Congratulations to all of the folks at the University of Arizona, JPL and NASA for a fabulously successful EDL (Entry, Descent, Landing) on Sunday. I’ve modified the EDL slightly to Entry, Descent, LANDED!!!!!!! Special thanks to Charles White (Jet Burns in Second Life) and all the other JPLers who went to extreme lengths to share the experience with us in Second Life.
Perhaps the most amazing thing that I experienced during the EDL and the release of the first pictures was the heart-warming and enthusiastic sense of community and family among the avatars present for the event in SL (I think someone counted 58 but it seemed like a lot more). Folks were helping each other learn how to set and reset preferences, get video and audio to work, find the NASA TV website, and just answering general questions and sharing information. I never dreamed that a virtual environment could ever feel so warm and caring. I hope it is a harbinger of the future in virtual communities in general and for SL specifically.
I was able to share the experience with several SL folks (Penelope Drucker, Southern Georgia, David Shea and Vickster Volare), only one of whom I have met in RL (real life). I sense that the boundary between real life and the virtual world is blurring. Who’da thunk it!
If you have not yet taken a look at the pictures from Mars, please look at my previous posts for links. What a great day to be a science nerd, an American, and an Earthling ! ! !
Very exciting day for science and engineering nerds everywhere! The Real Life and Second Life coverage of the landing and first pictures was absolutely breathtaking! You owe it to yourself to check out NASA JPL’s mission website and see what is going on. Great job JPL and NASA!!!!!
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html
Don’t miss the exciting landing of the Mars Phoenix this afternoon at 4:53 p.m. PDT. Landing coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. PDT. Here is the NASA JPL link to the Phoenix home page: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/phoenix/main.php
Here is the SLUrl for you Second Lifers out there: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Explorer%20Island/129/104/40 Enjoy!
Our school had a Discovery Education Webinar on Microsoft Movie Maker on Tuesday, and I was so inspired that I jumped right in and made a movie on Wednesday! It’s not the highest quality, and we didn’t even rehearse the script, but it was fun, and I know that I can only improve (lol). Special thanks to Shannon Gaumer who conducted the training from DE (while on vacation!).
The most recent issue of “Campus Technology” contains an article about an innovative collaboration among two U.S. and two Brazilian universities utilizing a virtual classroom environment provided by Wimba technology. Here is the link to the article: http://www.campustechnology.com/articles/62950
This week’s edition of Edutopia’s “Technology in Education” newsletter contains an article on Discovery Education Science for Elementary and Middle School. Here is the link to the article: http://www.edutopia.org/discovery-education-science-virtual-laboratories. Enjoy!
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