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.

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.