2019 #VWEDU The virtual worlds (MUVEs) professional learning community. Not something we have to organize. It just is

#VWEDU Virtual worlds (MUVEs) 
professional learning community.  
Not something we have to organize.  It just is

Suggestions on how to increase communication in the professional learning community of the MUVEs (virtual worlds).

The Empty Classroom

• Professional learning community (PLC) (Wikipedia)
• Scholarly articles for professional learning communities
• Do we have a professional learning community (PLC) in the virtual worlds (MUVEs)?
• Virtual worlds research

-

• Like most communities, it formed from propinquity and shared interests.
• I like the Wikipedia description of propinquity:
• "It refers to the physical or psychological proximity between people."
• We virtual worlders understand about psychological proximity.
• We have friends in who live thousands of miles away.  
• We educators in virtual worlds collaborate with colleagues on other continents.
• We know them as avatars, colleagues, and friends.    

So what do we need to do about it?

• Nothing. But we can seek to expand the advantages:
• Increase intercommunication so as to share what we find out.
• Increase outward communication to share virtual worlds more widely.
• We want to get the word out to the whole education community.
• Use the hashtag #VWEDU to make your reposts easier to find.

• #VWEDU update 5/23/2019 Newcomer Notes, Freebies

2019 VIDEO: "I Can" A Randt & Hoisan Production

"I Can" A Randt & 
Hoisan Production

This movie was made to encourage and inspire all those who live with diabetes. From the first diagnosis to getting balanced is a process, We hope our video helps you see...you can do it! It was made for The See Yourself Health Sims in Second Life. We also hope you will visit inworld.

• Watch on YouTube

For new users of Second Life use this address:http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife... There are clear instructions here to help you learn the skills you need to enjoy this experience fully.

For experienced SL users, enter here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife...

For more information about the See Yourself Health Virtual Project and how you can join: https://www.seeyourselfhealth.com/home

Music: Eternity by Roger Subirana Mata, licensed for YouTube by Jamendo #JAM-WEB-2019-0002289

*See Yourself City where some of this movie was filmed, was designed and built by Architect David Denton, DB Bailey in Second Life, who asked us to make this film. It will will be shown in-world on this site.

• #VWEDU update 5/23/2019 Newcomer Notes, Freebies

2019 #VWEDU: A mystery. Who doesn't love a mystery? Can students learn from a mystery?

A mystery.  
Who doesn't love a mystery?  
Can students learn from a mystery?  

A mystery that can only be solved by using knowledge gained from the course content.  That can work in a geography class by talking to people in a geographically relevant location.  You can do that in Skype at no cost.  For a history class, you could do that with photos of the period or with replicated scenes of the period (as in virtual worlds).

• Watch on YouTube

"Mystery Skype is a great tool for global connections for educators around the world. It allows classes to connect with other schools and experts to open up learning for all students. In this vlog post, I encourage teachers to jump into Mystery Skype and I provide tips to maximize their experience. I also talk about best practices for video conferencing and global connection planning."

• Mystery Skype (Google search)  
• How the Mystery Skype Game Helps Kids Learn Geography and Connect with Others Globally

• But wait--there's more, after the break

• #VWEDU update 5/23/2019 Newcomer Notes, Freebies

2019 #VWEDU: WRT: Blogging: Starting, building, and promoting your blog about virtual worlds (MUVEs)

Blogging: Starting, building, 
and promoting your blog
about virtual worlds (MUVEs)

A summary collection of previous articles about blogging, with focus on virtual worlds (MUVEs).

Can I make money from a blog?

• Some do, but many use a blog to support a favorite project.
• Google AdWords
• Choose your goal.  To make money, you have to blog to get readers.
• Your favorite project may not be a good subject for that.

How do I start?

• The whys and hows of blogging 
• Blogging for beginners, the virtual world advantage. And blogging for instruction

• #VWEDU update 5/23/2019 Newcomer Notes, Freebies

2019 #VWEDU: WRITE: Seanchai WestWorld: a place for storytellers. Can I find a story here?

Seanchai WestWorld: 
a place for storytellers
Can I find a story here? 

An illustration of how to turn a place into a story.  Here the place is a small town in the west.  The story ideas come from things found on the town's main street.

