Just thoughts on the process so far. (or things I have to do)

Virtual Worlds in Secondary Education

Who I have I talked to?

1.       I have talked to department chair, knows little, says go for it if it makes you happy

2.       In conversation with the house master, who has some credibility with the state social studies teacher organization, also knows little. A sort of smile and good luck with that idea reaction. I get the feeling I bore her to death, so this one might be on the messenger (yes, me!).

3.       Art teachers like the idea, want to know how far I get.

4.       Other social studie s teachers interested, but nothing really beyond that.

5.       Special Education teachers see potential. If other information is posted in various rooms then the resource room many be virtually expanded. Study sheets can be accessed without depending… again interest but not ones to join in.

6.       Library staff. Conversation much different. They want to write grants. But we need to do more homework first.

I do have some more info .. will be coming

I bumped into a few people I e-mailed previously about this idea. I honestly think I’m alone on this one.

I sent a message for help to the head of IT for the district. -also CC’d a few others like the head of the department, the house master in charge and another IT manager. No comment from anyone so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGMH_1VnnaY

Witnessing History – a Teen Second Life Exhibit

A you tube movie an a virtual project about the night of the broken glass in Nazi Germany

I just tried to use this despite knowing people who said it was crap. It would not run, my graphics card I guess sucks. Or was it the direct x9 thing?

http://gaming.psu.edu/VirtualWorldsLinks

I’m looking into this list, some new names are on it.

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet/archives/page9189.cfm

It was interesting to see the architecture and the creativity in second life but it has taken a day for me to get it in my head that even if I write a grant to get funds for an island, too many students couldn’t use it. I liked some of what I saw in Active worlds, but the tech is 10 years old. What out there am I missing? Where have the other teachers gone to be creative in the world?

Another thought- What if I could get my Congressman to ok a piece of land in the virtual world (yes he would pay for it!). All the high schools of the district would get access to create their own Congressional building/civic hall. With a few rooms each high school could run a number of mock simulations simultaneously. At certain parts of the month or year the Congressman could then “call” in representatives of the districts schhols to represent the high school in a committee that will consider a bill that Congress is presently handeling. Experts could be called from their owns staffs, experts that have testified before them in real situations or the Congressmen themselves.  This can be expanded even to invite the real public to observe, but not to comment. Links could be supplied for speeches given for follow up research.

If schools are on the same island, ways can be created for debate between them. Enough debates maybe the students argue in person at the end of the year.

Maybe I should talk to Representative Cafero to support the idea of doing this idea for the State of Connecticut?

I tried Second life months ago, not good for the students. I’m not allowed in Teen Second life, so exploring was not an option.

Tonight I tried Active Worlds and it was easier to get around. THey even rate the sites with movie ratings. I finally found its education page, which is expensive. $650 for a class of 20 and an additional $200 for 10  more students. I don’t think so. I visited a few worlds, which was fairly easy to do, but some had so many objects in it that navigation was slow.

I started getting a thought, though. What if I just simply squat in a an unused world. Active world didn’t seem so active. If I read things right only 168 people were up and about in all the worlds combined.  What I mean is to get a smaller world that slower computers can work better in it. Use the square like in “Euroland” and have the whole committee show up at some predetermined day and time. People can work on core legislation and I can monitor.