2019 EDU: Spanish Language Learning Island. Situated learning, immersive learning

Spanish Language Learning Island 
Situated learning, immersive learning 

The best place to learn a language is where you need to use it.  There even the little kids can speak it.

 You need to know 

the Spanish names

• Situated learning.
• The vocabulary you need most urgently is for the place you are now.
• Situated learning 
• Immersive learning
• Scholarly articles for language learning in a MUVE
• On the web: Spanish Language Learning Island
• Immersive language learning (Wikipedia)
• Scholarly articles for immersive language learning
• Immersive language learning (Google search)
• Immersive Technologies (Heritage Christian Online School)

Go there 

• HG address: 
• grid.kitely.com:8002:Spanish Language Learning Island
• Put the HG address in the Find bar of the World Map, click Find, TP
• Hop: In Kitely put the hop in the address (top) bar of Firestorm, press enter.
• hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Spanish Language Learning Island/191/108/23

• #VWEDU update 6/27/2019 Libraries for education; Facebook with cryptocurrency

2019 #VWEDU A digital campus needs a digital library. What would be in a digital library?

A digital campus needs a digital library.  
What would be in a digital library?

Preliminary ideas for a digital  library on a digital campus, with an invitation to add your own ideas.  

 RUC library in Second Life

• I mean digital to include the customary flat web pages.
• There are already lots of courses, certifications, and degrees offered online.
• But I am not sure we think of these web sites as digital campuses.
• We are more likely to think of a place in a virtual world as a digital campus.
• The Digital Teaching Assistant (DTA) for MUVES (virtual worlds): Summary

2019 #VWEDU: #DTA: Competitive sports for online schools. Robotics, search-masters, DTA-Turing challenges

Competitive sports for online schools.
Robotics, search-masters, 
DTA-Turing challenges

One thing students will miss in virtual colleges: competitive sports.   But people can compete on the internet.  In fact, they can compete on skills that employers actually hire for.  So when they win, they are not just virtual winners.  They are real winners.

The Empty Classroom

They are away competing

It's a competitive world out there

• Online competitions for students
• List of competitions for college students
• Student competition (Wikipedia)
• The Digital Teaching Assistant (DTA) for MUVES (virtual worlds): Summary

2019 WW: ART: An interview with Don Margulis in his 3Dwebworldz Art Gallery

An interview with Don Margulis 
in his 3Dwebworldz Art Gallery

A chat about gallery construction, selling your work, and the benefits of being able to meet with gallery patrons. Visit mygallery3d.com to see more galleries and to build one for yourself. You may also want to visit 3dwebworldz.com to experience education and entertainment in full 3D. --jamie jordan 

• Watch on YouTube

Worlds on the web

• 3DWebWorldz
• 3DWW is social VW. How to start
• Web-worlds, 3D virtual worlds running in a browser. Summary

• #VWEDU update 6/20/2019 Facebook with cryptocurrency, Maria Korolov reports

2019 #VWEDU: BIZ: The entrepreneurial educator: Build a portfolio, Promote your work

The entrepreneurial educator
Build a portfolio. 
Promote your work.

Educators:  Low salaries from educational institutions do not have to mean low income for educators.   There are many online opportunities for additional income related to teaching and supporting learning. 

The Empty Classroom

Professional educator?

• Are you a professional? 
• Do you have a career portfolio? 
• University profs had career portfolios way back when I was a prof.
• We didn't call them portfolios: we called them vitas.
• And some pretended a vita was not a way to promote yourself as a professional.
• Except when they sought a promotion or a new job.  
• Why You (Yes, You) Need a Professional Portfolio
• Professional portfolio (Google search)
• 5 Key Elements of an EdTech Portfolio for Educators

Entrepreneur

• Entrepreneur (Wikipedia)
• The key concept of entrepreneur is starting your own business.
• You don't have to quit your day job.   
• Your business can be entirely on the web.
• And on your free time.  
• Many educators have a whole summer of free time.
• Sell your educational products online
• Sell your education skills online
• Part-time online teaching jobs

What entrepreneurial educators do

• Build and publicize your skills
• Look for ways to market your skills.

