October 13 & 20 Blog

Many of my activities during the week of October 13 didn’t involve SL:

• Attended the AQIP Systems Portfolio training in Columbus, OH, as I am one of the editors of our Systems Portfolio. Steve Spangehl from HLC conducted the training.
• Submitted a proposal titled “A Second Life Primer” for the University System of Ohio Learning, Libraries + Technology Conference (formerly ODCE) held at Easton for March 1-3.
• Attended the Central Ohio Chapter ASTD one-day Conference and Expo (Explore Learning and Performance) at COSI in Columbus thanks to Dave Hylsop giving me his registration. ASTD’s Public Policy Council conducted a study and published the results in Bridging the Skills Gap, and the keynote discussed this topic. I also learned about a book Crucial Confrontations. The afternoon keynote is the author (Kurt Southam, Ph.D.) of the book, and it was a very interesting and interactive presentation.
• Attended the ACBSP Great Lakes Council conference on Thursday evening and Friday in Findlay, OH. Kudos to Barb and those involved in the planning. The sessions I attended were excellent.

Then I left for the League’s CIT Conference on the 18^th and returned on the 22^nd in Salt Lake City. For fun and educational value, I did tour Temple Square. See the video below attached to this blog. I attended all the forum sessions on Second Life along with many Web 2.0 sessions—both forum and hands-on. I learned the following about SL:

• In many instances I know what the presenters discussed and even more. While attending these forum sessions, I realized that most attendees need a very basic introduction to SL. I’m glad the PowerPoint I’ve been creating is called “A Second Life Primer,”—primer meaning “basic.” Many are curious as to “where did it come from,” how do you get there,” what’s the cost,” etc., etc.
• Some colleges’ islands are not as developed as our Island while others are extensively developed. Many indicated they would like to be invited to our "open house" so I hope it is opened to outsiders.
• It seems that faculty are still struggling with how best to use this environment as an educational delivery method. Some faculty use SL in their courses during class and never have the students enter SL. Instead, they conduct a tour on the screen for the students to see during class. This is a safe and easy way to “get your feet wet” in SL. Then there are those that hold their distance classes in SL.
• Using Web 2.0 tools is huge among the colleges.
• Good news! Next year CIT is in Detroit City—home of Motown on October 11-13.

When I returned home, I did attend one role playing session in SL conducted by Insight Virtual College. I FINALLY GET IT! What role playing is for? I don’t see any value in classes unless you are teaching diversity, creative thinking, etc.--now I do realize these are important skills. There are sims in SL where you take on “in character” and play off of others characters. So if you want to take part in the Civil War, you could locate a sim that provides this build and participate as a soldier. There is also a lot of role playing with vampires. Perhaps a historical sim would be a valuable role play opportunity, but I don’t see any value in SOBIS.

Continued to read daily the Educator’s Digest (SLED) and Slrl Digest (Research). As I peruse these digests, I normally take away something valuable whether it’s a contact, website, slrl, or just ideas.

Next week I’ll work on making sense of my research. Until then . . Happy Halloween!

October 6 Week's Blog

This week I completed the following activities:

• SL Class: All about the LindeX @ Insight Virtual College: this class addressed the LindeX, which is Second Life’s market currency. We learned how to earn money and differentiate among the trading levels. I don’t believe I would trade LindeX, but I can see how a finance or economics class could learn a great deal from the LindeX. It’s the best exchange rate in currency.
  
• SL Class: Interactive Role Play: I realized that I already attended this particular class, but this time there was a “griefer.” I’ve only encountered one other griefer who visited one of my other classes, but he didn’t stay long. The griefer in the role play class was booted out by the owner of the island as he was very annoying and used abusive language. Needless to say class was detained. Then when I realized I attended this session previously I teleported home.
  
