Elaine Plybon on Oh!VirtualLearning!

This article is a part of the I (heart) EdTech blog swap initiated by Simple K-12. I appreciate the opportunity to be a guest blogger and for the opportunity to have Scott be a guest-writer on my blog. We are both busy, busy people, so naturally we are posting these on the last day of the blog swap – but we got it done!

First, a bit of background. In “real life” I am a Chemistry teacher and Instructional Technology Specialist at the Jack E. Singley Academy of Irving ISD in Texas. I also volunteer as the chair of the Discovery Educator Network (DEN) Leadership Council for Texas. In Second Life ™ I am Celestia Cazalet, a member of the DEN Leadership Council in Second Life™.

I am a virtual world veteran. I began my understanding of the power of human interaction in a virtual world with my involvement in the MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game) called Ultima Online in the 1990s. I spent several years in that world, building my skills and developing friendships, some which continue to the present time. When I was first approached about exploring the MUVE of Second Life™, I was skeptical. I had never used a virtual world in my professional life before, so I was covering new territory. However, after a few weeks of involvement, I could see the tremendous power of developing a professional learning network within this (or other) virtual world(s).

Unfortunately, after having been a Second Life™ resident for a few years now, I have to say that I am becoming disheartened by the lack of true innovation being accomplished in Second Life™. Developing collaborative relationships with educators in that world is valuable, yes, but cannot be the only reason I choose to continue my citizenship in that world. In order for Second Life™ to be a truly valuable tool, we must find those uses for it that can only be accomplished in that world.

When one enters the virtual world, they are much more likely to be exposed to replicas of “real-life” buildings and terrain than unique vistas. The DEN’s own presence is represented by a replica of Discovery Communication headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, that is uncannily correct. Professional development in-world is often delivered through very traditional means – presenter at the front of an auditorium with a PowerPoint, participants sitting and listening, asking the presenter to please speak slower so the slides have time to rez. There might be an occasional break-out group, or polling station being used. How does this differ from the first-life experience?

Let’s try to step outside our comfort zone. I’m confident there are so many things we can accomplish in Second Life™ that cannot be accomplished anywhere else – we just haven’t found them all yet. In order for Second Life™ to be relevant and engaging, we must begin the search. I don’t have the answers, but I know all of us - the community of educators in Second Life ™ - do. Give me your opinion, and if you have found innovative uses for this or other virtual worlds, join the discussion!
*******************************

Thanks!

Elaine

Inside a Virtual Meeting

(cross-posted from scottmerrick.net) I post regularly at Oh!VirtualLearning! about news and events relating to virtual worlds for learning and teaching, and as I talk with friends and colleagues (and sometimes complete strangers) about this avocational interest I often mention last year's PBS Frontline episode called "Digital Nation."

Periodically, I present about the topic to interested educators. One of the things I invariably mention is the segment in the program where the narrator, co-producer Douglas Rushkoff, wanders through the empty halls of IBM's physical office building, his footsteps echoing not because no one is "at work," but rather because everyone is working from their home offices, their dinner tables, or their hotel rooms--meeting in virtual worlds rather than in the physical one.

How does a virtual meeting go? I've taken gigabytes of video snippets to help share that with others, but perhaps if you'll take 86 seconds to view this video, the work of professional film documentarians, you may walk away with a better notion. From Digital Nation's extensive website, packed with footage that didn't make it into the 90 minute Frontline episode:

Inside a Virtual Meeting

More than 10,000 IBM employees collaborate in virtual worlds. Take a look inside a meeting in Second Life from the home of IBM V.P. of Innovation, Francoise LeGoues.

Virtual Summit on Learning Space Design for PreK-12 Schools

International Society for Technology in Education

Virtual Summit on Learning Space Design for PreK-12 Schools

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to join in this free, four-hour, online Summit to kick off ISTE’s Designing New Spaces for Learning Initiative.

The Initiative will collect information on the design and creation of formal (classrooms, auditoriums, libraries, etc.) and informal (cafeterias, hallways, playgrounds, etc.) learning spaces and how they interact with virtual learning space. This includes building both new spaces and renovating existing spaces. We are also interested in the impact individual teachers can have on their classroom.

ISTE acknowledges that there are a number of individuals, organizations, businesses, and design firms who are currently exploring what schools of the future will look like. However, this work is often unknown by the ISTE community. Therefore, the overall goal of this initiative is to form partnerships to provide ISTE members with the most current information and resources on principles for design, best practices, and strategies for building innovative places to learn.

