MUVES+and+Professional+Development

Multi-User Virtual Environments
Syuen Walker-Ferreira After exploring available literature on MUVE I would share the knowledge with my colleagues. However before I share it with them I would use it in my class, when I introduce it to my students and get feedback from them then I would take it to my coworkers. The first thing I would inform them of is that MUVE has a number of professional organizations that they work in collaboration with such as The River City Project and The Quest Atlantis. They would be told that these are the developers as well. After which I would tell them what it is about. MUVE is a website with a number of interactive games or should I say virtual world. It can be used in Science as well as other subject areas to teach students a number of realistic concepts such as decision making, thinking about consequences among a number of other issues. It is my belief that if there is something as interactive as this to help our students then we need to take advantage of it. I suggest we learn something about it first through workshops so that we can better facilitate our students while they are using it. With the help of MUVE we can say good bye to abstract teaching, now students can actually exist in the content in an alternate dimension. I think students will learn the concepts we are trying to teach as well as other life issues to help them through life.

Syen, I agree that we need to take advantage of such interactive features such as MUVES, however, I fear that pursuing such avenues could potentially lead to less face-to-face interaction. This would be walking a fine line. Studies have been conducted on the affect of human interaction with infants and less interaction is extremely negative. It makes sense that this too could correlate to our students learning as well. For me personally, I am more interested in have a discussion with someone in person. This is further confirmed by employers who prefer face-to-face interviews rather than through skype or over the phone. Though the world is changing through technology, I believe that keeping human interaction in the classroom is important.

Derek I understand your point and agree however, there are some of us who prefer cyber world. Sue MATTHEW HORNING I have experience in our district using OpenSim. It is a FREE platform that mirrors SecondLife in many ways. I found a wonderful article that outlines how to begin using OpenSim at your school.

You can participate in weekly "office hours" to learn more about Open Sim. Every Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. EST, there is a meeting at osgrid.org - Wright Plaza. The chat conversation between developers maybe over our heads as teachers but you are allowed to bring up any topic and people there might be able to direct you to a better place to learn the answers to your questions. This would however be a great place to send your district technology staff if they have any questions or concerns about using OpenSim.

In another virtual world, SecondLife, a group of history teachers meets each Sunday evening at 8:00 pm EST called Virtual Pioneers. The meeting takes place on EduIsland 9 in the SecondLife world.

I also found a wiki that has an enormous amount of useful information about OpenSim, although some is not applicable to education. It is called @http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page Another website that has a number of helpful hints is a blog called [] Finally, a blog called @http://sigve.weebly.com/ is a host for members of ISTE who meet in SecondLife for professional development the 3rd Tuesday of every month.

I think it would be a great idea to host a workshop in OpenSim because it would allow all of the teachers to participate in OpenSim for their own reason. Some of the teachers would then be able to see ways they could integrate it into their classroom. I think back to the first time we were asked to use VoiceThread for our Walden coursework. I was able to see connections to my middle school class immediately and integrated VoiceThread into a lesson that very week. Of course, it would take longer to implement OpenSim because of the server and technical issues. You could also benefit from the knowledge of people who are not physically present at your school.

Hi matthew You have some excellent ideas on how you would inform others about Opensim, it is good that there are so many available places where you can actually get help with technology. It is sad to say but there are no available forums as the ones you describe in your post. For us to have something like that teachers would actually have to plan one. Good back ground work. Sue

Derek Meyer
CyberWatch, a technology education organization funded by the National Science Foundation, has begun to use Second Life for training as their organization has grown and spread throughout the United States. At Tacoma Community College and Western Wymoning Community College, nursing students use Second Life to train in simulated environments. It is used to develop patient interactions and real time decision making. ISTE provides a personal learning network for educators to share their uses of virtual worlds.

With all of the training seminars and interactive environments in Second Life, my fellow educators would best be engaged through use of the product itself. This would take some preparation from myself and our districts professional development coordinator, but through guided interactions within this virtual world, my colleagues would have the opportunity to both learn about such platforms and experience Second Life all at the same time.

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Derek - my experience has been that ISTE (both online and at the conference) is a great place to network with "the best of the best" when it comes to best practices of using technology in education. The 2010 ISTE Conference is where I was first introduced to virtual worlds in education, and the teachers I spoke with were true leaders in not only using Second Life, but also creating profession learning networks for educators to continue their collaboration, discussions and exploration of using virtual worlds in the classroom. I also agree with you - using the product itself to network with other teachers is a great way to collaborate and learn the platform first hand. =====

Derek - Thinking of my own district, it would difficult to convince a large group of teachers to jump into SecondLife. However, if we were to try and organize a county wide effort, there might be enough interested folks throughout all of the schools in our county. We have a very active county technology consortium. Thanks for the good examples of organizations using MUVES for professional development. - Matt

Cindy Buchanan
This week I spent time further researching MUVEs that would be appropriate for the elementary classroom setting. [|__Whyville__] is designed for children aged six to sixteen. It is a great way for student to explore careers that they would like such as becoming a veterinarian, a medical doctor, etc. [|__The Great Books Foundation__] has also partnered with Whyville to bring quality literature experiences to the virtual world. I explored the [|__Whyville__] environment and also found an [|__educational Ning__] for educators focused on using Whyville. On the Ning, educators share lesson guides and curriculum as well as engage in discussions relating to its uses in the classroom. Because of its chat feature, Whyville would be a good environment to allow students to practice positive digital citizenship skills in a safe setting monitored by the teacher.

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__[|A great wiki]__ that I found also has resources for Reaction Grid, Second Life and Whyville. The wiki has a collection of ideas for getting started with virtual worlds as well as educational places to go in each of the virtual worlds. The 2011 ISTE Conference hosted [|__Virtual Environments Playground__] which gave conference attendees an opportunity to explore virtual worlds in a hands on interactive environment. Experienced teachers shared student projects and guidance to attendees interested in exploring the virtual platforms. I plan on attending the 2012 ISTE Conference and hope to network with more experienced teachers using MUVEs in their classrooms. =====

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This week I have also explored [|__BrainNook__] and [|__Moneyville__] both geared for K-5 students. I have not used these with my classes, but am exploring them as potential options. I have also joined an [|__educational Ning__] to explore and learn more about Virtual Worlds and their place in a K-5 educational setting. I participate in [|__EDChat__] usingTwitter, and each week participants can recommend topics of discussion. I plan to recommend MUVEs as a future topic of discussion. I am interested in gaining new perspectives and learning from more experienced teachers. With the virtual environments that I have discovered from this week, I feel that I have ignited an interest and information about MUVEs that I can share with colleagues. =====