Whilst I don’t plan to spend this entire post talking about all the great support, resources, hosted events and the dynamic community of educators and artists that jokay supports on her island of  jokaydia (SLurl – click this link to teleport to jokaydia), the island that JoKay has been building is seriously worth exploring.

The island of jokaydia is designed to support new residents as they gain competency and confidence with Second Life.  Visit jokaydia for free monthly tours for Newbies, or go on one of the free monthly road trips to discover new and exciting educational and arts related projects and spaces in Second Life.

Virtual Classroom Project

I recently came across this  wonderful post by Jo Kay (aka JoKay Wollongong) about the Second Life Virtual Classroom Project that began last year. It’s about the plans of an Australian educator, Annabel Astbury (a history teacher), who is planning the creation and development of a virtual learning space where visitors can learn about “settlement / colonisation in the south east of Australia.” by interacting with the space. What is so unique about her project is that students visiting this space can truly explore and experience “the impact that colonisation had upon indigenous communities in Australia.”

Summary of Annabel’s plans for the new virtual learning environment

Focusing on Frontier Life, visitors to the virtual space will land in an Australian bush simulation with features of the natural Landscape  as it appeared pre settlement. Uncleared, with evidence of Indigenous inhabitants. Mixing new teaching methods with traditional, visitors will have read some material on frontier life prior to their visit, they would then be invited to clear the land themselves taking into account the elements of the landscape and armed with  necessary resources (in a virtual box), build their own hut, or settlement. The clever part of this is, is that some of the objects provided in the virtual box are not historically accurate, so they must discern which objects to use.

More Info

You can find out more about this concept by visiting this blog post of Annabel Astbury (SL: Annabel Recreant). Also take a sneak peak at the plans for the new space. Or subscribe to this RSS feed to keep up to date with developments to the space. (RSS Posts)

jokaydia

If you’re not familiar with the Virtual World, Second Life, or the work of JoKay (aka JoKay Wollongong), then check it out her blog.

Virtual Classroom Project Video

Watch this brilliant movie to see the Virtual Classroom being built in Second Life, see images from virtual meetings and have a look at how ecological sustainability has been integrated into the virtual space with the addition of solar panels, a water tank and the use of wind energy. The video will amaze you, it’s about  6 – 7 minutes long and the music is fantastic.

Other Links

• Science for Second Life Project

Here’s an index of blog posts about each session;

Day 1 at Moodle Moot 2008

• Informative Keynote #1 – Martin Dougiamas , the Founder and Lead Developer of Moodle
  
• Maximising the use of the Moodle Gradebook – Shane Elliot | Pukunui Technology
  
• Diving into e-Learning, building capability and enthusiasm to use an online learning environment for an outdoor bunch – Bronwyn Campbell | Active Learning Partners
  
• Using Moodle for podcasting,  with Julian Ridden | St Ignatius College
  
• Rich content for Moodle on a Budget with Rhys Moult | BJ Network Consulting
  

Day 2 at the Moodle Moot 2008

• Inspiring Keynote # 2, Today’s Kids, Tomorrows Creatives – Professor Erica William | Assistant Dean for the Faculty of Education, QUT – Post1 | Post 2
  
• Moodle Themes Development, with Julian Ridden | St Ignatius College
  
• Eye-Tracking Moodle, Moodle accessibility and usability- Dr Daniel Woo | University of New South Wales
  
• Moodle from a students perspective, with Year 12 students Jane Symons & Anna Prokop | All Hallows’ School
  
  

Flickr is a great tool for backing up your photo’s and sharing them with your friends and family. It also integrates with Facebook, so you can upload your photo’s to Flickr and facebook at the same time (just in case your mates don’t have a facebook). If you use iPhoto, you’re even luckier because you can yupload to both sites from within your iPhoto application… If not, get yourself a Mac!

Check out the great instructional material on the NSW e-Learning Innovations wiki. You’ll also find the following video….

If you use Flickr, please leave a comment here with your Flickr address so we can add you as a contact in Flickr. That way when we next visit Flickr, we can see your latest photo’s.

Had a great weekend in Brisbane…so many idiots on the road though!

