MUVES+and+Professional+Development

=Rachel Burkett - MUVES & Second Life=

I decided to revisit Second Life this week to see what professional presence I could find within. Using the search features, I first located International Society for Technology in Education ( [] ) (ISTE). They have a few different areas on their island, but not a lot currently in use. The blogging hut was probably one of the best ones they had, which linked to different blogs. They also have an area called Project Theater, but it wasn’t being used at the time I was there. Since my students have been working on space in science lately, I did a search for NASA and found many different modules there. ( [] )They have a main island and once you take a tour card from the island, you can teleport to their other modules, such as the volcano or Antarctica one. In searching for a personal learning network, I found Edtech ( [] ). Edtech has many resources for teachers to utilize in their classrooms, and is a good way to keep up with the current trends in education. The island seeks to provide a lot of information in a variety of formats. This would be a good way to connect with other teachers intent on making technology the forefront of the classroom. Finally I found the Tennessee Educational Technology Association island. [] Members can keep up to date with things occurring in the world of technology, and meet with other teachers to discuss how technology is changing classrooms.

I could engage colleagues in networks such as these by finding various islands in Second Life that would be beneficial, or even by creating a presence for our teachers to explore. I consider the islands like a visual type of wiki. Give the island a main purpose and set up some basic plans for what it will be used for. Different people can build on various parts of one particular island to share and gain new knowledge on that topic. Every so often, people could get together in order to discuss new ideas or hold forums, like attending a conference without all the travel expenses.

Sarah, how would you use Second Life in your class (if there were no learning barriers?). I think teachers would really benefit from the use of the professional development, and you could probably develop a professional learning community around the program so that teachers could add and lean on each other as they learned the program. I think that it would be a great thing to combine with other teachers around the world. Perhaps your teachers could play as one account just to go through the world and collaborate with other teachers. //(Note: My response to Sarah is late because her posts were not made until 4/2/12 8:45 AM as seen in the edits box)//

=Sarah Bernhofer Pottle- MUVES & Second Life=

The first organization I found in MUVE that seemed particularly helpful with our field (and offered tutorials) is a group sponsored by Boise State University. It is called “EDTECH Island Sandbox & Campus - Virtual Teacher Education” ([]). It seems helpful as it is open to the public and can provide teachers with a place to meet and discuss new trends in technology education. It also seems to offer tutorials in both Second Life itself but also in other new teaching technologies. It seems like a great professional organization of which to be a part post-graduation. Another interesting site that I came across was one for English Language Learners. As I was researching about MUVEs this week, I thought of English Language Learners and how they could really benefit from an online environment such as Second Life. They do not even necessarily need to be living in America, just learning English through interacting with others in all parts of the world. This group offers lessons, tutorials, and more for free. [|(http://world.secondlife.com/place/781b5dbe-bc3d-8222-5ce6-4a64dffb31d3?lang=en-US])

A third resource that I found was iEducate Island, where teachers “learn about e-learning technologies, overcome barriers and enhance the experience for their learners.” ([]). It seems like another good place to gather new information on technology education.

I also found a wiki page, developed by Second Life users, that can help answer many questions and naviate through Second Life. I know that I found it helpful when I was trying to figure out search engines, forums, and more. This wiki could be used in professional development session for Second Life. In order to have an effective professional development, however, I feel like I would need much more time to research and develop a community in Second Life; I have been looking at it for one week, and I feel like I am just starting to scratch the surface!

Rachel- I love your idea of having a community of teachers get together to discuss their new ideas. I was not thinking on that level as USING Second Life as a mode of professional development, I was simply thinking of holding a professional development on the use of Second Life in a classroom. That's a great suggestion, though. I wonder how teachers would react, given that teachers are always so short on time, and Second Life is a huge time commitment.