A small town in the west 

• Go there: Hypergrid address:
• grid.kitely.com:8002:WESTWORLD
• Put the HG address in the Find bar of the world map, click Find, TP
• Seanchai WestWorld on the web

• #VWEDU update 5/23/2019 Newcomer Notes, Freebies

2019 #VWEDU BIZ: Corporate Use of a Virtual World for Training Commercial Insurance Agents. Situated learning

Corporate Use of a Virtual World 
for Training Commercial Insurance Agents
Situated learning, communities of practce 
By: Donna Yager

This project is a culmination of the design and development of a virtual world for training Commercial Insurance Agents called ‘Commercial New Producer Program’ and uses a Google site as a student portal for course materials as well as a virtual world, called Training Town, as the tool for meeting within our community of practice.

• Watch on YouTube
• Malet Students Virtual Showcase---poster session or presentation for the new century

Training Town

• Web Address: https://www.kitely.com/virtual-world/Donna-Yager/Training-Town
• HG Address:
• grid.kitely.com:8002:Training Town
• Training Town will be used in place of a WebEx environment so that students can perform exercises together that would otherwise require a face-to-face interaction.

• #VWEDU update 5/17/2019 Silk Road Series #1, Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium (Videos)

2019 #VWEDU: Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium: Video summary and suggestions

Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium 
Video summary and suggestions

With funding from the Carol Lavin Bernick Family Foundation and Tulane University's School of Professional Advancement, the Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium was held on December 1, 2018. Kay McLennan (Tulane University), the moderator for the event provides the background for the event. 

• Watch on YouTube

• We weren't in a conference room.  We were comfortably at home.
• Nevertheless, we were meeting with two dozen colleagues.
• No travel time, no travel cost.
• Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium

Kay McLennan, Ph.D. 

• LinkedIn Page
• Tulane SoPA Metaverse

Colloquium summary

• Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium. And some suggestions
• Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium video clips

• #VWEDU update 5/17/2019 Silk Road Series #1, Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium (Videos)

2019 #VWEDU: Leadership Support of EdTech in Schools, Matt Harris, Ed.D.

Leadership Support of EdTech in Schools, 
Matt Harris, Ed.D.

School leadership is one of the most critical elements of Educational Technology success in a school. Leadership can show their outward support through some specific techniques and language.

• Watch on YouTube
• Matt Harris, Ed.D.
• Leadership Support of EdTech in Schools (Web page)

• Educational technology (Google search)
• Educational technology - Wikipedia
• Office of Educational Technology: HOME
• EdTech Magazine 

• Educational technology - EduTech Wiki

• Educational Technology Specialist Career Guide

• #VWEDU update 5/17/2019 Silk Road Series #1, Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium (Videos)

2019 #VWEDU MALET showcase: Microscope Studies Using Portable Microscopes & Smartphones

MALET showcase: Microscope Studies 
Using Portable Microscopes & Smartphones

Free web resources. Inexpensive tools.  Smart phones.  Paper-based microscopes.  Easy exploration of the world of tiny.  Away from the world of the teachers, into the world of the student.  When students choose their own explorations, they don't just learn the content.

• Watch on YouTube
• Project website: Microscope Studies

• Foldscope (wikipedia)
• Commercial source
• Foldscope on Amazon

• MALET program 
• SUNY Empire State College
• MALETStudents Virtual Showcase---poster session for the new century

Takeaways

• Self-guided exploration of the microscopic world by the students. 
• When students handle their own explorations, they don't just learn the content.
• They learn what they can do. 

• #VWEDU update 5/17/2019 Silk Road Series #1, Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium (Videos)

2019 #WVEDU: BIZ: Do we have a professional learning community (PLC) in the virtual worlds (MUVEs)?

Do we have a professional learning community (PLC)
in the virtual worlds (MUVEs)? #WVEDU

Sort of.  We have a many educational organizations and activities in virtual worlds and some loosely organized communication among them.  But they do not yet form a cohesive community with community plans or community actions. Can we form a stronger professional community?

The Empty Classroom

What is a Professional Learning Community?

• Professional learning community (PLC) (Wikipedia)
• Scholarly articles for professional learning communities
• EdWeb Join a Professional Learning Community

We have several inworld groups that might fit into a PLC

• Here are a few that I know:
• Rockcliffe University Consortium (RUC)
• Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE)
• Virtual Worlds Education Round Table (VWER)
• Institute for New Paradigms (in learning) NPI
• New Media Arts (NMA)
• NonProfit Commons (NPC)
• Community Virtual Library (CVL)
• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
• If these groups increase collaboration, they could make a PLC 

• #VWEDU update 5/10/2019 VWBPE Conference Proceedings. Entrepreneurial educators

2019 PROMO: HG: Promoting something? Your social media "timeline" could help

Use your media timeline 
to promote your project

We of the virtual worlds (MUVErs) need to to promote our projects to the unMUVEd world.  Here is another suggestion in my series of articles about promotion in the digital universe.