Best thing? We got to see my 5 year old nephew Angus and spoil him rotten.

How cute is he? More photo’s here.

Tools like blogs and wikis are used to share knowledge and experiences and more people are using rss feeds to keep on top of everything.  And tools like Twitter to keep up beetween blog posts. So I thought, I’d better give this a go!

So why did I create an online presence for myself?

Use of online tools, like Facebook, Flickr, del.icio.us, Twitter and Lastfm are increasing in people’s day-to-day life. These tools are used to network with others, in order to learn, knowledge share and collaborate with like minded people, to keep in touch with faimly and friends easily, without having to be a web designer or programmer.

The demand for easier, efficient and more flexible ways of teaching and learning is rising and I’m exicted to be part of that. Interest in web-based learning and exploring new technology for more engaging methods for delivery is increasing as the much discussed generation gap becomes more of an issue as Gen Y hit the workplace.

It was time to join them. So, I made this blog to share my journey. Since I started this blog, many friends and family members created their own blogs and wiki’s, colleagues have started Facebook groups, and we’re all uploading images to sites like Flickr!

So where to start?

Sites like pbwiki and blogger are a great place to start, and I recommend having a play around here. I found edublogs had more features and add-ons to play with and suited the educational focus I wanted. There are many teachers successfully using edublogs to record their own journey, to collaborate and with their classes to upload/point to resources and engage students through collaborative discussion, for resource sharing and to monitor and engage with students work.

How I Made this Blog….

I tried setting up with blogger, but I didn’t get the flexibility I was after back then. I wasn’t going to learn enough myself and I wanted that challenge.

So I visited one of my favourite blogs to see how it was made. Veerle’s Blog is Powered by some blogging software called Expression Engine. It looked great, so I downloaded the software and read the instructions. It involved setting up an MySQL Database and configuring some php pages. Although I’ve worked with this type of technology before, I really didn’t have time to make this work.

So I went hunting for a more simple option. I already have a web space (web hosting) and wanted to use my own domain name (flairandsquare.com) . I also wanted to download additional plug-ins and themes to use with my blog (not just because I’m a nerd, but because I wanted to create a presence, a virtual identity).

The solution for me…

This is when I found Wordpress. You can sign up with Wordpress and get your own blog, with many themes and customisation readily available.

Wordpress actually offers to install everything directly on your web space for you for free – Install4Free (very handy – thanks Wordpress). I provided them with my hosting details and within a day, it was all ready to go.

Note: once it has been installed, you’ll need to delete your old default page from your web space (index.htm or default.htm)

Web Hosting

BlueHost is a great service if you want your own space. They’ll also help you with the set-up.

It’s installed, now what?

Once it’s all set-up, you need to log in to your new blog (with the provided details), you are then free to explore the features of your own wordpress blog.

The first thing I did was choose a theme for my site.  The free WordPress Blog has many themes and plug-ins already set-up for you to use. I chose the iTheme initially, which I downloaded after searching for free Wordpress themes (here are some good sites for them). It’s very cool (looks like a Mac desktop and you can click and drag the boxes in the sidebar on the right around), it took some configuring, but the simplicity that resulted was worth it I think. I’ve now moved on to a more complex theme as my knowledge of coding, blogging and RSS has increased, I wanted a more ‘magazine style’ site.

WordPress is also the power behind edublogs, which I highly recommend for flexibility, creativity, choice of themes, support for teachers and plug-ins available.

Things I’ve Learnt

• Make sure you choose a theme and set-up your plug-ins before adding your first bit of serious content.
• Back your site up regularly while you’re building it (particularly if you are using wordpress on your own server)
• Create lots of profiles in all the social networking sites (listed below) and list your site in as many places, or on as many sites as you can. Give the link to everyone. This will improve your blog rating and it’s ranking in Google Search, as will visiting other blogs and leaving comments for other bloggers. It’s about developing online communities.
• Don’t do it all yourself when there are so many excellent free options for educators out there that offer everything you will need.
• Explore, try, fail. Explore… Try something else.

This podcast covers the use of Adobe Connect as ‘Virtual Classrooms‘, the use of various Social Networking and collaboration tools, such as wiki’s, blog’s and Facebook to engage trainee’s in industry.

