Free Conference Opportunity

by Beth Ritter-Guth

If you are not yet a member of Innovate, please join. They are an excellent free resource. Read below about their newest issue and upcoming web conference! - BRG

Innovate is an open-access, refereed, bimonthly, electronic journal focusing on creative ways to use information technology to enhance education in all sectors. This announcement is a one-time only mailing that you will receive unless you subscribe to the journal. Subscriptions are free, but we do need for you to complete the demographic information on the subscription form that will pop up when you click on an article's URL.

We open the June/July issue of with two articles that resume the discussion of the Net Generation from our previous issue—but with very different assessments of the educational playing field. In addressing the needs of this population, Donald Philip proposes a model of education that acknowledges the sociocultural changes wrought by new technological tools, taps into the virtualization of knowledge arising from such tools, and fashions learning environments based on small, flexible groups that resemble the small teams currently used by institutions in the business world. (See http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=368 )

However, Sarah Lohnes and Charles Kinzer caution that our assumptions about the Net Generation may often be based on generalizations that do not sufficiently address contextual differences from one population to the next. Their ethnographic study found that while liberal arts students relied extensively on technology in their everyday lives, they remained resistant to in-class technology use and instead endorsed a traditional model of education based on interpersonal contact with the instructor. (See http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=431 )

While debates about the Net Generation will continue, instructors are also addressing these questions through innovative forms of pedagogical practice. Helen Sword and Michelle Leggott discuss how their students used online tools to preserve literary texts from university archives while also exploring the potential of such tools to support new, collaborative forms of creative expression in cyberspace. (See http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=389)

Edward Gehringer, Luke Ehresman, Susan G. Conger, and Prasad Wagle offer an account of how a custom-designed software product was used in computer science courses to support the construction of peer-reviewed learning objects by the students themselves, which can in turn be assessed, modified, or supplemented by future students in the same course, thereby allowing students to take ownership of their learning to an entirely new level. (See http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=365 )

Bill Gibbs and Erik Larson illustrate the use of a videoconferencing system to deliver highly detailed forms of instruction in courses focusing on multimedia design and software design for online and hybrid courses. (See http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=388 )

Meanwhile, future innovations in pedagogy and instructional design will continue to rely upon effective, well-planned faculty development and teacher training programs. In his account of faculty development efforts at Bronx Community College, Howard Wach outlines how these efforts evolved through three major formats—two-hour technology workshops, semester-long workshops, and a one-week summer program—and he describes the respective challenges and advantages afforded by each format. (See http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=424 )

We close this issue with an article by Kathleen Roney and MaryAnn Davies, who describe how they employed a Web-based communications tool to promote standards-based instruction, foster reflective practice and focused mentoring, and facilitate the development of electronic portfolios to help teacher education interns bridge the gap between their training and their
classroom practice. (See http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=294 )

Finally, please do not forget the Innovate-Live Seminar Series beginning Tuesday, June 5 through Friday, June 8, 2007. The seminar program and registration (free) is available at our Innovate-Live portal at http://www.uliveandlearn.com/PortalInnovate/

Please forward this announcement to appropriate mailing lists and to colleagues who want to use IT tools to advance their work. Ask your organizational librarian to link to Innovate in their resource section for open-access e-journals.

James L. Morrison
Editor-in-Chief, Innovate
http://www.innovateonline.info/
Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership
UNC-Chapel Hill
http://horizon.unc.edu/

Finding SLURLs

by Alan Levine

A recent question to the list...

I've also read about a way of sending SULRs to del.icio.us - however, I'm not that familiar with del.icio.us - and searching for "SURL" as a tag gets you the Usability lab at Wichita (which has very useful resources & I use a lot ... only I didn't want them right now!)

A combo tag may help-
http://del.icio.us/tag/slurl+education

And Sean had an excellent set of reference sites. For more of the "almanac" approach you described, try Aggiornamento II: http://aggiornamento-ii.blogspot.com/

CTU Grand Opening Friday, June 1-2

by Cynthia Calongne

Greetings from Lyr Lobo! *grins*

Colorado Technical University is proud to invite you to Bonfire, our Second Life grand opening party June 1st-2nd (Friday noon - Saturday noon SL Time) featuring 24 hours of live music and celebration. Many thanks to the New Media Consortium's (NMC's) Virtual Worlds team who designed Colorado Technical University's Second Life campus.