The Initiative begins with the online Summit to be held on Friday, April 30 at 10:00 a.m.

Pacific time, 1:00 p.m. Eastern. The Summit is free to all.

The Summit begins with an introduction to the Initiative followed by a presentation on the continued importance of bricks and mortar spaces that support the social aspects of learning and a definition of formal versus informal learning spaces and their interaction with the virtual world.

This presentation is followed by a set of interactive breakout sessions to explore the key issues related to creating innovative formal, informal spaces, or how individual teachers can modify their classroom to create an innovative learning environment. These sessions begin the process of developing a collaborative resource for ISTE members on principles, standards, and best practices to create innovative learning environments.

You are welcome to attend all or part of the Summit.

For more information on the Summit, including a schedule of activities, visit http://tinyurl.com/ISTE-Learning-Space-Summit

To register for the Summit, visit http://www.tinyurl.com/ISTE-Learning-Space-Reg

The Summit is open to anyone who is interested in creating innovative learning spaces. Please feel free to forward this announcement to other interested parties.

For questions on the Summit, please contact Chris Johnson, Initiative Coordinator, at cgj@21stcenturylearning.com.

I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

Albert Einstein

WiloStar3D

What rock have I been under? I just this week discoverd WiloStar3D, a fully accredited middle and high school that exists solely online in a virtual world. I'll be exploring more and more, but this video was posted in December 2008? How did we overlook that, fellow ISTE SIGVE members?!

I can't wait to learn more about WiloStar3D. I hope we can get them to come talk with us at ISTE 2010 Virtual Environments Playground! Take 5 minutes to see this (yes I said "fully accredited--by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the same accreditation body that validates my own K12 school's status as legal) school and how it works. Wow, I say. Wow.

WiloStar3D Virtual Worlds Video Demo

- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

MUVE Market COO quoted in Wall Street Journal!

The Wall Street Journal yesterday posted an article I knew was coming. "AVATAR II: The Hospital" contains the following quote from friend and MUVErs partner Cathy Walker:

Beyond Crises

In addition to the disaster drills, Second Life is increasingly being used to train medical and nursing students in clinical skills. Medical schools traditionally have run such exercises using computerized mannequins, which can be programmed to exhibit certain symptoms. But each mannequin costs about $65,000, so there may be just one for every 50 or 100 students. In Second Life, though, every student can take on a nurse or doctor avatar and practice interviewing virtual patients, filling in medical charts and making diagnoses.

In some cases, students simply role-play their interviews with the patients, consultations with colleagues and decisions. Then an instructor will meet with them—either in Second Life or in the classroom the next day—and go over what they did well and where they made errors. In other cases, Second Life tries to simulate the patients' symptoms and their response to treatment. For instance, start-up firm MUVE Market LLC programs patient avatars to display realistic symptoms, including rashes and burns, or to exhibit odd behavior, such as dementia.

"What if you're talking to an 84-year-old man, trying to get his health history, and all he keeps saying is 'Somebody, feed my cat,' over and over again? What do you do? How do you respond?" says Cathy Walker, chief operations officer for MUVE Market.

Read the entire article!

Your Lying Eyes

Researcher William Steptoe of University College London and colleagues have been working on a technology to enable avatars in virtual worlds to reflect the eye movements of their human counterparts. The theory is that business meetings (and no doubt personal ones) would benefit from the enhancement, due to the increased insight (no pun intended) into the avatar's veracity that eye movements provide. Read more at The New Scientist online...

GetEducated.com Article About Online Nursing Education in Second Life

The online journal GetEducated.com features a nice little article this week about distance education in virtual worlds. While not mentioning MUVErs by name, it does quote MUVErs co-founder, friend, and virtual education pioneer John Miller extensively. I won't quoted it here, but I will share a couple pics from Evergreen Island that add to the information base. I highly suggest you hop on over and read the article!

The first is from a demo of MUVErs unique and powerful MUVErs User Interface, the proprietary engine that drives much of the learning that happens in John's work. Present were all three MUVErs co-founders, Pathfinder Linden, and Claudia Linden, then Linden Lab's Education Community Manager (her title has changed but she is still the education honcho at LL). And the next is John himself, demonstrating the MUI for a rapt audience at last year's NECC09 in Washington, DC.

Just thought I'd add even more to the article!