Due 10/2 - Virtual Worlds

This will be an opportunity to meet, greet and talk with people through virtual means. Review these materials, enroll in Second Life (SL), and explore Second Life before we meet on Second Life.
After you sign-up for SL. remember to post your Second Life name on our SL wiki page.

Remember that we will have an Out-of-Class meeting "In-World" (that means in the Second Life world) at 9:00 pm. You will need to be signed up and have spent some time in SL before our meeting. (If you didn't have time to spend some time in SL, just show up anyway.)

7 Things You Should Know about Virtual Worlds
A virtual world is an immersive online environment whose "residents" are avatars representing individuals who participate through the Internet. Many institutions are experimenting with virtual worlds for educational purposes. They may foster constructivist learning by placing students in a context that challenges them to learn without explicit learning objectives and assessment.

Using Second Life for Immersive Learning (Educause Connect Podcast) 14-minute podcast with Dr. Cynthia Calongne, Professor of Computer Science at Colorado Technical University. Discusses how she uses Second Life to provide rea-life laboratories for her students.

Educational Uses of Second Life
Interesting 7-minute video introduction to the educational possibilities of Second Life.

Dr. Z's Intro to Second Life Wiki
A series of YouTube videos that Dr. Z found to introduce you to Second Life.

Virtual Social Worlds And the Future of Learning
Learning in Three Dimensions: Experiencing the Sensibilties Imagining the Possibilities of virtual worlds in education.

Build fast in Second Life with free stuff
Tutorial on how to build a house in second life.

Second Life Building Tutorial by NSS
Fun to watch video that teaches basic building skills

Second Life Camera Turorial by NSS
Really helpful for looking at things and getting differents views of objects

Due 9/18 - Social Networking & ?

Here are ALL of the assignments for Thursday.

Each of you should download Twitteriffic or Twitteroo for your own laptop computer. These are the desktop applications that will enable Twitter messages to appear on your desktop instead have having to go to the Twitter website.

RSS in Plain English (Video 3:44) - RSS is the Real Simple Syndication system that has been developed to allow you to subscribe to blogs, podcasts, news feeds, and ?? It also explains the Google Reader.

20 Types of Blog Posts - A list of type of blog posts that will fit into the Google Docs project we discussed on Thursday. Use this to begin to populate the spreadsheet. Add others if you think of some.
Listen to at least 1 of the following "Shifting Our Schools" Podcasts (You might want to listen to both.)

Shifting Our Schools Episode 7: How Do Adults Learn? (Podcast 60:00)
60-minute discussion between the two hosts (Jeff and David) and a professional development professional, David. Full of insights for teaching professionals in a higher-ed setting.
Shifting Our Schools Episode 9: How to Go Deeper in Student Learning. Why Go Deeper?
This is an exceptional podcast where Michael Lambert shares some of his instructional and assessment practices that take the learning deeper and make it more meaningful for his students. Mike will talk about making connections in the brain and making connections between other areas of study. You can read more about this in the podcast's "show notes."
Classroom 2.0 (An Educator's Social Network)
This website is a social network created by Steve Hargadon. You will notice that it has over 8,000 educators. There must be something that professionals find interesting and useful.

• Sign up to be a member of Classroom 2.0
• Add your photo (optional) and as much information about yourself as you feel comfortable doing.
• Look for your classmates and add them as colleagues. (Search for them, click on their names, click on the "Add as Colleague" link below their photos. (This may take a few visits if you want to get all of them. Begin with Leigh Zeitz.)
  
• Read the groups and join one that interests you.
• Review the Media section and upload a photo or movie or ?? that might interest others.
• Explore the other aspects of Classroom 2.0 to see how it might be useful in your profession.

We will share your experiences in Classroom 2.0 in class. Be prepared to tell us what you found, what it meant to you and how you will use it in the future.

C U Then.

Photo: flickr.com

Due 9/11 - Social Networking

Social networking has added another level of depth to learning. It can facilitate deeper connections between learners and extend one's personal network beyond geographical boundaries. Review this information and consider what social networking means to you.

The Machine is Us/ing Us
A 4:34 video taking us on a tour of what and how the Web is changing who and what and where we are.

Classroom 2.0
This ning website has over 29,000 educators registered. It was created by Steve Hargadon to give educators a place to go. Register in Classroom 2.0. Build your profile. Explore the community for 20 minutes. Look at the groups, forums and ??. Watch some videos. Consider how you would use this in your corporate setting, university or k12 classroom.

Personal Learning Networks are Virtual Lockers for Schoolkids
Vicki Davis explains how she uses PLNs in her classroom

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital natives, digital immigrants.
This is the classic article about generation differences. Reflect how this applies to your life and your associates.

Prensky, M. (2005) Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner
Read your the article and leave your own insightful comment.

Blogs, a primer: Class content (Blog)
Review this blog. It reviews using Blogs as well as Podcasts as well as ?????

Blogger: How to Start a Blog (YouTube Video)
A 2-minute video on how to create your Blogger blog and begin with your first posting.

Using Wikispaces in the Classroom (Podcast)
This is a 30-minute interview with Vicki Davis, a high school teacher in GA, and Adam Frey, the developer of Wikispaces.com.

Dr. Z video on "How to Post Your Blog Link to Our Class Wiki Page" (video)
This is an instructional video on how to put your blog link on our wiki page. You will find our wiki page linked to our WebCT opening page or you can get there from here (There appears to be some screen size problems with the video so you might have to play with it to see the whole picture.) Emerging Instructional Technology Wiki Fall '08

Twitter in Plain English (YouTube Video)
A 3-minute video explaining Twitter. (Optional)

Introduction to Twitter (YouTube Video)
A 4-minute video that explains how to sign-up for Twitter and how to find people to follow. (Optional)

Photo: http://www.problogger.net