MUVEs+and+Professional+Development

Multi User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) and Professional Development:


 * Bryan | David | Deanna| Jennifer | Katie |Sara| Susan**
 * David's Post:**

Two of the best MUVE sites include Second Life and Eduism. Both of these sites are great for creating learning environments for students and helping educators learn more about the virtual worlds. Second Life is intriguing because it provides people with opportunities to stay connected with new and emerging technologies. Eduism is the most intriguing because it is accessible with the SMART Board. This is a great feature because it would allow me to model the site to the students and then allow them to access the site by using the SMART Board. It is also a great tool because it allows multiple classrooms to interact with one another and to create an online collaborative learning session. Using MUVEs, both in the classroom and in professional development sessions can provide both educators and students a unique way to collaborate and learn. It can take students through different places that can help them visualize and be creative. It can also provide educators with a virtual world where they can collaborate with other educators and share ideas. Professional development and training in virtual worlds would be a great way to add tools for successful learning to take place.

Susan: During my research into multi-user virtual environments, I came across an amazing resource for professional development called [|TappedIn]. This website is a MUVE platform in which teachers and other professionals can move from room to room, campus to campus and create their very own offices and study groups in a virtual world. It struck me that what better way is there to learn about, and remain current with the latest trends in, MUVEs than to share resources and collaborate with other professionals in the heart of one? This professional development virtual community means that teachers can interact globally. English speakers are able to access a huge database of organic, dynamic, authentic learning. I imagine that, with a limited knowledge of English in order to get set-up, other language speakers could create study groups in their common language too. Teachers could invite outside experts to join these communities. The [|Education Arcade] was established by leading scholars of digital games and education. This website provides a whole scholarly library database of books, journal articles, key note speeches, game reviews and conference presentations related to the use of educational gaming. In these days of information overload, it is helpful to have a site which filters the scholarly resources on the target learning. Once a teacher has reviewed and become inspired by some research studies, there are opportunities for online communication with other professionals through the community tab and the opportunity to take action by becoming involved in projects. I investigate Whyville and found that the teachers section has a [|pdf library] with articles such as Whyville 101 which I think would be very helpful for furthering my knowledge and understanding of this MUVE. Additionally, the tab entitled [|“In the news”] links to a wealth of resources such as current affairs, related blog posting and information on new developments in the field of MUVEs in education. Reading about the latest developments and responding to comments in the blog could really support my growth in this field. Susan
 * TappedIn**
 * The Education Arcade**
 * Whyville**

Katie's Post Of the MUVEs I looked through, from Second LIfe to Whyville, I found Edusim as likely the most useful for the grade level I teach. I appreciated how it demonstrated ways in which it could meaningfully be applied even to Pre-K students. However, I am more convinced (currently) that MUVE's would be more meaningful and appropriate as a means of professional development geared towards an adult, professional audience. Businesses from Dell, Sun, Nissan, and IBM have a professional presence on Second Life. This medium afford those companies a means of internal collaboration as well as marketing exposure. According to a paper by Jones a professor at California State University in Fresno, more than 300 educational institutions have a presence on Second Life. In fact, you can even find Walden University on Second Life! His article (http://download.101com.com/CAM/conf/2007/win/Jones_Teaching_on_the_MUVE.pdf) offers some very intereting insights to MUVEs. I think that MUVEs such as Second Life could be a great tool establishing collaboration and fostering a positive work environment. Also, especially in a state like Montana, Second Life could create a meeting space more conducive to the needs of the schools. For example, the district that I teach in has a surplus of educational opportunities available while the district my husband works for offers very few. If they could merge to create an island or Montana Teachers group, this wealth of knowledge could more easily be shared and experienced.

Deanna's Post: This week the question was “How could you use the MUVE—and the resources you found—to engage colleagues (local and remote) in professional development workshops? “ (Laureate Education Inc., 2011).

I have genuinely struggled with this far more than I have with any other aspect of my Master’s program. I have combed the Internet looking for resources that would allow me to engage colleagues using a multi user virtual environment, but I admit defeat. I do not see how this form of collaboration would be better than virtually any other form of collaboration I have encountered.

Collaboration, and improving my ability to engage in collaboration, has been a strong focus of my professional development since I began this degree. Prior to embarking on this journey, I did not see collaboration as important. As I reflect on those early days, I marvel at how far I have come. I cannot imagine continuing my career as an educator without engaging my colleagues on a regular basis. These days I use face-to-face discussions, real-time environments such as Facebook Groups, Edmodo (a learning management system), Wikis, and old-fashioned email. Each of these methods has been fulfilling and productive.

Productive collaboration is, perhaps, a redundant statement, but it describes precisely how I view my current methods. My hesitation to pursue MUVEs is not based in fear of the unknown, or due to late adoption of technology. On the contrary, I am generally the first of all my peers and colleagues to invest my hard-earned money in unproven technologies and to dive in to test out new tools. My reasons for failing to see the value of MUVEs today are outlined below.


 * Bandwidth usage: the amount of bandwidth required is excessive for my district and even my home connection. Unless this improves, I do not see MUVEs thriving in most classrooms.
 * Potential for adult content: When I signed up for and explored Second Life and Habbo, I felt the avatars were not suitable for young students. Although Habbo gears its safety content towards students, the avatar that was initially assigned to my account had a bare midrift and short shorts. The Second Life avatars were steeped in provocative poses, movements and clothing.
 * Whyville’s GUI (graphic user interface) was in no way appealing for students older than grades 5 or 6 in my opinion. I had occasion to show this to five 9 and 10 year olds who are accustomed to gaming systems with advanced graphics capabilities. They had no interest in exploring Whyville because it was “…too ugly and dorky looking.” (personal conversation, November 29, 2011)

I understand the potential for MUVEs in an adult context. In fact, I noted a number of educational communities in the Second Life platform. However, they were all geared towards adult programming.

Sara's Post While researching MUVEs, I came across this website http://education.ed.pacificu.edu/lab/EducationalMUVES2.htm. This site has some good resources for learning more about MUVEs, ideas for using MUVEs in the classroom, and a calendar of seminar educators can participate in. It has also links to other sites that have articles about MUVEs and ways they can be used in the classroom. Another great site I found was an article from http://www.techlearning.com/article/give-your-professional-development-a-second-life/45581. It discusses the ways Second Life can be used for professional development and provides some resources for Second Life. Here is the link to another helpful article about MUVEs http://www.cited.org/index.aspx?page_id=159. I found many sites that provided helpful information and resources about MUVEs. They can definitely keep me updated about what is happening and new in the world of technology.

One organization I have found that has an online presence in MUVEs is ISTE. They have a virtual world called ISTE Island in Second Life. This is a place for educators to collaborate and learn from one another. The link to this site is http://www.iste.org/connect/communities/second-life.aspx. I had a harder time finding organizations that use MUVEs. I did find another site that is very informative. It is The River City Project, http://rivercity.activeworlds.com/rivercityproject/research-publications.htm. This is a site that is useful for scientific inquiry and 21st century skills. There are many resources out there if you have the time to find them.