• #VWEDU update 6/20/2019 Facebook with cryptocurrency, Maria Korolov reports

2019 Stories: Seanchai Library: A land of pirates, dragons, krakens, volcanoes, and imagination

Seanchai Library: A land of
 pirates, dragons, krakens, 
volcanoes, and imagination

The Seanchai ("Storyteller" in Irish) library celebrates the Celtic tradition of stories told around the hearth or in the pub to friends, family, and welcomed strangers. The Seanchai Library brings stories of all kinds to life in your Virtual Life.

The story worlds 

of Seanchai Library

• Go there, Hypergrid address:
• grid.kitely.com:8002:Seanchai
• Put the HG address in the Find bar of the World Map, click Find, TP
• Kitely page
• Web page:  WELCOME TO SEANCHAI LIBRARIES

• #VWEDU update 6/20/2019 Facebook with cryptocurrency, Maria Korolov reports

2019 #VWEDU: Localized Learning Communities in Virtual Worlds--Thanks to Beth Ghostraven

Localized  Learning Communities  
in Virtual Worlds--
Thanks to Beth Ghostraven

Localized:  In gridspeak that means limited to one grid.  In OpenSim the community would be accessible on the Hypergrid.  (Here I am ignoring isolated communities on private grids.)  These communities may want to connect with some of the web-based communities to develop a longer reach. 

• The calendar above carries events of multiple educator groups in virtual worlds.
• If your educational events are not there, why not put them there?

• Do we have a professional learning community (PLC) in the virtual worlds (MUVEs)?
• Here are communities that might become part of the virtual world PLC.
• To search this page, press Ctrl+f, put the search term in the search bar (near top)

• #VWEDU update 6/20/2019 Facebook with cryptocurrency, Maria Korolov reports

2019 WRITE: Confluence1: A conversation with Aeschylus. Space travel, time travel in the MUVEs

Confluence1: A conversation with Aeschylus.  
Space travel, time travel in the MUVEs 

Confluence is an alien world, with desert landscapes dominated by odd lifeforms in the sky and on the land.  A small base is being established to investigate it, and the odd ruins dotted here and there across the landscape.  Far above the planet, the long-haul ship Aeschylus orbits, deploying landers to supply the base and bring specimens to its labs and holds.

I find a droid

• "You are not on the ship's crew. You are a digital," the droid remarks in a pleasant female voice.
• Startled for a moment, I reply. "That is true. And who are you?" 
• "I am Aeschylus," the droid responds, "Not the playwright. The ship."
• Aeschylus
• A MUVE is a Multiuser Virtual Environment.
• hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Confluence/203/121/1011

Go there

• Web address: https://www.kitely.com/virtual-world/Daniel-Hoffman/Confluence
• HG address:
• grid.kitely.com:8002:Confluence
• Put the HG address in the Find bar of the world map, click Find, TP
• Go to Aeschylus:
• hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Confluence/205/228/1015
• Go to the ground station
• hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Confluence/294/263/22
• Put the Firestorm Hop in the address (top) bar of Firestorm, press Enter

• #VWEDU update 6/20/2019 Facebook with cryptocurrency, Maria Korolov reports

2019 EDU: Language learning: What could a virtual (online) campus offer?

Language learning: 
What could a virtual (online) campus offer? 

A school has special advantages for teaching its native language to people who want to learn that language. The old disadvantage used to be that people could only attend that school after expensive travel. Travel on the internet is free and fast.

Universal campus (Kitely)

• A German university would choose its own campus view.
• As would any university anywhere.

Native speakers

• The virtual campus could be provided by a school with the target language.
• If you want to learn German, you could learn it at a German university.
• Talk with German instructors. Socialize with German students.
• Low cost plan: "Study in Germany, live at home"

Contents

• "Local" sights and people
• Viewpoint of the school
• Immersive language learning
• Situated learning
• Social learning (All language is social.)
• Marketing
• First mover advantage
• What is an virtual campus?
• Who can supply a virtual campus?
• Articles in this blog about language learning
• Immersive Technologies (Heritage Christian Online School)
• Search this page:  Ctrl+f opens search bar near the top

• #VWEDU update 6/13/2019 Writers on the MUVEs, Teams for education

2019 MUVE: Content: Save an OAR file (copy of OpenSim region): Honor creator rights--Lisa Laxton

Save an OAR file
(copy of OpenSim region): 
Honor creator rights--Lisa Laxton

How to save an OAR file and honor creator rights.

