This afternoon I had the opportunity to connect up with a whole bunch of schools for a video conference from all around North Carolina put on the by the North Carolina Connectivity Council.  It was really cool.  We could see all of them and they could see us.  There should be an archive of the video posted soon.  Here is the excerpt from the announcement.  

The challenge for North Carolina educators is to ensure that every public school student graduates from high school, globally competitive for work and postsecondary education and prepared for life in the 21st Century.  Web 2.0 technologies, such as blogs, wikis and social networking sites, provide students the opportunity to communicate, create and collaborate in new and exciting ways.  However, some educators and parents are concerned that these “just in time”technologies create an unsafe environment for our children.

Technology specialists from four NC school districts will describe their school systems’ approach to using Web 2.0 in teaching and learning.  Panelists will present the best practices from their respective districts while discussing the challenges of implementing these new technologies. 

Ideas from around North Carolina that Teacher are currently using that IS working:

• Teacher Created Wiki’s
• Teacher Created Blogs for Professional Development
• District Blog to model, share resources, and collaborate. 

Things Students are doing that is working.

• Green County Schools have a 1 to 1 laptop program.  (Wow)
• Student created Wiki’s – Creating based on the information that is created in class.  Do it in the class while the teacher is speaking. 
• Kids created blogs and commenting on other blogs. 
• Book Study through Wiki

Tools that People ARE using

• PBWiki (safer than Media Wiki and WetPaint)
• WikiSpaces (Private domain that is password protected)
• Blogger.com or EduBlogs
• Google Docs – Collaboration across district
• Teacher Tube (Block YouTube) (Use Tools to download YouTube if Teacher’s Want)
• DimDim – Collaboration
• Skype – Global Connections
• Animoto – Video Creation
• Glogster.com – Poster Creation
• Moodle - Learning Management System
• PRIVATE Ning Social Networking Group in School
• TakingItGlobal.org  - Place to find some collaborators for all sorts of subjects

Challenges

• Time on Task… there are a ton of kids online and it is hard to monitor what they are doing.  
• Social Networking (Teachers are no longer allowed to be friends with students in some schools… good idea.)
• Keeping Acceptable Use Policy up to date
• Time… there are so MANY tools… not enough time to address them all. 
• Expanding the global learning network so that learning can be global.   Finding people to collaborate with people around the world via Skype and other technologies above. 

Trainings for Teachers

I found it interesting that in many cases the instructional technologist are working with a group of teachers to train and prepare them to use this web 2.0 technology.  It is sometimes done as a monthly meeting, a mandated technology hour requirement, training classes, an annual fall conference, or using the web 2.0 technologies themselves.

• Shift Happens – Did you Know 2.0 - Used as a starting point for Faculty discussion.

I logged in, created my own bald (looking only a few years in the future) avatar and started looking around.  I was, of course, overwhelmed with the many, many ‘adult’ centered nations, but was pleased to find EduNation.  I joined several Education centered groups and even went to a couple of online meetings.  I started forming some virtual relationships with some really awesome educators. 

Alas, work and other responsibilities called and I after about a week I returned to the ‘real’ world.  I have not been back since.  If I had a class I was teaching I might have some of my students meet there, or even look into using a classroom somewhere to teach a class as a test.  For now I have just chalked it up as information to be passed onto a teacher at some point in the future.

Future of Second Life

Last night, however, I came across an article on CNNMoney.com entitled “Second Life: It’s not a game” that really caught my attention… specifically one sentence.  In pointing out the economic potential of the ‘game’ for businesses David Kirkpatrick says:

“It’s the ability to use Second Life as a platform for a whole new Net – this one in 3-D and even more social than the original – with huge opportunities to sell products and services.”

Networking

This really got me thinking.  When I was in the game I really did form some real relationships with people.  Much like a chatroom I made contacts with people that were already using Second Life in the classroom.  I was once just sitting around in EduNation by myself and a lady flew in (yes, you can fly in Second Life) and started chatting with me about some of her research.  I left with some great links to some great research.  I was able to talk with other educators and bounce ideas off of them.  The people I talked to were not always the same as me either.  They were people teaching in high schools, small colleges, and more often than not, foreign countries.  They offered insights that neither I, nor my colleagues, could come up with by ourselves.  Now, all of this could be accomplished in an educational centered chat room, but somehow this was different. 

Personal Touch

There were several times when I met somebody and as I left they asked to be my friend (which was added to a list where we could track our Second Life online status).  I don’t know if it is just educators, but twice as I parted I was presented with a virtual gift (once a script and once some wings for wearing).  Now I realize that the gifts I was receiving were probably just second-hand gifts from somebody else, but it meant something to me… in my ‘real’ life.  I had a visual image of a person that was my friend.  My favorite gift was a script that allowed me to play paper/rock/scissors online and do backflips when I won.

I also remember once when I was talking with somebody and I had to talk with somebody in real life I asked the virtual person to wait a second.  A second turned into a minute and when I looked back at my screen her avatar was looking at her watch.  There is the added non-verbal communication of body language that adds to, and makes those relationships even more real. 

This morning I came in and was going through my daily reading list and saw an article printed in Campus Technology about a researcher at Harvard that is creating his own virtual space for students to come and explore the 1800′s in a real life, collaborating and social atmosphere. 