Several of my student projects from our computer science classes, including the Amusement Park and the Maze Game Traps, will be out on the Boardwalk for you to enjoy. I presented them at the Best Practices in Education in Second Life conference May 25th. As you review these projects, think back to your first days in SL and what you were building. *smiles* I wasn't making Amusement Park Rides or a Duck Shoot during my first week or two in SL and I am very proud of my students' accomplishments. *grins*

Everyone is invited to Bonfire and we hope to see you! *cheers* The party lasts 24 hours, so drop by at a time that is convenient for you. The island name, if searching by map, is Colorado Tech. Click the following link to bring up the location within Second Life.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Colorado%20Tech/128/128/0

This event is hosted by a variety of talented folks and sponsors, including Flameheart Sol and Konny Kembla. Many thanks to our organizers! Here is the official announcement, also available in the Events/Live Music section of Second Life's Search menu.

The House of Flames is pleased to announce the Grand Opening of The Second Life Campus of Colorado Technical University by hosting BONFIRE 2007, twenty-four hours of live music, sponsored in part by Thomson NETg, Kent-Havercamp Enterprises, and Slipstream Audio. Come visit this new campus, professionally designed by the New Media Consortium, and also a home to the Academy of Second Learning. The music will start at noon on Friday, June 1 and will rock the island until noon on Saturday. Come and see the most awaited music festival in Second Life!

SLanguages 2007 Conference

by Gavin Dudeney

A much smaller affair than the Best Practices, which was obviously a model of good organisation and a great success – congratulations to all! However, we hope this will be interesting to those of you who are engaged with language education in-world.

Introduction

The Consultants-E are proud to host the first Annual Second Life Language Teaching Colloquium (SLanguages ) 2007 on Saturday June 23^rd on the island of EduNation in Second Life. The aim of this event is to bring together practitioners working (or planning to work) in language education in Second Life, for a series of presentations followed by a panel discussion.

Rationale

The explosive growth in Second Life over the past few months has brought more and more educators in-world and we are now seeing an increasing number of language educators experimenting with the environment and trying to work towards ideas for exploiting it in their teaching. However, recent conversations on lists such as the Second Life Languages one have thrown up some serious queries and debates on the effectiveness of such environments on the language learning process and have demonstrated that more discussion and experimentation are needed in order to fully get to grips with 'Web 3-D'. Additionally, the entrance of larger organisations such as LanguageLab and the British Council has increased interest in Multi-User Learner Environments and has started off the debate on a possible roadmap for future work in-world.

Through the course of the event, we hope to tease out some of the major issues and considerations in delivering language education in Second Life, and work towards some basic guidelines for best practice in the area.

Location

The event will take place in the Seminar Area of EduNation, the Consultants-E sim in Second Life. You can find the island using the Search facility in Second Life, or by following this URL: http://tinyurl.com/yehbto

Technical Details

The seminar will use Second Life as its primary medium, but will also make use of a Ventrilo voice server. In order to hear the presenters and participate, you will need to download and configure the Ventrilo voice client. This can be downloaded from the following site: http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php . Details of how to connect to the EduNation Ventrilo server will be given nearer the day, once the approved list of participants has been finalised.

Sign-Ups

The event has a limit of 50 participants, so you are encouraged to sign up early to avoid disappointment. You can sign up for the event in-world by IMing Dudeney Ge (Editor's note: or see email address in original SLED list posting) stating your real name and your SL avatar name. If sign-ups exceed 50, we will put people on a waiting list and they will be moved into the participant list as and when spaces become available.

Archiving

The talk visuals and audio streams will be archived and made available on the island as soon as possible after the event. If you are unable to attend, we will keep these materials available for a while after the event so that you can catch up with what we hope are going to be stimulating and diverse presentations from around the globe.

Programme

All times are GMT (CET in round brackets) [ SL in square brackets ]

Full abstracts will follow shortly...

