One last day of Virtual Posters…

I’ve made this Animoto video to record an impression of the eLearning 07 event - which we held over a month ago now! It’s posted on the NSW LearnScope blog… but I thought I’d post it here too.

I couldn’t resist this cool tool, and hope it brings back some good memories for those who attended. For me the memories of techical dramas, stress and hard work are fading, and I’m focussing on the conversations, new learning, connections and innovations that came out of the event. Thanks to everyone how attended, contributed, commented, criticized, praised and recorded the event!

The posters will be displayed in Second Life until 5pm on the 6 December 2007, so drop inworld and check out yours and other team members posters. To teleport to jokaydia click here.

On Friday I will start pulling it all down… so we can prepare for our next adventure adventure…. hosting the International Edublog Awards 2007 in Second Life!

Ya Gotta Be Happy When….

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A two day old blog makes it to the Featured Blogs page! ;)

Thanks to James and the team at Edublogs!

Keep following us over at http://eshowntell2007.edublogs.org to get updates on conference happenings over the next few days… and did you hear there is a competition! ;)

Blogging the e-Show n Tell 2007 Online Conference

I’ve been invited to join the eNetworks Team to blog their e-Show n Tell 2007 Online Conference this week. It should be fun.

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I’ve set up a blog on Edublogs especially for the event. Click here to visit.

If you’re attending the conference… I’ve love to hear your comments! Also, you might like to enter the photo competition! ;)

I’ll be back blogging on jokay.com.au on Saturday. Seeya at the conference! ;)

eLearning07 Conference @ jokaydia

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Over the last month or so, I’ve been working with the NSW LearnScope team to prepare for their end of year festivites. The major focus of my work has been getting ready for the virtual portion of eLearning07 - the NSW LearnScope end of year event. I’ve written a detailed post about what I’ve been up to on the NSW Learnscope Blog.

The process has been lots of fun, and I’m really looking forward to the event. If you’re interested, you are welcome to attend:

For more information visit the eLearning07 Protopage or the NSW LearnScope blog. Looking forward to seeing you at the event! ;)

eTools n Tips Recording

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For those who are interested, there’s a recording on from my recent Elluminate Session for the Flexible Learning Framework’s eTools n Tips Event.

Access the recording here and the Slides here. I also provided a handout for participants which you and download here.

Also, for those who attended and wanted the links I referred to during the session:

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Upcoming Events: Go Virtual 07!

OMG - what have I gotten myself into.. hehehe! ;)

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Upcoming Regional Event for LearnScope - which will be happening in both Wollongong and jokaydia on the 24th of September and is going be a very challenging - but I’m also expecting very exciting day for me!

Read more about it here and here.

Looking forward to seeing some of you there! ;)

Virtual Learning for the Knowledge Tree

A few weeks ago I was invited to join in on a discussion on virtual worlds and virtual learning for the Australian Flexible Learning Framework’s ‘The Knowledge Tree’ which is an e-journal focussed on learning innovation.

The session included Alan Levine from the NMC Consortium and Glenda MacPherson from the GippsTAFE Virtual Worlds Project.

The discussion covers a range of issues relating to virtual worlds including the projects that each of us have been working on in Second Life.

Check out the podcast here.

Busy in Real Life & Second Life!

It’s been a busy month, both in Second Life and in the real world… but I haven’t forgotten this blog! ;) Time to catch up on a few things - including some stuff that I really should have linked to weeks ago!

eNetworks and the Australasian Second Life Showcase

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We delivered 2 presentations presentations for the Australian Flexible Learning Framework’s E-Learning Network’s e-Trends Online Conference. Check out the proceedings and recordings on the conference website - including Sean’s fantastic presentation on Virtual Worlds which you can listen to here (recorded Elluminate session).

We also presented an In-world Event: Showcasing Australasian Educational Projects in Second Life - which was a hoot. Representatives from a range of educational projects came and shared their ideas and expertise and we have a great crowd of educators with us at the event. Sean’s written a great blog post about the event here, and also done a great job of putting together the event documentation. View the slides from the event below:

The slides can also be viewed in-world at Jo and Sean’s Virtual Meeting Space: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wasp/74/31/86/

The generosity of our presenters was amazing and I think the crowd enjoyed hearing about the projects they are working on. It was certainly a thrill to ‘max out our sim’ with 40 participants at our space in Wasp for much of the event. A great learning curve for us too - which has given me lots of ideas about how we can explore running mixed-reality events and conferences in Second Life.

Relaxing at the Learnscope Lounge

Yesterday we held the first of two workshops for NSW LearnScope - focussed on helping people find their feet and get started in Second Life.

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The sessions went well I think, and we managed to move a group of 15 newbies around to a few spaces in Second Life including our space in Second Life - Jo and Sean’s Virtual Meeting Space, Terra Incognita (SLurl) - Decka Mah’s fantastic action learning Island, the Heart Murmur Sim (SLurl) - where we saw a great example fo training in Second Life and Prim Hearts Amusement Park (SLurl) - which has some fantastic rides.

As part of supporting these events, I’ve established the LearnScope Lounge in-world.

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It provides a base for the participants from our workshops to use during their explorations. The Lounge is an example of how easy it is to setup a simple space the group to use as a meeting point, and includes a bunch of tools and resources including notecards for newbies, our slides and resources and some examples of cool tools including Angrybeth’s Whiteboards, a Podcaster and free virtual Learnscope t-shirts (Virtual Schwag!)

All NSW LearnScope particpants are welcome to visit and use the resources. I’ll be maintaining the space until the end of August. Visit @ http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wasp/10/90/89.

An Island?…..

In the last month or so we’ve been busily working on some new plans in-world…. including exploring options for purchasing and establishing our very own virtual Island. I can’t decide what to call it though….. Suggestions in the comments greatly appreciated! ;)

I’ll reveal more in the very near future, and am excited by the prospect of a new challenge in Second Life - planning and implementing my very own Island is an exciting prospect! I’m especially interested in developing some more extensive orientation resources for our participants in-world, as well as spaces for arts, community and educational projects.

Coming Up…

The next few weeks are likely to be busy too - with Session 2 of our Getting Started in Second Life workshops for NSW Learnscope Team Members, a session for the NMC TeacherBuzz group, an eNetworks 2007 Tour, a Knowledge Tree podcast and the kick-off of the Sydney Institute’s Second Life project…… so I better get back to work! ;)

Three Cheers for FOSS and Wireless Blogging

Gnu Chris (aka Chris Harvey) was in town yesterday for a Learnscope supported discussion on Free and Open Source Software and the impact that it could have on the open web publishing that we do as part of Learnscope projects in NSW.

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Unfortunately I missed the first bit (slow train - we need real life teleporting now!)… but managed to hear Chris talk about the definition of Open Source licences, examples of FOSS (with a pic of my avatar! Too funny!), FOSS and the Web and Free Knowledge networks. Chris’s presentation notes are available here.

Anyway, it was great to meet Chris in the flesh and hear more about the work he’s doing. Also very important for those of us who work in educational institutions and have to deal with a ‘firewall of doom’. Well done Gnu Chris and well done NSW Learnscope, who have recently implemented Media Wiki on their server to ensure ongoing collaboration between teams can occur this year!

Makes me want to switch to Ubuntu on all my machines right now! ;)

On another geeky note, I’ve been testing a wireless modem and the Next G Network today… whilst travelling from Wollongong to Sydney and back on the train.

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I gotta say….. blogging and accessing Second Life from the train rocks! LOL!