Conclusion

I still probably won’t make it back into Second Life anytime soon because I don’t have the real need right now.  If, however, Second Life actually turns into the new net, which I could really see, I will have to re-evaluate.  How was your Second Life experience? 

This blog entry has three purposes: 1) to write about what will definitely be included and how it will be useful; 2) to examine some possible emerging technology inclusions; and 3) to solicit thoughts from others about their experiences, both with platforms and student blogs as a whole.

Background

Using blogs to solicit student involvement has been gradually coming on over the past couple of years. Today I listened to a great conference discussion about student blogs on David Warlick’s Connect Learning that really summed up the efforts nicely. I highly recommend that anyone thinking about using blogs in student curriculum listen to this. It is a little more than an hour long, but very worth the effort.

Definite Uses

Turning the discussion to our uses, here are some of the definite ideas right now. The list of application is by no means complete, so please feel free to add your own ideas in the comment section!

• Text – Bread and butter of all good information. Essays, Research Projects, Opinions on Articles and so forth
• Images – Activities they are working on in class, Diagrams of grammar explanations (remember, this is foreign language based), Images to augment text contributions, Images from literary texts they are discussing
• Audio – Lectures they have given, Authentic foreign language examples, Student Feedback, Music, Audio blogs
• Video – All the Audio examples with video, Video blogs

Emerging Possibilities

What are some of the emerging technolgies that might be important to look into? Where are we going in the next 5-10 years?

• Skypecasts – I wrote an article several weeks ago about the possibilities here in regard to language acquisition. They could record a skypecast they put on.
• Virtual Gaming Classes – Integrating online multi-player games like Eve-Online, Second Life and World of Warcraft into classroom learning environments (Article).
• Web 2.0 in Classrooms – Examples of web pages/blogs students created for classes you taught.
• RSS Reader Lists – Most students spend hours and hours reading and aggregate it using a RSS feed reader (Article). Put current, or favorite reads on there!
• Del.icio.us – Bookmark lists of favorite sites will provide not only a great bookmarking resource, but a personal touch to what that student is really interested in interdisciplinary.

This is by no means a complete list. These are just a couple of ideas I had off the top of my head. What other ideas have you seen, or do you think would be important to include in a E-Portfolio? What platforms have you used in the past that have been useful to you? Any other thoughts and comments? Please add them below!

This past week I had the privilege of meeting a group of other techie people here on the UNC Campus for lunch. Among this group was Elizabeth (Libby) Evans. She is currently a Manager of Training and Education at Information Technology Services here at UNC. In any case, we got chatting about multi-player online gaming and the attempts to integrate these platforms with in education and I thought it would be interesting to post some thoughts here… of course in an attempt to solicit your comments and thoughts!

“Killing the Fun”?

Our discussion started out by focusing on the viability of adapting any popular online games into an educational setting. Would the students accept such a change or would it just ‘kill the fun?’ I am most apt to believe that it would alter the game as a whole, but what do you think? Would an educational component to popular online games ruin the game itself?

Problem: Engaging the Students?

Today I was reading an article written by Naomi Rockler-Gladen of Colorado State University and she characterized “Generation Y” (mostly those in college) as having a “non-existent attention span” and “extremely good with technology.” Although there could be arguments against both of these assertions, I think these are both generally true. Students in college (and even younger ages) are generally very good with technology and have short attention spans. They are used to working online… doing many things at once… jumping from one thing to another… and practically living online. There are literally hundreds of things clamoring for students attentions… sometimes even while class is going on. Teachers everywhere have to compete with the multimedia attention of this generation, but it is not easy.

Solution: Linking the Digital World with the Real World!

As Libby and I talked she mentioned an idea that really struck me! Why don’t we have activities in the ‘real’ world that link with the digital world our students are living in each and every day? For example, why don’t we link time a student spends in the on campus gym working out with their physical strength in Second Life? The time they spend in the library with their ability to handle certain situations in the digital world? Most importantly and perhaps the biggest motivator, why don’t we link time a student spends in community service or some sort with actual money that can be used in online games? Our campus, and I’m sure many others, already track what students are checking out of the library, when they go to sporting events, and even when they spend time in the gym… let’s link that to a digital life to motivate students. Even as I type this, I am already getting flashbacks to”Big Brother” in George Orwell’s 1984… but there has to be something there for educators. What do you think?

Solution 2: Database of Activities for Teachers

The last idea is also an idea from Libby, but this one needs a little more thought. It would be great if there were a database of activities that teachers could pull from that would be presented to students in their digital world that tested their knowledge. If for example a student had a Spanish, Math, and Political Science course each professor could log on and choose certain activities that incorporated what they were learning in the classroom at that time. Each student would then have an individualized… TRULY CROSS-DISCIPLINARY game that they could play. Right now I am working with a program with the Spanish department called Auralog. It is basically a program for language acquisition that has a huge library of activities that the teacher can access, choose and assign to students. There is a tracking module so the teachers can see what the students are doing. It is only activity based at this point, but it would provide a great foundation for a larger project in other disciplines in a gaming sphere.

The big question with this one is the activities themselves. What kind of activities can be incorporated into a game that don’t take away the fun of the game? What kind of situations could be presented that would provide the most potential for the students to learn in a variety of disciplines?

What do you think?

I guess the overall purpose of this entry is to just throw this idea out there? What do you think about the whole online gaming world and it’s potential for education. What challenges do you anticipate for students as they play these multi-player games? What ideas do you have?