New Life for K-12 Use of Second Life
I think of Second Life as an online collaborative environment that I am using to support teaching and learning in real life. The wonder of the interface is the low-cost and engaging one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many aspects.
There are a core group of pioneering K-12 educators who have been in Second Life for a while now. I am starting to notice a couple of things and would like to pose a challenge.
1. There is a core group of K-12 educators, but I am not seeing many new faces.
2. There does not seem to be a lot of real life K-12 professional development going in in SL (or I am not aware of it.) I think, in order to entice others to the venue, more emphasis needs to be placed on the professional development aspects instead of the social aspects.
3. There needs to be a central database (not dependent upon the group messages) of any open-to-the-public K-12 real life professional development taking place in Second Life.
4. Everyone needs to have voice chat enabled...they do not have to talk, but must be able to listen.
5. Group leaders should use the group IM process sparingly, and only minutes before an event is to occur. It is often problematic and annoying when users are involved in something else. I have taken myself out of many groups because of these interruptions. (I liken it to someone coming into a real life faculty meeting and yelling "There is a make-your-own sundae bar in the staff room!" The meeting kinda goes flat at that point.) We are professional enough to have the events on our own calendars, IMHO.
The challenge I propose to current Second Life educators.
1. Bring one new educator colleague into Second Life per month. Mentor them through the beginning tough times. Make sure they have voice chat enabled.
2. Create and present one real-life professional development session, using voice chat, every two months in Second Life. Those of you in Second Life are capable of using the tools and I know that you have a a huge amount of educational pedagogy to share. Enter the information about your event here. I will be the editor of the database.
With two recent prime-time televisions shows and many talk shows showcasing the non-educational side of Second Life, I think it would benefit those of us who feel this venue is valuable for teaching and learning to provide more professional content in-life.
Kathy
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Kathy Schrock
Lighthouse Learning Island
Nauset Public Schools
Labels: Kathy Schrock, Lighthouse Learning Island
posted by Kathy Schrock @ 7:55 AM
7 Comments
7 Comments:
I think many of your comments are spot on. I am thinking that there are many things that I do not know about in Second Life. The folks at ISTE have been always great and the docents are absolutely terrific. However there so many things that I do not know how to do that I am finding difficult to learn on my own or concepts in Second Life that I do not fully grasp. I am a horrible at building things, I can barely change my appearance, I don't know enough about the money stuff works, I had the devil of a time responding to an IM the other night. ISTE Socials are fun but folks seem to be all such old friends, thinks move so fast, I am a tongue tied newbie and my terminal shyness explodes exponentially as chats explode around me. There are times when my movement in the grid is slow and jerky and I do stupid things like walking into your whiteboard while simply trying to sit down on Thursday (sorry about that). I can read the note cards, about how things work, and I know that things like whiteboards and presentation screens are there, but I am unclear about how to use them or get then. I watch people rent space, buy space, and then like Lighthouse, buy an Island. I may never do that but I am not sure of how that is done. I think that what would help me is some field trips with a mentor. A small group going to a sandbox and learning to build better, for an hour. Going to some of the unsavory places (which I have stumbled upon) just to get a better feel of that side of SL, or going to some of the great places lead by somebody who knows how to hang glide or drive the race car. I think I just need a directed, structured helping hand in some areas as teh accidental learning I am doing will prove slow.
On a whole other level, it is fascinating to me. I am an immigrant in this land. I gravitate to the safe places, that places where people are like me are. This process and conversation is like two folks speaking Polish at the back of the church or the social club, trying to make sense of this placed called America, and for a little bit, I get to walk in the shoes of my grandfathers. They just posted that the state X-Country meet is on despite the rain. Gotta go. Go Woodstock!
Kathy,
You make some excellent points. I have been feeling the same way. Same faces. I, too, believe we need to focus on the educational aspect rather than the social. The DEN has been doing a great job of holding sessions.
As Steve noted in his comments, it is hard for someone that is a newbie. I have had to do almost everything by myself and it is quite frustrating. I also feel out of place in a room with people who all know each other. Much easier if you can go with others. Teachers need to have someone in-world to show them how to do simple things such as join a group, chat with a friend. While we think these are simple, for a newbie it is not.
I like your idea of bringing in one new educator a month. I love the idea of having a listing somewhere where educators can post their events. I have just recently started to look for events by other groups and it is hard to keep track of everything going on.
I am still trying to get to one of your professional development sessions on Second Life.
I would love to be able to start attending (and start giving) professional development in Second Life on educational topics. Beth Knittle just did one last week on Differentiation using United Streaming.
I agree those in SL need to help contribute to the experience. We are in SL to explore this medium but we are also here to expand our opportunities to learn. We need to partake of the professional development but have confidence in our skills and abilities as educators to offer professional development. There is no need to wait for an invitation.
Thanks for your insights Kathy!
To take up your challenge...I am presenting at NACOL (North American Coalition for Online Learning) on Tuesday November 6 about Second Life (a reworking of the Boats On Mars presentation) and want to involve the people "in the room" in RL with folks at the ET Idea Library, to make the point that real work is getting done there. I've submitted the info into the database and hope that some of us can show up "in world"
Hear Hear! I am new to Second Life myself, JennAFuzz Gabardini, and the entire reason I got involved is becuase I heard about the exciting professional development and learning opportunities. I have not had a lot of time to get involved; however, the couple of times I've been in-world, I have really enjoyed seeing what was happening in education. I briefly went to the ISTE island and have joined several education groups. I do not recall if I joined the K-12 educator group; however, that will be first on my list when I get log-in (probalby tomorrow!). I am an Instructional Technology Specialist who works at an Education Service Center in TX and would love the opportunity to teach in SL - once I get the hang of things around there, of course! Looking forward to when we are able to meet. :)
Most of your comments were quite accurate and thoughtful. The only one I have issue with is number four: "you must be able to listen."
I have done substantial work with the Deaf sl community and the platform is already challenging enough with section 508 in mind.
Best of luck with your endeavors.
Hi: I am the ESL Coordinator for Watertown Public Schools. I've been involved in professional development for teachers of English language learners for 20 years or so. I'm quite intrigued by the potential of Second Life with respect to PD for teachers across districts and also internationally.
It's a pleasure to discover your site and I've been learning much from it.
thank you, Rob Stergis
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