ISTE NETS-S in 3D

Hey, ya'll,

I have been remiss in sharing a project I put up one day in ReactionGrid that I hope will provide an interesting destination for teachers interested in learning and teaching in virtual worlds. I did share it briefly at ISTE10 in Denver, CO at the SIGVE Virtual Environments Playground, but I think a few pics online would be a nice addition to the shareout.

This build displays the standards outline for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which those of us who follow and utilize this kind of thing know as ISTE NETS. There are three "National Educational Technology Standards" sets, one for students (NETS-S) and one each for Administrators and Teachers, each substituting the appropriate letter for the -S in their acronyms.

See them all here.

And now you can visit a visual representation of them in ReactionGrid, the OpenSimulator-based virtual world that has become a staple of my online explorations. Disclaimer: the owners of this beautiful and functional world are becoming friends of mine, so I'm biased as can be in favor of this platform. If Linden Lab took a few cues from their personalized, helpful, and proactive style of service for educators (or for anyone, for that matter), they would ensure the future of Second Life, a future which has come under considerable speculation lately. Don't get me wrong: I love Second Life. Our Special Interest Group for Virtual Environments networks in there and shares fascinating professional development opportunities in a monthly SIGVE Speaker Session every third Tuesday of every month (taking a break for August as teachers get back into the swing of the school year. It's just that the recent elimination of 30% of their employees included, apparently, anyone interested in fostering an education market. We continue on in spite of, not with the help of, Linden Lab. We hope for positive change, as usual.

But I digress. Surprised?

Here are a few pics from the ReactionGrid project, hosted on ISTE Island 1. When you first login to Reaction Grid, look at "Places" on the login screen and choos ISTE Island 1. When you visit, please know that you are invited to visit ISTE's new headquarters on ISTE Island 2 (teleport at the standards build), part of a new project for that organization. And while you're there, feel free to add resources at each level of the standards that illustrate ways to implement them. Don't be afraid to hit the Build button and share away!

View from above

Close up of one standard--fly through and enjoy the view

A side view

An example of one resource for one standard: add your own!

Virtual Environments Playground Walkthrough

Hola, ya'll,

I'm cleaning up my laptop after travel to Denver for ISTE10 and my wonderful experience with friends and colleagues from all over the country, nay, all over the world.

I'm also preparing for my trip to Boston Wednesday for Thursday and Friday's Apple Summer Learning Institute for teachers. I'll certainly be sharing from there.

In the course of my cleanup, I discovered a number of fun little video snippets that I will store and share as I find useful. Here's the first, a walkthrough of the Virtual Environments Playground on Tuesday. I'd just finished sharing what was going on there with Jan Zanetis of ISTE Live, videoconferencing out to several locations nationally, and at one point in this video you can see Jan continuing to interview one of our attendees for the remote audiences. I think this does a pretty good job of capturing the feel of the event, which lasted for three days, beginning Monday morning, June 28, at 8 a.m. and wrapping up at 1 p.m. Wednesday. Walk through with me...

Thank You, Jane Wilde!

Jane, 
you as you know are largely responsible for our astonishing success. I hesitate to say that when we have another day (or, pleasantly, it feels like a half day) of sharing and learning, but I feel pretty confident we're onto a model that works. Maybe we can collaborate on a good long article L&L will pick up, or for some other venue. Extending the sharing of the sharing.

Today I'm out early at 8:30 for the panel discussion "Distance Learning Comes of Age" and I'll be sitting on the panel sharing our success very briefly as well as sharing some details of our successful distance event coordination. What's the name and venue for your paper in Toronto? I'd love to share that as well.

We'll debrief after your rousingly successful paper presentation. If you ever, and I mean EVER, need any help from me just hear that old "You've Got a Friend" song in your head and pick up your cellphone and just call on me.

Wow.

Much love from Denver and always everywhere,

Scott, and on behalf of SIGVE

On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 12:12 AM, Esme Qunhua  wrote:

Hi there Scott,
Wow! I am amazed by what we have accomplished in the past two days.  We have had our share of "tech-happens." But even the variety of glitches have been interesting and kind of funny. I mean, what can you do when the basic building instructor can't log on, and even if she could wouldn't be able to rez stuff. (Note: This was due to a Linden Lab database issue that developed at the time of the final presentation by Cindy Burton on Tuesday).

So many of the presentations have been inspiring.  The amount of content that has been shared in such a compressed time period has been awesome.  Please share my appreciation with your volunteers.

Esme

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Esme Qunhua/Jane Wilde
Geek
Faculty, Marlboro College Grad Center
Marlboro College Graduate School