Second Life Educators of Escambia County

We are excited to welcome new members each week to our group, Second Life Educators of Escambia County.  An orientation area has been created on the island to assist new avatars as they learn basic functions and skills needed to effectively use this virtual environment.  If you are an Escambia County School District teacher reading this post after seeing the article, I gotta be me, or not , posted in the November 15th Pensacola News Journal, and are interested in taking advantage of the opportunities for global collaboration and professional development provided through Second Life, click the “Getting Started” link at the top of the main page.  It is important that you follow the specified directions so that we can enroll you into the SLEEC group which will enable your avatar to enter our island.
We continue to meet at SLEEC Island every Thursday evening. The next scheduled event will be Welcome Our New “Pilgrims” to SLEEC Island, Thursday, November 19th at 7:00 p.m.  We will host a Thanksgiving celebration at our new orientation area.  This will be a great opportunity for new avatars to network with experienced SLEEC members.
A new SLEEC Islands Events Calendar has been posted in the headquarters building.  This calendar not only posts events on the island, but also professional development opportunities at other locations such as ISTE Island and the Discovery Educator Network.  Stop by and check out possible events you may want to attend.  Remember, all times are Second Life time (Pacific).
Beginning in December, regular Tuesday night “Conversations around the Campfire” will be held from 8:30 – 9:30 p.m.  Watch for topics of discussion to be posted on the calendar.
Last, but not least, be sure to check out the ISTE Standards Walkway down the hill behind the headquarters building.  These are the technologies standards we follow to guide our technology integration in the classroom.
Hope to be hearing from you soon!

E
During the past month, we have been touring educational sims on the main grid, on Thursday evening at 5:00 p.m. SLT.  We found the Alliance Virtual Library to be a comprehensive collection of resources, comprised both of websites and SL landmarks.  Northern Michigan University’s Biome campus ,where education students attend science classes, gave us a glimpse of how engaging real world learning can be in a 3D environment.  At NOAA Virtual Island, we interacted with weather maps, flew through the eye of a hurricane and learned about the causes of shrinking glaciers.
Watch for notices of future tours and events at SLEEC.  If you have not already joined the email group, click the link at the top of the page.  We hope you will join us soon at one of our in-world events.

We invite you to come join us each Thursday evening @ 5:00 p.m. SLT (7:00 p.m. central time) for our weekly “Community Building meetings”.  Last week we shared plans for district professional development sessions, both in a large and small group setting.   This coming Thursday we will be providing a tour of the various areas and resources available on the island.  Come and bring a noobie with you!

Teleport to SLEEC Island

We encourage our technology learning groups to utilize SLEEC to meet virtually when appropriate.  We are also available to provide a short presentation of this opportunity to your TLG members. If you are interested in having us come speak to your group, please contact either Lauren Thurman or Lori Weedo.

We are so excited to share the news that Escambia County School District has purchased an educational island in Second Life.  This virtual space will provide an environment for our educators to engage in virtual networking, professional development and global collaboration.  We will begin sharing the possibilities with our Technology Learning Group Facilitators in early August.

SLEEC Island was delivered to us on June  29, 2009.  We expected a square flat piece of land.  We were so surprised to find a large mountain on the island!  We immediately began work on shaping the land, attending classes and completing tutorials, building structures, gathering resources. and making plans for our educators to use SLEEC island.  After 6 very busy weeks, we have several venues available for use.
At this time, SLEEC Island is open to group members only, but enrollment is open.  You must wear your group tag to gain access to the island.
Come check out our progress and start making plans for how you can use this virtual environment with your learning group!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/SLEEC%20Island/114/142/28

ISTE’s 30th National Educational Computer Conference 2009 will be held June 28th – July 1st.  For those of us not able to attend, there are many opportunities to participate virtually via ISTE Connects Live,  ISTEVision Network and Second Life. All during NECC, there will be streaming media off and on of various sessions at ISTE Island 4.

All during the Playground hours at NECC, and likely in off-hours, avatars will gather for inworld presentations that will often be piped into the Second Life Playground and the 21st Century Media Center Playground in Washington.

The Playground Schedule Page (use the day of the week tabs) and the Second Life Playground Wiki provide information about topics and presenters.

Finally, those of you who want to collaborate with other virtual NECCer’s, check out the NECC Ning.

Hope to see you at the conference!

We invite you to join us as we explore the educational possibilities of the use of a Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE) to support teaching and learning.  Linden Lab’s Second Life (SL), a virtual world utilizing a web-based platform, provides the medium for educator professional development and collaboration, as well as an engaging, 3D immersive learning environment. This virtual world is being used to simulate face-to-face interaction by professional organizations and educational institutes globally. Higher Education provides online courses via SL. School districts use this virtual space to provide professional development regardless of geographical location of the participants.

So now do you get started? To use the SL web based application you must download a small application, create an account and choose your avatar.  If you choose to register for your account through the educator portal, your avatar will rez in world at ISTE Island at the beginning of a walkway.  There are informational signs that will help you get oriented into SL.  Take the time to watch the movie of ISTE’s journey into this new world.  Be sure to click on the sign to join the ISTE group so that you will receive notices inworld of scheduled events. Continue along the walkway through the Orientation Area where you will learn basic second life skills.   At the end of the walkway is the headquarter building in which there is a resource room with free items and landmarks to educational sims.  Many times there are scheduled volunteer docents available to assist new avatars.

ISTE Island has regularly scheduled events that are posted on the front of the headquarter building.  Tuesday nights is a speaker series, Thursday evenings are social events and every other Sunday a tour of educational sims is conducted, departing from ISTE headquarters.  The Blogger’s Hut and Podcast Hut are located down the hill from the main building.  Here you will find links to podcasts and blogs related to educational activities using SL.
ISTE Island is a place you will choose to call home.  Hope to see you there!