• Reposted from OAR Tech Tips by Lisa Laxton CEO, 
• Infinite Metaverse Alliance LLC

What is an OAR?

Around the Open Simulator community, we hear things like "save your OAR" or "get an OAR from Outworldz". For the non-technical users learning to host their own regions or grids, OAR is an acronym for OpenSimulator Archive. It is a file type that can contain all of the assets of a region, its terrain, and its parcels. In other words, an OAR can be a complete backup of a virtual world known as a region in OpenSimulator. This feature allows a region owner to save and restore "backups" of their region.

• #VWEDU update 6/13/2019 Writers on the MUVEs, Teams for education

2019 #VWEDU: A horse ride through Coopersville (MUVE) 1905. Go back in time a little over 100 years.

A horse ride through Coopersville (MUVE) 1905.  
Go back in time a little over 100 years.  

Coopersville is a MUVE (virtual world) model of a US town of the early 20th Century.  It has houses of that era (houses of the Victorian and Edwardian times), offers clothing of that period, has transportation of that period (streetcars, early Fords, and horses), plays music of that time (especially ragtime), and has the early flying things (Wright Flyer, hot air balloons).  Just right for a site visit by a class studying that part of history.

• Watch on YouTube

Go there

• Hypergrid address: 
• grid.kitely.com:8002:Coopersville
• Put the HG address in the Find bar of the world map, click Find, TP
• http://hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Coopersville
• In Kitely, put the hop in the address (top) bar of the viewer, press Enter

• Coopersville website
• Coopersville Kitely location
• #VWEDU: Edwardian Era: Coopersville. The Titanic. Kitty hawk. filling stations. Mary Pickford. The Entertainer

• #VWEDU update 6/13/2019 Writers on the MUVEs, Teams for education

2019 #VWEDU: Eileen O’Connor: Mainstreaming MUVE Learning Colloquium, MALET Program, Empire State College (SUNY)

Eileen O’Connor: 
Mainstreaming MUVE Learning Colloquium,  
MALET Program, Empire State College (SUNY)

Dr. Eileen O’Connor – Associate Professor & Coordinator for the Masters of Arts Learning & Emerging Technology Program, SUNY Empire State College (MALET)  – discussed her institution’s creation of a “think-tank” to investigate and advocate for the wider use of virtual spaces in online learning (including in elderly populations).

• Watch on YouTube
• Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium. And some suggestions
• Dr. O'Connor arranges frequent educational meetings in Kitely (Marian Island)
• The schedule is carried in the weekly MUVE update series of this blog.
• Everyone is welcome.

• #VWEDU update 6/13/2019 Writers on the MUVEs, Teams for education

2019 #VWEDU: BIZ: We can bring schools into OpenSim. Not just people. Whole campuses full of people.

We can bring schools into OpenSim.  
Not just people.  
Whole campuses full of people.

OpenSim and web-worlds can support virtual campuses online. Such a campus would be managed by the school.  The OpenSim or web-world "grid"would only provide hosting.

Writers meet to share their work

Yes, there is research

• Scholars use MUVE to refer to a virtual world
• Scholarly articles on MUVEs
• Mostly about the use of MUVEs in education. 

Bringing in a campus is not like bringing in people

• For openers,a school would bring in students by the hundreds.  
• If the school found the arrangement useful, it could bring in thousands.
• But bringing in students requires special arrangements: 
• Batch registration. A specialized viewer.  A private grid.
• You need a private grid to separate your school from adult activities

Marketing to schools is not marketing to people.  

• Schools have special needs.  But those needs are similar across schools.
• Thus meeting the needs of schools could be profitable.

An online campus is not an online class

• A physical campus is not just for holding classes.
• Students meet outside of class for collaboration, socializing, etc.
• I won't expand on the etc. but the other things can have major educational value.

