Second Life ™

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…..

Don’t forget to join us this evening (5 p.m. SLT, 7 p.m. CST, 8 p.m. EST) as Pennelope Riggles (Creative Director for the Smithsonian LatinoVirtual Museum in Second Life and DEN STAR educator Telos String give us aguided tour of the new museum and discussion on the current development of an interactive in-world game on excavation to exhibition of Pre-Colombian artifacts from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
We will meet at  2 DP ( our DEN in SL HQ)  and then be given the landmark to teleport to the museum.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%20II/132/131/22

Last night the DEN in SL had the pleasure of hosting Emanna Romano (Lisa Thumann – RL) as she presented on ‘Searching Google in a Snap’.  For those who want to view her presentation, it is hosted on her blog.  And if you want to check out her resources, please visit Thumann’s Resources.  

As a GCTer (Google Certified Teacher), Emanna is well versed in all things Google, and she has a wonderful SL presence for presenting.  Her tone conveys her passion of the topic, her interaction with the audience is relaxed, and you can sense that she is enjoying what she is doing.

When people say ‘let me Google that for you’, they may actually be referring to http://lmgtfy.com

If you’re interested in finding out more about Google’s Search features go here.  You will find search essentials, reference tools, local searches, and trip planning to name a few.

Teachers can find classroom posters to use here.

If you’re teaching a particular topic or just current events, you can find out more about trends here.  Spend a little time exploring this feature.  In fact, try this – enter your state’s name in the advanced search area to see what top trends are of interest to the population in your state.

Have a non-native speaker in your class?  Check out Language Tools here.  Go to the advanced search & preferences, search for a specific topic and choose a language.  You can also take a block of text and translate it.

Power up your Google Search by going to the Advanced Search feature.  Check out ‘File type:’  which shows results in documents, powerpoints, etc.  Check out the ability to search for Google Earth kml and kmz files, as well as, shockwave flash.  If you check out ‘Search within a site or domain:’  you can narrow your search to educational institutions by specifying .edu.

Explore the Book Search feature here.  If a book is in the public domain, Google can put the entire book online.  You can also create your own library – you can import books by ISBN number or title; click on ‘add this book to my library’, and you can view the libraries of other people. The ‘About this book’ will provide you with the table of contents, search the book, popular passages, book reviews, references from other books, and references from scholarly works.

Want to kick up your or your students’ research capabilities?  Then try Google Scholar.

Google Scholar will only searches reputable articles, journals, books, it does not search newspapers, magazines, blogs, or popular websites.  If you’re working on a major research paper and need to do a literature review, this just might be the tool for you!

For the latest, go to Google News here.  You can customize the page to suit your particular needs.  There is also an advanced search option where you can specify date, news source, news source location or location in general.  You can stay up-to-date and connected to results by choosing to: create an email alert; add a custom section to your Google News, add a news gadget to your Google homepage, or subscribe to a news feed in Google Reader.

Want to be notified up certain topics?  Then check out Google Alerts here. You might want to enter your name (and derivatives thereof) to see mentions of yourself in cyberspace.

If you want students to search only specific websites (excellent for elementary students to use, once a teacher has set it up), then try Google Custom Search here.  You (or a group of you) enter the websites that will be searched for a specific term.  I can see this being used by elementary teachers in creating a repertoire of resources that are at students’ readability levels. 

And finally – this JUST in, so check it out!

Thanks again Emanna, your information was fabulous!

The DEN would like you help in finding out more about how the DEN is impacting student learning and professional growth.

So if you have a minute (and I’m sure we can all find a minute in our busy lives), please fill out the survey.  You can read the full blog post here.

Can you believe it?  It’s already March!  Not only will we be switching to Daylights Savings (March 8th - so mark that on your calendar), but the DEN in SL has a great line-up for you.

DATE:  March 4, 2009

WORKSHOP: Newbie Workshop - Finding Educational Events

PRESENTER: Beth Kohnke

DESCRIPTION:  This is an informal session for those new to Second Life.  We will discuss how to find educational events and create landmarks to these events.  There we also be a time to ask questions you might have about Second Life.

*****

DATE:  March 11, 2009

WORKSHOP:  Introducing the New VSTE Island

PRESENTER: Alfredo Bedrodian (SL) Al Doss (RL); Jazmemo Zimminy (SL), Lisa Alconcel (RL); Mandie Mimulus (SL)  Marie Booz (RL); Thunder Insippo (SL) Kim Harrison (RL)

DESCRIPTION: Four Virgnia Beach teachers will share the new Virginia Society for Technology in Education’s Island in Second Life. Come and see their recreation of Jamestown fort, Powhatan Village and the three ships that first sailed to Virginia.

*****

DATE:  March 18, 2009

WORKSHOP:  Virtual Instruction: The Real Deal?

PRESENTER: Celestia Cazalet

DESCRIPTION: Celestia will reflect on her experiences as a first-year virtual instructor. Comparisons between face-to-face classroom interactions and virtual classroom interactions will be explored. Much of this session will be facilitated dialog. Anyone who is interested in virtual schooling or has experience with virtual schooling is encouraged to be an active part of this timely discussion.

*****

DATE:  March 25, 2009

WORKSHOP:  Shhhhh…..It’s Still ‘Under Wraps’

PRESENTER:  Apophene Singh ( Hall Davidson RL )

DESCRIPTION:  You know it’s going to be fun, informative, and a great experience whatever he decides to share )

TIMES FOR ALL WORKSHOPS ARE:  5 p.m. SLT ( 7 p.m. CST, 8 p.m. EST)

Yup, 3 p.m. SLT (5 p.m. CST, 6 p.m. EST)
posted by Laelia Laval on Eduisland II using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

Free popcorn for all! Join us at 3 p.m. SLT (5 p.m. CST, 6 p.m. EST) for Movie Night at DEN in SL!
posted by Laelia Laval on Eduisland II using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

Please join us this Wednesday, February 18th as Kevinski Bravehart (Kevin Honeycutt in RL) leads a workshop on ‘Leaving Intentional Footprints for Today and Tomorrow’.  Kevinski will be leading a discussion on the digital footprints our learners can create to learn today, while empowering themselves in the future.

SLT TIME:  5 p.m. SLT ( 7 p.m. CST, 8 p.m. EST)

OK, so this blog is ‘normally’ focused on Second Life happenings, but THIS is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to BIG to pass up.  What is it you ask?  Click here to find out!

Presented on the opening day of SL’s Education Faire.  Fairly impromptu presentation and it went off quite well considering that some of us kept floating through walls & flying off to never-neverland (thanks for teleporting me back to Ground Zero Beth!), others were in Philadelphia at the EduCon 2.1 conference, and others were not able to voice chat.  Regardless, the dialogue kept going in both voice and text-based chat. 

Look for the DEN in SL team to once again present on Tuesday, January 27th at 4 p.m. SLT (6 p.m. CST, 7 p.m. EST).  Be sure to check out the wiki with the schedule of events for this week.