Promoting something?  Your media "timeline" could help

• Your social media "timeline" is the collection of things you post or repost.
• To be useful, it needs to be all in one place--probably on Twitter. 
• You build it by posting or reposting links on Twitter.
• Many things you repost will have a share button for easy reposting
• You use a Twitter timeline by embedding the live stream on your web page.
• See how I am doing it:   Muve Update 
• More after the break
• The embedded stream is always up-to-date.
• Social media for the virtual worlds. Summary
• Articles on promotion in this blog.

• #VWEDU update 5/10/2019 VWBPE Conference Proceedings. Entrepreneurial educators

2018 WW: WRT: The story at Fantasy Place: quest for the wolfbane flower Part 3, Oberon, Puck, and Wolfbane

The story at Fantasy Place: 
quest for the wolfbane flower 
Part 3, Oberon, Puck, and Wolfbane

A continuation of the werewolf  story (writer's workshop) demonstrating how a story can also be used to support learning.

Red and black cloth 

in the tree trunk

Spoiler warning:  

• If you are reading Werewolf sequence as a story, this article will give away important information.  
• Remember, the Werewolf story is written for illustration.
• The story at Fantasy Place follows the monomyth template of Campbell. 

Go there

• Go there via the Hypergrid:  :
• world.narasnook.com:8900:Dark Manor
• Nara's Nook grid:
• http://www.narasnook.com/
• MUVE update 3/15/2019 The G+ MeWe Importer is now live; CVL Participates in VWBPE 2019

• #VWEDU update 5/10/2019 VWBPE Conference Proceedings. Entrepreneurial educators

2019 #VWEDU: ART: Artist statement [MFA Thesis] (Filmed in Second Life)

Artist statement [MFA Thesis] 

(Filmed in Second Life) #VWEDU:

Artist Erik Mondrian presents his Master of Fine Arts Thesis for California Institute of the Arts. The work was done in the virtual world of Second Life.

• Watch on YouTube
• An Artist Contemplates Second Life
• Erik Mondrian  Published on Jan 8, 2019
• Art done in virtual worlds, Summary
• Art in this blog

• #VWEDU update 5/10/2019 VWBPE Conference Proceedings. Entrepreneurial educators

2019 COMEDY: April 2019: Lauren's place, Tuesday at 5:00 PM Pacific, NSFW

April 2019: Lauren's place,   
Tuesday at 5:00 PM Pacific NSFW

April collection of comedy from Lauren's place:  WyNott,  Catboy, Randy, Synnove, Amouretta, Selby

• Watch on YouTube

• Selby's comedy channel
• At Lauren's Place Tuesdays 5 pm Calif. time (NSFW)
• Place:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cookie/122/242/23
• A one-hour comedy show in voice.
• Come a little early and tell the MC that you want to do comedy.
• If you can do a good 3-5 min. set with good close we may make a video.
• Our Comedy Channel
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGw_HANVLFY&list=PLmXCeJpxLXokSPNK_UVR1rS9qHSfJJsNM
• JOKE BANK - POPULAR JOKES
• Joke search

• #VWEDU update 5/9/2019 VWBPE Conference Proceedings. Entrepreneurial educators

2919 #VWEDU: LIBR: Teaching About Fake News--The EdTech Vlog with Matt Harris, Ed.D.

Teaching About Fake News--
The EdTech Vlog with Matt Harris, Ed.D.

New century skills:  Recognizing and handling fake news.  Fake news is abundant on the internet.  Education needs to prepare students to deal with it.

• Watch on YouTube

"Fake News is a pervasive issue in schools these days. It has now become incumbent on schools to help students develop the skills need to deal with fake news on the Internet. In this vlog post, we discuss the definitions of fake news and approaches to help students determine which information is valid and not when they search the Internet."