No, you don't need that thing over your eyes

• Those are expensive.  You just need a computer screen.
• You get a picture you can walk through and look around in. 
• It is much like the sense of 3D you get in a movie.
• Where they also don't wear things over their eyes.   

• #VWEDU update 6/13/2019 Writers on the MUVEs, Teams for education

2019 #VREDU Demonstration oil rig: Conversation with an imaginary TA (Teaching Assistant)

Demonstration oil rig.  
Conversation with an imaginary TA 
(Teaching Assistant)

I visit a digitally represented oil rig to report on its potential for offering low-cost introductory instruction on a semi-submersible oil rig.  

The underwater structures

• I arrived at the oil rig, near some of the underwater structures.
• Fortunately, as an avatar I can easily function underwater.  
• I don't need any diving gear.  
• Since this is a demonstration rig, I began to look for its instructional potential.
• "Welcome to my oil-rig demonstration," a female voice says.  "You are not on my roster of students, but if you tell me your objective I may be able to help you."
• I look around and see a lady floating near me. She wears a business suit.
• "I am here to develop a report on the value of virtual world models for instruction on this rig,"  I explain.
• "I am the teaching assistant for this semi-submersible oil rig model," she responds.  "Let's begin."

Go there

• Web page: Semi-submersible demo oil rig 
• Hypergrid address:
• grid.kitely.com:8002:Neosome Edutech Region
• A Semi-submersible demo oil rig with underwater structures. 
• Used for familiarization and educational purposes.

• #VWEDU update 6/6/2019 Newcomer Notes Freebies

2019 #VEWEDU: Computational thinking or how to get along with computers

Computational thinking 
or how to get along with computers

To get along with computers you need to think like a computer.  Fortunately, that is simply careful planning, something that has long been useful to humans.  Do you know of a high school that offers a course in careful planning?  Do you know how careful planning can be taught?  

• Watch on YouTube

Computational thinking is both central to computer science and widely applicable throughout education and the workforce. Computational thinking, which is complementary to coding and computer science, provides students a necessary skill set for solving complex problems and is relevant throughout K-12 education in all subjects. Read our report to find our more.

• In education, computational thinking is a set of problem-solving methods that involve expressing problems and their solutions in ways that a computer could execute. --Wikipedia

After the break

• Why learn it?
• How to learn it?
• Challenges in this blog
• MUVEs in education
• Maker resources in OpenSimulator
• Scripting in OpenSimulator
• Other names for similar thinking

• #VWEDU update 6/9/2019 Newcomer Notes Freebies

2019 WRITE: WW: Writer's workshops in the virtual worlds (MUVEs). Some as near as your browser. Summary

Writer's workshops 
in the virtual worlds (MUVEs). 
Some as near as your browser.  Summary 
Updated 7/2/2019

You can meet writers in your home office (or wherever you use your computer).  You can go to places that invite you to tell a story.  You can join with a group of writers from all over the world.  You can write a short story that gets published in a blog (if you want).

Writer's Circle, Waterstage

• Writers workshops in virtual worlds on your browser
• Writers workshops on installed virtual worlds
• Virtual worlds put writers in a scene.   
• A scene can offer many prompts for a story.
• If the workshop has an associated blog, that can publish stories.
• Why would a workshop not have an associated blog?
• Web Writers Workshop, the writers group that meets in your browser
• The developing writer's workshop in 3DWebWorldz: Video conversations
• Writing on the grid. The writing community of the Hypergrid
• The writing communities of the virtual worlds. What do they offer to writers?

Goals for a web-based workshop

• Usable 24/7
• Access from anywhere.
• Usable to serve a group or one person alone
• Provide a shared scene for a group
• Allow for shared characters.
• Provide a shared scene and shared characters.
• Provide prompts for character and plot development

About writing

• The power of myths: How Stories Shape What We Believe
• Joseph Campbell's hero journey. The journey of life

• #VWEDU update 6/6/2019 Newcomer Notes Freebies

2019 #VWEDU: PEOPLE: The great race, Coopersville: Hot air balloons and the Wright Flyer

The great race, Coopersville:
Hot air balloons 
and the Wright Flyer

Coopersville is a MUVE (virtual world) model of a US town of the early 20th Century.  It has houses of that era (houses of the Victorian and Edwardian times), offers clothing of that period, has transportation of that period (streetcars, early Fords, and horses), plays music of that time (especially ragtime), and has the early flying things (Wright Flyer, hot air balloons).  Just right for a site visit by a class studying that part of history.

