“Getting Started with Teacher Professional Development in SL”
June 30th, 2008
Today, I facilitated a discussion entitled “Getting Started with Teacher Professional Development in Second Life” for the NECC Conference. This meeting was attended by face-to-face participants who dropped by the Second Life Playground at NECC as well as avatars at the ISTE Island in Second Life. I used a headset to talk in voice to the SL participants while my computer was projected for the real life attendees to see. This was the first time I had facilitated a blended reality discussion and it was very enjoyable to connect people from various locations into one discussion. See the PowerPoint presentation below:
Presentation:
getting-starting-with-teacher-professional-development-in-second.ppt
Here is my avatar dressed as a cowgirl because I’m in San Antonio!
CPS SL Advisory Council Mtg - 6/18/08
June 24th, 2008
On June 18, we held our second meeting of the CPS Second Life Advisory Council. CPS teachers and librarians met together to advise on future development of the CPS sim. Suggestions related to connecting the curriculum to future builds and resources. In addition, we discussed more ideas for displays related to the Professional Library. This council will hold future meetings to continue to provide feedback about the sim.
CPS Professional Development - 6/12/08
June 21st, 2008
On Thursday, June 12, CPS grant participants were provided with a special professional development opportunity which took them on a field trip to various Second Life educational sims. The tour was designed by Corinne Fleury and involved visits to various immersive learning environments. Stopovers included Tintern Abbey, Dante’s Inferno, The Alamo, Land of Lincoln, Renaissance Island, Genome Island, NOAA, Virtual Hallucinations, Tower of London, and the Sistine Chapel. The tour concluded back at the patio of the CPS Virtual Professional Library where participants discussed their reactions - all positive - to this field trip experience. It was suggested to attendees to visit these sims in more depth in upcoming weeks.
AdvancED Office at on CPS island
June 12th, 2008
Last week, Chicago Public Schools Department of Libraries hosted a professional development session for our teachers and librarians led by Paval Shostakovich (RL: David Hurst) of AvancEd or Advancing Excellence in Education. AdvancED is the unified organization of the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI), and National Study of School Evaluation (NSSE). AdvancED is dedicated to advancing excellence in education through accreditation, research, and professional services.
Dr.. Hurst spoke to attendees about tips and steps related to preparing for a Quality Assurance Review evaluations. He shared that there are three essential questions that each school must ask itself to prepare for evalution: (1) What is important at our school? (2) How are we succeeding in accomplishing what is important? and (3) How do we know? See his full PowerPoint presentation and click on “Be a Hero”. See the AvancEd free downloads. Dr. Hurst highly recommends “Technical Guide to School and District Factors Impacting Student Learning” as a “must read” linked from that page. Learn about their professional development opportunities. You will see a “submenu” on the right-hand side of this page that give you many options concerning PD with AdvancED. Click the “e-Learning” submenu to see current electronic learning offerings. Also, he shared some special tips to assist schools in preparing for a visit. Finally, he shared information about our Illinois office.
We are happy that AvancEd has chosen the Chicago Public Schools sim to place their office in Second Life. Visit their office at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chicago%20Public%20Schools/36/197/23.
CPS Second Life Advisory Committee - 6/2/08
June 8th, 2008
As a benefit of our Illinois State Library LSTA grant to create our sim in Second Life, we have been able to provide opportunities for twelve of our schools to create virtual offices. In addition, we are in final stages of developing a virtual branch of our CPS Professional Library. To solicit guidance from our stakeholders, we formed the new CPS Second Life Advisory Committee. Our first meeting was held on Monday, June 2. We toured the new, but empty Professional Library. Then, we met in the penthouse Conference Room to discuss ideas for the new library space. The meeting was very productive and yielded many great suggestions. We anticipate a grand opening ceremony for the library in mid-September.
CPS Teachers in Second Life
June 1st, 2008
The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Department of Libraries has sponsored a mini-grant program for CPS librarians and teachers in conjunction with our presence in Second Life. Librarians and teachers from twelve schools are busily preparing virtual office spaces to support the professional needs of the colleagues at their schools. These offices will provide information about educational resources, as well as provide forums for collaboration. In preparation to create these offices, grant winners received training from the University of Chicago eCUIP program.
