I burned all their movies to a cd and the teacher played them back to each class on our Primary Election day.  Each student was successful; the students loved it; their teacher loved it; I loved it; and the main point — they learned so much and it was authentic, interactive, and learner-centered.  I was very proud of them and it was great collaborating with the teacher on the project.

To view one of the completed projects, check out the movie below.
(Please note that this is not an advertisement for this candidate — just a posting of a student project.) 

Download

Microsoft Photo Story 3 is a free download.  If you have a Mac, you can accomplish this in Garage Band by creating a podcast or using iMovie.  Both programs allow you to add voice, music background, digital images. 

Another interesting thing I tried was to take the completed Photo Story project which is a wmv file viewable with Windows Media Player, run it through Zamzar to convert it to a mov file viewable with QuickTime (which is what I posted).  I am trying that out because I would like to show the project in Second Life on the media player in our school building.  For that, you need it in QuickTime format.

Last week, a “Book Talk” was held. We discussed the book, The Kids are Alright: How the Gamer Generation is Changing the Workplace by John Beck. One of the focuses in the book is on the traits of these gamers. It was an interesting session and, even though I didn’t read the book, I got a lot out of the session and plan on reading the book.

Stop by the DEN — tomorrow will be another day and another session I am looking forward to.

Beth Knittle (SL: Beth Kohnke) and myself (SL: JuliaAnn Mills) presented last night at the Discovery Educator Network (DEN) on “Presenting in Second Life.”  It was a great experience; we had a great turnout; there were lots of great questions; and I met a lot of new educators.

If you are interested in the transcript of the session, you can visit the DEN’s Google Group at http://groups.google.com/group/den-in-sl?hl=en.  You can find the notes in the Files section. 

The Group is called DEN in SL.

Every Wednesday, you can catch a session at the DEN in Second Life.  They are really worthwhile to attend.

(Soure of Photo: Discovery Educator Network Second Life Blog
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/secondlife/2008/01/09/presenting-in-sl-workshop/)

While on the subject of Second Life, check out this wiki that lists many educational uses for Second Life.
http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses.

When you are in Second Life, you can visit the virtual campus of San Diego State University.

As my final project, I chose to work on something different – Second Life. I have been investigating Second Life since August when I was hired by Plymouth Public Schools and found out they are one of four school districts collaborating on an island together in Second Life. I have been diligently working in Second Life learning to walk, dress, edit my appearance, build (very limited), edit objects, shop, find out about educational places, go to sessions being given by educational organizations in Second Life, and next I will be learning about presenting in Second Life. Beth Knittle, Barnstable Public Schools, and myself have been offering workshops in Second Life as part of Lighthouse Learning Island.

In an effort to help “newbies” in Second Life, I created a wiki page focusing on Second Life and included a movie I created entitled – Second Life, Oh the Places You Can Go. This movie contains screen shots of educational (and some fun) places in Second Life you can visit. I put the name of the educational site on the screen shot to allow users to search in Second Life for the location.

In closing, I have enjoyed my class and learned quite a bit.

http://www.plymouthschools.com/podcasts2007/colby/secondlifetip1.mp3

Getting around in Second Life
In this session we will tour various educational venues, as well as, some places of interest. We will learn how to make landmarks so you can easily return for further exploration. We will teleport, use the map, and search tools to help us get around in SL.

Friday November 16 at 7:00 P.M. Eastern time (4:00 P.M. Second Life time)
Repeat on Saturday, November 17 at 7:00 P.M. Eastern time (4:00 P.M. Second Life time)

Organization is Everything
You will quickly find that your inventory can become very unorganized and it can slow you down. In this hands on learning session we will help you clean out and organize your inventory. We will learn to make folders and rename items for easy retrieval.

Friday November 30 at 7:00 P.M. Eastern time (4:00 P.M. Second Life time)
Repeat on Saturday December 1 at 7:00 P.M. Eastern time (4:00 P.M. Second Life time)

Presenting in SL
We are members of a global network of educators and it is time we begin to share our expertise and experiences with others. In this learning experience we will look at the basics of how to present in SL and some of the options and tools to aid in presenting. We will also discuss how to find a venue to host a presentation and ways to advertise.

Friday December 14 at 7:00 P.M. Eastern time (4:00 P.M. Second Life time)
Repeat on Saturday December 15 at 7:00 P.M. Eastern time (4:00 P.M. Second Life time)

MassCUE is holding their 25th Annual State Technology Conference next week — November 14th & 15th in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.  I am very excited about the conference.  Going to attend some great sessions and I am very lucky to be presenting with Beth Knittle on Wednesday.  Our presentation is entitled, “Second Life and Education: Expanding Your Learning.”  On Thursday, we will be available for a “lab” type session where you can bring your laptop and work in Second Life and we will be available for help.

Session Handouts (scroll to the bottom of the Second Life page)

Penn State University has put together a Second Life site of resources which is very helpful — Getting Started info, educational tutorials, development tutorials and resources. 

Going to start my own list of Second Life Resources and put together some  helpful tips.

Video entitled “Educational Uses of Second Life”