08:45 – 09:00 (10:45 – 11:00) [01:45 – 02:00]

• Introduction from Gavin Dudeney, Project Director of The Consultants-E

09:00 – 09:45 (11:00 – 11:45) [02:00 – 02:45]

• Paul Preibisch & Kip Boahn (Korea)
  The English Village Project

10:00 – 10:45 (12:00 – 12:45) [03:00 – 03:45]

• Hugh O'Donnell
  The Scottish Secondary Sector

11:00 – 11:45 (13:00 – 13:45) [04:00 – 04:45]

• Nik Peachey
  Materials Design in SL (LanguageLab)

11:45 – 12:15 (13:45 – 14:15) [04:45 – 05:15]

• Poster Presentations

12:15 – 13:15 (14:15 – 15:15) [05:15 – 06:15]

Lunch

13:15 – 14:00 (15:15 – 16:00) [06:15 – 07:00]

• Birdie Newborn
  Language Inside & Outside the Classroom

14:15 – 15:00 (16:15 – 17:00) [07:15 – 08:00]

• Graham Stanley & Kyle Mawer
  Tales of Mystery, Imagination & Education in the Teen Grid (British Council)

15:15 – 16:30 (17:15 – 18:30) [08:15 – 09:30]

Panel Discussion

Poster Presentations

The poster presentation session is for those attendees who are working in language education in Second Life, but are not speaking at the event. If you would like to display a poster about any SL work you are doing (with optional landmark and notecard), please contact Dudeney Ge in-world to transfer full permission versions of the texture, landmark and notecard. Our staff will take care of putting your poster together and displaying it in the Social Area on the island.

If you do decide to prepare a poster presentation it would be valuable if you could be with your poster through the duration of the poster session to talk to interested participants.

Lunch Break

The lunch break is not only an opportunity to take a break from the conference, should you need one, but also a chance to chat to the other participants and to enjoy the event in a more relaxed social environment. You are encouraged to break off into groups and explore the themes of the day with like-minded colleagues.

Q & A

The Q & A will give each presenter 5 minutes to summarise their thoughts on the day's discussions and presentations before moving on to open the debate up to the audience for approximately 45 minutes. Questions from the audience will be fielded by Dudeney Ge and directed to appropriate presenters as they are submitted. Please note that questions must be sent to the moderator and not directly spoken in public chat.

Advertising

Please note that this is not a commercial venture, and whilst reference to actual in-world locations and events, as well as RL organisations and work are fine in the context of the event, presentations have been designed to be informative rather than commercial. Speakers may, of course, hand out notecards, landmarks and free SL gifts as they choose.

Open SLedware

by Beth Ritter-Guth

Hiro Sheridan had a mastermind plan to start discussing ways to create a SL based Open Courseware program. This resulted in a nice chat and the foundation of an awesome new SL initiative!

Out of world, join the Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/open-sledware

visit the Wiki: http://opensledware.wikispaces.com/

Inworld, join the group Open Sledware

FREE SL Office Residency on EduIsland II

by Laelia Laval

Nancy Sharoff (Laelia Laval - SL) and Kevin Jarrett (KJ Hax) are pleased to announce the launch of "SLolar Central" (SLolar = Second Life Scholar), a facility providing FREE, temporary "office space" (and other resources) for K-20 educators and school administrators exploring Second Life. Need a place to 'set to home'?

.

Kevin and Nancy met at the Google Teacher Academy in NYC. We are so excited about SL's potential that we decided to create our own community for fellow educators. So, we leased three floors in a gorgeous tower on EduIsland II, located at:
.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%20II/32/213/21
.

Here are some photos:

http://flickr.com/photos/kjarrett/502557125/
http://flickr.com/photos/kjarrett/502557089/
http://flickr.com/photos/kjarrett/502557063/
.

SLolar Central is a gathering place for educators committed to exploring the possibilities of SL, a place where avatars can experiment with modes of communication, building, movement, etc. to enhance their SL experience and find ways to use it in the classroom and as a means of professional development. Our vision is to create a community of learners devoted to exploring SL and sharing the experience. To find out more, please visit SLolar Central's Google Groups page at:
.

http://groups.google.com/group/slolar-central
1. Click on 'Files'
2. Click on 'Temporary Office Space Residency Application'
3. Copy/paste text into the body of an e-mail and send it to laelia
[dot] laval [at] gmail [dot] com
4. Don't forget to click on 'Apply for group membership' as well!
.

