Wednesday, July 1, is a big day for the DEN in SL! First, there will be a BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop) session at NECC conducted by several team members from the DEN in SL Leadership Council. The session is completely full, but you can still participate in-world and show your support for educators in Second Life. The BYOL will be at 10:30 a.m. EST (that would be 7:30 a.m. SLT) and will start at the DEN in SL headquarters (2DP). There may be bandwidth issues, so be prepared for last-minute changes!
Closing the day will be the second in the series of DEN Forums. The topic this week: Technology Must-Haves vs. Bells and Whistles. This forum will be facilitated by Celestia Cazalet. Come prepared to not only share your favorite technology tools, but ready to defend its use in your classroom. We’ll discuss what technologies are good, which are bad, and which might be being overused for the sake of technology. Through discussion, we’ll attempt to learn how to balance technology with other teaching tools. We’ll meet in Room 201 at 2DP.
Take a break from the NECC madness and relax with us at the forum!
This post is to let everyone know that with the recent Leadership Council election process we have had some changes to the Discovery Educator Network in Second Life Leadership Council (DEN in SL LC).
Our blog chair – Laelia Laval will be taking a much needed breather and becoming a blog team member. While not leaving the LC, she is looking into ways of moving us forward. I know I’m joined by everyone in thanking her for getting us off to such a strong beginning and leading on the path to an award winning blog.
Celestia Cazalet will be stepping into what might be thought of as the Cruel Shoes of the blog chair position. Cel has been co-chairing our building and land team. She is ready and able to lead our blog team.
Lor Fredriksson is staying as our fabulous events chair person. She will be joined by Beth Kohnke and JessieMarie Flanagan. Both of whom have worked tirelessly since our inception.
That brings us to the announcement that we have expanded our leadership council to include three new members. They are Valaina Shepherd, Vita Demina and Telos String. All three will be joining our events team as well as posting the occasional blog entry as all of our LC members do. These active members will add much to our team as we look forward to bringing even more to our members in the way of professional development, sharing, networking and fun social events.
Our new members will be introducing themselves to all of you here in posts that will be coming. So stay tuned.
Please put your virtual and real life hands together to congratulate the new DEN in SL Leadership Council.
*UPDATE* I did forget to mention that I, Riptide Furse, will be continuing as chair of this wonderful group of people.
Join Riptide Furse and others on Monday, June 22nd, who are from the Washington DC area and can help with your questions, concerns and general tidbits about how to make the most of your visit to the Nation’s Capital. We’ll go over last minute things to pack. A few hidden secrets of what to see, how to get around, and how to have the best time ever at NECC.
We will meet at the 2 DP roof pool June 22 at 5 PM SLT ( 7 PM CST, 8 PM EST)
Over the past week we’ve held several informal discussions to share ideas for those attending NECC for the first time. JessieMarie Flanagan held one last Sunday at 2 DP, and last night we held a joint discussion on Capitol Hill with NECC Program Chair, Anita McAnear ( RL), Ilse Markova ( SL). There is one more NECC Prep planned for Monday, June 22nd, but even the NECC veterans will want to attend this one because we can ask questions about Washington DC to people who live in the area.
If you are attending NECC, the first place to look is the online program and start using the conference planner. Anita explained that there are many choices starting with featured keynote and spotlight speakers, lectures, poster sessions, student showcases, research papers, birds of a feather, various lounges and of course the exhibit hall. Some events required pre - registraion like the workshops and BYOL. Of course don’t forget there will be lots of DEN Stars presenting as well.
Some of the veteran NECC attendees suggested to pack for all kinds of temperatures and possible rain, wear layers as it could hot and muggy outside, but cold in the Washington DC Convention Center. Also comfy shoes are a must. Bring your laptop and even a power strip. This are just a few of the suggestions from last night.
Join Riptide Furse and others on Monday, June 22nd, who are from the Washington DC area and can help with your questions, concerns and general tidbits about how to make the most of your visit to the Nation’s Capital. We’ll go over last minute things to pack. A few hidden secrets of what to see, how to get around, and how to have the best time ever at NECC.
We will meet at the 2 DP roof pool June 22 at 5 PM SLT ( 7 PM CST, 8 PM EST)
The DEN in SL hosted a party Wednesday, June 17, to reveal who the culprit was in the missing motorcycle engine mystery. Several people gathered in the DEN lobby near the scene of the crime as we listened to police radio communications which indicated the cuprit was being followed to 2DP. Everyone excitedly awaited the arrival of the perpetrator. Whodunit? Unklar Klaar rode in on his new, shiny motorcycle and revealed that he had not “stolen” the engine, but that Demb Oh had given him permission to use it in his new bike. Crime solved!
Unklar also made a great point “how can something be stolen in a virtual world?” Nothing exists! Winners include: Telos String, grand-prize winner of 2500L$. Telos was the only participant who had deciphered all the clues and determined that Unklar was the culprit. Two runners-up were drawn from all the names of the people who had been participating and sending emails to Celestia. The two who won 750L$ were Emilia Cornwall and Moriarty Finesmith.
Since there wasn’t an evil villain in our midst, we all adjourned to the roof, where music, dancing, and swimming in the pool commenced. It was a great way of relaxing after several weeks of solving the mystery.
Stay tuned: there is great interest in another IDiscover Sleuthing game, so watch for details soon! If you participated in the game and wasn’t able to be at the reveal party, you can still get your t-shirt by visiting the scene of the crime one more time.
We’ll be doing this ‘NECC Newbie’ session with ISTE. We’ll be meeting here.
Don’t forget to join us for a ‘NECC Newbie’ session.
