Learn English Second Life for Teens - new video

Inspired by Carla and Erika's use of D-Film (http://mm.dfilm.com/mm2s/mm_route.php?id=2982729) in their recent presentation (http://www.thomas.org.br/activities/connect_interact_files/frame.htm) , I thought I'd try something similar with the Zimmer Twins to see how well it works:

http://www.zimmertwins.com/node/238206

http://www.zimmertwins.com is another site where you can create animations. Like D-Film, it's fun to use with students, but I'd never thought of using it in the way that Erika and Carla did, so many thanks to them for opening my eyes.

SLanguages 2008

Last weekend's SLanguages conference/festival was quite something. Over 300 people registered (compared to last year's 40) and 19 presenters (to last year's 5) over a 24-hour period. The launch was lots of fun with over 80 avatars attending the first plenary. I took lots of snapshots during the event and have created an overview of it using Slideshare, which you can see below. The SLanguages archive also now has many of the individual presentation slides and audio from the conference.

I found the event itself to be quite an eye-opener and will definitely go back and listen to the sessions I didn't get the chance to attend and also revist a few of the ones I did get to. There were also lots of places mentioned in SL that I want to visit (when I have time!).

It was particularly interesting to see how things have moved on in a year (there's now so much educational and language education activity going on in Second Life it's really exciting) and I also met lots of new people and re encountered others I'd not seen in a while. Great stuff, although I echo the sentiments expressed on the HUMlab blog - now it's time for more "students that need to be exposed to such situations." Hopefully, after next year's SLanguages event we'll be talking more about this.

The other comment that was made in the feedback to the event, which you can find summarised on Dudeney Ge's blog is that there was an over-emphasis on Power Point type presentations, which was a shame. I have to agree, and I hope we can move away from this in the future. However, as I wrote on Goodday Tomorrow's blog, this kind of presentation is the easiest to prepare (we wanted to prepare a quest to present our quests but just ran out of time) and also the safest format when you have lots of avatars at a conference. There were tours, for example, which were great, but these tours do take a lot more organisation (getting people the landmarks, etc) . I went on one, and was impressed, especially as people had been lined up to talk about particular areas...

I'd definitely like to attend more events and see how other people use SL to present ideas, etc. and also would like to follow up the idea of a quest in the Main Grid. I wonder where I'll find the time from though...

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Education@Edunation Session V - Saturday 17th May 1.30am SL Time

April was so busy that it came and went without a chance to organise an Education@Edunation event. However, I am very excited about the next one, which will feature Nick Noakes (Corwin Carillon in SL), who is a very active educator in Second Life.

Corwin will be leading a discussion - Here's how he describes the event:

Come join us for a discussion of self-directed team learning in Second Life where we will share ideas and practices for giving learning teams greater control through inquiry-driven projects.

Because Nick is based in Hong Kong, we've rearranged the time and date. This time it will be on:

• Saturday 17th May at 1.30am SL Time (PDT), which is 8.30 GMT

Come and join us if you can - Space is limited, so please sign up now by visiting the sign-up stands at Edunation III (see photo below).



Hope to see you there!

Will Wright:: Toys that Make worlds

Education@Edunation - Sunday 30th March 2008

The fourth in the EduCation@EduNation Second Life monthly series of presentations, talks, seminars, etc. will be next Sunday 30th March at 12:00 PST (Second Life Time), 19:00 UTC/GMT or 21:00 CET.

The special guest this time round is Jeremy Harmer, the well-known and best-selling ELT author and international speaker, and it will be his first public event in Second Life - he'll be behind the avatar Dirk Beatty.

The session is entitled “Watching Teachers Watch Themselves” and will be a real-world talk (rather than being about SL education) looking at teacher observation and how teachers perceive their work and their teaching practice.

The session concerns the teacher observation Jeremy carried out whole preparing the new edition of ‘How to Teach English‘ [ Pearson Longman, 2007 ]. More about this project can be found in the DVD that accompanies the printed book.

So, be sure to sign up quickly to ensure a place next Sunday (by visiting the sign-up stands in-world on EduNation III) - it promises to be a lively session which ELT teachers worldwide will undoubtedly enjoy and benefit from.

SLanguages Conference - May 2008

I'm excited about the forthcoming SLanguages conference, the second edition, which promises to be bigger and better than last year.

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This time, it'll be held on 23 and 24 May 2008, and it's hoped that there'll be more languages represented this year: the conference now also has a website this year (www.slanguages.net) with information in various languages.

It's being sponsored by the Consultants-E, owners of the Edunation sims, where the conference is to be held, and Avatar Languages.

I'm still wondering what to propose for a presentation - the call for proposals is now open (until May 1st), and you read more about it over at Gavin Dudeney's blog, That'SLife.

Language Learners & Computer Games: From Space Invaders to Second Life

I recently revisited the online presentation that Kyle and I did on Digital Games and Language Learning for last year's Webheads in Action Online Convergence because the Proceedings have just been published in the TESL-EJ.

Our article is now available online here: http://tesl-ej.org/ej44/a5.html .

TESOL Spain Presentation: Learn English Second Life for Teens

I was in Madrid recently for the TESOL Spain 2008 convention, which was a lot of fun.

I was there presenting the British Council's Learn English Second Life for Teens project, which has been going through a pilot. The slideshow with recording made in Madrid is included below. If you'd prefer to download the audio only, then you can do so here.

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I also set up a wiki to support the presentation: http://tesol-spain.wikispaces.com/

Education@Edunation - Friday 29th February

Educational Games in Second Life - 29th Feb (12.30-13.30 PST)

Join us for the third monthly session of Education@EduNation on Friday February 29th from 12:30 - 13:30 PST for a special session on educational games in Second Life with Jeremy Koester (Jeremy Braver in SL)

Here's Jeremy's biodata:

I am first of all an educator. My heart is to work with learners in interactive learning environments. I am the Founder and President of Gaming and Learning in Second Life. I consult with educational entities regarding learning and technology. I am currently working on my graduate degree in Instructional Technology at the University of Texas at San Antonio (ant. '08). Gaming and learning is a passionate interest of mine. I regularly present my educational technology findings at large conventions such as SLBPE, SLCC, TCEA and CAMT. I want to be a part in shaping the future of education and how America addresses it's educational needs going into this digital, global environment.

I will be talking about Gaming and Learning in SL as an organization. Participants will learn about what GaLiSL is, what we do, and also get a chance to play a game that Jeremy Braver (Jeremy Koester-RL) designed. The game is called 'Windbag'. It's a whimsical game of social bluffing where everyone has a good laugh and learns at the same time.

Be sure to sign up beforehand at Edunation III

Education@Edunation - Teen Grid Angst

Later this month will be the second in a monthly series of educational talks, visits and other events to be held at the island of Edunation III in Second Life

Sunday January 27th
12.30 Second Life Time (20:30 UTC, 21:30 CET)

Teen Grid Angst

In this session,I'll be talking about the differences between running educational projects on the Teen and Main Grids of Second Life and will be sharing my experience so far of being involved in setting up a three-island virtual self-access centre for language learners

I'll be looking mainly at the project that I've been involved with for the British Council, which recently opened in beta on the Teen Grid. We have just started running a trial with EFL students and I should be ready to report on the first impressions and have their feedback for this session.

More Info here:
http://www.theconsultants-e.com/edunation/educationedunation.asp