A Love for Learning

I’ve been intrigued with this Second Life concept since I first heard of it within this past year.  (It’s been around since 2003, so, yes, I am a little slow!)  I’ve been a little hesitant to try it because I’m, admittedly, a little afraid of avatars.  (Plus I’ve always thought that people who get into virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft are just a little strange.)

But the constant buzz I’m hearing in education circles is making me stand up and take more notice.  Second Life is a 3D virtual world that is created by its users.  It was designed  by Linden Lab (using the Linden programming language) in San Francisco in 2003, and now there are millions of inhabitants in this “world”.   It’s free to join with a basic avatar, which affords you the opportunity to walk around and visit the different areas within Second Life as well as interact with others.  There are other levels of membership which come at a cost and that give you the opportunity to build or to buy, sell and trade whatever product or service might have to offer.  You can check out the plans for yourself if you’re interested.  You can purchase Linden dollars at Second Life’s exchange center.  One of my resources said that $5 US dollars will get you $1250 US Linden dollars, but not having been in the world myself, I’m not sure how accurate that is today.  

Second Life is a Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE).  It gives you the opportunity to do things that are not possible in real life.  You can fly, visit Ancient Rome (complete with gladiators), orbit around Saturn or perform in a Shakespearean play in front of a real audience.  Several companies own real estate in Second Life:  NBC, Coca Cola, Dell, Apple, Best Buy, and Toyota among many more.  Colleges and Universites also have space there, using it as a recruitment center, an orientation space for new students or for educational purposes.  NYU, Harvard, Columbia University, Virginia Tech, Ohio State and UCLA are a small sample of some of the universities that have real estate on Second Life as well.  When you first join Second Life, you are taken to Orientation Island where you learn how to move about and interact in this virtual world.  From there you can visit anything from  libraries, museums, and science centers to the inside of a computer to imaginary cities in the sky as well as parks, dance clubs and everyday places.  You can collaborate, talk and build things with people around the world.

So what is the potential impact on education?  I’d recommend viewing this You Tube Video for some initial ideas.   First, it immerses students in their own learning, and second, it lets them experience rather than just read/write about different times, places, events, or phenomenon.  A history or literature teacher might enjoy giving students the opportunity to travel to a different time and place and take on the role of a merchant, baker, peasant, etc to really experience that time period.   Science or math teachers  might enjoy having them track and analyze real-time data.  Those in management classes can learn a lot from the opportunity to really create a business.  Architect and engineering students can get a sense of building, and the artistic students can really practice applying their design skills.  There are worlds and islands for really any content area or subject of interest.  It’s almost like students can get apprenticeships into just about any career.  There are even outreach and advocacy centers which promote the interests of special needs groups.  For example, there is a place where you can “experience” what it’s like to have schitzophrenia. 

More than anything, Second Life has the potential to improve students’ communication, collaboration and problem-solving skills as they truly interact in this virtual environment.  It likewise is yet another place for teachers to network and share resources with other like-minded individuals.   For example, ISTE (the International Society of Technology Educators) has real estate in Second Life.  I’ve been told by Jo Ann Mattson that it’s a good idea  for “newbie” to learn where some safe, reliable areas are before you go off exploring too much.  (You can search by topic and map before you delve in, and then you save the SLURLs for later.)  It’s important to remember that there all all kinds of situations out there, and we certainly might not wish our students (or even ourselves) to stumble upon inappropriate ones.  She also told me that schools can buy their own real estate that can be completely private, and that makes it more interesting to me.  Otherwise I’m not sure what kind of permission slips we’ll have to fill out to take them around Saturn!

Here are a few more resources and examples which might be of interest:

•  Best Practices in Education’s Wiki:  post after the 2007 Second Life in Education Conference
• Another wiki:  Second Life in Education
• Article from eSchool News
• 2006 article from CNN
• Chemistry Activities in Second Life
• Ohio State’s Second Life (from You Tube)
• “What You Should Know about Second Life” from NYU
• Sloodle (Combines Open Source Moodle combines with Second Life)

Second Life holds some exciting possiblities for educators.   Now I just have to get over my fear of avatars!!

This week I learned that you don’t even have to leave your living room sofa to attend a professional development conference!  I love that!

JoAnn Mattson provided our class with a link to the K-12 Online Conference from October 2008.   Its theme was “Amplifying Possibilities”, and I certainly saw lots of possibilities just in this format of professional learning and sharing.  To view some of the offerings post-conference, you simply have to click on the schedule button at the top, and you will be provided with several choices according to the day they were presented.   I attended a workshop about  Trailfire because I didn’t even know what it was.  The page offered a bio about the presenter, April Chamberlain, and when I selected the audio, I was greeted with pleasant music and a soothing voice teaching me about this tool.  I really liked having this audio tool because I could pause and rewind as needed.

I learned that Trailfire is a free tool that allows a “guide” to mark a virtual trail through the path one  is researching.  Your trail can be public, private or shared with just a select group, and is shared via a web link.  It is a web-based tool that requires no downloads.  You can search for a trail (with a subject of your choice) through the Trailfire web site or your can access a trail from the link that is sent to you.   You can also create your own.   In order for this to work, you have download 2 easy-access icons onto your toolbar.  One marks the website as you are searching; the other allows you to view the Trailfire toolbar.   Marks are also interactive, and you can ask questions and make comments.

The second part of her presentation was an opportunity to actually follow a trail and to explore its features.  April had comments pop up throughout to lead your through and demonstrate how the tools works.  This second part helped me a lot because I wasn’t sure what was meant by the guide, and I wasn’t clear on the purpose behind the tool.  It seems to be another social networking tool where others can help you make sense of resources.   The guide is really the person who created the trail orginally and essentially leaves annonations about each website as well as directions about where to go from here.  These comments can be followed by others.   Others who follow the trail can ask questions and make comments along the way, too.   It’s another great way to network and share knowledge with others. 

The tool is not just for students.  The examples she showed were mainly meant for technology teachers, and she concluded her presentation by taking us to her wiki about Collaborative Web Trails.  Here there were more ideas about how to use this in the classroom and for your own professional development.  She also encouraged discussion and comments.  An instant network of like-minded professionals was born!

“Attending” this conference did not take much of my time, and I gained a lot of resources and insights from it.  The conference can be attended at times convenient for your own schedule, and you can learn at your own pace.   I would highly recommend this type of professional learning to others.  And I think I’m going to go explore her wiki and Trailfire a little more, too!