VSTE VEN Will Relocate at the End of this Summer

Good morning, world(s). 

Because of my real life work and also my dedication to my volunteer work for ISTE via our Virtual Environments Network for that organization, I don't get out much--into other worthy organizations' activities. But since I do know that the Virginia Society for Technology in Education, a remarkably active learning network in Second Life, is at the top of the list for research and community about learning and teaching in virtual worlds, I want to share a recent announcement. The ISTE VEN made a similar change in 2009, downsizing to our cozy HQ in Second Life at http://tinyurl.com/isteven, so it's not surprising, but it is noteworthy! I encourage one and all to quickly visit their Jamestown reenactment build at the link within the post before it goes away: I'm not sure whether it will be rebuilt in their new smaller location! Here's the message, posted on a sign at our HQ by our dear Beth Ghostraven (Beth O'Connell, former recipient of our annual Virtual Pioneer of the Year Award at the ISTE Conference)...

The VSTE VE PLN Is On the Move in Second Life!
June 1, 2019
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VSTE%20Island/62/130/21
For over 10 years, the VSTE Virtual Environments Professional Learning Network has maintained VSTE Island, a full region in Second Life, as part of our professional development program. With a shift in focus to expanding to other virtual environments, we have decided to downsize and move to a parcel on the Second Life Mainland, with significantly lower costs.
SAVE THE DATE - The new parcel will be revealed on Monday, August 19, 2019 at 8:00 pm EDT (5:00 pm SLT / Pacific time).
The VE PLN will very much still be in Second Life and other virtual worlds, meeting (almost) weekly on Mondays at 8pm Eastern time. Minecraft Monday will continue on the first Monday of the month at VSTE Place, our shared Minecraft server. Our other excursions include Opensim on Avacon, Unity (including SineSpace and ViWoLe), and other virtual environments new and old. As VSTE Island Facilitator Kim Harrison says, “We need to be good stewards of VSTE's funds."

ISTEVENFocus112018Valibrarian

For our November 2018 third Tuesday ISTE Virtual Environments Network Focus Session, we welcomed Valerie Hill, aka Valibrarian Gregg, to the VEN Headquarters for "Digital Citizenship: Sharing Stories through a Community Drum." 

Watch...

Then if you are of a resource-exploration mind, explore...

Eduverse Talks Announcement!

ISTE Eduverse Talks has now posted a description of our little one hour session this coming Tuesday. I hope you can be there. LOL, I didn't know I was a "Case Study" but I guess it's about time. There's a link at the description page to bios of my co-panelists and I think it's worth a read.

If you do not have a Second Life account, by the way, you can catch the show live online at TreetTV! Here's the url for that webpage, the dedicated video stream feed for LIVE Eduverse Talks! Go there Tuesday, June 9, at 5 pm Pacific, 6 pm Mountain, 7 pm Central, 8 pm Eastern, or whatever pm or am it is in your own neck of the woods and the stream'll be streaming. Until then, you'll get a blank Quicktime frame.

Cheers, and enjoy your weekend. You deserve it!

ISTE Eduverse Talks Appearance!

I hope you can join us in Second Life this next Tuesday, June 9, as my avatar sits down at 5 pm SLT on stage with those of Peggy Sheehy, Marianne Malmstrom, Andy Wheelock and host Kevin Jarrett to talk about the impact of Second Life and ISTE on my "real life." In the live talk show, ISTE Eduverse Talks, you'll likely hear me say that Second Life, for me, isn't a "second life," but rather a fun and exciting extension of my only life into another realm. I've made dear friends, whom I see admittedly more often than I see my "real world" friends, and I've shuttled  some of those friendships over into "real life" to become colleagues and collaborators in ways that would never have thrived as they have, not even been possible, without Second Life.

A couple summers ago, David Warlick, kindly Skyping in for a talk with a group of teachers I was leading into Web 2.0, made the statement: "Scott and I aren't friends because of our geographical proximity, we're friends because of what we think." I'll always cherish that concept, and it goes a long way toward explaining the draw of Second Life, Twitter, and any other tool I can use to network with innovative and technology savvy educators. Life(s) is good.

Location: ISTE Broadcast Studio: 
http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island%203/197/238/23

I hope you'll come to see and hear what I know will be a fascinating hour. Here's a pic from the most recent episode of the show (sponsored by Hewlett-Packard and ISTE and produced in collaboration with the Second Life Cable Network!):

Now I have to go shopping for professional virtual clothes. I don't think my medieval knight's cape or my MUVErs scrubs will do the trick!