Muves+and+Professional+Development

=Week 5: Muves and Professional Development=

This week’s Learning Resources emphasize the importance of engaging in professional development workshops and joining personal learning networks to keep up with emerging technologies and trends. In this week’s Discussion, you examined MUVEs from an instructional point of view. For this week’s Learning Community Assignment, you and your Learning Community members will explore multi-user virtual environments from a learner’s perspective to evaluate how they can help you keep your tech knowledge from becoming obsolete. (You can access the sites listed in the websites for this week or perform an online search for additional MUVEs.)

Begin by revisiting one or more of the MUVEs you explored this week. Then, contribute the following to your group’s wiki: Next, respond to the following question: Finally, contribute an additional suggestion, strategy, resource, or idea to at least one of your community members’ posts.
 * Identify at least two professional organizations that have an online presence and offer training or workshops in the MUVE.
 * Identify one personal learning network available in the MUVE that will help you keep abreast of new and emerging technologies.
 * Identify at least one other resource in the MUVE for information about new and emerging technologies (e.g., technology reviewer, futurist, researcher, or journal).
 * How could you use the MUVE—and the resources you found—to engage colleagues (local and remote) in professional development workshops?

Assignment length: 2-3 paragraphs
Note to Candidates:

Your Instructor will be checking your regular participation in your Learning Community to ensure that you have met the requirements outlined in the assignment. Participation will be worth 4 points for every week in which there is a Learning Community Assignment. APA format is not required in your wiki posts. The goal of the wiki element is to support your learning as a member of an online learning community. Keep in mind, however, that your contributions are part of your graded coursework and, as such, should represent professional work. Please proofread your entries carefully.

=Bethany Rosenberg: Response:=

This week I decided to take a look at Second Life. The program itself offers so many educational possibilities.

One resource that I found that seemed to have open forums for support on the “ins and outs” of Second life is English Knowledge Base: Second Life. This section offered blogging and community sharing, to trouble shooting, and sharing ideas. This site is part of the Second Life site however; it opened up a technical help and forum section that just appealed to me when constructing a new Second Life world. []

One professional site I found which offers corporate training and orientation packages for new groups is the Delta L : Solutions for training, a division of AHG, Inc. The company goes on to provide help with concept development and on-site seminars. []

Designing Digitally is an organization that creates virtual reality educational environments and simulations for companies and schools. Their develop team work at creation, marketing and the education of the product. They have created virtual trainings that the user can complete as well as the creation of sites for schools, government agencies and corporations. Corporations that they have helped to develop online training through MUVEs include; Hilton, GE, the U.S. Air force, Comcast, and the Department of Education. []

One resource journal I found for information on all virtual world research was the Journal of Virtual World Research at [] This website offers resent research papers, journals, editorials and each journal has a particular theme that centers around topics. Such as this one at [] which focuses on children’s participation in virtual world education.

Question: How could you use the MUVE and the resources you found to engage colleagues in professional development workshops?
I think the best way I can do this is to show the staff exactly what MUVEs are. I would like to take the staff on a virtual tour of a topic and show the full potential of a MUVE. I have come across several videos on Youtube.com and on sites that show the versatility. I think the best way is to introduce what they are and then show them data and how they can impact on education. The greatest problem will be overcoming the barriers as I discussed in my discussion this week, but I think that through demonstration and a full training with student’s demonstrating what they have learned. Perhaps having the students demonstrate what they have begun could open doors and end speculation for change.


 * Cheri responds to Bethany: **
 * I love the journal link. That is a great idea! I think this will help me better understand the virtual world and how it can apply in the educational field. The second site I visited the Second Life Development and Consulting. I always need to keep current with the newest trends. **

The first organization that I chose was Quest Atlantis.
Ages: 9-12

Quest Atlantis
I chose this site based on their emphasis on teacher training and education. You cannot sign up for this site, unless you are willing to go through training with another teacher from your school. Teachers go through extensive training and commit to the program and then they can use it with their students to join in on preplanned learning quests. I also like the elements that this site focuses one. Here is a quote from their site: “The QA project will foster an awareness of seven critical dimensions in order to actualize them in the lives of children:
 * Creative Expression - "**I Create**"
 * Diversity Affirmation - "**Everyone Matters**"
 * Personal Agency - "**I Have Voice**"
 * Social Responsibility - **"We Can Make a Difference"**
 * Environmental Awareness - "**Think Globally, Act Locally"**
 * Healthy Communities- "**Live, Love, Grow**"
 * Compassionate Wisdom - "**Be Kind**"

The second MUVE site is whyville.net

Whyville
There are educational games and training available. This is also for younger grades. Students can interact with each other and teachers, once verified can set access learning activities for their students. The students are allowed to chat with one another once they earn their "chat" license. There is an adult presence there to protect the kids from predators since it is geared at younger students aged 7-12.

One professional learning network that keeps teachers current and where they can ask questions is:

[|Tapped In]
Teachers collaborate with other teachers internationally. They are able to stay current on new trends and share ideas. The site is very easy to access and use. There is also a help area.

I would use the Tapped In resource with my teachers because they are always asking for new ideas and technologies for the classroom. I think they would enjoy a new challenge of this space and introduction to MUVE technology.