We are very excited about the potential for this community and hope that many of you will join us as we explore the infinite possibilities of SL. Space is limited, so act fast. Any questions? Let us know!

Professional Research Group for Educational 3D worlds

by Jonathon Richter

We're looking for more people that belong to (or that can soon join) the American Educational Research Association (AERA) - for a Special Interest Group (SIG) especially for 3D Virtual Worlds, such as Second Life.

http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=ARVEL

The Applied Research for Virtual Environments for Learning (ARVEL) special interest group at AERA, " is a community of educators, scholars, and practioners dedicated toward research in and on virtual environments. Using a variety of research methods, we support a diverse approach to understanding the optimal use of virtual worlds and environments for educational purposes. We're interested in developing a comprehensive research agenda, intended to encompass the breadth and scope of learning potentialities, affordances, challenges, and shortcomings of immersive virtual learning environments. "

We must have at least 30 members of AERA to qualify for this SIG - and demonstrate how we are a unique research community in need of a SIG.

Guess What?!? We have 29!

The next member of AERA to commit to paying the $10.00 annual fee will have the honor of fulfilling the minimum number of signatories necessary for our September 15th application. It will then be time for a small celebration - though I would like to continue the campaign until we reach between 60 and 100 signatories.

A healthy SIG for Multi-User Virtual Environments will need an active membership: the number of presentation sessions granted at the annual conference is determined somewhat on the number of proposals submitted through the SIG.

Please consider joining AERA if you are a Second Life resident and higher education faculty member - and sign up for ARVEL!

You can do so by editing the wiki here http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=ARVEL

E-Portfolio Open Access

By Jonathon Richter (Univ. of Oregon; WainBrave Bernal)

Jeremy Kemp and I presented at AERA last month on the Virtual Portfolio or vPortfolio concept - extending and enhancing the ePortfolio notion into 3D space. The slurl for our work-in-progress spot is here: http://tinyurl.com/ytqjna and we'd really like to collaborate with folks from the Second Life Educators group on ways to build out this idea, literally! :)

While 2D portfolios have traditionally relied, in one way / degree to another on the metaphors of (a) Map, (b) Sonnet, and (c) Mirror - depending upon the purpose of the ePortfolio (who is the audience, who is setting the goals, who is reviewing it - and is it for summative or formative evaluation?) - 3D or vPortfolios may generate new metaphors for collections of student work for the purposes of teaching and learning:

1) the Portfolio as Quest: collections of work can now immerse the viewer in a story, retold when a user ventures through.

2) the Portfolio as built Community: students can "hang out" and create things in a formal or informal setting, making and doing (much like a number of sims in SL - like my home in Chilbo!)

3) the Portfolio as Museum: Students can create a walkthrough (or flythrough) of an interactive exhibit - on a large or small scale.

4) the Portfolio as Marketplace : Students can use an economic scale to see how well the artifacts that demonstrate their knowledge now bear out their own skills.

There may be others out there in SL and other Multi-User Virtual environments - but my belief is that you are using a relatively inexpensive Portfolio Tool with Second Life. There just hasn't yet been a lot of development in any of the above 4 areas - though there ARE examples, of which I would humbly ask folks to submit so we may showcase them at the vPortfolio build on San Jose State's place.

We also are experimenting with the use of SLoodle as a way to capture reflection (via chat and blog tools) so students have a way of narrating why they feel they have met particular standards.

As for 2D, I like Elgg for learner - centered and OSPI for institution-centered portfolios. I've used Adobe Acrobat Writer and HyperStudio (ahem!) as generic tools to create them at Montana State, where I was in a previous life.

TaskStream and Avenet are great proprietary options.

If you or anyone is interested in finding out more about our vPortfolio work, let me know!

How about an open source OBJECT repository to enhance education in SL?

