Learning with Lori

The DEN in SL has launched Shark week events. Shark Week begins on the Discovery Channel at 9PM EST on July 27. Don’t miss an episode. Enjoy the fun!

Come swim with Denny the friendly shark in our pool at the DEN in SL HQ. We are going to dive with the sharks on Monday, July 28th, sign up to reserve your spot on the registration wiki.

On Sunday, August 3rd,  5 PM SLT, see how knowledgeable you are on Shark Trivia.  Of course we’ll be giving away lindens too.

In one week I will finally get to meet f2f some very important people who have been  a big part of my PLN for over a year at NECC 2008 in San Antonio. I am so excited!

First of all there are the four members of the DEN in SL™ Leadership Council that I have never met in person that I can’t wait to meet. They are like family to me now.   We  have chatted, twittered, skyped, texted, Im’d, emailed, collaborated, explored, learned together, laughed, trusted, supported and respected each other for over a year now. Along with these four, are two others who I do know in person and who have been part of my PLN for many years. Together we will be presenting at NECC how to successfully create a PLN  using Second Life, the DEN and other Web 2.0 tools. I am proud to be part of this group.

Over a year ago I was introduced to Second Life, a virtual online world.  I took the plunge and created an avatar, stumbled around with a torch in my hand on orientation island, and was offered a TP to Eduisland II and then to the ISTE building. I was introduced to several educator avatars and within a week I volunteered to be part of the DEN in SL Leadership Council that was just starting out. As I had been a DEN member for years, I knew the adventure would be rewarding. And it has been a hundred times better than what I could have even dreamed.

There were several educators from IL already in SL who took me under their wing last year. JM took me shopping for hair and clothes and how to find freebies.  Ex took me on his bubble taxi and taught me how to use the movement and camera controls.  I met new friends like Macsmom who took me on tours and Kristy  who taught me about scripting. There were chats at the DEN house, ISTE socials and  many evenings at the Blogger’s Cafe as well as adventures with a Logo bee, hang gliding, surfing, riding a unicorn, meeting and sharing with so many wonderful educator avatars and so much more.  I helped plan the Eduisland Ed fair,  and almost a hundred other events for other educators at the DEN in RL and SL. I  learned so much throughout this journey creating a huge PLN along the way.  Then I added in twitter, blogs, ustreams, and nings. And so the PLN grows and grows. But it all started with the DEN LC; Riptide, Laelia, Beth, Celestia, JM and Geekie, along with Demb Oh and all the DEN STARS, DEN Guides and DEN members in RL and SL!

NECC  2008 begins a new journey. So many f2f meetings, so many new conversations. Besides meeting my LC family, there will be SL friends, twitter friends, and reuniting with other educators I’ve met previously at conferences over the years.  I’m excited knowing that my PLN will be strengthened.

Come hear more about our PLN story on Monday, July 1 at 8:30 AM at HGCC 211.

My Avatar is ready for Texas and so am I!

I hope to meet so many others who also are a valuable part of my PLN. If not this year, maybe at the DEN Leadership Institute in July or some other day in the future.

I am amazed at what I learn from my PLN. I could spend the whole day just learning from all of you! Unfortunately I have to walk away from twitter and SL sometimes and I’m sad if I missed a chance to view a ustream live so I can interact with everyone. The backchannel is another avenue for learning. Of course I can go back and watch the ustream later, but it’s not the same. I am behind on reading many blogs, but do keep up on the DEN blogs. As the DEN is a big part of my PLN, both in SL and RL. I just can’t seem to catch up on all the other blogs I have in my reader. I so appreciate everyone’s incites and ideas, and I try to comment when appropriate. I especially enjoy blogs that share practical applications I can use, projects I can share, best practices and tricks of the trade. Everyday my PLN expands, but there’s that core group I know I can count on when I need help. So thank you PLN, for helping me grow to be a better person, educator and learner. I hope that as I find my voice on this blog, I will be able to share more with my DEN PLN. As I told someone just tonight, I find conversation so much easier, twitter , IM and SL than creating a blog post or reflections and ideas. I will try to find my niche as a blogger. Taking some baby steps here.

    The fruit of my labor for the past year will begin next week. I am program chair for the Illinois Technology Conference for Educators. This is the big IL technology conference sponsored by ICE, the Illinois affiliate for ISTE. I’m excited that the conference is finally here. I’m confident that the presenters that the committee has chosen will be great.  I always worry, but shouldn’t, that I didn’t place the sessions at the right time or right room.  There will be lots of choices if a room is at capacity.  Sometimes, you just never know which session will be standing room only and which rooms, won’t have many attendees.  Registration is still open at http://www.iceberg.org and this year we have a Ning so that there can be follow up discussions at http://myiltce.ning.com and we have a twitter account called iceconference.

Discovery will be well represented. Many STARS will be presenting workshops, general sessions or at the Discovery Education booth.  Even I said I would present DEN in SL at the booth Wednesday, Feb 27th around 4:00  PM CST and Friday, Feb 29th 1:30 PM CST.

I’m looking forward to meeting in RL my virtual network from SL and twitter.

I am an Information Specialist at a 5-6 school in IL. I am active in the organization Illinois Computing Educators (ICE) and the local chapter Northern IL Computing Educators (NICE). I am Program Chair for the IL conference sponsored by ICE, previously called IL-TCE and I am on the DEN in SL Leadership Council. In SL I am Lor Fredriksson.