scottmerrickdotnet

Crossposted from Oh! Virtual Learning!
 I'm so proud of this. ISTE SIGVE has continued producing "nearly monthly" "Connected Educator" Google Hangouts to share resources and new developments in virtual worlds ever since the US Department of Education's Connected Educator Month back in August 2012. I am proud to say that I have, really, nothing to do with this.

Why in the world(s) do I say that?

Because back in 2009, when we founded ISTE's "Special Interest Group (SIG) for Virtual Environments," I worked pretty hard on it. I gathered consensus, formed a plan for proposal, wrote a proposal, and jumped through necessary hoops to get the largest and most diverse international organization for technology in education to recognize our tribe as an official SIG. Once we were official, the real work began: We built on an annual "Playground" at the international conference into an event of importance. We took on monthly Second Life…

Help yourself to this, and help ISTE SIGVE radically rethink its Virtual Environments Playground for ISTE 2013 in San Antonio, Texas. Pretty please? Created with Wallwisher

I was in a meeting today with my dear friend (and ISTE President) Dr. Kecia Ray, and she introduced me as an internationally recognized expert in the field of 3D virtual learning. That felt good, even though I tend to run from the room anytime anyone invokes the "e" word. Help us kinda sorta prove that. Daily, from each device you have with a unique IP addie, visit http://edublogawards.com/vote-here/, and vote (at least) in the Social Network category for ISTE-SIGVE. Help make this happen. It'll be huge, at least in a small way. 11:59 Sunday night, from I think Eastern time zone, it's over. You know what you need (and want) to do. Sincerely, with hugs from Nashville, Tennesee, Scott

I can't believe it's Friday again and I'm once again at Level P9 and tomorrow? December. It's 6:30 a.m. Colin's been out the door for 20 minutes, the pup has been up and is back in his crate upstairs, and I'm pumping my way to nowhere again, synced into the 9th of 10 different pre-programmed configurations (levels) of my magnetic-recumbent bike, typing on my Dell XPS which is resting into a custom-built rack spanning across said bike's handlebars.

P9 is not my favorite. It's straight-graduated light to hard, then over again. There are 10 one-minute sections in each level's configuration. sometimes alternating light and heavy, easy and hard if you will, as if one is biking up a hill and down a hill, up a hill and down a hill. Once the 10 minutes are up the pattern repeats. P9 is like starting out on the level and climbing the roads up to Kerry Park Overlook in Seattle, gradually increasing straight on up. Sometimes I do 30 minutes or so, just enoug…

This gorgeous piece of work has been much reposted and repinned, but I'm not shy. I sometimes put stuff in my blog just 'cause I want to remember it. With so many other options for that function available (see http://about.me/scottmerrick), it's not a consistent strategy., but that's mine of choice this fine crisp Sunday winter morning.

Before I do, let me opine that this graphical/text object is interesting because it reads like an article without actually being an article. And that I'm not sure I buy into the prediction of Apple's dominance, though I will further share my opinion that their intentional, focused work in the education sector mirrors the way that they have focused their sales on one particular device, and that the profligacy of android devices noted in the infographic goes well noted in that respect. Personally, I'm suspecting that the Google Chromebook may the the ticket, at least in education (see friend Kathy Schrock's "first imp…

Happy Saturday morning. Got 20 minutes or so to view a little tour of the virtual world(s) I'm building out for my school? If so...



 And pardon all the throat clearing...I'm working out a little upper respiratory thang. If you are a member of the general public, you may visit our Public world at http://www.kitely.com/virtualworld/Scott-Merrick/MNPS-Virtual-School-II-Public. If you are one of our teachers or students, visit that Public world to get your avatar and download the client software to your computer, then send me your Kitely username and I'll whitelist you into our private world. Seriously. Teachers? Incentive credits for exploration and fearlessness! Students? I would wager I can get you a little extra credit in your course if you've managed to work your way into our virtual world--again, credit for pioneering. It's time.

being alive Scott Gardner Merrick
Hundreds of cackling grackles emerge from one horizon, wings beating and gliding, sets of six beats, then one long glide, flapping six times again, then gliding, each of them, flocking across the crisp October sky, This pattern of motion conspires with this number of birds to create overhead an impressive illusion of order in a fleeting, private event of sight and sound. I am astounded. Soon they dance away between me and the full bright silver moon, his ancient blue-lined face askance always-- I can almost hear the “Meh...” A sunrise pink-tinged Learjet eases across the crisp cerulean sky after them sounding one big steady wind, its engines’ blowings fading, followed by a light plane’s props, chainsawing away, steadfast and unseen.