Linda also talks about the mutual benefits to TAFE and Industry and the importance of these tools for life-long learning.

You can visit the podcast site here.

Why?

For a better customer experience, a satisfied customer, to be competitive. The next generation is coming (Generation Z) and they are more fashion and design conscious than ever before. Be ready!

Observe;

| View | Upload your own

Here are some photo’s I took of the new Apple store in Sydney last week.

“Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories, and understandings. ” Wikipedia

How can Social Media help provide a better service?

Watch this great video by Commoncraft;

Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

I know I haven’t posted much these days, but I couldn’t resist this, it just amazes me…

Click to view

I twitter, do you?  Have you seen the video below from Common Craft about Twitter?

http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter

Not sure what Twitter is?

“Twitter is on its way to becoming the next killer app.” Time Magazine

Heard of micro-blogging? It’s a brief form of blogging, short blog posts, there’s usually a character limit of 200 or less, like Twitter’s limit of 140 characters.

It’s a bit like Reality TV on the net. Your network of ‘friends’ tell you how long they’ve been waiting for the train, what they are listening to on their iPod, what they are eating and what they are wearing to bed. It’s short and it’s sharp.

You’ll read what they are presenting and at what forum, you’ll read what happened in their class that day or what amazing discovery they have made.

How does my network use Twitter?

I’ll invite them to comment on why they like Twitter, but mostly, I see them sharing educational resources, asking each other for support and advice, and making friends. They notify each other of the latest educational news and happenings, not just locally but internationally. It’s a fantastic way to keep your collaborative networks real, alive, dynamic.

Twitter is a great and convenient way to interact, you can post ‘Tweets’ from your mobile, on the Twitter website, from twitter widgets inside Facebook, edublogs, wiki’s and even from within Second Life. I can put a Twitter widget just about anywhere so I can keep an eye on the conversation. I can even add a Twitter widget to my netvibes/ RSS feed reader so that I can read and communicate with educators, friends and family all over the country.

What cool things have I discovered about Twitter?

A little secret I’ll share with all of you, you can actually add a Twitter application into your Facebook profile that updates your Facebook profile everytime to post a Twitter. So you don’t need to go into Facebook to update your profile.

Try it! It’s fast and it’s fun!

A blog can be a great way to communicate with everyone at the same time, thus avoiding the giant email recipient list (as my parents have just found out here). You ‘post’ an update on your blog and your readers can then leave their comments as and when is suitable and the conversation begins.

Interesting problem – Where do I leave my comment?

Some bloggers tell me they don’t allow any commenting on their blog because it changes the way they write, or it takes too much time to monitor. However, so many people ask me “how do I leave a comment on a blog?”

Whenever I visit a blog and wish to comment, I always have to go hunting for the comments link. I watch others go hunting as well. People that blog and visit blogs may know what to look for, but what about the people that don’t?

Admittedly, as bloggers we can make it easier for them by inviting them to comment within our blog post. As I have done at the bottom of this post (but I don’t do it enough!), this tip came via the 31 day blog challenge I participated in last year (thanks to Problogger) and is a great tip.

So, for those of you wanting to leave a comment, here’s how;

*please note, this will not be the same on every blog. The link will often be a different colour, to match the blog theme/ style.

If you have any comments on this, please leave a comment here.

]]> http://www.flairandsquare.com/wordpress/archives/210/feed 7 http://www.flairandsquare.com/wordpress/archives/209 http://www.flairandsquare.com/wordpress/archives/209#comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:35:48 +0000 alex miller http://www.flairandsquare.com/archives/209 Happy 1st Birthday to my blog!

Today is my blog’s 1st birthday.

I can’t believe it’s been a year since I started this blog. It’s really quite amazing when I look back through all the entries, I realise what a collection of resources I’ve built up. It certainly has been an interesting journey, the collaborative aspects of blogging are certainly greater than I expected.

Oh and happy birthday also to my good friend Micah who is currently in Perth! I hope your day is completely fantastic!!

Other blog birthday wishes.

Happy birthday to these top bloggers!

• Sue Waters – April 15^th
• Darren Draper – April 19^th

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