A question by Fire Centaur: ...Since we have all of these fabulous educators making great 3D objects for their presentations, why not create a repository where everyone could submit and catalog the objects they've created for their presentations... then, the community would have a rick library of presentation aids to use and share... I think this would be a great way to enhance the current SL education offerings... what do you think?

Jonathon Richeter (Wainbrave Bernal) responds...

We're aiming to do just that! Creating a repository and searchable database of Learning Objects available in Second Life with the help of the whole Community of Practice is precisely the aim of a newly funded "proof of concept" project called SLamander or The Salamander Project.

We have recently struck a partnership with MERLOT ( http://www.merlot.org/) to develop a typology of interrelated dimensions that are useful for educators of all stripes using this mileu.

We are also working with the good people at San Jose State - particularly Jeremy Kemp and a new group of mentors to assist teachers in SL (Greylin) - to develop the concept on several fronts: Salamander Tool development in Sloodle and a Salamander HUD and in testing things out prior to an official launch.

Right now, for example, we are working on developing the best way to create a slurl nomination and survey-based description tool that would log directly to a database. We will then filter these - possibly asking folks for further info - and then starting to place them in the MERLOT search interface. Next friday we're presenting at the Best Practices Conference on the concept and plan to be releasing more information about the particulars when they are more concrete such that we have capacity for folks to be more involved.

We should be ready for a full public announcement in the Fall 2007 - though this is a way of "getting the word out" now. ;)

Our initial effort, prior to officially partnering with MERLOT, was done here: http://www.eduisland.net/salamanderwiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Anyone interested in this is welcome to suggest ideas, or get involved by emailing me: jrichter -at- uoregon . edu

Free Land Grants for UK Community Development in SL

By Chris Eggplant (Chris Swain) ...

Education UK island is a not for profit educational island being constructed in Second Life to provide a 'safe' location for U.K. virtual education and community development.

Following on from our free education land grants programme [applications close 1^st June], we are now launching our free community development space programme, which offers the opportunity to apply for one of three plots of land in Second Life to support or enhance community development, social inclusion, regeneration or the democratic process for one academic year.

Applications are invited from UK organisations or groups [England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland] whose work in community participation, development, engagement etc can be extended or enhanced by using the simulation and creativity tools available within Second Life.

These could also include local or regional community organisations, such as resident associations, environmental groups, or maybe groups building communities of practice or support around areas such as safer communities, tackling racism, promoting community integration, sexual health, mental health etc. We are keen to see some innovative ideas.

Partnership applications and/or local authority led projects are fine as they may fit in with the local authority e-Government agenda.

In addition to the free land grant, the programme will also offer successful organisations:

• A one off startup grant of $10,000 Linden Dollars.
• A dedicated and password protected audio channel.
• Access to other island facilities.
• Access to a community of support for the duration of their project.
• A hosted project weblog.

You can download further information and an application form from: http://www.sleducationuk.net/?q=node/14

Applicants are asked to submit a completed application form, along with a delivery schedule / plan by Monday 2nd July 2007.

Successful applications will be announced by mid July 2007 and plots of land will be transferred as soon as practicable after that, so organisations or groups can plan for the inclusion of Second Life delivery within their work from that time onwards. The land will be granted free of all charges until 31st July 2008.

Documentation should be submitted in electronic format to: chris at sleducationuk . net

We would be grateful if you could forward this message onto other colleagues who you think may be interested in applying.

Call for participation in a survey about SL teaching practice

About three weeks ago Lili Luo launched a survey to study the current teaching practice (especially pedagogy) on SL, but only 15 responses have been received so far....

Could you please take 5 minutes to complete this survey and share your experience teaching a course in SL?

Here's the survey URL: http://senna.sjsu.edu/survey/phpq6/fillsurvey.php?sid=2

Luo promises to compile the results and send it to the SLED listserv.

SLED Listserv, Lili Luo, 10MAY07

ACHUB MediaCamp07: RL Meet-up in UK

Chris Hambly (SL's Audio Zenith) is planning to put together a REAL-LIFE meet-up around SecondLife, and other social media, in the not too distant future. He writes...

"A big event is being planned for October in UK (ACHUB MediaCamp07), as an "unconference", but I'd love some small barcamp style socials before then, and you'd all be welcome to come along, or set your own up under the ACHUB concept.