Granted, most of them are me, writing or revising, but somehow that 6 digit figure looks good to me. Maybe someone _is_ reading. Have a great Sunday!

Just working out some things here. I just blew a gig. It was so all my fault.

Well, not really a gig, but a commitment. I had committed to present at a conference in Singapore this week, invited to do so by Mr. Patrick Ho, CEO of "MobiLearnAsia," a conference held to bring together people who are interested in the burgeoning move to digitize, profitize, and maximize participation, learning, and community. From the website, MobiLearnAsia was "organised for education professionals who are interested in deploying and developing the latest technologies and best practices in mobile learning and elearning, and for corporate executives who are interested in leveraging mobile learning technologies for employee and compliance training, product and sales training, customer service and performance support, this event will feature over 30 international expert speakers and a host of sponsors and exhibitors"

I was to be one of those "experts." For months, s…

Mark your virtual calendars! And visit http://vw.unsymposium.org/ to learn more about the Virtual Worlds and Games UNsymposium November 1, 2, and 3.

I connected last night via Vidyo.com's light client to the conference planners in Singapore for MobiLearnAsia, coming up next week. It was interesting to work out some connection issues and to have them turn their webcam around to share the vast room that I'll be projecting into for my one hour session "3D Learning Environments at SIGVE," wherein I'll do some 'splainin' about how we set this up every year in order to share the goings-on at the huge annual ISTE conference with members scattered around the globe both online at at the ISTE Headquarters in Second Life, pipe in presenters to the SIGVE Playground, and ustream the whole kit and kaboodle out onto the Internetz. Here's a screenshot I took at the last moment:


It should be fun. I may just need to work out some nice new mashup of online platforms for the event. I so enjoyed mixing up Prezi and Wikispaces for this year's Podcamp Nashville and the (live next week at K12OnlineConference--going o…

A decade or so ago, working in a private school setting as Lower School Technology Coordinator at University School of Nashville, I forwarded the notion that any of our esteemed faculty and staff who benefited from funding to attend professional development workshops should be required to share what they learned from the experience. That suggestion was never formalized, though I did my best to hold myself to that standard here at my blog. Previous posts as far back as 2006 shared my travels in learning with the world, and the fun part is that they stand as a lasting archive. Here's the most recent addition to that body of work.

Thank you for attending 2012 PDL PreK-12 Executive Forum “Common Ground and Higher Expectations” in Orlando, FL.  We hope you enjoyed the opportunity to meet educators just like you and discovered exciting ways to reach your destination and tools that will help navigate you toward your goals of higher student achievement.
 
Your input is important to us! If …

Picnic in the Park! VIEW SLIDE SHOWDOWNLOAD ALL

Re-shared from ETLO's email campaign! OF course I want you to take in all of these, but October 30? Probably attendance-required!

Join us for these fall webinar events! Increasing Student Achievement: Digital Tools in Online Learning Environments Date: Wednesday, October 17
Time: 3:00-4:00 PM ET
Presenter:Dr. Lisa Hervey, NBCT, Research Associate at The William & Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation In this webinar, Dr. Hervey will discuss and reflect on the importance of selected standards from the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) related to teaching with multimedia and online tools. She will also share several free, open-source digital tools that can support online educators in meeting these standards.

The webinar will focus on four guiding questions: Authenticity: How do the selected SREB and iNACOL standards address student engagement? What does this mean for online educators?Clarity: …

Just touching base on a few presentations I'll be doing in October. It's going to be a busy month. First, for ISTE's SIGOL, I'll be facilitating and hosting  a 59 minute session as the opening event for the bi-monthly SIGOL Webinar series "Priceless ProfDev in Less than and Hour!"I'm really looking forward to this one and I hope you can join us, as Cat Flippen (who can resist a smile at that name?) shares some great successes she's had using online tools in her high school classrooms. This one will be of great interest to all of us working in online learning environments as well as to anyone in any classroom with an internet connection, anywhere! Here's the brief description, and I'll add more details as we get closer to the event itself:
Wed., Oct. 173 pm EasternCatherine FlippenOnline Assessments, Data Collection and You -- How to assess, reinforce, and collect data without using paper to improve student success in the classroom.ll

Then, du…