Congrats to Our Pioneer Class of 2011!

I'm proud enough to bust, and I'll be shaking the hands of these 7 pioneering virtual learners onstage on Monday. They're off into the world(s) after that! I've been building out a space in ReactionGrid, not yet available to our learners, but it will be. I took a few minutes to add a lasting tribute to these students that their future schoolmates will enjoy for years to come:

Tuesday--Please Join Us for a VERY Special SIGVE Speaker Session--in JIBE!

Pay attention now, this will take a little more effort than usual. We guarantee it will be worth every ounce of it:

SIGVE- Speaker Series
Special Guest: John Pathfinder Lester

WHEN: Tuesday, May 17th, 2011
WHERE: ISTE Island SIGVE Playground, Second Life, AND Jibe
Platform (see details below)
TIME: 5pm SL time

PRESENTATION: "Virtual Worlds in your Browser"

John Lester will speak about the use of web-based virtual worlds as
platforms for learning and collaboration. He will be hosting his
presentation in Jibe, a web-based multiuser virtual world platform
based on Unity3d and developed by ReactionGrid. John will speak about
the unique affordances of web-based multiuser virtual worlds, how Jibe
can be integrated with web-based learning management systems and
web-based collaboration applications, and how the game-based
development tools of Unity3d can be used to create immersive learning
experiences.

To join the meeting in John's Jibe world, just go to
http://jibemicro.reactiongrid.com/pathfinderlester. The presentation
will be given in voice, so be sure to install the Vivox plugin (there
will be a link to install it on the Jibe page).

The mirror in Elluminate at LearnCentral will not be available this month due to a conflicting Event in the "Host Your Own Webinar" Group.

How to Launch Quest Atlantis for your Middle School or Elementary School Students

I have had amazing experiences over the years working in Quest Atlantis with my 4th graders, and now that I'm off in Virtual School planning and implementation world, Aussie Stephen Caldwell has put together a series of videos, 2 of 3 of which have now been published on YouTube, demonstrating for one and all how implementation can be introduced with a discussion about heroes. I'm watching with great interest and I can predict that once we are a full-blown K-12 virtual school, I will be holding sets of training sessions with teachers in MNPS and they will be centered around how to use this beautiful program to inspire and motivate learning in our students.

I'll likely start off an early session with...

VEJ is Out and Available for Your Reading Pleasure!!!

ISTE SIGVE star Rosie Vojtek has spent hours and hours and correspondence after correspondence to drum up articles from some of the pioneers of virtual environments for education and here it is, the very first and BEAUTIFUL issue of VEJ, the Virtual Education Journal! Pick up your own copy of this stunning 40 page publicaton inworld in Second Life at ISTE Island Headquarters, read it right here at the embed below, or visit ISSUU.com to read it, download it, and share it on your social networks--even embed it in your very own bloggie!  Thanks to Rosie/Roxie for her untiring efforts of community support and innovation and to her husband Bob/BJ for all his work and support to make this premier issue a reality!

And now...

Open publication - Free publishing - More education

Music Island Wins for May!

And so should it. These folks have been bringing music on a global scale for a good long while. It's high time they got recognized. Just look at Kate Miranda's blogger profile.

This woman rocks. Or "classicals." More likely the latter. Point being, if you are at home on a rainy day and want to join some friends, new or old, in Second Life for really musical music, well, Kate's your girl. Just visit http://music-island.blogspot.com/ and you are there. She's cooking up Livestream events, all kind of things, and only because she has a passion for the arts. Just look at a recent lineup:
Thom Dowd, Apr. 16 @ 12 noon

SOLOS AND DUOS FOR RECORDERS
MUSIC ISLAND
12 p.m. SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2011
Françoise Prongué- Hofstetter, Marie Gillard,
Gorse Ferarris, Thom Dowd
Recorders

PROGRAM:
Sonata in C Major for Alto Recoder and B.C. Georg Philipp Telemann 1681-1767
Cantabile, Allegro, Grave, Vivace,
Sonate No.3 OP. 3 in F Major, for Alto Recorder and B.C., JOHN LOEILLET OF LONDON, 1680-1730
Adagio - Allegro - Larghetto - Allegro
Ballette Gravesand with variations, Jacob van Eyck, 1590-1657
Philis Schoone with variations, Jacob van Eyck, 1590-1657
Sonata No.4 in B flat major, Robert Valentine 1661-1747
Adagio, Allegro, Adagio Siciliana, Allegro Giga
Sonata No. 5 for 2 Alto recorders Georg Philipp Telemann
Largo, Vivace, Gratioso, Allegro

That's what I'M talkin' about.

Kate Miranda's Music Island Blog will run the month of May in the Bloggers Hut on ISTE Island in the RSS feeder. Come by, grab a chair at a one-of-a-kind table (designed by a deceased avatar who was a master at the tortured prim), and read what Kate Miranda has to say. 

While you're there, vote for the June Blog o' the Month from these options:

http://anytimeanywherelearning.blogspot.com Anytime Anywhere Learning , Kipp Rogers

http://leonardolinks.blogspot.com/  Prof. Leonardo's Links Leonardo Ornellas (Brazil) 

http://academicavatar.squarespace.com/ Adventures of an Academic Avatar,  Rawlslyn Francis 

http://gridjumper.net/   Gridjumper's Blog. Noreen Strehlow