page at iste.org) The Dariing Librarian--Gwenyth A. Jones Why Technology in Education Rocks in Virginia--various VSTE writers Free Tech for Teachers--Richard Byrne Suffern Middle School in Second Life--Peggy Sheehy OpenSimulator--assorted authors Dusan Writer's Metaverse--Doug Thompson CoolCatTeacher--Vicki Davis EdTechJen--Jennifer Roland 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 Colling 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 :)

Happy Holidays, Both Virtual and IRL (In the "Real" World)

Happy Holidays!

December 2012 Blog-o'-the-Month is "Educating Lotus"

Hey, all, Welcome to December, 2011's Blog-o'-the-Month, "Educating Lotus," the lovely work that its author, Jane Oitzinger, has subtitled, "A blog about virtual learning spaces and beautiful places." It's true. Go see why at Lotus Greene's "Educating" Lotus at http://educatinglotus.wordpress.com/. Or read it at the Bloggers Hut on ISTE Island in Second Life.

While you're there, peruse the stellar nominees and vote for January's choice from amongst the following four nominees--
Red: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/markchilds/ Mark's Blog
Green: http://www.digitalchalkie.com/ DigitalChalkie
Yellow: http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/ Knowledge Tree
Blue: http://elearningrandomwalk.blogspot.com/ Random Walk In Learning

Or: Exercise your Google muscles by perusing some previously offered winners-- Previously Featured: Dave Lanke's "Virtual Dave...Real Blog" Josh Stumpenhorst's "Stump the Teacher" Dean Groom's "Design for Learning" Esme Qunhua's "Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds" "Blogging ISTE" webpage featuring scores of blogs for ISTE11 in Philadelphia PA AND IN THE METAVERSE! Rawlslyn Francis's "Adventures of an Academic Avatar" Kimberly Hendrick's "Computer Teacher" Rurik Nakerud's "Ed Thought" Gourmet Gadget Gal "Abby's" "Jazzing Up Eighth Grade" Education World's "Teacher Bea"t KZero, Inc., "We Are Worldswide" Engage Digital--(formerly Virtual Worlds News) Virtual School Meanderings--Michael Barbour Blogging ISTE (special compendium page at iste.org) The Dariing Librarian--Gwenyth A. Jones Why Technology in Education Rocks in Virginia--various VSTE writers Free Tech for Teachers--Richard Byrne Suffern Middle School in Second Life--Peggy Sheehy OpenSimulator--assorted authors Dusan Writer's Metaverse--Doug Thompson CoolCatTeacher--Vicki Davis EdTechJen--Jennifer Roland 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 Colling 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 :)