AASL Podcast and Discussion - 4/30/08
May 4th, 2008
On April 30, I was asked by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) to moderate a discussion related to the importance of school libraries. First, our group listened to a podcast by AASL Executive Director Julie Walker. Ms. Walker made a strong case for the importance of school libraries in impacting student achievement. Next, the group discussed our reactions to the podcast, our points of view about the importance of effective advocacy, our experiences with using School Library Media Month to promote our library programs, and suggestions for future support by AASL.
Grand Opening - Japanese Garden
April 27th, 2008
On Friday, April 25th, I participated in the grand opening of the Japanese Garden, an event which was attended by approximately 30 persons. The garden is part of the Info International sim. It is a great place to relax and have quiet conversations with friends. Visitors can stroll through the garden and collect educational notecards embedded in Japanese lanterns to learn about various aspects of Japanese culture. The garden is also available for use for educational and social events. (Contact Elaine Tulip to schedule.) Special thanks go to builder Kingbishop Ferraris; graduate students Sergeant Mornington & Uriah Wrigglesworth, who created the cultural lanterns; and Japanese advisor Ayukum Harsley for their contributions to the development of the garden. The garden is located at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island%20International/40/137/31. See Flickr pix at http://www.flickr.com/photos/elainetulip.
AASL Copyright Program with Doug Johnson
April 15th, 2008
On Monday, April 14, the CPS Department of Libraries collaborated with the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), the AASL Web 2.0 Taskforce, and nationally known speaker Doug Johnson to host a program entitled “Beating the No U-Turn Syndrome: A New Approach to Teaching and Enforcing Copyright Compliance”. This event in Second Life focused on the topic of the school librarian in advocating for the fair use of copyrighted materials. [Program description: For too long librarians have been seen as “copyright cops,” impeding the use of copyrighted materials by students and staff. This presentation suggests we redefine our roles, helping those we serve take maximum advantage of fair use provisions, finding authorities with a “user-centric” view of copyright enforcement, and teaching others to consider not just the legal, but moral side of intellectual property acquisition, use and re-use.] About forty persons attended this session and contributed to a lively discussion about the subject. See companion materials at Doug’s wiki. See Flickr pics of this event.
Chicago Public Schools Dept of Libraries Sim Now Open!
March 20th, 2008
We finally did it! On Monday, March 17th we officially opened the Chicago Public Schools Department of Libraries sim in Second Life. The event featured an informational presentation about our project followed by a St. Patrick’s Day bash complete with views of a dyed-green Chicago River and dancing at the new Sepia’s Blues Lounge.
The purpose of this sim is to provide professional development, collaboration, networking, and educational opportunities to CPS teachers, librarians, and administrators. This sim provides many nods to Chicago, including a Lake Michigan beachfront, the Chicago River, and custom builds of arts and crafts homes, bungalows, and graystones. Working drawbridges, a blend of new and historic architecture, and ample park areas represent Chicago.
Our CPS Professional Library is a focal point of the sim and serves as a virtual extension of the real life library, providing educational resources and information for our teachers, librarians, and administrators. The library provides links to recommended websites, research data about the importance of school libraries to student achievement, many books in notecard form to read, conference and comfortable seating space, and information about our department. There are many places for your avatar to “read” while you work in SL. See our current special rooftop exhibit: “Outstanding Young Adult Authors”.
The sim also features various places to promote collaboration and instruction: a lakeside auditorium, a westside park, library seating, office spaces, beach seating, and floating small group clusters. To foster a sense of community and enjoyment, there are recreational areas, including Sepia’s Blues Lounge, canoeing, windsurfing, a classic movie theater, a gaming area at the Professional Library, and casual seating throughout the sim.
Join our group “Friends of Chicago Public Schools” to receive information about upcoming events and exhibits.
Project Partners:
University of Chicago eCUIP
Golden Apple Foundation
Chicago State University
DePaul University
National-Louis University
School of the Art Institute Library
Illinois School Library Media Association
See Flickr pictures.
Visit the CPS sim in Second Life. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chicago%20Public%20Schools/56/142/23
This sim was made possible by a generous grant from the Illinois State Library.
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