ALA Midsummer’s Night Party
August 23rd, 2008
On Saturday, August 23, the American Library Association’s Membership Interest Group (MIG) hosted a Midsummer’s Night party on their sim. The purpose of this party was to network and socialize with the larger ALA and SL library communities. Attendees were encouraged to wear Shakespearean period costumes. While chatting, we were also entertained by a Tudor era trivia quiz provided by Lorelei Junot. It was a great opportunity to connect professionally with other librarians in an informal online environment.
Summer Authors Series
July 27th, 2008
This summer, we helped organize two summer author visits on the Teen Second Life sim “Eye4You Alliance”. Teens had the opportunity to visit with well-known authors Jacqueline Woodson and Jack Gantos. For more information, click to read about Jacqueline’s visit and Jack’s visit.
Educational Spotlight Roundtable
July 7th, 2008
Tonight, I attended a panel discussion called “Educational Spotlight Roundtable Panel Discussion” which was part of the Second Life 5th Birthday Party Celebration. Sarah Robbins (AV: Intellagirl Tully) moderated the discussion. Panelists included Peggy Sheehy (AV: Maggie Marat), Kathy Schrock (AV: Kathy Dryburgh), Bernajean Porter (AV: Bernajean Pinazzo), and Eric Krangel (AV: Eric Reuters. Panelists discussed such ideas as big changes in education and panelists’ own work that have occurred due to technology.
This event took place on the new four-sim ISTE auditorium. Approximately 130 persons attended this event, demonstrating that SL is a valid forum for large education events. ISTE, again, is a proven leader in utilizing SL to support its members.
Beach Party on Investing InfoIsland
July 6th, 2008
Yesterday, I attended a beach party at the new Investing InfoIsland sim. This sim is sponsored by the Alliance Library System and is an extension of the “Smart investing @ your library” program. This 60s-style beach blanket bingo party also involved a scavenger-hunt activity in which partygoers could go to various parts of the sim to gather financial information. Then, they could enter a contest for prize money. The party atmosphere also provided a great opportunity to network with the general librarian community in Second Life.
“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.
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