We have the ACHUB (http://audiocourses.pbwiki.com/) wiki which has some good events already listed in, any of you can set one up too, there are some basic rules listed, follow them and you can make things happen for sharing ideas and experiences as an ACHUB.

Very informal get togethers, all about sharing, all free, all unconference style.

I'll aim to get a barcamp meet-up in London, UK, fairly soon, so watch the wiki for details. Will be great to have a beer with some of and chat away like uber geeks.

Posted to SLED Listserv 09-MAY-07 by Chris Hambly

Calling all educators: Help needed for non-profit focus group

Sarah Robbins, ("Intellagirl Tully") is the Director of Emerging Technologies for Media Sauce ( www.mediasauce.com). She writes...

One of my first projects is to help out with a focus group for the People's Burn Foundation, a national non-profit organization, working with Campus FireWatch to develop a fire and burn safety program for college students that will help reduce the number of fire-related deaths to college students.

We need your help recruiting college students to participate in the focus group. The purpose of the focus group is to gather feedback from college students after they watch an 8 minute documentary about burn injuries and to determine a campaign strategy for teaching college students about burn and fire safety. "After the Fire," a Pulitzer Prize winning documentary, follows the story of two college students tragically burned in the Seton Hall fire and their recovery process.

The focus group will last approximately an hour, beginning with the video and concluding with a feedback session.

The first session will be on May 21 at 1pm SLT at the ACHUB. All participants will receive $L300 for their time.

This is a great cause and will also provide high education value for students who choose to participate. I hope that those of you who teach media design, communication, or teaching/training will see this is a valuable opportunity to expose your students to really great digital storytelling. The video is bound to spark great discussions about the use of various media and emotional appeal in video.

If you have a summer class or students doing work in SL please forward this along. If you bring a class we'll give you an extra L$ incentive (which is always handy for class expenses).

Contact Intellgirl Tully in-world for more details.

Posted to SLED Listserv on 09-MAY-07 by Sarah Robbins

Semano: Festival of European Song in Moyeno Valo, Rosario

Rosario is a nine sim island being created by Arcada, a university of applied science in Helsinki, Finalnd, La Kolegio Ilana, a institute of philosophical enquiry in Marinetta, Rosario, and other partners. The project has been working away quietly since October 2005. Some of the background details are available at www.marinetta.org and more will be added before mid-summer, when the next version of the site will be launched.

The purposes of the project are educational and the development of the island has been utilised in a wide range of undergraduate and graduate media programs.The methodology is a wholehearted experiment in learning by discovery.

This weekend Helsinki is hosting the Eurovision Song Contest. The video students at Arcada are working with a number of other institutes to broadcast live coverage all week over cable, online and using mobile television. The digital media students are working with the Institute for Technology Tallaight, Dublin to create the annual Semano Semano festival in La Mentala Rosario in Second Life.

This will take place over ten consecutive nights in Second Life (a night being the hour of darkness in each of the six daily cycles).

There will be live streaming from the streets of Helsinki. There will be a regularly updated photo exhibition with photographs from around Europe: an exhibition as live group blog. There will be sky-diving contests. There will be nightly treasure hunts. There will be mass demonstrations of the Rosarian national dance - done in full Rosarian National Costume.

There will be nightly discos featuring a test transmission from LaVoco - the 24 hour radio station launching in Rosario in August 2007, and transmitting throughout Second Life.

There will be guided tours of Rosario, and the usual assortment of freebies. There will be prizes including 3 free apartments for life!

The slurl for Moyeno Valo, the party site, is http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rosario%20B2/159/233/41/

More tomorrow - and please try to drop in at some point. We are running on ten consecutive "nights" so that everyone in every time zone gets a chance to experience the pleasures of the grizondi teleporting network, and other delights.

Posted to SLED listserv on 09-MAY-07 by Owen Kelly

Best Practices Conference Update

Can you believe that in just a few short weeks, the VERY FIRST inworld conference of educators will take place??

1. Are you planning to attend?
2. Do you want to present?
3. Does your college/school/program want a stand?
4. Do you play a game that you want to share?