• Watch on YouTube

Go there

• Hypergrid address: 
• grid.kitely.com:8002:Coopersville
• Put the HG address in the Find bar of the world map, click Find, TP
• In Kitely put the Firestorm Hop in the address bar of Firestorm, press return:
• hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Coopersville

• Coopersville website
• Coopersville Kitely location
• #VWEDU: Edwardian Era: Coopersville. The Titanic. Kitty hawk. filling stations. Mary Pickford. The Entertainer

Google research 

• Aerostat
• Canard (aeronautics)
• Zeppelins
• Wright Flyer

• #VWEDU update 6/6/2019 Newcomer Notes Freebies

2019 WRITE: TKR: Learn to use the force of words

 Learn to use the force of words 

Language that conveys facts is informative.  Language that conveys feelings is effective.

• Watch on YouTube

• #VWEDU update 6/6/2019 Newcomer Notes Freebies

2019 #VWEDU: MALET Virtual Showcase: The Space Project: STEM work with legos and coding in elementary school. By: Stacie Stewart

MALET Virtual Showcase: The Space Project:  
STEM work with legos and coding in elementary school:   
By: Stacie Stewart  

The Space Project was created to develop a cross curricular unit in a NYC public school that would integrate computer science and STEM with core subject areas.  This project was created and tested with a 3rd grade class and several gifted 2nd grade students.

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

• STEM 
• We recently started using the Amplify Science curriculum.
• One of the units was themed around the Earth, moon and space.  
• "Starting with science, I looked for ways to expand the topic across other subjects."
• Project Website

• #VWEDU update 6/1/2019 #VWEDU PLC Calendar, Freebies

2019 #VWEDU: TKR: Problems are interesting puzzles. If you are ready. Otherwise they are stoppers

Problems are interesting puzzles 
if you are ready.  
Otherwise they are stoppers 

People like to solve puzzles.  They buy things that present puzzles.  They spend a lot of effort solving puzzles.  They develop skills at solving puzzles.  Then there is education.  Much like a batch of puzzles.  But many people see education as a batch of problems.  

• Watch on YouTube

Do schools teach problem-solving?

• Sure, they present the students with the problem of getting a passing grade.
• But do schools offer a course in solving problems?
• Problem-solving (Wikipedia) 
• Problem-solving skills (Google search)
• Problem solving: the mark of an independent employee

• #VWEDU update 5/30/2019 #VWEDU PLC Calendar, Freebies

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

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

May 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 5/30/2019 #VWEDU PLC Calendar, Freebies

2019 #VWEDU: WRT: GAME: The power of the quest for learning. Turn learning into a quest.

The power of the quest for learning.  

Turn learning into a quest.  

Better yet:  Guide the student's quest in a direction that will benefit the student.

The Empty Classroom

• You can sit in a classroom and hear the teacher tell you what you are supposed to know.
• The only quest there is finding what you will need to know for the test.
• You get practice in listening and taking tests over what you heard. 
• Does Higher Education Still Prepare People for Jobs?

Any learning task is a quest

• It is a quest to be able to do whatever is the performance requirement. 
• For some students in class, it is an escape room game.
• They have to solve the problem of tests in order to escape to the next grade.
• In school the focus of evaluation is on how many questions they got wrong.  
• But in a game, the focus is on how many sub-tasks they got right--so far.
• So are you really surprised that many students learn a fear of failure?
• Or at how many game-players come back for more play?
• Or at how many school students only come back because they have to?
• Note that any game has a mission (goal, objective)
• A game teaches planning and goal-directed action.
• It also teaches students what they can do.
• A collaborative game teaches collaboration.

• #VWEDU update 5/30/2019 #VWEDU PLC Calendar, Freebies