MUVEs+and+Professional+Development

I did my research with Second Life, and discovered some professional development opportunities within the MUVE. One such opportunity is called Foundations for the Future, and the purpose of the project is to help k12 teachers integrate technology into the classroom. Another professional development opportunity is through ISTE: Educational Technology Assoc that provides leadership and teacher training. Doing a quick search for professional development within Second Life yielded many examples of opportunities that are currently available through the MUVE, and one simply has to create an account and enroll to take advantage of the resources that are available. I also found a learning network within Second Life called the IEET, or Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and another called the Emerging Technologies Research Group. Discovery Education hosts an educator’s network within Second Life, where hundreds of members share resources and ideas from all over the world.
 * Chris Stewart**:

Using the resources that I have found, it would be easy to encourage colleagues to create an account and participate in the professional development opportunity. I am sure that most of the teachers probably do not know what MUVE’s are, and it would be a great learning experience for them to participate in either a workshop, or access and share resources through Second Life so they could see first hand how the virtual environment works. This would hopefully spark their curiosity, and entice them to use this kind of technology to create unique learning experiences for their own students. My teachers are already familiar with Discovery Education through DE Science and United Streaming, so they trust the resource and would probably be more willing to explore Second Life with this reliable resource.

Once you get past the ‘creepy’ factor, an MUVE is actually fun to walk around in. I’ve been playing large world virtual games for years, and I have always enjoyed exploring and interacting with the environment and the other people within the world. I just recently learned that the Teen Second Life is no longer online, so that kind of puts a damper on my county using Second Life as an instructional tool. If there is any possibility that an adult could masquerade as a child, and interact with the students, then I’m 100% sure my county wouldn’t adopt the technology. I know that there are other MUVEs out there, so I’ll have to play around with them to see how safe and secure they are.
 * Chris to Rich**:

Looks like you had a good experience using the MUVEs. I think you touched on a critical point regarding the instruction of the teachers before the instruction of students. Like any topic, subject related or not, if the instructor does not have a solid grasp on the content, student learning will invariably suffer. I feel that MUVEs are very difficult to comprehend from the onset and without an instructor that is properly able to facilitate, their learning curve will be quite large.
 * ---Rich To Chris:**

The MUVE that I decided to investigate was Second Life. From the first time I ever visited, only one word came to mind: creepy. It is so eerie on so many fronts. First off, the avatars are so odd looking that the creep me out. Secondly, because I am looking at this though an educational lens, it is bothersome to me that this could possibly be safe for students to use. Lastly, it mirrors that of problematic digital games such as Grand Theft Auto.
 * Rich Vleck:**

I must be missing something though, as a host of professional organizations have joined in on this medium. A wealth of prestigious universities such asStanford,Texasand USC have their own communities, as well as not-for-profit organizations like the Mayo Health Clinic.

I found a forum known as eLearning Forum that originates from the heart of the technological boom and provides a portal for which new, hot technologies are being revealed. Another one, called Vushi, it’s a platform from which professionals can collaborate on a number of topics through a number of fronts. This connects to their website but provides this unique interactive experience for added engagement.

Once again, this MUVE is creepy outlet in my eyes but I am sure that it serves its purposes as so many reputable institutions, organizations and forums have navigated their way to this medium.

I thought the same when I browsed other types of MUVE websites. Some I thought were borderline inappropriate. If you find this website to be too "creepy," I would suggest another site similar to the one you found. This might be better for older students. Since this has links for universities and they utilize the site, I would suggest using this site with junior or senior age students so that they can experience this site before they get into college and would have the common knowledge of using it as well as becoming familiar with it so that the images do not appear "creepy." Since this site has many reputable institutions endorsing this site, I would try to allow the "creepiness" to be pushed to the side. Overall, this sounds like a really good site to use with a lot of useful information.
 * Malissa to Rich:**

Marisa to Rich: I too found many things disturbing about Second Life. First of all, I did not like the avitar's clothing or lack of it. Secondly, I did not feel like it was easy to keep students from going to inappropriate places. Additionally, I got lost and trying to get back to Caledon was very frustrating. I can see how students and educators could become easily frustrated and upset. There will need to be a lot of support and training for anyone who is new to these kinds of technologies.

By using the [|Whyville MUVEs] website, I found a very useful link within this site. Under the about Whyville link, and then under in the news link, opens up to several links to choose from. This is a great resource to find information about new and emerging technologies. This link also gives articles as to how students learn best using MUVEs and virtual classrooms. Not only does this resource have articles, it also includes blogs and spotlight news. This is great to be able to join in a conversation and acquire ideas from other teachers. Overall, I enjoyed this website in that it has variable resources embedded and is user friendly for teachers and students.
 * Malissa Sauciunas:**

I could use this MUVE in my classroom as a chat room. To just get started, I would have my students use this as a chat room. For instance, this would be good for a math class so that students can ask each other questions on their homework after school. After students have become acquainted with the site, they can then create their own world and use what we learn in math as the basis.

In order to engage colleagues, I would first pilot the site with my students. After I have acquired the knowledge of the site and its uses, I would talk with my administration to offer training during one of our breakout sessions during workdays. I would offer a training “On the MUVE” to share with teachers and show them what their students could do. If I have the piloting before the training, I would be able to answer questions through experience. I would then allow teachers to play with the site or other similar MUVE sites so they can choose to their liking while keeping them engaged with the program.

The site Second Life (SL) has many organizations that utilize SL for a variety of reasons. After searching the many organizations found on SL I found two that I explored further; Society for InfoTech & Teacher Education and ISTE:EducationalTechnology Association. Both of these will also help me stay abreast of new and emerging technologies. An additional resource that I found was the Community of Expertise in Educational Technology (CEET). It is an online community of practice fostering expertise in the use of educationaltechnologiesin K-12 education. CEET’s goal is to aid teachers in understanding and using emerging technologies. Additionally, CEET brings together information and resources on how existing and emerging educational technologies aid instructional practices, achievement, and increase student engagement.
 * Marisa Roberts:**

==== The resources found would be great to help provide professional development workshops in a MUVE setting. Since I know MUVE was a new idea to me, it will most likely be a new concept for most, if not all, of my colleagues. Allowing them to explore an MUVE and practice in that setting will help them build confidence and understanding of how an MUVE works. ====