It is OK if you are new to SL or if you can't be there all day. It is ok if you don't yet have students inworld. And it is OK if you just want to drop in for one or two sessions. Among the long list of talented keynotes and speakers, we have the awesome and lovely Intellagirl Tully and IBM's Chuck Hamilton.

Even if you are only popping in to see one session, we would like to know to expect you (to make sure we have enough chairs and all). As of right this moment, we are expecting about 300 people. ISN'T THAT AWESOME??? But, we want to make sure we have enough room for YOU!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE register on the wiki at http://slbestpractices2007.wikispaces.com/

If you would like to showcase your work in some way, you can submit your awesome ideas via the wiki, as well.

We hope to see you there!

Posted to SLED Listserv on 09-MAY-07 by Beth Ritter-Guth

On NMC Campus This Week

Digital Print Making from University of Wisconsin-Madison

Monday, May 7, 9:00-10:00 AM PDT

We have a special session scheduled for NMC Campus Teachers Buzz on May 7 at 9:00am PDT. Hosts RuArt Semaphore and Magda Voss help us welcome Prof. Michael Connors and the virtual design team at University of Wisconsin-Madison to learn about work with Digital Printmaking students in Second Life.

Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Besma/167/45/122

Info: http://sl.nmc.org/2007/04/24/print-making/

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Eduserv Symposium: Virtual worlds, real learning?

Thursday, May 10, 1:00 - 9:00 AM PDT (U.K. day event)

This year's symposium will attempt to look past the hype surrounding virtual worlds such as Second Life and evaluate whether they offer real opportunities for learners at UK educational institutions. The symposium is intended for policy makers, practitioners and technologists working in the areas of information and communications technology and e-learning service delivery in UK HE and FE institutions. You can participate in one of the venues in Second Life, one is on NMC's Teaching 3

Info: http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/symposium/2007/

Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching%202/137/130/22

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Filthy Fluno Comes to NMC

Thursday, May 10, 5:00 - 6:00 PM PDT

Filthy Fluno, a.k.a. Jeffrey Lipsky will create a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork that expresses the culture, people, spirit and history NMC. This artwork will be unveiled to the greater NMC and Second Life communities with a discussion of the specific creative process and its artistic formal elements. Following this discussion, Mr. Lipsky will walk-thru the process of uploading artwork into Second Life, installing it into his virtual gallery, and demonstrating the capabilities of virtual reality to bridge the international divides of technology, culture, creativity, and artistic expression.

Location and details TBA at http://sl.nmc.org/

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Will Richardson Visits for NMC Teachers Buzz

Monday, May 14, 9:00 AM PDT

Blogsar Lumpen (a.k.a. Will Richardson) writer of Weblogg-ed http://www.weblogg-ed.com/ visits for next NMC Campus Teachers Buzz Session.

Location and details TBA at http://sl.nmc.org/

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Posted to by Alan Levine to SLED Listserv (07 MAY 07)

Voice in Second Life

Voice beta!

Today, for the first time, I tested the Voice Beta client of Second Life. In the picture above, you can see a number of avatars with a white dot above their heads. The dot means that they have a microphone on. When someone speaks, such as the avatar in the center foreground, greenish waves eminate from the dot - this is so others know who is speaking. As the area filled up with avatars, this became useful... though if one has preferences set to show names, it is difficult to see. At work, I run SL on a very high end machine, and even when there were 21 avatars in the area, with music playing and with other avatars chatting with voice, there was no packet loss (though others reported it on their machine). What was neat, too, was to hear folks from Canada, UK, Uruguay, Germany, Holland, etc. who were participating in the conversation. The drawback for many of those who do not speak English as a first language is that some are embarrassed by their accents, and some even have trouble keeping up with fast-talking Anglophones. I heard many conversation groups where people where speaking their native tongue, but in large groups, I'm sure English will predominate. Another concern for some is the privacy that text provides. However, from the standpoint of an educator, the voice capability will help overcome some hurdles.