• SL Class: SL Education Roundtable discussions: I am a member of this group which meets every Tuesday at Montclair State University to talk about a variety of subjects. We site around a “round table.” Some weeks we may have a guest speaker and/or focus on one topic and other weeks we may just talk about what members feel like chatting about. I learned about a tool called “Meeting transcript maker,” which records a session in SL. I also learned about Cool Viewer by Boy Lane, a site meant to publish patches and pre-compiled versions of the Second Life viewer for Linux.
  
• Continued to read daily the Educator’s Digest (SLED) and Slrl Digest (Research). As I peruse these digests, I normally take away something valuable whether it’s a contact, website, slrl, or just ideas.
  
• Attended OBTA and enjoyed a session on Web 2.0 tools. Since working on my sabbatical, I have learned a lot about Web 2.0 tools. However, this session provided additional websites to visit. One especially interesting website is Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies.
• Unfortunately at OBTA, I did not find anyone interested in collaborating with me in SL. Most said they are so busy they don't have the time to learn SL. They have a point. Without this sabatical I would not have had the time to devote to this tool.
  

During my sabbatical I’m learning about other web tools. For example, I downloaded and played with jingproject which allows one to capture photos or videos to share online up to 5 minutes in length. It was developed by TechSmith, who developed Camtasia Studio. Then the presenters at the Web 2.0 session at OBTA included Jing in their presentation.

I’m learning more than just Second Life as a result of my research. For example, I learned a new term “heutagogy.” A heutagogical approach recognizes the need to be flexible in the learning where the teacher provides resources but the learner designs the curriculum, not just the learning process, by negotiating the learning. Thus learners might read around critical issues or questions and determine what is of interest and relevance to them, and then negotiate further reading and assessment tasks. With respect to the latter, assessment becomes more of a learning experience rather than a means to measure attainment.

I connected with someone who developed a simulator of business skills for training. As yet, I have not seen a demo, but I have been invited to do so. Therefore, I will follow up on this invitation.

This week I plan to work on reviewing my collected resources and prepare for the League’s CIT conference. Plus, I have ACBSP 's Region 4 conference this week too. What! Another busy and fun-filled professional week!

September 29 Week's Blog

SL Activities included the following:

• Given a tour by the dean of IVC (Insight Virtual College). IVC provides classrooms and conducts classes for SL residents. I really enjoyed the personal tour. I learned about IVC at the SL Convention. BTW, the dean is an instructional designer at an Ohio 4-yr. University. She is a professional colleague. One location at IVC helps residents practice flying. All the classrooms have unique features—one is under water and called the Sea Floor Classroom. The tour lasted about 1 ½ hrs. I joined their group so I can receive updates on classes, etc.
• Visited ISTE Island. ISTE is the International Society for Technology in Education, and they offer RL memberships. I joined their group so I can receive updates on classes, etc. There were some members and a docent at the Island to explain what goes on. I toured the Island, and they have a lot to offer. ISTE is for educators, and often meet at the ISTE island to discuss teaching and learning. For fun, a couple of us took a Magic Carpet ride over the ISTE Island.
  
• Continued to read daily the Educator’s Digest (SLED) and Slrl Digest (Research). As I peruse these digests, I normally take away something valuable whether it’s a contact, website, slrl, or just ideas. Consequently, this is a time-consuming task.
  
• Started researching more about companies in SL.
  
• Updated my PBwiki.
  
• Continued collecting websites in Delicious. It’s amazing—with Web 2.0 sites are “social” and require one to be a member with username, password, etc. It's all about sharing! Then there is the entire process (with as little information as you wish) of creating a profile, etc. I’m a member of LinkIn.org along with Rezed.org, and many of the other sites are similar—like Facebook. Sometimes it's like "Oh no! Not another profile! Not another login to remember!"
  

This upcoming week is a busy one since I have OBTA Thursdsay and Friday so I won't have the entire week for SL. I'm hoping to connect with some fellow OBTA members who may be interested in collaborating in SL for spring semester.