Bethany to Cheri: I really liked the Quest Atlantis link! The possibilities of using that program in after-school programs and such really opens up possibilities to giving extra support to students in education. Something like this could possibly be used for middle school children who are maybe struggling with reading levels or are ESL students. I especially like the "chat license" option that it gives in the program so that you can really monitor the children and help them develop their communiation skills and online skills in learning. Great site to help develop those 21st Century Skills. =Gina Moore-Response= The MUVE I further explored was open simulator. [|Open simulator]provides guidance and information on how to download and run the virtual environment. It provides an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) to allow people to contribute to the community. It also has many sections filled with information about the different parts of the program. It also allows you to blog or contact them on their office hours for assistance. This program is still in the early stages but is said to be similar to Second Life. However, I’m not sure I fully understand how Open Simulator works. I would definitely need to take advantage of their help resources if I wanted to pursue this further.

Since Open Simulator is like Second Life I decided to look into that one also. Within Second Life there are many blogs and forums that you can participate in to help you understand the features and uses of the program. One good thing I noticed about Second Life is that the creators offer training and workshops to help users with the program. There is training and professional development offered on the ISTE web site []

To engage colleagues in professional development workshops I could show them first-hand how these virtual environments can be beneficial for them. I could present the resources of virtual environments being used in other classrooms. Also if I am able to implement a virtual environment in my classroom I could demonstrate it for them and let them use it. There are many resources out there that say how engaging this type of environment is for students. Also if they still aren’t sold I could poll the students to see if they think they would benefit more from a virtual learning environment and I can guarantee 99% of students will say yes.

However, I do see many barriers to a virtual learning environment. It can be costly and difficult to first implement. I am going to be honest. When I viewed the different types of programs I was a bit confused as to how I could create my own environment for my content. Overall though I would be very excited if I were able to use it in my classroom.

Dequency to Gina

I, too, see that virtual environments could be costly. I know that there are free environments you could access. The Virtual Ability environment I looked up seemed to be free. I was also having trouble finding how I would implement a virtual environment with Kindergarteners. I can see them using an environment to learn letters, numbers, and completing math problems. I just need to find the right environment. I did not realize how many virtual environments were out there for educators. I am looking forward to exploring and finding more.

David to Gina I agree that MUVEs would be costly to implement. Possibly more important, the amount of time required to create and manipulate is technology is not available to most k-12 educators. I could only benefit from them if I used one that was already created for my subject material.


 * Cheri responds to Gina: I like the Second Life training for educators. I think that if we can get other educators involved in training (including myself) it might not be so scary and "new". **

=Dequency Ragler-Response=

The first MUVE I explored was www.tappedin.org. Tapped in is a Virtual Community for educators. It had a variety of “rooms” that one could enter to discuss different topics. The topics of discussion range from action research to work-based learning. They have many rooms that will help me stay on top of new technologies. It has a section titled Web 2.0 Tools for Schools that provides links to a variety of resources. This MUVE is simple to use and would be easy to present to my colleagues.

I was fortunate enough to find information about the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference Website. This website led me to a MUVE called [|www.virtualability.org]. Virtual ability’s goal is to enable people with a wide range of disabilities by providing them a virtual world to enter and thrive. I see this MUVE as beneficial for educators because it provides links to learn more about specific disabilities. Students will benefit from this organization because they will connect with others that experience disabilities. I was extremely excited about this MUVE because it gives students a change to "experience" a world without their disability.

The next MUVE I looked at was Rez Ed. [] It offers an array of links to different virtual worlds. It also offers links to training, as well. This MUVE was not as user friendly as the other two. Once a user becomes familiar with the layout of virtual worlds it becomes easier to use. It is an excellent resource but one I would only show my colleagues after they become familiar with virtual environments.

Each of these resources would engage my colleagues by offering them another way to engage their students using technology.


 * Cheri responds to Dequency: **
 * I also checked out Tapped In and found it easy to use and understand and a great place for educators to ask questions. Rezed Hub is a great website that puts information out there for educators. I agree with you that it would be a great resource for teachers that are already familiar with MUVE's. **
 * Bethany Responds to Dequency: **
 * I liked the idea of "rooms" in the first MUVE tappedin.org. The idea of going where you need to in order to ask questions, find new technologies or anything is pretty neat. I think using a site that is easy for colleagues to integrate is always a plus when sharing technology. I think every school has those technophobes and with that something easier is always a plus. Great links Thanks! **

**David Vickery - Response**
International Society for Technology in Education [] and Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education [] offer professional development in MUVEs. Virtual Worlds Best Practices has developed an annual digital conference for educations to attend work sessions and showcase their work in the field of virtual education. Its three day conference is held in Second Life and attended by thousands from various countries around the world.

New Media Consortium (NMC) [|www.nmc.org] is an organization dedicated to the exploration and use of new media and new technologies. They have their own virtual world in Second Life and login information can be simply obtained by sending an email from an education institution email address (eg, .edu, .k12, cc, .ac.uk, .edu.au, etc) to secondlife@nmc.org. This five minute video [] provides more insight into what the NMC virtual environment offers.

Professional development in virtual environments must first begin with an overview of what they are and how they can be used in the education setting. Individual teachers can explore specific applications of the technology through the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education website. A guided exploration of Second Life is probably the best solution for the initial navigation so as to reduce the length of the learning curve which will help reduce frustration as a result.

Gina response to David: I think the best way to learn about virtual worlds and new technologies is to attend workshops or conferences. The resources you provided have many good opportunities to do that. I think that if one were to try and learn how to use MUVEs on their own it can become frustrating. I really liked the NMC web site. If offers good resources about virtual worlds. I hope these types of worlds continue to grow in education and become a part in every district.

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