The voice performance, overall, is really impressive. I had to move my mic RIGHT on top of my mouth to be heard well, but even using a headset/mic that is a couple of years old (it has a 3.5ml jack, whereas LL recommends a USB-mic), I experienced no problems. Well, there is an issue with the microphone dB boost, but that's not an issue at the SL end. I am told LL will be rolling out voice to the main grid on May 15th - at least to some areas. The folks I chatted with seemed to be skeptical it would work, noting that it will probably take a few more iterations of the main client for it be fluid. The concern I have is how much of the voice cost will be passed onto the end-user. For instance, for an educational sim, institutions spend $150 per month for tier (1/2 of what others pay). But will adding voice cost much more? I suppose we'll see.

Another issue is how to capture voice conversations. Currently, one can get a transcript of a chat very easily - either by copying/pasting from the chat history window or using a tool like Eloise Pasteur's NoteTaker. It turns out that Audacity works great to record in-world convo. Simply select recording to "What U Hear," and it captures voice coming through SL just as it would coming through any other source. Here is a MP3 (2.5 mb) file that captures some of the conversation I had while in the Voice Beta today. I made sure to get permission from the speaker before putting this on the web!! http://www.oero.soe.vt.edu/podcasts/sl_voice.mp3

The conversation talks about how voice will be received in the SL community. Obviously, some will be very uncomfortable with it, as they do not want to give away gender identity. The speaker mentions software that will change a man's voice to a woman's & vice-versa. He noted that one could detect the difference, but only to a slight degree. The software (US $39.99) he mentions is MorphVOX Pro - Voice Changer 3.2.2 by Screaming Bee. I'm sure it's one of many possibilities. The URL is: http://www.screamingbee.com/ (there is an evaluation version available).

Getting Started in SL for Educators

Created by the good folks at the University of Cincinnati... "This page is intended to tie together resources out on the web for educators, administrators, faculty, and staff who are looking to explore the Second Life medium for teaching and learning. The first plunge into Second Life can be a bit overwhelming, but there is a large and welcoming community of educators out there ready to help you get started."

http://homepages.uc.edu/secondlife/index.php/Site/ResourcesForEducators

And their SL Wiki: http://homepages.uc.edu/secondlife/

Here is another suggestion:
Search the SLED Listserv archives with Google (just type your question and find lots of answers!) http://tinyurl.com/y234ht

SL International Best Practices in Education Conference (May 25, 2007)

MAY 25, 2007

Planning is currently underway for the first Second Life International Best Practices in Education Conference!

The conference will be held on May 25, 2007 in venues all over the Second Life world, with exciting presentations, vendors and exhibitors, and everything an educator needs to know to get started exploring the possibilities for teaching, learning, and research in Second Life!

PLEASE NOTE: If you participate in Second Life, please be sure to consider joiningthe 'Best Practices in Education' Group. Use SEARCH --> GROUPS --> Best Practices(type this in the text box) - membership is FREE. You'll be able to access Group Notices,vote on proposals, network with interested parties, and stay abreast of Events.

Registration is free of charge and participants will receive in-world goody bags with donations from some of the best content creators in Second Life.

Volunteers, presenters, exhibitors, colleges, and sponsors are still needed! If you are interested in participating, please see the Call for Vendors and Exhibits page, the Volunteer page, or contact the appropriate member of the Conference Team to get started.

Adapted from the SLIC 2007 home page.

NMC Spring 2007 Survey on Educators in Second Life

Since March 2006 the New Media Consortium (NMC) has been actively engaged in the frontier of virtual worlds with the establishment and expansion of its NMC Campus in Second Life. To further our understanding of how educators are using Second Life as well as to better frame the demographics of this audience, we are conducting an online anonymous survey open now through May 25.

If you are an educator (faculty, staff, student, adminsitrator) and have an active Second Life account, we appreciate your willingness to answer our 42 item survey available at:

http://tinyurl.com/2csr8v

It may take you from 15-30 minutes to complete. No personal information will be collected or used in this survey. All results will be made available on our NMC Campus Observer web site
( http://sl.nmc.org/) in late June 2007.

We appreciate the generous cooperation of the educational community we have met and connected with this year in Second Life. Please feel free to forward this message to your colleagues and/or students.

Posted to SLED listserv, 01 MAY 2007, by Alan Levine