Second Classroom Build-up

marist1_006.bmp, originally uploaded by Dean Groom @ large.

Been busy this week going to some SL Edu events at Jokaydia and in-between, making some major upgrades to the space we share in Skoolaborate. Added some urban planning, deleted some ad-hock stuff and have been collaborating on developing new units of work. More images of the build are here.

After attending the Virtual Classroom Project and meeting some very switched on educators from around the world. I came away with a SHIFT in my thinking. Leigh Blackwell has developed a space which promotes so many new ideas, the backchannel was on fire. It was hard to keep up with all the ideas and uses people could see directly and in-directly from creating a project like this. Konrad has done a fantastic job here, and the Educator In Residence Project is sure to inspire.

I can’t think of any other ‘world’ in which you can get direct access to talk to people like Leigh and Konrad. Some might say that Second Life is not real, but behind every avatar is a real person. It is a huge mistake to call it a ‘game’ or dismiss the opportunities on offer. How else can you talk to 10 people from 10 countries from the comfort of your lounge?

So I end the week with new ideas, a project to facilitate with Aleteia from UTS, who is working in Italy with students researching Social Studies. I also hope to continue the conversation with Konrad about taking the Virtual Classroom Project into the Teen Grid and developing a new Ning Group and Blog with Judy. Not to mention the huge growth in the PBL Ning started a week or so ago which has started yet more conversations and produced some great Diigo resources which will benefit our teachers next term.

Who said teachers get too many holidays.