• The International EdTech Blog with Matt Harris Ed.D.
• Sharing Educational Technology Resources from Around the World

• #VWEDU update 5/7/2019 The #VWEDU initiative. Entrepreneurial educators

2019 #VWEDU: Edwardian Era: Coopersville. The Titanic. Kitty hawk. Filling stations. Mary Pickford. The Entertainer

Edwardian Era: Coopersville.  
The Titanic.  Kitty hawk.  Filling stations. 
Mary Pickford. The Entertainer

A region depicting the early part of the 20th century. A little over 100 years ago.   Definitely a historical period.  With attention to historical accuracy, this could be a good location for a "mystery history" challenge.  Indeed I offer you such a challenge: If you did not read the text, would you be able to deduce the period from just what you see in the pictures here?  

Coopersville arrival point

• Free clothes of the era 
• Free stores if you sell things of the era
• Free houses of the era
• Coopersville website
• Edwardian Era

• Go there, HG address:
• grid.kitely.com:8002:Coopersville
• Put the HG address in the Find bar of the world map, click Find, TP

• #VWEDU update 5/2/2019 The #VWEDU initiative. Entrepreneurial educators

2019 #VWEDU BIZ: Notes for the entrepreneurial educator.

#VWEDU Notes for the 
entrepreneurial educator.

The new breed of educator: Entrepreneurial.   Some of what educators do in the normal course of their work produces things and skills of value to other educators and to other educational institutions. Or those things would be of value if they were marketed

• Watch on YouTube
• The international ED TECH blog
• Educational Entrepreneurship Facebook
• Teachers pay teachers
• MoocLab

• #VWEDU update 5/2/2019 The #VWEDU initiative. Entrepreneurial educators

2019 #VWEDU MALET showcase: Making and Tinkering – Stop Motion Animation Project: By: Marian Read

#VWEDU Making and Tinkering
Stop Motion Animation
Project: By: Marian Read

The project uses maker-centered pedagogical principles such as inquiry, play, imagination and innovation and Papert’s constructionist pedagogy, which includes hands-on learning or learning-by-doing and using technology to build artifacts.  The feedback from one teacher is illustrated, highlighting how stop motion animation could help students practice narration of a story in a second language (French).

• Watch on YouTube

• MALET program 
• SUNY Empire State College
• MALETStudents Virtual Showcase---poster session for the new century

This presentation explores Stop Motion Animation as a making and tinkering activity that can be conducted with students in the classroom.   It describes maker-centered pedagogical principles such as inquiry, play, imagination and innovation and Papert’s constructionist pedagogy which includes hands-on learning or learning-by-doing and using technology to build artifacts. 

The project illustrates the writer’s prototype professional learning resource for teachers, which provides practical information from setting a challenge to suggestions for linking stop motion animation with the curriculum. 

• Project website: PROTOTYPE TESTING FOR MAKING & TINKERING ACTIVITIES
• Malet Students Virtual Showcase---poster session or presentation for the new century

Takeaways

• needs for new online professional learning resources
• the effectiveness of the Agile Methodology for the instructional design
• the Canada Science and Technology Museum is well-positioned to develop and disseminate online professional learning resources

• May the 4th be with you.
• #VWEDU update 5/2/2019 The #VWEDU initiative. Entrepreneurial educators

2019 MUVE: HG: Ruth and Roth 2.0 Mesh Avatar Project HGluv is home to a version of Ruth and Roth

Ruth and Roth 2.0 Mesh Avatar Project
HGluv is home to a version of Ruth and Roth
Updated 5/4/2019

Ruth and Roth 2.0 are low-poly mesh bodies, specifically designed for OpenSimulator. They are built to use standard Second Life(TM) UV maps using scratch-built open source mesh bodies by Shin Ingen with other open source contributions from the OpenSimulator Community.

Arrive at HGluv

"NOTICE:  This is not the "Official" distribution point for the Ruth avatar.   This is a modified version that we are developing to eventually share with the main group."   

• The official, latest version of Ruth can be found at Outworld GitHub (Fork).
• GitHub by Shin Ingen 
• New Ruth/Roth GitHub (Cited by Bill Blight)
• What is a GitHub? 
• MeWe Community Page for Ruth/Roth
• OpenSim Group: OSGrid RuthAndRoth
• Austin Tate's Blog
• Ruth 2.0 and Roth 2.0 are AGPL licensed
• HG address: 
• grid.hgluv.com:8302:Luv Plaza
• Put the HG address in the Find bar of the world map, click Find, TP

• #VWEDU update 5/2/2019 The #VWEDU initiative. Entrepreneurial educators