If you’ve got questions or if you’ve ‘been there, done that’, then please join us tonight, Sunday, June 14th and Thursday, June 18th as the DEN in SL hosts a ‘NECC Newbie’ session. This is not a formal workshop session, it will be more along the lines of asking questions and sharing tips to make your NECC experience a fabulous experience.
That’s right - there are only two days left before the big reveal party at the DEN in SL headquarters (2DP), where we find out “whodunit” in the IDiscover Sleuthing game! A source close to the investigation has revealed that one SLeuth has already guessed the correct culprit! Could it be you? Have you not even started playing the game? There is still time! Read on for some helpful information that can assist you in either solving the mystery you’ve already been participating in or get started on catching up!
First of all, there is a suspect dossier that narrows down the list of suspects to twelve. Bookmark the site, then consider all the clues that have been given. All clues are listed here, in case you missed one in-world or one of the extra Twitter clues.
Clue #1: The evil villain who committed the crime is someone that has been thought to be a true friend of the DEN in SL.
Clue #2: A crumpled note was also found by the blood spatter. It said “Your absence has been noticed.”
Clue #3: You find a star talisman. It may have fallen out of the suspect’s pocket. You turn it over and find something engraved on the back. It says “Friendly”.
Clue #4: A mobile phone was found by the fountain. The screen had the following numbers on it: 8 6 5 5 2 7
Twitter Clue #2: it seems there is an increase in injuries around the DEN in SL.
Now you have all the clues. You have all the suspects. Do you have the answer? Find out Wednesday, June 17, at 5:00 p.m. SLT. It’ll be fun, there will be prizes for SLeuths and everyone will get a t-shirt for participating!
Can you believe that NECC 2009 is just a couple of weeks away?!?! Are you packed yet? Is your planner brimming with conflicting sessions (I know mine is!)? Are you already hyperventilating from the thought of navigating the conference center? And how and when will you get to visit all the exhibitor’s booths? If you’ve got questions or if you’ve ‘been there, done that’, then please join us tonight, Sunday, June 14th and Thursday, June 18th as the DEN in SL hosts a ‘NECC Newbie’ session. This is not a formal workshop session, it will be more along the lines of asking questions and sharing tips to make your NECC experience a fabulous one.
Please note the TIME CHANGE for Sunday ONLY!!!!! 6 p.m. SLT (8 p.m. CST, 9 p.m. EST)
Hope to see you there! Gotta run, I’m off to buy a suitcase (my husband is wondering why one of the 15 under the stairs just won’t do. Uhhhh, honey, ‘They’re NOT purple!” LOL).
Yesterday’s workshop presented by Augustine Writer was extremely colorful! Green colorful that is! The focus was on tips to make your technology ‘go green’.
Tip #1 - Try using Blackle instead of Google for your search. Seems that the black background requires less power than a white background. (Hmmmmm, wonder if that applies to PowerPoints as well?) And while you’re exploring Blackle, check out their games.
Tip #2 - P-essays. Don’t worry, when that name popped up on the screen I was clueless as well! LOL They are actualy public service announcements in digital storytelling form.
Tip #3 - Got a great idea? Use MediaShare at Discovery Education Network to get the word out. No need to send your great idea to the copy & distribution center!
Tip #4 - Have your students use Glogster (the education version) to show off their projects (and leave the construction paper in the closet!).
Tip #5 - DE Streaming – check out the ThinkGreen Writing Prompt and the Greensburg clips. If you’re not familiar with Greensburg (I wasn’t before last night), it’s about Greensburg, KS and what happened when the town rebuilt itself using green practices.
Tip #6 - Use Google Earth to create tours that show green locations, you can also search through the layers in the ‘Global Awareness’ section – where you’ll find layers from Arkive, Jane Goodall, etc.all already created for you.
Tip #7 - www.thinkgreen.com/classroom - partnership between waste management and Discovery Education; you can find lesson plans, with activities, extension activities, etc.LOADS of content to peruse; it also has virtual labs. (They also have a widget you can throw into a blog/wiki……you really need to take a look at the widget as it translates how much you’ve saved and what you can now do with the saved energy).
Tip #8 - Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge; national sustainability challenge; this year it’s elementary and middle school students.Next year high school will be added; get teams of 2/3 students work on a project to help change their environment locally.
Tip #9 - Apply for funds at DonorsChoose. It appears that if your ‘wish’ has a ‘go green’ component it’s a BIG PLUS when applying for funding.
Tip #10 - MediaShare, MediaShare, MediaShare — I know I’ve said it before, but I’m saying it again…..MediaShare….the place for you to not only distribute (paperlessly) your content, but also for you to find content for you to use in your classroom.
And here are some links that were provided by members of the audience:
Treehugger.com - it’s the ultimate blog portal on all things environmental, a going green blog. Earthhour (thanks to TheGilch String for that one). The Green Guide.
Here’s a shot of the ‘front row kids’ (you remember those, always sitting in the front row, impressing the teacher with their attentiveness, probably always got ‘A’s in class…..LOL)
And here’s Unklar showing his support for ‘Going Green’:
And don’t forget! The DEN in SL iSLeuth continues. You have less than a week (June 17th) to solve those clues and figure out what the heck is going on! I kept my distance from Riptide last night. He was swinging one mean pair of crutches everytime he chatted! And even though we spent quite a while talking, he never really quite explained how he ended up in a cast. Hmmmmmmmmmm…..
When you are at 2DP tonight for the workshop, be sure to check out the last clue, found amongst the papers we started with, and look at the suspect dossier. We have narrowed the search down to twelve individuals who are the most suspicious.
Put together all the clues, including the ones from Twitter (one of them in particular will shed some light) and take a look at who we think may have committed the crime.
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